Board of Education · Regular Meeting · June 27, 2024

good evening everyone try one more time because we have a full house in the building good evening everyone there we go uh the June 2020 June 27 2024 board meeting is now called to order the next item on our agenda is a moment of silence thank you the next item on our agenda is celebrations good evening board members superintendent Moore DPS colleagues and Durham Community tonight we celebrate the remarkable achievements of our students staff and Community supporters this is a special time for us to recognize the dedication hard work and

Excellence demonstrated across our district from academic accolades to extracurricular triumphs and Innovative Partnerships we are proud to highlight the outstanding contributions that make our school Community shine these celebrations are a testament to the talent perseverance and collaborative spirit that Define DPS and we are honored to share these successes with you tonight we will begin our celebrations with our DPS All-American D-Day band participants followed by excellence in athletic Administration and then our spark pin recipients we will close with outgoing board member recognitions please welcome Mr Les Turner director of Arts education to present our All-American D-Day band participants good evening chair Umstead esteemed members of the Board of Education and of course inter

superintendent Kathy Moore in the true celebration of the unlimited potential of Arts education here in Durham public school this evening we get to lift up two of our very own outstanding Young Musicians from Jordan High School who just earlier this month had the opportunity to represent not only DPS but the United States in a once- in a-lifetime International Exchange of artistic celebration for the history lovers in the audience you know that 80 years ago there occurred the largest amphibious assault that's something that's there for sure world history called D-Day which was the driving force behind the Allied liberation of France and the beginning of the end of the Nazi tyranny that once engulfed the area our very own Durham public school students musicians have had the honor of membership in the D-Day band celebrating this and commemorating Performing the ceremonial music for the officially recognized wreath Lane ceremonies and at the cemeteries and

memorials throughout the area the band also performed the international salute to Liberation and led the D D-Day Memorial parade additionally our Young musician Scholars spent time in Washington DC training with the US Army Band and performed at the national World War II Memorial to be considered for such a membership in the All-American D-Day band students had to be nominated by their band director Cameron Garris Jordan high school's band director is here with us tonight to help celebrate his students the students then completed an application that considered their previous musical performance merits such as honors band all districts and such as well as the students academic Merit GPA Honor Society AP course load and the community service piece that is so critical for all of our students after progressing through a 250 Ma finalist process through across the United States the students then completed with a colleg level audition

on their instrument which reviewed by the one and only Colonel Timothy hton retired leader and commander of the United States Army Band who made the final selection of The Ensemble participants and it was under 50 that were selected as my understanding chair Umstead superintendent Moore members of the Board of Education and DPS Community please help me collate collaborate collaberate congratulate our two selected Jordan High School band students who represented Duran Public Schools this year in the All-American D-Day band playing tener saxophone you'll come on up Mr Edmund armad and playing euphonium Mr Andrew scriber e

congratulations to you those students for their outstanding achievement truly remarkable at this time I'd like to welcome Dr debber Pitman assistant superintendent for specialized services for a special recognition for athletic Administration Excellence thank you Miss keep Cooper and good evening board members superintendent Moore tonight we are excited to celebrate the outstanding accomplishments that have been obtained by Mr David Hackney our director of Athletics health and physical education driver's ed and wellness Mr Hackney has been recognized twice over the last year and I tried to get him up here last year and he said no and so the second award came in and I said yes so Mr Hackney has been recognized by the national inter Scholastic athletic administrators Association for his achievement as last year certified athletic administrator and then this year certified Master athletic administrator to earn those distinctions Mr Hackney

demonstrated exemplary knowledge contributions and ongoing professional development in the field of inter Scholastic athletic Administration this is a voluntary certification process which included a thorough evaluation of his educational background his experience the niaaa leadership courses and professional contributions first was culminated with a practical oral or written presentation the latter a rigorous comprehensive written examination Durham Public Schools is fortunate to have such an outstanding professional who is committed to continuous professional growth to obtain the highest credentials congratulations to Mr Hackney for these hard-earned and well-deserved achievements and I believe his wife is with us as well this evening congratulations

night you're note thatten in theing congratulations again Mr Hackney the DPS spark pin is presented to students staff and community members who exemplify our District's core belief and exhibit excellence in their daily actions our first Spark pin recipients are members of our parent ambassador program our parent ambassadors play a critical role in fostering a strong and supportive Community within our schools these parents volunteer countless hours attending events learning about District programs and initiatives sharing that information with families and being overall champions of our Public Schools their commitment goes beyond the Call of Duty and it is a Testament to the power of community involvement in education these efforts will not only enhance the educational experience of our students but also strengthen the bonds of our

community it is my great pleasure to recognize this remarkable group of individuals who have dedicated their time energy and passion to our schools we are incredibly fortunate to have you as part of our Durham Public Schools family as I call your names please come forward to the red carpet um with us this evening um they've already received their spark pin so they are ready to be greeted by our board and our superintendent Mary Sanford Ladonna Allison dearius Smith Kia Allah and Kelly Jones and mavin

Scott we'd like to get a group photo with our parent embassador so if you could please just Center yourselves thank you I'd also like to acknowledge Maria buy director of marketing Ashley Stevens director of school Innovation and darnice Massie coordinator of family and Community Partnerships for their leadership and support of this program additionally special thanks to the DP foundation for their sponsorship of our parent ambassadors our next spark pin pres recipients are the unsung heroes of our Board of Education meetings whether you have attended a board meeting in person or join them virtually there are many hands that support making these meetings accessible to our community this is a

tall task on any given day even more so during a year with unforeseen challenges these dedicated employes Rose to the occasion time and again to ensure that everything was executed as seamlessly as possible from sounds and visuals to ensuring that everyone felt safe and heard and that they were in the right place at the right time this incredible effort does not go unnoticed thank you for going above and beyond and for often juggling multiple roles at one time with a smile we are deeply grateful for your support and commitment please come forward as your name is called now I will preface that these employees do not know that they are receiving this recognition tonight so it may take them a few moments to get to the front first Nicole Smith executive assistant to the Board of Education members of the DPS it

Department who support AV for all meetings Javin Griffin shatasha bony and chamille a Fleming somebody might want to stay back there here they come yay Jeff ston from DPS Safety and Security while Jeff makes his way to the front our interpreters Marty Marty Ramirez Martha Romo urgiles and Vanessa Paya Ramirez

and last but not least um the members of the award-winning office of public affairs Crystal Roberts Maria buy and Tony Cunningham Jr surprise surprise surprise at this time I'll turn our celebrations over to chair Umstead for outgoing board member recognitions come down here which you'll feel

different good evening everyone again we have two board members who will be roll uh rolling off of our board this is their last full board meeting and we wanted to make sure we got an opportunity to celebrate them before they leave uh I'll start with Miss jaona Lewis who's here with us tonight feel like getting emotional up here you joined our board in 2020 during an unprecedented time while we navigated stay home orders vaccine distribution and return to school you remained steadfast in your commitment to ensure DPS student stayed safe and engaged in learning throughout the years you have unap you've been Unapologetic in your commitment to Excellence and equity and that's shown through your service on the community safety and wellness task force the passage of the crown act resolution leading to a whole week of Celebration ations on the beauty of our crowns I will certainly miss you on the board the way you speak truth to power the way you celebrate and honor the work that we do

and the way you also challenge us to be better for our students uh I know though that you'll still be cheering us on and you're still going to let me know where you stand even when you're not on the board your contributions will continue to push us forward as we continue to grow and ignite the Limitless potential of our students so I have a couple of gifts here but I do want to open it up if board members also want to share anything before we pass those out Miss Chavez well I just want to say thank you and I want to say I really appreciate the the perspective you bring the questions you ask often you ask questions that I'm like I never would have thought to ask that the um the passion that you bring for your work um I really um um I also want to recognize

you as a fellow three-wing to and um our when we found out we had that you know mental alignment it all made sense um um I appreciate just our jokes and and all of that that we've had some some good times and I just want to say I really honor and respect you as an example of a mother who is fighting to change the systems that her children are growing up in and your advocacy your um for parents who are also fighting for their children to have better um School experiences outcomes so I know you will continue that work I look forward to continuing to to work with you and and um and I thank you for that powerful example that you've given to all of

us Miss Lewis I want to we've had these conversations right we've been preparing for this time um today feels like a full circle moment our advocacy started together around student disci disparities and we will get to address that again tonight on our agenda um I want you to know and I want everybody to know that I appreciate your voice and I appreciate the inspiration that you've always offered to me and the encouragement um I'm so grateful that you encouraged me to join the PA and advocate for students on a political level even locally and it has been a true pleasure pleasure to serve with you and to hear your voice and to hear you um I'm not going to cry either um and to hear you standing with me to

fight for better systems for all of our children it has been a true pleasure and I look forward to you continuing to challenge us and to challenge me as an individual um and challenge during public schools to be better thank you for your service I was thinking back to 2020 when you and Miss viar joined the board and it was an impossible time we were on screens together in Zoom boxes for your swearing in we weren't able to be together in person for months and months and months and that didn't stop you or Miss Vadar as from bringing your true hearts and your true selves and your true uh I was thinking heart and soul to this work and that is what you have done every minute every day um with full

authenticity and focus and so I am so appreciative of the way that you engage in this work both um on the board but but also in the community and in your own family the way you lead um quietly the way you ask um important questions at that drive the work forward and make us better together and so I'm just so appreciative of the heart and soul that you bring to this work and and the Durham Community I know your work is not going to stop it will continue and change and evolve and I just look forward to how to supporting you in in New ways as you continue the work in the community and Beyond um you have you have changed us for the better and I appreciate your heart and soul for this work get a turn Miss

Lewis have some notes here you are a tireless advocate for racial Equity you've worked to help me see my blind spots and push me to continually improve for that I'm grateful you have consistently made an effort to communicate transparently to me with me and you've always been open to listening to my perspective we often align and when we don't agree on something we've been able to engage in discussions to better understand one another's perspective and I really couldn't ask for anything more in a board member so thank you but in addition to all of this you're really quite a fun seatmate up here on the deis you sometimes leave me the good chocolates and you always uh show up with entertaining commentary so thank you and I will really miss you we will let your children know that you are funny uh so we have a plaque for you if you want to come on down it says with

sincere appreciation present it to javanna Lewis and recognition of your outstanding leadership and dedicated service on the board of education and to the students families and staff of Durham Public Schools thank you for your commitment to public education in Durham want to say any words Miss very very appreciative of these kind words um and comments for me um in this journey and I've had the opportunity to prepare a few words I'd like to share with you all um as I Journey forward and

transition off the board after this meeting and tomorrow still got a little more work to do my journey with the school board truly began when I was just one parent advocating for Equity access cultur the responsive curriculum and supporting the whole child in 2016 I learned about the priority Zone magnet Lottery at my child's school that had no mechanism to prevent the recreation of segregated schools like we had in 1955 several parents and I demanded answers from DPS we wanted to know the purpose of the magnet school tools the purpose of priority zones and most most importantly we wanted to see the disaggregated data that supported the assumptions about the curriculum and the academic data success for all students answers vary depending on who you asked which called into question the current purpose of magnet schools were they created equally with equity in mind

and did every child have access and the necessary opportunities for Success which led to the zoning question and we discovered that Doran public schools had not been rezoned since 1992 between 2019 and now this board most notably instructed and implemented growing together an impactful redistributing plan this system overhaul took Insight research policy change robust Community engagement and courage growing Jo together ensures that diversity Equity access to rigorous curriculum Global language arts and stem programming is extended to every student in our community regardless of their zip code growing together brings students and families from economically diverse backgrounds together and creates a pathway towards a more equitable distribution of

resources so while I acknowledge that we are still settling into this plan and yet yes the start of the 24 25 school year will require patience and solution finding I am proud to have served with courage and persistence to achieve something that had not been done in 30 years thank you to the staff who has allowed me to be a part of this this board who continued to push to get this redistrict into happen during this time it has been full circle millant as you said over the past four years as a school board trustee who has advocated for equity human rights and dignity in the school Community I have collaborated on policies such as as you mentioned the racial Equity at the racial and educational Equity policy the crown act resolution black lives matter resolution the Leandro Leandro resolution the English English language Learners resolution the lgtb qia plus policy along with many other policies

for governance and even sunsetting many that no longer support Ed our values during my tenure I have served on the Durham homeless service advisory M committee Champion those students a part of mckenny vento I've served on a safety and wellness task force and the durs Early Child Care action plan committee and in 2021 my board colleagues entrusted me with the privilege of serving as a vice chair no one can say I wasn't about the business of this board and being present even if I had to be at some meetings virtually I was still here and doing the work of the people among the Community Partners and citizens I met along the way I've been most inspired by Durham student organizations the children like the black student union at Jordan high school and the student for mental health at Durham School of Technology I was honored to lead alongside our County's Youth as we invited the community to

participate in a day of remance this powerful event United our city county and Schoolboard governing bodies to amplify the voices of our students about what safety and wellness look like to them student voices matter we have to continue to put them first as you all know I will continue to listen to diverse voices identify common interest in creating opportunities for people to truly hear each other and collaborate to find compassionate Solutions above all else over the past four years we've learned how critical this work is as I joined the school board during an international pandemic and I like my colleagues were committed to providing resources needed for a safe learning environment to support our Educators staff and most vulnerable student populations this past year DPS payroll confusion has led to endless frustration for our classified workers

the DPS board will need to continue to be transparent and increase trust through it all I have learned that we have to ask the hard questions and listen deeply to multiple perspectives and while we're overcoming challenges and while we've overcome challenges and had some victories there's still more work to do I was privileged to be able to attend two ceremonious ribbon cuting for school openings Lions Farm Elementary in the new Northern High School as an extension of the work from the previous board before I joined and I saw it too through the finish line for them that is the same hope that I have for this current board I hope that my colleagues would remember the work that this board started and most importantly remember to bring the community along the way with you this work is not for the weary or the easily offended it takes takes deep commitment

compassion and endurance it takes strength outside of yourself and it takes the support of loved ones I am grateful for my husband our Three Sons our extended family and all who loved me dearly and prayed for me along the way during this time being an involved parent who campaigned to serve on the school board has been personal for me and a provides me with a deep sense of connection to something much greater than myself and my family not only do I want my child to thrive and find success but I also want to bring other parents along with me so their children can Thrive as well that has been the Cornerstone of my service thank you for allowing me and having me the work will continue thank you

thank you Miss Lewis other colleague Miss vad darz is not able to be here this evening but I am still going to read something in um honor of her and we'll open it up for the board members as well miss vod's heart is evident and she brought it every time she came to work in our meeting and every interaction she constantly reminds us of who may be viewed in the community as the least of these and told us to make sure that we centered our decisions around those students those families she uh you you excuse me she reminds us that every single student deserves our absolute best and they deserve our fight for them to make sure they have what they need Miss vidaris keeps us connected and rooted in community she keeps the students at the center and their stories drive her to continue to fight and Advocate she is currently with students right now which is why she's not able to be at this meeting I know the hard work that she does will continue through the many efforts continuing to push us to support our English language learner students students with

disabilities connecting students with communities and and connecting our students with academic achievement Miss Vadar you will be missed and we certainly appreciate your service on the board we also have a plaque for her as well and as well as a gift bag with some other goodies in there but I'll open it up to the other board members did all that talking I didn't know you wanted me to start oh gosh Alexandra Alexandra viadas T you are my sister and I love you and all that we were able to do we will forever have stories of how this journey started for our campaign to be in the service here I so appreciate the perspective you brought the energy and the passion that you continue to have to push us and to grow us even more I wish you were here I wish we had

the for thought to have you do a video to do a song but we will celebrate when you get back you are so appreciated and all I can say is I love you and I look forward to Growing Old Contin doing the work growing old and telling the stories about all the work we did all the journey in bless you sis so miss vidar's election was historic as we um welcomed the first Latina woman elected to this board she came with full heart and passion and purpose she brought vulnerability she brings it everywhere she goes she brings her whole self and that is a gift that she shares with this um board and with this community we

are blessed by her voice she's also a gifted singer if you ever get a chance to see her perform she's an incredible performer as well I so appreciate her voice for um every student student every child but particularly those who face uh barriers from language barriers from being the Immigrant community and she reminds us always of the strengths and the gifts of those students and families and and challenges us each to find ways to reach out and connect she has a heart for the Earth and for sustainability we have our first solar roof largely because she pushed us to work on sustainability initiatives into new level um I know very much that her work also

will continue because her voice is woven into this community and we welcome it in all the ways that she's going to continue to challenge us and um and share her heart with this community so thank you Alexandra we miss you we'll go next Alexandra hope you're going to watch this later you are a tireless voice for the community taking the time to show up to connect to listen and to consistently bring the experiences and the perspectives of those not represented here in the boardroom into all of our discussions and all of our decision- making I know that this has not been easy but it's so critical and I hope that those of us remaining here on the board will continue to honor your legacy and the voice of this community by taking the time to show up and listen as you have I also have app appreciated that

when I talk to you I can count on you telling it straight and always speaking from the heart you won't mince words or avoid saying the difficult things but rather tackle them headon I've appreciated this about serving with you and I hope that as you cycle off off this board you'll continue to remain in communication and be the truth teller that we so often need up here this is so hard without Miss Vadar is here um but Alexandra I am incredibly grateful for your service on the board um and your support throughout this um these last two years you were one of the first people that I was able to connect with and have very vulnerable

conversations um about what it means to [Music] be a non-traditional leader in this community and I appreciate you hanging in here with us and being in it in this journey with me um I appreciate all the people you bring with you people say some of us wear our hearts on our sleeves and you wear the spirit of all those that aren't in this room on your sleeve and I am grateful for that and grateful that you bring that to every policy that we discuss every practice we discuss and every vote we take and you will we missed and I hope you will continue to come to us with your concerns both at the podium and privately um we'll miss

you I um this is this is also a little strange speaking to Alexandra who's not here but um I also miss having you here at this meeting um and that I regret that you can't receive our our words and energy in person um but I also think it is fitting that you would be in the motherland at this time in a Latin American country um you we are in many ways too very different Latinas but we also have some um our values are aligned and um we also have some interesting parallels that we discovered along the way to our experiences and um I think it is so special that we were able to serve as two latino women on the in a group of seven and

with a Latina interim superintendent um at this time where else in North Carolina is that happening nowhere um in fact we're very there are very few um latine um elected officials in in the state period so it's been very special uh you are authentic through and through and you just have a special fire I think everybody knows that who's ever met you and and I um I know that our journey to improve the lives of children will continue to transform um and it's just been it's just been so special so we miss you we will miss you and I know uh your voice and presence will be close um as we continue to move forward as

wellos we will make sure that Miss viar gets her um gifts and we may try to invite her back for a meeting in August so we can also share some additional words with her and celebrate her on the live stream thank you all for um the celebrations and allowing us an opportunity to say goodbye to our colleagues we're going to go ahead and get started with the work um for the meeting this evening the next item on our agenda is our superintendent's update I'm going to pass it over to interim superintendent caty Moore good evening Madame chair and board members and DPS community as the 2324 school year comes to a close I'm pleased to share an update on the achievements of our district students and staff earlier this month we celebrated the class of 2024 with our annual commencement ceremonies Duram Public Schools presented over 2,000 diplomas to graduates this year and the

6 million more than the scholarship amount earned last year these Durham public school students personify the term commencement as they are well prepared to begin their lives as aspiring young adults who will make contributions in a tremendous way to our society we wish them well last week DPS hosted Splash staff from across the district dove into professional learning to prepare for the 2425 school year Splash is a 4-day conference for DPS certified and classified employees that provides professional learning aligned with overall student achievement goals the district also hosted its Summer Leadership Retreat just over the last couple of days June 25th through 27th for principls assistant principals and

Central Services leadership this week the theme was building our future we enjoyed a keynote from mayor mayor Leonardo Williams and the presentation supported the goals of our strategic plan I'd like to thank our professional learning team the IT department presenters and the many individuals who helped make these events successful for the hundreds of Staff who participated also last week DPS and the City of Durham hosted a visit from second gentleman dougl mhof and the US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gan GLE who were here for a press conference to raise awareness about the Biden administration's lead pipe removal initiative and announced funding to support clean water in our schools the event was held at Lions Farm Elementary School and our own principal James Hopkins brought welcoming remarks I'd like to congratulate Christian Kart par skilled trades Pathways teacher at Southern School of

5 million which will be awarded in the fall of 2024 also congratulations to Tyler D'Angelo agriculture teacher at Jordan High School who is a finalist for the North Car Ina center for the advancement of teaching 2024 buroughs welcome fund CTE Teacher of the Year this prestigious Accolade honors Educators for their dedication Innovation and the ability to inspire students to achieve their full potential because good news come in threes congratulations to Carmen Ramos lead counselor at Jordan High School who was selected to participate in the

latinx Ed leadership program latinx the latinx said Fellowship is a Statewide Network providing leadership development to Latina latinx leaders seek seeking to advance education equity and opportunity in North Carolina our educators are doing amazing things and we applaud them for their exceptional work that they do on a daily basis for our DPS students while our students are away enjoying camps traveling with family and other summer Adventures we are busy preparing to welcome them back back for the upcoming school year from deep cleaning to outdoor beautification proc projects necessary work is being done now to ensure that our schools and facilities are ready to begin the new Academic Year the 2024 25 school year brings exciting change to our district with the implementation of growing together for our elementary schools DPS is commitment to equity diversity access to academic programs and our purposeful

response to Durham's growth have been noted by our Media Partners and cited by a recent study as an Exemplar for its intentional work in setting objectives that honor our community's values we will continue to monitor progress receive feedback and Report out on this important work we look forward to welcoming our yearround students back on July 22nd and Specialty high school students on August 8th August 26 6 marks the start of the traditional calendar year and the opening of our newest School Murray massenberg Elementary which is on track this concludes my remarks this evening thank you thank you so much happening this is a our last Academic Year meeting but we know even before we meet again the school will be starting as a full board before we meet again school will be starting soon so we're looking forward to welcoming our year round students

back the next item on our agenda is the genda review and approval Madam chair I'd like to move approval of the agenda with one modification I'd like to remove 2B and 2 C okay we like to the motion is to amend the agenda and to approve the amended agenda together second it's been moved by Miss travez and seconded by Miss Beyer any other discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed please use the same sign it passes unanimously the next item on our agenda is our board regular monthly meetings for excuse me regular monthly meeting minutes for May 20 23r May 23rd 2024

I'd like to move approval of the regular monthly minutes from May 23rd 2024 second move by Miss Chávez seconded by Miss Rogers is there any other discussion all those in favor say I I I any oppos passes unanimously the next item on our agenda is general public comment general public comment I'm going to give a quick review of the rules first please state your name and if you're speaking for an organization please state your name and the name of the organization second our speakers are asked to present your comments within three minutes I we'll have three minutes tonight when the yellow light comes on you 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 name staff students or 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 to the operation of the school system finally the board members will listen carefully and consider your comments but we do not engage in a discussion with our speakers the first Speaker we only

have one public comment speaker tonight and that will be Julia Orly Brown also enjoyed hearing everything that happened before wonderful celebrations my name is Julia borelly Brown and I'm speaking on behalf of Durham for DSA a nonprofit organized under the laws of North Carolina on your agenda tonight you have an item which includes a report on change orders relating to early sight work at the proposed location of a new Durham School of the Arts this item is packaged with other items on your agenda at your May 23rd meeting the consent agenda included an item relating to this change order to the new DSA site because the allocated few minutes will not allow time to provide proof of my statements I am also providing the statement in writing with documentation for the public record please take notice that expending any more monies on the new DSA site and signing additional contracts before September will be ahead of receiving the

required special use permit and contrary to North Carolina General statute 111 C- 521 small C ndps board policy 9020 following the statute is not optional it is required and the process could take months Durham for DSA is informed and therefore believes DPS is not in compliance with state law 111 C- 521c building the new DSA DPS is not conforming to its own policies 9020 which paraphrases the state law and also indicates other things that DPS is supposed to do but has not done the new DSA does not have its special use permit approval DBS did not make the cut off for the July meeting of the board of adjustment and the earliest the DSA new site could be approved would be August 27 Durham for DSA believes there is no reason to rush and questionable legality in doing so moving forward with the

already designed elementary schools while reconsidering DSA seems to be the best thing to do investment wise since it is these issues of compliance with State statutes and the special use permit that now call into question the ability to open a new DSA on the plan schedule I want to State again that the community option posted by Durham for DSA can accommodate the same level of enrollment expansion as the new school allows at least two elementary schools to proceed that would otherwise have their funding swept away and will result in all classrooms and especially ECE classes in modern spaces mostly new newly renovated or recently renovated we're seeking a pause on any further action to execute contracts contracts and expend monies until the statutory requirements are met and the special use permit is obtained and all the documentation that um illustrates the U statute and uh there's one for each of

you and for um others yeah if you can leave them on the counter we we'll make sure we pass them around thank you so much thank you so much Julia all right the next item on our agenda we have our consent item excuse me our consent items that have been amended so we have items a d e f and g move approval of the consent agenda second it's been moved by Miss Rogers seconded by Miss buer is there any other discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed please use the same sign it passes unanimously the next item on our agenda we have academic Services uh with Early College naming update

good evening again board members superintendent Moore colleagues and Duram Community have a very brief presentation um this evening that will accompany our remarks um but I am pleased to stand before you this evening in partnership with the DPS office of magnet and CTE programs to present administration's recommendation for the name for DPSS new Early College which will welcome its first cohort of students in August of 2025 this item is before you for Action this evening next slide please thank you as you know middle

5 million Bloomberg philanthropies Grant in collaboration with Duke University Health System and durm Technical Community College pursuant to policy 9300 during the June 13th Board of Education work session Administration brought forth a slate of potential names for the new Early College you will see those names that were presented um on the screens before you next slide please following the June 13th board work session DPS launched a survey to collect feedback from stakeholders regarding the Slate of the proposed names for the Early College the survey was shared via DPS social media the DPS website and text messaging to stakeholders from June 14th to June 24th we received over 1,300 responses from our DPS community over the past two days

we have reviewed the surveys and feedback and tonight's recommendation is supported by hundreds of votes from our DPS stakeholders it is only fitting that our senior executive director for magnet CTE programs Julie peek Dr Julie pek make the big reveal this evening for our recommendation in this envelope I have the name of the recommendation and it it is Durham Early College of Health Sciences I'll turn it back over to miss Cooper again this item is before you for Action this evening and we open the floor for any questions that you may have thank you all for the presentation I like the envelope reveal very nice touch Dr pack board members any questions

comments Inspire I love it thank y'all for working on this so much I would if I was gonna ask anything it was just your con your notion of whether it needed Durham in the name and when I looked at the list of most State early colleges the locality was named so I figured if we go to competitions and things that was important is that the thinking behind that is that so kind of grounding it we certainly want to be connected to durm public schools and the durm community as this initiative is rooted in um ensuring that Pathways to those careers is um directly aligned with um the Duke University Health System and Derm Tech as this is a program that in collaboration with those VAR um esteemed institutions additionally a lot of the feedback that we received from our community said they want people to associate this school with durm so we wanted to make sure that that was

noted whenever that's what I was gonna do well I have a question was this name the one that was chosen most by the engagement could y'all just illuminate a little bit well was um this is the name that most resonated with our U stakeholders in the voting process we had nearly 400 votes um for this particular name um again we had 1345 respondents which is um extremely encouraging especially during summer months that means our community is excited about this program and a lot of the comments that we received as well um people reaching out saying how do I sign up today um so we are very excited our community is excited and we look forward to the work um ahead of us to make sure that we um get this program up and running and make sure that our families know about this option that is available to them thank you all so much so is it too early will they still be Mavericks did we get that far or is that to come that is to come um with

this vote this evening because we will have an official name for the school we can begin the very important um branding and marketing work and that is associ with this and obviously we want to make sure that we are including the necessary folks around the table to um to make sure that we have um that fully vetted um and we get um all the good voice and participation in that additionally with Showcase of schools um coming up very soon sooner than we think we want to make sure that this school is ready um to uh showcase them to the community Madam chair I move that we accept the community and and the um recommendation of administration to name durm Early College of Health Science second we get it right dur College of Early College of Health Sciences Sciences okay uh it's been moved by Miss Roger seconded by Miss CH Excuse Me Miss

uh Byer any other discussions all in favor say I I any opposed use the same sign passes you iously thank you all thank you the next item on our agenda is an update from the DPS Boe lgbtqia task force while we are transitioning Dr Pac thank you for your service you will be missed and congratulations board members apologies um Dr Kelvin Bullock was originally scheduled to

present this item but he he must have been detained uh this evening and so uh I believe I am being pressed in the service glad that I've been attending uh the meetings uh um uh would share board members this this is um this report is intended to provide you with an update um on the work that uh this group has been doing um throughout um the year next slide so the Durham Public Schools uh Board of Education lgbtqia task force uh has was put in place to focus on strengthening and further developing uh the school district's uh lgbtqia uh plus and G supports policy

which was adopted on not December 8th 2022 and revised uh on January 12th 2023 and actually I believe revised again uh in December of 2023 after uh the passage of Senate Bill uh 49 it is the policy of the board to maintain a safe supportive School environment for lgbtqia individuals meaning lesbian gay bisexual transgender intersex asexual and other individuals with nonheterosexual nonbinary and gender non conforming identities some of the topic next slide some of the topics and responsibilities of the task force were to identify available resources and suggest strategies and tactics for curriculum uh recommend opportunities and prioritize topics for professional development and staff training and share logistical considerations and experiences regarding subjects such as

family student health school relations relationships bathroom accessibility and other policy uh implementation topics um in the meetings that I've been able to attend uh since I've been here that has been the majority of the work that this that this group has done there have been really um highlevel uh deep and meaningful conversations about each and every one of these kinds of topics um I think it's really important to note um that there is always a very a wide variety uh of members of the community that join us uh for those sessions ranging from again in the time that I've been here um meetings that were primarily attended by adult members of the community uh to include also um meetings that included u high school students um certainly several teachers many parents um and many uh parent uh regular uh I shouldn't say regular but um interested community members uh who

just came out because they were interested in this topic and the issues that we were covering as a part of this work so some of the topics and responsibilities continued task force uh was intended to be a learning organization and I I think it's safe to say that that has certainly been the case and that folks have provided each other with wisdom sharing experiences and exchanging information with District leaders uh the task force has engaged in team building to promote intersectionality awareness and inclusion uh provided feedback on information shared by the administration regarding opportunities and restraints in Implement implementing aspects of the lgbtqia and gender supports policy I think it's important to note here um we have really and I have really gained great insight as we work to implement Senate Bill 49 um from this group and I think there was uh appropriate uh sort of give and take if you will with this group as we thought about how we might Implement that policy and maintain our

alignment with the law while also uh maintaining and operating within the context uh of Durham's values and so this group has been really important for us um as we did um that work and continues uh to support us by providing information um that U different members of that group uh uh come across in their daily lives as as it relates to how uh Senate Bill 49 has impacted students and community members from around um Durham also had the opportunity to hear and respond to updates on the impact of state and federal legislation regulations Court rulings upon Durham Public Schools next slide uh this year uh the task force has participated in activities to promote team building uh reviewed and provide feedback on the DPS lgbtqia and gender supports policy uh completed uh lgbtqia

and gender supports policy SWAT analysis and I believe all of those items are linked um in this uh presentation for your review um reviewed lgbtq student resources uh from La unified and Long Beach Unified uh transgender and gender non-conforming student uh guides um and the purpose of of that review is to provide us with context as we begin to uh look at developing our own um resources for students uh um in the lgbtqia uh community of course we have discussed the impact of Senate Bill 49 on the implementation uh of the Duram Public Schools policy uh de developed and reviewed the lgbtqia liaison uh description and profile board members I'm excited to share that uh during the um recent administrative Retreat we were able to share um that uh description um and the feedback we've had uh with our

principles and advise them of the importance of both the policy and the importance of the timeliness of them uh naming lgbtqia uh Liaisons and uh we provided them um with a uh a do a Google doc so that they can begin naming those staff members um at their discretion and we've also reviewed Oakland Unified School District lgbtqia uh programs page and the Irvine Unified School District LGBT to qia Community page at our last meeting the uh the group uh worked together to develop a a a a few re recommendations for moving forward and those recommendations include fulfilling the original task force goal of revising the policy um and again we have done that U particularly in relation to uh Senate Bill 49 continuing to develop resources to

support the implementation of the policy uh my office is working on uh some additional implementation of the policy works and particularly the development of an infographic that we believe will be appropriate and useful for our students once we are able to get it finalized uh identifying liaison and creating ongoing training for liaison counselors um and social workers uh the office of equity Affairs has been charged at this point with developing uh the outline of training for the LGB btq I uh leaon we hope to have that training uh prepared and ready for review uh by various members of our community and to be prepared to provide that training uh for the aison as early as the uh pre-service School pre- service days at the beginning of next school this school year the coming school year and finally considering next step for work for the workforce work of the task force uh I believe u uh board member Chavez advised us that the the board of education has

decided that it will uh revisit uh the work of the task force in August and provide us with next steps uh at that time in terms of how we will move forward uh with this work at this time I'd be glad to uh do my very best to answer any questions that board members might have uh relative to the work of the lgbtqia testers thank you Dr King thank you for stepping right on in there um Miss Chavez want to begin and then I'll open the floor to other board members thank you Dr King um for stepping in right now and um also I just want to acknowledge your leadership stepping in um at while we were already uh wrestling with s sp49 and stepping right into that um and helping us to to navigate A Way Forward um I want to thank uh Dr Kelvin bu for all his leadership on this

and the trainings this task force um just the being present and um and really uh having very uh focused meaningful meetings throughout the year with our task force um community and I also want to thank Nicolo roodi um thank you so much for being that facilitator from the community and um and bringing some fresh perspectives to our work um and thank you so much to all the community members who participated in this who showed up and um gave up your you know your time your shared your insights your experiences um at times things that were vulnerable and especially to our students who came um so want to say all that um I don't have a lot more to add I don't think I have questions I'm very glad to hear about the work moving forward with

the lisons um with the principles I think that's great my my hope is that every school has a lison in place um at this at the start of the school year so we can have that support for our students um right away um as they um begin the the the new school year um I also just want to say that this this this work as I've been thinking about it lately um it's sometimes it feels like um a little bit apart from our strategic plan because we don't have a strategic plan goal that is specifically about this uh about lgbtqia work um we have some strategies related to um our lgbtqia work I think in our strategic plan um but one of the things that um is can be challenging with this is that we don't have um we don't collect

demographic data the way we do with other identifiers like race gender uh so socioeconomic um status um elll status Etc so um we there are um there are times when it's hard to get that hard data about the what impact this uh this makes on our students um so I want to acknowledge that but I also want to also say that this uh this is about improving student outcomes um and this is about helping our students stay connected to school so that they can learn and um they need that safe space in order to do that um so this really does come back to um our our work to um to improve um academic outcomes and to support the whole child so um so yeah again I just thank everyone I do think the you know the board will look at all that we have going on and um and see the best way

forward um I do think you know s sp49 threw us a bit of a curveball um this year but um but we I'm I'm proud of the work that we that we have done to just strengthen even you know in the face of that really strengthen our support um for lgbtqa uh students and and staff and families um and and um and bring more awareness uh to these issues thank you I I would add we did make very clear to principles that it is actually our expectation um that all schools will have a liaison named before school starts or or immediately immediately thereafter uh this year so we we anticipate that that will happen this year thank you so much for that clarification this so I want to thank Miss Chávez for um her leadership in this space and and the heart that she um brought to that

leadership and also Dr bulock and Nicolo roodi as well for their facilitation which was expert um these were challenging conversations and um places where you know we passed policy but it didn't also come with a magic wand or any resources to support uh the transformation and continued ongoing work to make every school equally inclusive and safe and supportive um and that's our charge right um so we've gotten a handful of emails asking us to support these recommendations I know that this board is unanimous in their support for these recommendations of the task force and also appreciative of every person that that shared in that space I just also dream of what more we can do and and some of the questions I have is how we can build a more robust website presidence that would you know

share which schools has qsas and gsas who who might be those Liaisons or how they can folks can access those Liaisons um and then the familes asked for if there is a challenge that has not been able to be solved at the school level kind of who is that District level contact for concerns that that sometimes get complicated and need um special sensitivity um so if we can kind of think through kind of how to do that I hope that we can continue to think about our gendered practices in schools and classrooms and continuing PD for our staff um our school buses and how we still sometimes eat by gender our classrooms sometimes where we pull students apart the way we talk kings and queens sometimes and how we have actual space that we create that is inclusive in in every way um and I

know that our our teachers and our academic staff will continue to help us wrestle through those things um in the coming months and and years and we look forward to like sharing best practices at principal meetings so that schools that have um great initiatives to going at their schools can share those with their colleagues um but I'm so appreciative of the work that that folks have put in and the voices that they've brought um thank you I'd just like to respond to a a couple of those items one of the things that I do want to share is that probably one of the most robust conversations that we've had in the group uh is trying to find that space the the the the right balance in terms of how much we publ size about what clubs exist in schools and who uh the Liaisons are with trying to maintain um um the appropriate level of confidentiality uh so that those folks don't face um un un un inappropriate uh

kind of retributive actions from folks who might seek to uh engage in that kind of behavior so I just would want to share that that has been a conversation a couple of times um in the context of the of the group and I don't think we've really landed um on the answer to that yet but it has been something that we that we've tossed around um a couple of times and I think that the group will probably that will probably one of the things that we continue to talk about is kind of where that where that safe space is um as to the issue of who to reach out to if things um aren't resolved around issues couple of things that I I would want to note there one of the things that we have tried to make sure to express to our principles yesterday is the importance recognizing um that um policy 1735 is in fact policy it is not um choice-based right um that they carry responsibility as it relates uh to responding to issues that emerge um relative uh to to these

kinds of issues and uh I I Tred to share quite clearly with them that it was our expectation as a school district that when these issues um arise um they would be resolved based on the policy but as always if a parent um uh of a student in a school does not feel like an issue that they raise is resolved uh the appropriate Next Step will be to reach out to the principal supervisor who works with that school and if the uh issue is not resolved uh at that point uh I would be the next step uh in that process and we're certainly glad to uh respond uh to any parents who who feel like they need to uh have issues addressed from that perspective thank you C thanks so much for all of this um Dr King the work sounds um excellent and I um just a couple additional things

um is I think that um well it's a critical step to have a liaison at every school and I think so important that we're doing that and I'm grateful for the work towards that um to and for that person to serve in a role where they're able to provide support and resources when needed and be like a key you know Point person I think also we need to keep moving towards every staff member in that school being a safe supportive person for um for all students regardless of race ethnicity ability sex ual orientation or gender so I think um both and so as we're doing trainings um that we as well we might start with those that maybe the principal level or those liaison level that we continue to expand those trainings like counselors and social workers as you mentioned in the slides or as were mentioned in the slides but also to all of the staff serving all of our kids in our schools for

this thank you I have a few comments just thank you all to you Dr King and your team and all the folks who've been working on this um I think it's been really powerful for people to have a place to ask questions share feedback and then also know that some things are there are recommendations that the board is excited to take from the work that they've done together over the year um I agree Miss Chávez I had a note wanting to make sure that um that LE liazon is working with admin to build capacity at the school level and it doesn't become the liaison is the only person that can have any conversation around lgbtqia at the school level um that feels really important to me um and then I think also we've talked a lot about this with at our school sites but I also wonder where our other work sites that may not have students coming in and out is there also opportunities to make sure there's Affinity groups and point persons um as well and that are members of the lgbtqia

community so we want to make sure our students have supports that they need but our staff also feel like this is a community where they can Thrive um I also look forward to the one pager that you all reviewed a couple of other places I think it really does take our policy and make it simple and easy to digest I could see it being up in so many offices so I can just easily reference it and parents can also easily reference that I think it's going to be really important for them to know what their options are um maybe it's a link on our website or in that kind of um student handbook or materials that people get so all parents know um what the policy is and how to access it and who the right people are but thank you all again I would just note that uh the policy is quite extensive and so the uh the the the process of creating a one pager has been quite challenging uh but uh but we haven't given up on it and um uh we have been working on that actually with um uh Dr. Jovonia Lewis and her team and

so we hope to have that prepared and ready to go uh quite it's a couple pages I think some might be hard to get in the one page format but I appreciate the work y'all are doing to move it there couple of pages about about 10 point font might need to be a really big poster one Pat any other comments or questions board members all right this is an update for information so we look forward to hearing more about um the next steps in upcoming meeting thank you Dr King thank you awesome I have the next item around discipline pla practice review and revision update I think so thank you very much uh board members I'm excited tonight to uh share with you some of our thinking around this as an issue board memb several uh meetings ago uh you expressed uh to the administration uh your desire to have us uh revisit uh our uh discipline policies

and practices uh with with a particular emphasis on a couple of a couple of areas uh particularly uh you asked us to think about how we might uh put in place a process uh to review and revisit and revise um our existing discipline policies uh you also asked us to think about how we might deepen our implementation of restorative practices our implementation and Fidelity uh to restorative practices in all of our schools and how we might uh reduce suspensions generally and significantly um in grades pre through three with frankly an emphasis on preparing uh to possibly eliminate the practice of suspensions uh of students in grades um prek through three and so uh following uh that directive I pulled together um our team of principal supervisors and

began a process of discussing how we might move forward um around um that issue um and to that end uh that group uh in collaboration with myself and also in collaboration uh with our department of student Support Services uh have put together um what we believe is uh a pretty good start to a plan for how we might move forward in that direction I want to be clear that what we've done is put together um a plan that identifies a series series of strategies that we believe uh taken together uh will move us uh close to the end that you have identified to for us uh specifically we have identified and actually let me have you move two slides forward we have broken those slides into two uh different categor slides those strategies in the two different categories the first set of Cate uh the first category is strategies that we can Implement immediately uh with existing

uh resources things that we can do beginning tomorrow right and I'd like to spend a few minutes and share some of those uh with you so there are four of those um specific strategies uh I'll go through them first all together and then I'll share uh each each strategy and the action steps that we will be taking uh to implement those strategies uh first every dur Public Schools will every dur Public Schools will set a school specific goal to reduce overall suspension in line with strategic plan goal 2B which addresses suspensions for specific uh categories of students that will be integrated into the school Improvement plan it's a little bit different than what we've done before um this will be a specific plan a a specific goal for each School based on where that school is now and where we want that school to move to um in the near future uh we will be also reviewing and updating the tiered support model to

offer customized support and learning opportunities the tiered support model is a structure that has been created by our department of student Support Services it teers our schools based on where that school is based on a number of different factors all of which are related to student support P pieces including issues like the teacher working condition surveys whether or not that school is increasing or decreasing the number of suspensions that it has imposed over the last few years they about eight indicators and schools are tiered based on where they fall out on those indicators based on where schools fall out on those indicators that then drives the level of supports that the department of student Support Services provide to those schools and those supports include some that are required uh depending on where schools lay out as well as some supports that schools can choose uh uh to engage in and I'll be glad to share that with you all at a later date uh but we are uh working with

the Department of of student Support Services to to revise that process uh so that it will provide us additional opportunity to provide custom out support and learning opportunities for our for our schools we also want to verify the coding reporting timeliness and descriptions of reported infractions in Educators handbook uh Power School and make sure that they align with DPS and DPI guidelines to make that make sense we want to make sure very often we find that when when teachers possibly write up an an infraction uh that that that infraction might be coded differently than it maybe should be coded U basically a teacher writes up a a a disciplinary report and describes Behavior Uh and then someone in uh the um the school has to code that disciplinary referral we want to make sure that coding is done correctly that coding then is verified again um at the district level before we report that data to the state so uh this strategy is

about making sure that all of that coding is done correctly and I hope by the time I'm done it'll make sense why we want to make sure that coding is done correctly and then we want to develop standardized districtwide procedures and guidelines uh for short-term suspensions so next slide please so in terms of uh the school specific goal to reduce overall suspensions the access the propos action steps for that are to assess School Improvement plans for inclusion of goals of course we want to check to make sure everybody uh completes that task uh then we want to we intend to allocate time during each principal meeting monthly to analyze monthly school suspension data um we know that we collect suspension data uh over the last few years uh years ago the district was was in a um in the habit um of reviewing that data analyzing that data data collectively uh that hadn't happened in the last couple of years and so we want to return to

that process uh the principal supervisors and myself have committed to setting aside time in each principal meeting to address that uh to share that data and make sure there's time spent analyzing uh what is going on in each school as it relates to suspensions we want also want to incorporate updates on suspensions in suspension data in quarterly data meetings we are returning to a practice of quarterly data meetings next year so that means that orderly we will be speaking uh with principles about the activities going on in their schools during that process we will be looking at any trends that are emerging as it relates to suspensions in that school we'll report on and and and speak with principles and talk with principles about what those Trends are why they believe those Trends exist and what actions they are taking to arrest uh any trends that are moving in the the wrong direction uh based on what our goals um are as it relates to that we also want to conduct training on the shared cultural framework indicators rubric uh for cultural Frameworks andal

curriculums we have asked all of our schools uh to pick um uh a cultural framework and an seal curriculum we want to make sure that all of our schools uh have done that to Fidelity and make sure uh that they are receiving the appropriate amount of training around that and most importantly we want to make sure uh that folks are attending all of those trainings that are being provided for our staff members uh and then we want to execute implementation of each school's collected uh cultural framework andal curriculum with continual monitoring for Fidelity so rather than just saying uh that is a that a school is doing that work we want to make sure we are engaging in a process to make sure uh that the tenants of those programs are being followed actively in each School uh on a daily basis um the responsible party for that work will be school leadership teams that uh those will that work will be done mostly by the teams at the school principles and assistant principles and student support folk uh in our in our

schools and then that work will be monitored by the school Improvement teams at the schools as well as the district leadership team and the district leadership team means myself and the principal supervisors next slide review and update the tiered support model to offer customized support and learning opportunities so the proposed action steps there are to revise School tiers in the tiered support model based on 2023 2024 data outcomes we do have those tiers for this year we will be revising uh those tiers we anticipate that that tiering will be complete um by July 30th that will allow us to go ahead and put the schools in the appropriate tiers and then begin to arrange personalized professional development for our schools based on where schools fall out in terms of their placement in the tiered model we then want to plan and conduct School culture and climate learning walks in each School based on the school's placement on those uh tiered support models so

depending on where a school falls on that model that will determine how often we do uh School culture and climate learning walks those are activities where we have a team of Staff members who are well trained around these issues go into schools and look to make sure that those schools are implementing uh their school social their school cultural framework and using seal um their programs as they have been designed those schools that are doing very well in that regard will receive fewer um of those um of those um School culture and climate learning walks but every school will receive at least one each year and probably most school will will receive at least two uh the responsible staff for this again is the school leadership teams uh principls and administ ators at the schools and this work will also be uh monitored by school Improvement teams and the district leadership team next slide

please verify the coding and Reporting Tim timeliness and descriptions of reported infractions in educator handbook power school and aligned with DPS and DPI guidelines so there is a position in our district and that person's responsibility in the past um has been to make sure that this coding was done correct uh correctly um we have had some turnover in that position over the last few years and in speaking with uh principal supervisors we are not sure that that position and some of that work has not kind of falling by the wayside um since we've had uh kind of that turnover not sure about what training that particular staff member has had and whether or not just one of those positions frankly um is enough to do that work so we plan to CL clarify those duties and make sure that the person in that position um is well prepared to do the work that that calls for we also plan to create standard operating procedures for reporting and reviewing discipline issues across the district

this is a a particularly uh important issue and I'll speak to that a little bit later later and then we want to deliver annual training to building administrators on the educator handbook Educators handbook is the program that we use to enter discipline infractions and track data as it relates uh to uh infractions that students have uh engaged in and we also use it to track uh administrative responses um to uh to student infractions so the reason we want to talk about creating standard operating procedures for reporting and reviewing discipline issues is that one of the things that we did during the Leadership Retreat uh last week was we shared with our principles as as one of the first steps in getting feedback around our discipline policies we shared with principles all of our discipline policies uh we also shared with them um our discipline Behavior our Behavior matrices um and ask them to do um a SWAT analysis of those and I will share

copies of that uh with each one of you for your review but in doing that we we learned some interesting things um and one of the probably the most interesting thing that we learned was that while there was the Assumption uh that all of our administrators were world well-versed in those documents and were using them to drive their responses to behavior um behavioral infractions by students uh we learned that a number of our administrators had not had access to that document many of our younger administrators uh were not using it did not know that it existed and so uh it becomes clear to us that it's really important for us to have some standard operating procedures um and make sure that our administrators have access to to those documents um and that they are aware that it is our expectation that they would be using them to drive responses um and and and dictate their responses to student Behavior Uh and so that was a a really interesting learning

for us um and I do want to give uh credit to uh um our new uh assistant superintendent for high schools um Dr William Logan who suggested that activity because he had a sense that that might be the case and um his his suspicion proved absolutely true and so that's something that we know we we need to work uh towards um immediately and have already begun that work finally we want to develop standardized districtwide procedures and guidelines for shortterm shortterm suspensions and and this is where we think um the the the leather will really kind of Meet the road if you will first action step is make principal supervisor consultation mandatory for all suspensions of prek through three students beginning immediately next school year we will also create a protocol for those principal supervisor consultations that means there will be a series of questions that principles will have to

respond to uh before they will be allowed to impose suspensions for students in grades prek through three in each instance those questions will include you know what um what was the infraction what kinds of additional uh resp responses have you provided for this stud for this student um has the parents been engaged those kinds of basic questions we'll want to uh uh ask those questions and we actually intend to track that data um the responses to that and and then we will use um that data uh to help us drive the development of professional development to support both students and administrators in terms of the work that we need them to do going forward also would like to set guidelines that mandate the use of restorative consequences before opting for out of school suspensions for all expense all offenses except those mandated by law and or policy and by those that would be those limited to those that generally involve the um use

or possession um of weapons right and so for virtually every other uh infraction we will want to make it clear that it is our expectation as a district uh that our school level administrators will seek restorative uh responses um before uh resorting to out of school suspension we also want to promptly review and clarify the existing discipline Matrix as I said we started that process uh this week uh with I think really important results mandate re-entry meetings with counselors or restorative practices coordinators for suspended students so in other words we want to make sure that there is a conversation with students about the infraction that they engaged in in in is where they are suspended from school we want to make sure there is a process for welcoming those students back to school making sure those students has had uh the opportunity to do some deep thinking about the behavior that was involved um and hopefully that will help us begin to move forward in terms of helping

students revise um and adjust behavior and then develop a pro protocol for conducting post suspension re-entry meetings obviously we don't want those conversations to be kind of willy-nilly we want them to be uh intentional and purposeful and we want to make sure that they are consistent across the district and then finally require the use of the restorative practices questions protocol during all administrative disciplinary um discussions I'm not sure if you all have ever seen that but it's a series of four or five questions uh that in restorative settings uh folks tend to ask students ask students to think about the behavior think about who was impacted Behavior what were they doing what were they thinking at that time who their behavior harmed and how they would operate differently if given another chance to think about that behavior uh so the responsible staff there will be school leadership teams again and that work will also be uh monitored by school Improvement teams and the district leadership team next Slide the next two strategies and there

are only two of them at this time are strategies that will require additional resources including but not limited to funding professional development and Specialized Staffing those two strategies are to ensure that every school has the necessary student support Staffing including but not limited to assistant principles counselors restorative practices coordinators and social workers to provide support to students and offer appropriate alternatives to suspension and utilize data gathered from Educators handbook entries and the principal supervisor suspension protocol to identify needed specialized training for all School Personnel next slide uh in in terms of ensuring that every school has the necessary uh student support Staffing um included but not limited to assistant principles counselors restora their practice coordinators this is the piece that we've mentioned to you a couple of times

unfortunately due to the end of Esser funding um frankly and due to some some changes we have had to make in terms of our staffing protocols and allotments many of our schools have lost uh access to a number of positions that I would characterize as uh folks who work on the affective side of our work and it's really critical for us as we begin to move towards uh an expectation that we limit and even eliminate suspensions that we place our schools in a position to be able to respond to student Behavior appropriately um and have within their Bailey Wick uh some alternatives to suspension and so we want to identify the minimum Staffing requirements for those student support uh systems by communicating with our principles and administrators about what they feel like they need then we will want to review and update our district position allotment formulas to meet those minimum Staffing requirements for instance we have

schools going into next year that might have that might have traditionally or in the last few years had two assistant principles they might now have one and a half might have had two counselors they might now um only have one they may have had a full-time uh um school um School social worker they now may be sharing a school support worker so we want to look at and make sure we are clear about what the appropriate minimums need to be for all of those positions uh that support students and then make the necessary adjustments to make sure that our uh Staffing allocations provide our schools with those minimums um that will obviously require uh uh some effort on the part of the board and likely even the development of a budget proposal because we will need to identify additional dollars to reestablish those positions that again um were lost largely as a result of both the end of

Esser funding and um adjustments to our to our allotment um formulas uh that we're doing this year in order to get our uh Financial house in order so that's going to be a particularly important piece um and that we're we're going to begin that work immediately I can tell you that um based on some of the changes that we've made already principles are are certainly already speaking to us about what they believe those minimum needs are um and certainly asking for us to provide them with additional support we are working as hard as we can to find ways to do that but unfortunately at this moment we are a bit Limited in in our ability to respond to that and then finally uh we want to utilize the data gathered from the Educator's handbook entries and the principal supervisor suspension protocols to identify needed specialized training uh for all School support personnel and there we will certainly need to identify funding uh to provide that training and we'll also want to be able to have funding and identify

potential service providers who can provide us with access to the kind of training that we may need to provide in instances where the school district doesn't uh currently have the capacity to provide that training um at this time and so that will be a growth point for us and um hopefully you will you understand there why these are items that will require additional funding um in addition board members at this time I'd be glad to answer any questions hear um any responses uh to what we have shared um and receive any guidance in terms of what you would like to see us do moving forward I would again share this is the beginning of our work we think it is really critical um that this work uh begin with and be grounded around the work of our principles as they are the folks um who are the most connected to this work we want to make sure they are engaged uh in this process so that there is a sense that they have been engaged and involved uh in this work and rather

than rather than it being something that has been done to them um going forward um and and again want to be you know really responsive to their concerns um particularly relative to the loss of Staffing that they are having to uh deal with going forward be glad to hear your questions at this time thank you Dr King it was a robust presentation with a lots of action steps I appreciate how quickly y'all have put a lot of the things that the board has requested into action starting at leadership uh Retreat this week for members any questions comments Miss Chávez thank you so much for this um this is really this is really great work I appreciate um your leadership the um Dr Logan principal supervisors and all the principles in their collaboration thank you so much um so a few questions um can you share a

little bit more I think maybe I missed one of your examples about the eight key indicators that determine the tier um for in the tier tiered support model yeah you're going to make me try to name those eight okay some examples but just to give us a better idea yeah so some of those indicators would be again uh suspension trends like um whether or not schools are that school is reducing suspensions currently or suspensions are increasing um whether or not that school has implemented um based on our um EXP expectations a um social emotional learning curriculum um whether or not that school has implemented its identified and selected um cultural framework um that would ALS that also includes a review of each the school's uh teacher working condition survey and a number of um of additional items I can

share a copy of that um with the board I I did not bring that with me this evening thank you that's helpful though I would love to see a copy of it and um that's also um really helpful I let's see um I appreciate the um uh your uh work to return to a practice of quarterly data meetings I think um keeping eyes on this data will be really important and so I'm um excited to hear about that happening um and the also continual monitoring for Fidelity um around the implementation of theal and cultural Frameworks um I think that um it's one thing to to implement something it's another thing to have uh to have checkpoints and make sure um it's continuing to be effective in the ways that we need it to be um another question is um around the

minimum Staffing requirements are those at first I thought you were referring to um uh some predetermined Staffing requirements but are you talking about a requirement um that is being developed in concert with the principles right now yes I think that's a a local determination based on what we are looking to do again um if we are going to move towards the elimination of of out of school suspension we're going to need to have specific options that princip can turn to to respond to um to behavior and we're going to likely have to develop those options right and so that will likely require some Specialized Staffing and training and so that's what we're speaking and if I could and if I could just breathe um out loud into like a specific example there um which you've actually heard me say before it's shown up on a slide before um resor of practices coordinators were

funded for secondary schools but not for elementary schools and that is one of the areas where some schools uh chose to U use some Esser funds to create that position or they may have done it with some sort of a conversion or something along those lines both of which are not available for the beginning of the next school year um and not every school chose to do that and then other schools may have had a full-time social worker or they may have you know I ran across something called the Student Success coach somewhere that you know was like a I couldn't tell it was it like a cross between a counselor and a parole officer or something along those lines that was was really about keeping kids in class and in school and so um so as as principles come together and start talking about all these different things that they used or did when they were funds available um they now have an opportunity to work together to determine what could a baseline look like for their schools and what are the resources that are required to achieve it whether it is moving additional

moving current resources in different ways or creating new resources um and the training and so forth and having principles be a part of that discussion and developing that protocol is critical to the success of the work moving forward um I think uh I think it is you know and I'll give you another example would be you know asking principles and schools to use their data to Now set goals within their school Improvement plan School Improvement plan is something that an entire faculty and staff take a look at and and so by putting it putting some of this work there you're guaranteeing that everybody is seeing it and that they are invested and engaged and you have a leadership team already at the school um working on this and and when you understand the research that goes along with um being present and in the classroom as being one of the strongest predictors for academic success and obviously that can't happen when a student is not in the classroom because they're out on OSS or disciplinary consequence you can can

see the connection to academic gains for students which is the work of a school Improvement team um uh and how this the discipline Works into that as well so um I I think it is there's a lot in here um that we're asking schools to do and and I would say to you I think it it is the right work thank you for um for um sharing a little bit more about that um the and our drive toward consistency across the district um I have a few more um comments um feel free to they're just kind of ideas um so um you can respond as as you deem appropriate one is I'm wondering as we move toward eliminating suspension out of school suspension for uh K through three if we will will need

to create more or different spaces for those students who need that specialized support um there are severe behaviors problematic behaviors um in our in some of our younger students and um and like you you said just now and um also in our last conversation creating those robust sort of structures to uh respond to those will be critical so I'm interested to see if um space wise something will need to be done um to um to really um keep those students in school but um you know to keep them from also impacting negatively other students while they um have this sort of uh restorative process happening um and then I'm also interested in how we deal with ongoing um misbehavior like bullying behaviors um or even

um for some of our um older students uh like dating abuse and that kind of thing something we don't necessarily talk about a lot but um some of these behaviors are repetitive and um and and so um I'll I'll just be interested to see how we with a deepening um kind of restorative lens how we respond to that now I know our principles are responding to to bullying now um but if there are more systematic ways and then also if what will come out of this is um is more consistent um thresholds for when students are referred for mental health support um depending on you know what um behaviors are are um our educators are seeing so thank you Mr Rogers

I don't have any questions today but I want to thank y'all for um doing this work and make sure you take back to the principles that we are really grateful for their flexibility and their understanding of um and being Forward Thinking about the work that we would like to see happening in dur public schools around student suspension I really appreciate the way um these slides were presented addressing adult behaviors separate from our students that are being suspended because it is up to us to change our behaviors so that we can see change in our students behaviors um I look forward to seeing that some of the indicators that this is working um and I hope that my colleagues are equally excited about hearing from Administration and AD uh principes and

um counselors and restorative practice coordinators about when there needs to be a shift if this is not working and how we can support that work um as a board so but thank you so much for being flexible bringing this back to us so quickly and um being responsive and I just want to thank you for for for that comment I can tell you that uh when we shared this notion in in the room quite a hush fell over it this is a lot to ask um for principles um unfortunately you know because of the way we are often trained um sometimes exclusionary um um responses to inappropriate behavior are almost second nature to us and so it is quite a lot to ask of principles uh to move away from that practice and so I I appreciate your recognition um that that's a big deal for them and and your recognition that they are making an effort to do this

that's that's really important thank you Miss C ofen thank you thank you thank you this is great work and um yeah my first question was what do school leaders think about these plans so it sounds like you have kind you've you've answered a bit of that but do you want to say anything else about any initial reactions that you've received given that this is adding a lot to their plates so let me say that what we shared with them initially were those three broad expectations wanted to share this plan with this board um before sharing um that this specific plan uh with principal so that will be a next step um I can say that again like I said it's uh it's quite an ask nobody jumped up and ran out of the room um but but um I did see some eyes widen a little bit and and and had some really um good conversations with principles over um hot dogs and cookies during lunches um

after having these these conversations so um I think our principles recognize um and understand one of the statements that I make that I made to principles is that the the thing that we all know as it as administrators unequivocally and without question is that suspension is an ineffective response to student Behavior nobody debates that um but it's like what one of my professors used to say in um when I was in a PhD program he said um we all know that hierarchy is terrible we just haven't ever found a better way to run organizations and so I think that's the same case with suspensions we we know it does not work uh but in most instances we just haven't done the work to find better ways to respond um but I but I'm excited to say that I think our principles are are on board um with this work uh they respect the fact that uh that the board is serious about this U as as a direction um and um and like I

said none of them jumped up and ran out of the room we didn't receive any resignations today so I think they're on board so far that that all sounds great and thanks for your willingness to have those difficult conversations and to them for willingness to engage in this work I um I'm curious to know if there's a way that we can put or what you might already have in mind as far as a feedback mechanism for School leaders to be able to share how things are going and then to expand that also to school staff since those classroom teachers are probably going to be um some of the most impacted by what we're doing and then families like how is everybody so what are you thinking about that type of um how we're going to learn and grow from that feedback we're receiving so I think that's something that we can work with our um research and accountability staff around I know that you know the the the data meeting will be um a mechanism where we can receive that feedback directly from principles and certainly they'll convey some of what their teachers are telling them but if we want to do that a little bit more formally um

we'll probably have to do some thinking about that and um we certainly will do that um that sounds great and then I just have a couple more questions um one is I look forward to hearing more about how this is going um as things progress um from your perspective with what frequency should the board expect to receive updates on on um the work but also the like any metrics that you all determine are predictive of our ultimate metric of reducing the suspensions so I think um as as a district leadership team we we are open to hearing from the board uh what kind of cadence you would like and we will certainly make every effort to respond um and and provide that information to you um on that Cadence I I would imagine maybe something quarterly um hopefully something that will we we we we share discipline data um monthly um with

principles but it it is not verified at that point so I would imagine doing something quarterly might be appropriate because that would allow us to have some Trend data rather than kind of just you know one month at a time so that would be what feels like it makes sense to me but we'd certainly be open to to hearing what the board would like that's helpful to hear and it was nicely into my last question for you which is is there additional guidance that you want or need from the board at this time to allow you to move forward with the work that you're doing just just anything you would share we're W we're open for suggestions um I would say that I think um I think whether you have something now or you think about this and it's a processing issue if there are places where there is a gap or an additional thought that comes to you um please share that so that we can incorporate it into our work moving forward

um I think that one of the things that's really important here is to find that um Sweet Spot between where the board is aligned that will eventually impact policy and how those folks that are on the ground classroom teachers and principls and school school system staff um understand what the will of the board is and how then we can work together to achieve those goals on behalf of students and so engaging all of those stakeholders is just really important um I I would say that there's a there's a piece that maybe hasn't been mentioned which is how we might want to talk to students about how they are impacted by these changes and and what they look like um so that may be something else that we can sort of throw on there because I mean they're the they're the customer right so to speak here and the greatest impacted so miss

P so I so much appreciate this report and and the details in response to our shared goals along with Administration to be a more just and inclusive District um I guess I want our our principal leaders to hear that what we're asking is what would you need in order to do this not that the board is going to to force this quickly and and you know while it is our shared Vision we need to know what would it need to make you know to to have the resources in place to support these students in the ways that we want to support them and so um I look forward to kind of their feedback their voice sharing that with us there there is one area where I think some some Fe back from the board would be very helpful and that is you know we're in talking about revisions to the discipline policy um in perfect worlds

those revisions are proposed in the spring and are ready for implementation for the next school year however you can make changes to discipline policies midy year if you need to you just in either way whenever you do it you got to have a Cadence um around you know when it is that you want it so so do you have a sense as a board of when you want to see revisions to policy itself that's reasonable sorry caveat I thought I'd add that real quick not tomorrow miss Rogers thank you for that question Miss Moore I think colleagues I'd like to give this um um six months or so to get started and see some feedback um I'd like to hear recommendations before we get to the superintendent's budget in case there

are some staffing needs of administration um in regards to a policy revision and so that gives them some time to collect the data around their needs and perhaps set up a mechanism to hear from students um and we can inform our budget about that request so but I'm open to whatever it is that y'all want So when you say six months Miss Rogers you think in December or you think in Jan like a end of the semester January whatever fits best for the superintendent's budget requests I wouldn't want to lock Us in right now what I mean staff could be it could be doing du working on them dually yeah yeah it could be December I'm I'm going to say by November December you would want to have um policy changes that would impact um potentially resources and and and one of the things you have to be careful about too is I mean do you

put something in policy that's not resourced right so I'm thinking out loud now so that's dangerous um yeah so I think um and you want a few months to kind of see how the pieces that we're putting in place here work too so I now have no answer for you yeah um I've got thoughts I'm just build on that it sounds like you're talking about two things here though one is the budget allocation which goes back to the allotments and the principles sharing what their need is so that could be done by the time the budget comes around but then the policy could still be looked at March April time frame given into the spring to what you want to start and put in place for next year Miss shabas uh I would I would I was thinking October to

December so can you can you share a little bit what October meaning and what do you mean December what I'm going to elaborate don't worry um I I was thinking um perhaps we have a draft of a policy by October and finalize something by December um I think absolutely talking to students would be great and also I like the idea of quarterly data um I I think we could um any we could work on this um in any way that makes sense but I think um I and other board members have ideas about how to shape the policy and I am glad we're getting this input from um from principles and um so that this can truly be a collaborative process um but that would be my thinking I would love to have something by the end of the year in

place so I'm sorry so you would like policy to change in December is that how did I hear that right yes without resources well we don't know that we don't have resources and also what they're working on is building out those structures um so that there can be alternatives to suspension for instance for um out of school suspension for K through three um but I think we need to look at that question around resources um and we need to also think about what our what our vision is um and yeah we need to have conversations about all of those things no I I think that's aspirational and I appreciate your aspiration I think as part of any policy revision I would hope that our draft would actually go back to principles for their feedback

like that that would be worked into any step um as well as as actually robustly looking at what systems that we need to set up and I am we we're getting to the some budget and operational updates that I think an allotment manual kind of changes that I think Dr King has alluded to those changes but I think our schools are going to feel those losses really profoundly um this year and so I I want us to be gentle and thoughtful and Visionary at the same time and all the way so um I like you setting that aspirational timeline but also hoping to have the flexibility if we hear differently from our our school leaders well and I think there'll be a a a settling period as well where folks will feel like things are going to be particularly difficult early on and they'll find you know some answers to

some of those questions which might impact what we eventually what we need to do in the long term um that might make you know going a little longer than October um make make a bit of sense um because you know I would anticipate that um August and September will be pretty challenging months without some of those some of those staff members but but but educators will find ways to make adjustments um in that period and so we want to give them some time to make those adjustments um and then you know um think through that process rather than having kind of a snap judgment if if that makes sense at all and I do want to just back up to um your comment um Miss Beyer about the importance of um hearing from principles that is the way that I tried to frame this to them I shared with them what the board's expectation was U but but made clear that I thought the work for

principles um and administrators was about um informing um this board as the decision makers of about what they need in order to be able to achieve what you are asking them to achieve and I think principles receive that well miss Liss do you have any more comments on [Music] timeline oh okay I I'll just add my thoughts on timeline I think from my experience anytime you implement uh initiative around reducing sometimes you see especially with us removing staff you might see some in increase before you see the decrease and so I'm curious to know what that first semester kind of looks like like if we see something kind of up and go back down I'm G talk a lot and then I hopefully I Circle it back all together so I'm interested in seeing that Trend data and the lovely calendar law puts the end of the semester in January which feels like a good clean end of the year

but I'm also we know I think there's probably already recommendations I'm sure that principales have around Staffing um and what they would what's maybe not going to be there next year and they want to see next year so I'm wondering if you can start even working on those recommendations around what people would like to see Staffing wise because if that's going to go in a superintendent's budget in January and the Board needs to adopt that budget and we need to be asking our County Commissioners for it that request needs to support whatever policy recommendations we might make for those principles so just cycled it all the way through so if I'm thinking about and I'm wondering if some of this can be working in parallel with each other that we are looking at the data there's a report out in excuse me first semester while we're reviewing the data we're also thinking about recommendations for Staffing for the budget and then I think the board will need to be making some decisions we do policy revisions to start um in December or January are we

comfortable putting in these new policy revisions not sure about where our staffing might be in the fall based on what we're learning right I think we could looking at my colleagues faces they're still pondering but I'm wondering if we have these things going at the same time it gives us a decision point in January or in December maybe but we would need to I'm curious about the idea of passing policy and not knowing if we have the right supports in place yet so that's where I'm struggling with that the time the right timeline anyway that's my rambling um so I didn't hear um Miss L you you no more comments on timeline right timeline okay but I do want to like we all said something a little different so we do need to get some clarity on this point um did you have something else Mr Rogers oh yes all right hearing a number of things around

timelines not necessarily alignments but lots of ideas not not lack of alignment either there just lots of ideas right um and so I think what I may want to propose is rather than trying to Hash that out right now maybe that be something that we bring to you um at the first August work session a proposal for a timeline around this work that acknowledges both the streams of resources and potential budget asks or reallocation of existing resources as well as policy changes which there may be some intersectionality in some places but there may be an ability to run them separate as well so um and we we could bring you a proposal on that unless somebody else would like to take the lead and land on something I I appreciate that proposal I was going to keep trying to move us toward somewhere but that proposal helps um is that Miss car in response that

sounds great thank you I'm want it's I wanted to clarify what I'm hearing is needed from us too which is to um let you all know what Cadence we want for the data reporting so if we're relying on the data to be making decisions then we need to kind of get together think about that and let you know what data we'd like to see and um at what time points and propose that be ready to propose that to you to reflect on and let us know if it's possible is that right I believe so um Dr King has mentioned perhaps quarterly since that is the Cadence that we are using with our schools as well and perhaps there there is a for for economy quite frankly of the work and consistency in the work and messaging perhaps a version of what we're giving to and working with with principles is the version that the board gets as well at a higher level I was going to ask if if we get that data quarterly I think if that is okay with you it looks like the board getting that quarterly when is first quarter in do keing so time timeline wise what I'm sorry I'm asking that

question on the spot yeah end of October so we're looking at early November probably getting that data and then second quarter February because January y 37 years of useless calendar law in my head law gotta love it Miss Rogers and then miss Byer um I just want to comment on the Cadence I want to give yall it colleagues would y'all be open to giving it min ation an opportunity to um digest the data and share out how they're pivoting if they need to Pivot before they gave us the um updates quarterly so we'd get we'd still get them four times a year and it'd be more like a board presentation not early November but late November not early February but in the B

board monthly meeting so that they can say okay these they cannot just get the data and dis agregate it but they can also Garner a response from principls about what they want to change so we we aren't sort of flying by the seat of our pants and making recommendations on a shift they're saying these are the trends we're seeing and this is the shift we're making that's a question would you be open to it I think I'm open to personally giving Administration the time they need to bring us not just the data but what they're learned from the data and what they're doing differently so that is completely okay with me I think I I wanted to note the quarterly just so we're not we're we are also clear around when quarterly looks like for the district which is might be a little differently than our kind of year quarterly uh Cad and I go toire I was just gonna say we can I think we can establish quarterly and

then when quarterly begins we can have some flexibility on with taking a look at how that data comes in and what we're what we're seeing so you know end of the quarter is around the end of October it might be a an a first December or a 2nd November I guess depending on how you guys haven't been I won't be here for November meeting so I don't know if you do one or two meetings in that month but um but so kind of what um board member Rogers is saying um we we don't have to establish which meeting it is but to say quarterly Miss bar so I'm just questioning like this is important key and I'm wondering if you all have or need more direction from us on how narrow or broad this work is I've heard it from colleagues in different ways as like really focused on this prek to three you

know non outof school suspension piece and then I've heard it more broadly to restorative practice improvements and then I've heard it I mean because we dream of everything right I mean and then I've heard it more broadly to revising the entire discipline policy of you know along with everything we're else we doing and you know focusing on chronic absen is and everything like what do you need more clarity from us would that be helpful on how narrow or broad this work is um and and yeah so that that certainly will never hurt as I think about this I I see all these pieces working together I mean I I think as we work to further Implement restorative practices with Fidelity uh that will impact out of school suspension um and I think when we first started this conversation we talked about the fact in terms of the um policy revision that you know this board had made some um Financial um

commitments around restorative practices but the policy itself does not um reflect those expectations so so I think that and I'm I'm not sure I believe I'm saying this I I think we probably do have to do all those three things together because they all all work together um we we need to revise the policy to reflect the importance of restorative practices if we're expecting principles to use restorative practices um and I think that will then drive suspension reduction so I think they all work together yeah I agree I just um I also like want to turn it over to staff and y'all and and give you the time that that it'll need to actually show system changes that are really hard to demonstrate with data so I at least personally as one board member would be

happy with this coming twice a year maybe mid year and then once you have the end of year data I think if if we see it too often we might knee-jerk and try to change things when y'all are actually I can't imagine you smiling a little bit at knowing us that well Dr King but yeah I um this stuff takes time and it's deep deep systems work and um that that is one facet of of really complicated stuff we're asking School leaders and and Educators to lead so I I think twice a year is plenty but I am a small voice Le well let's hold on let's wrap this timeline conversation um so it sounds like what I I think your question around policy also is one that needs clarification to the appointments buyer are we talking about revising policy to include restorative practices that feels like we can do that sooner if we're talking about revising policy to eliminate suspensions that's a

different conversation and so I'm wondering if there needs to be um I don't know if we need to give if we need to provide more direction to you all or if we need to give you some time to um kind of chunk out how this work might look over the next six months and year and then bring back to us this is the policy revision we need so that restorative practices can continue and then we might come back with something else um but yeah well I I don't think I would be particularly comfortable with revising policy to eliminate suspension until we've done a lot more of backend work um but the restorative practice piece I mean I think that could be done you know I agree it could be done pretty quickly but but I also I'm not sure there's a whole lot of value in doing it peace meal you know maybe we we we've shared the expectation I think that's clear um you know I think we can work through that

process over the course of the Year I'll just say I think it also depends on if the restorative practices language and work is practices or policy so um because they're you their Lang anguage can be placed in policy around the expectations that different kinds of um interventions supports and practices occur um and are documented prior to issuing a suspension right and so that that can be in policy um so I think that then leads to the question of um multiple revisions to policy as the work goes along versus bringing them all at one time after several months of work on in different areas which would some of which would move faster than

others the board would we be no okay would we I think we established we definitely want some quarterly data reports but I think the question around policy revisions feels like one that we might need some guidance from you all on one what might need to happen sooner rather than later later I think it sounds like I'm here and I'm looking to you all for some um consensus I'm also hearing the board isn't interested in policy shifts wanting to decrease suspensions and want to know how what it needs to happen in the budget for 20 425 am I getting that right 2425 26 25 26 year what might need to come in superintendent budget based on what we've learned from this year so as far as next steps are concerned could you all bring us back some uh in August a proposal for a timeline for the work of head including

policy recommendations the quarterly data reports like when policy recommendations might come quarterly data reports can I can I ask for that to be September yes we won't see principles before August again collectively looking colleagues Miss Rogers September September all right any other I I have some other comments on this Miss Lewis I know you also have other comments on this item that are not related to the timeline do you want to go ahead you y'all are doing some serious work here all this planed for next next year where I'm not going to be so uh let you do your work um I I forgot the presentation let's see thank you for um just a robust presentation on what the goals are the

actions that you all have in place and how that's going to look and who's responsible for what that's um really some good strategic planning you heard these concerns throughout this year but we really centered it in August at our uh board retreat um so you've been doing these observations I appreciate that I appreciate you digging deeper to see what doing the research to see what the it is um that has these uh suspensions being under resolved and not getting the results that we're looking for I appreciate Dr Logan's suspicion uh regarding coding and the educator handbook um that training that has to take place right um and also I I do also appreciate the way you put in the mandated re-entry meetings and put restorative practice as a part of that activity and action as well so I just want to highlight those things I think again how good is the work how good are the tools if you're not using them if you're not using the right tools and that's what you went in to find out and I definitely appreciate that I think this board does too when talking about

um identifying minimum Staffing requirements and considering a budget proposal to secure funding for those additional staff members I like that you're planning on you're looking ahead forecasting there's going to be a shortage we need to do some you know sometimes it's time studies the project planning um sometimes people will get comfortable just say we want what we had before um thinking that this is it but again not really having thought behind it the time so it it takes time to think about these things and be strategic to put the numbers and formula together so you can get a good request of what is really needed in the schools some cultures and climates are different per school so there's going to be different needs and allocations and needs of the students there too so I just will hope that you all are um given that planning time for the principal leadership team when I was listening to the presentation it does feel like a baseline year of action with the next steps being to secure the resources um one thing you didn't mention oh you you said that you know you're looking at

collaborating with service providers to offer assistance as well as one of the actions you didn't mention specific provider or a specific resource that we have located collocated Mental Health Services we've been talking about their services and there are lots of different steps to the kids getting services with insurance with parents approval but then there's still sometimes a gap between the services and the connection to the school getting the information so I hope that you can add if you're working with these other providers way to measure metrics of their um I'm sure it's supportive to the student in general that's what we want but we want to make sure there's that connection happening with the schools as well so just think about those um in in your um planning previously mention in meetings you mentioned doing more evaluation of our programs this feels like an evaluation piece as you're talking about that creating goals um setting metrics objectives and activities I'm wondering

the position you had talked about before doing the metrics that you're bringing here will they have a a role in this data Gathering I know you said there's a position that was supposed to be doing it but not sure where that is right now you know oddly enough I would say this is actually one of the programs that we've done a pretty decent job of having a sense of where we are um because um the program that's been laid out is it's pretty detailed um I I think the challenge has been figuring out how to make sure that everybody um engages with everything that is available to them so we've we offer a pretty robust amount of training around um you know restorative practices um you know social emotional supports um you know one of the challenges has been kind of making sure that there is a really

strong sense of its importance and making sure folks do the work that needs to be done um to engage with that work um so you know I I think we're pretty set in terms of the program that we're offering um I I just think we need to do a better job of making sure kind of what you said that schools are connecting to IT schools are responding and engaging with all that is being offered and and I do I do want to clarify that when I talked about reaching out to service providers I'm suggesting that there may be training that we need to offer to our schools that we don't necessarily have the wherewithal to to offer in house that's so those would be the kind of service providers uh that I'm speaking of okay not necessarily Mental Health Providers um I'm I'm talking about specific training that staff members um may need and and and you know just for the record from my perspective that would be training that we would access initially

from the outside uh but but always look to develop that capacity within the organization so that we don't have to um access that train from the outside perpetually make sense no that does make sense and um again focusing on the adults doing the work is what you were talking about with the practices thank you for that and Alo keeping it top of mind I think quarterly updates is not necessarily the data is going to be kneejerk reaction to Let's shift and do something different but it keeps it top of mind to know that you're still putting these practices into place and having the discussions month to month I think that gives some security um from what I'm hearing and then last thing I'll say is you know I just appreciate that um that you're coming to a place these practices in in place there's policy there's practice we have policy we know we need to update our policy um but there's also that you know let's do a now policy let's get it that's not going to be helpful if we

don't have the practices so I thank you for taking time to take that back and be reflective of what is about the practices that need to change that can help to inform the policy and change of behavior does sometimes take time and I think those quarterly updates will give reassurance to the board that the policy is coming so just thank you for that um and the fine tuning that you're doing and the last thing I'll say we need to keep telling our story that presentation you gave was really good and I know that people continue to say what do we doing for our students and discipline how are we disciplined and what are we what do we think about what's happening I just wish that you could take that on Road you know the community needs to hear I mean they can replay this they're not going to do it but I'll put it out there and share this time stamp at this this meeting this was said that this is what's happening but that really does bring it to life that we're doing work to help manage Behavior social emotional learning of our students and this is how the adults are getting support in that so thank you for

this presentation and and and I just want to you know lift up and name that one of the things that we know is that you know there is a continuum right we have some schools that are doing a bang up job of this work already um there are some schools that have a long way to go and so I I know that sometimes when we come up and and and make a a presentation um we necessarily speak collectively about the work but I think it's important for folks to understand that you know when you're talking about a school district and you're talking about 55 different schools there's there's always a Continuum there there are some schools in our that I would characterize are models for restorative practices um and appropriate you know disciplinary um action around student behavior and and like I said there's some other folks who have a good deal of work to do and um so I just want to make sure that folks um understand that that is that that is the

reality and that will always be the reality but we'll all be always be working uh to get all of our schools um at a place of appropriate and effective practice thank you for your commitment and expertise appreciate that I have a couple additional comments uh thank you Dr King for the detail presentation it really is helpful to understand what's happening um your point Miss Lewis there's a quote it's like culture eats policy for breakfast right like we can have all the policy but if we don't actually change our culture and our practices you might not see the shifts that you want to make and and I also hope that we can also create the systems that outlive the people um I think we've had a lot of transition in our staff and you mentioned that you know role moved and we don't know kind of what happened there and I really think we need to create systems that whoever is in the role we know that that person is responsible for the for that piece or multiple people are responsible and I also think you know

all new principles to DPS should probably have some type of DPS on boarding where we're looking at those discipline matrices even going back to our lgbtqia policy um Durham has a way that we do work in our Durham public school system and how do we make sure the folks who are responsible for implementing those policies and those matrices um have all the information that they need I also would like to see um in the restorative conversations and in suspension conversations that we're looking at students academic data I think there's a question of is a student challenged enough do they need additional remediation or other academic reports and so I want us to be including that in these conversations to me uh reducing out of school suspension is all about increasing students time in the classroom so I I think having those conversations together um I think I we often don't do that it's always about the behavior but I need to understand why in this math class every day are we having this conversation do you need additional support in math class to make

sure you're able to engage in this work um I would like to see and this might actually come up in our later presentation just a list of where we are as we're going to start the 2425 year so what schools will have um count like the number of coun I shouldn't let me back up I would like to get an updated list for the 2425 school year of how many counselors social workers restorative practice coordinators are going to be at each school we know that schools will have um many schools are going to have at least one of those roles but just getting a sense of where we are as we've offboard the Esser funding and and look at our allotments um and then the last comment I have so much of what I had written down has already been said I think we also want to make sure we talked about engaging students talk about engaging staff but families also need to be aware of the shifts we're trying to make um I've had a many of conversations with families who were

like why are you doing that though but this child did this to my child and so they need to go and I understand where that um response comes from we want to be create safer in school environments but I think how do we include families in this conversation because it really is about keeping our young people engaged in learning that's the goal that we want to do so I think having that conversation with those family members um and setting the expectation of this year we want to make sure kids stay engaged in class we're going to be shifting some practices to do that I also think would be really helpful those are my comments and I just share one thing you know I think very often when we have this conversation that the issue of safety comes up and you know um I would want to ensure you know assure the community that we are not talking about not imposing suspensions on kids that go out and hurt other kids uh purposefully and intentionally uh the

kinds of suspensions that I think we're looking to address are those that are for things that are um subjective like you know disrespect and Disobedience and um you know um those kinds of things those those are the areas that we are um looking to look at as as lwh hanging fruit um but but I don't think we will ever be in a place where um we we we create a scenario where um students who engage in um dangerous Behavior are welcome to remember M at school and not have their behavior addressed thank you any other comments from Sir excuse me from board members all right so we look forward to having a plan back in September with some additional information um I will pass it where am I

going I'm gonna pass it to Dr. Jovonia Lewis next good evening good evening board members don't anticipate this taking too long uh just as a refresher this is policy 2302 remote participation in board meetings typically we would have brought it back on consent but there was quite a bit of word smithing and editing from that the board had requested so I have included that in the prees and also it's redlined in the actual policy if it's the board's pleasure I can read the proceeds but otherwise I'm happy to entertain any questions or a motion to adopt the revision thank you for working on this and I'd like to make a motion

to um to accept to approve the um policy 2302 remote participation in board meetings second it's been moved by Miss Chavez and seconded by Miss SP we have had a first reading of this so this would be our second reading so this would make the vote tonight would make this policy any other discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed us to say sign pass that you unanimously the next item on our agenda is a board update on the opening of the 2024 2025 school year good evening again um go ahead and go to the desired outcome slide so tonight we're um going to receive information board members will receive information about preparations for the opening of

2425 and the focus tonight is on fiscal changes and updates including the following school-based teacher and professional allotments school-based clerical support allotments I think we call them M Moes here is that right um upcoming budget training for DPS staff um initial work on system manuals and processes and status of the DPS budget for 2425 that is the focus of seating before I before I get started I will say um I've spoken with several staff and board members already about this likely leading to a part to um that focuses on some of the other areas that are critical for the opening of the school year um perhaps around vacancies um some of these Staffing ratios that we talked about earlier um so that there's there's another there's going to have to be another piece coming to this um we had we'd already had that discussion I've already talked to some staff about have being ready for some of that so um I think that'll be timely as well next slide please starting with school-based

allotments you know part of the conversation and highlighting this information today is really making sure that um we're bringing presence and sort of coalescing with the board our community our schools uh administrators and stakeholders some of the changes that are that are coming in and they are coming as a result of wanting to make sure that we are in a sound fiscal position um as we close out the school year and move into the next school year and some of that impact has has come in the the the way of what we do with our school-based allotments so the first bullet eliminating the flexibility of school-based staff that is beyond formulas for 2425 this really is about ensuring that we remain within the budget for positions that are established the amount of funds that are set aside for positions established in the budget and that we are not um creating processes to go beyond that in particular with the with the Esser funds going away um you

know there we want to make sure that um we are not creating additional positions to put a strain on our local budget resources because that's where it's going to put the strain and that includes classroom teachers and assistant principles we've already done some of that work um in terms of making sure that uh we are not exceeding the funds that we have in the budget for next year um we do want to make sure that we are including a process for review and Reconciliation we know that um our students do don't come to us in fourth and fifth grade in nice neat little packages of 22 and a half because that's our formula in fourth and fifth grade so um we know that sometimes one child especially in elementary now with K3 class size puts you in the position of needing to look for funding for a whole another teacher so that's another reason that we need to be really tight on the front end with regards to how we are allocating our

position because we know that some of those circumstances will arise and so we are working with um planning assignment um and uh our other partners to determine a process for what that review and Reconciliation will look like so that when another position is needed there is a process that is followed and we can identify and ensure that it is within that funding that is available um that was a really good conversation that we had a week or two ago Dr King and all that team that was a part of that we have also eliminated the flexibility for conversions for 2425 and I have to tell you it you have really great principles it took them a really long time to come knocking on my door to ask about this but they did finally come knocking on my door sometimes in groups um so and so I want to acknowledge that there has been some flexibility provided in the past to create different positions than what you've been provided in order to meet specific needs or priorities in a school

this is a very helpful tool um however in some cases the conversions in many cases the conversions that were being allowed um put a stress on our local resources because we weren't able to use our state resources in terms of maximizing them um and so we needed to hit a pause here because we really need to understand our base budget where our funds are before we start making commitments for additional local needs um and and this is where you find for example in elementary schools where they may have taken a teacher position and converted it to have an RPC coordinator perfectly um defensible sort of need something that a school might really want to have um but one that as we move forward we need to look at more carefully and not and not create we were also creating UNL Playing Fields across

the district in in terms of which schools chose to do what and so I think that um when we find that there is great need for a resource coming together and saying let's ask for that resource so that it doesn't come at the expense of another resource that's supposed to be used for a different purpose uh one of and and part of that includes quite frankly working with principles in the next year to determine what that looks looks like we um you know I'll talk more about that in just a little bit but um looking at uh where our our allotment formulas for example is 22 and a half the right number for fourth and fifth grade um I'll get back to that just a h the next item really is around tightening hiring and payroll I've talked about this as well for teachers with emergency licenses P permit to teach EP programs we need to make sure that our folks have an ACC valid license if we are paying them on the teacher scale and providing

them with a local teacher supplement and we've done a lot of work to to work on that at the end of this school year to prepare teachers for next year who perhaps have an expired license or will have an expired license to make sure that they understand what their options are with continued employment for DPS um this I mentioned earlier this tight alignment to positions supported by existing budget we do you know if you are have 145 positions in your budget we're not giving you number 146 unless we know that there are budget there's budget and funds available to do that um and again that is why we have to really be tight on our allotments to begin with because we know that circumstances will come up where somebody needs 146 number 146 and this impact to schools and continued in review for analysis what i is what I was talking about a little bit earlier so do we need to have um position requests you know I RPC

coordinators for elementary might be something that you see in an upcoming budget requests in the next season or you may see revisions to the assistant principal formulas um based on some of the changes that we've made this year that might require some additional funds in order to implement a change in a formula there um I mentioned earlier the the keep using the formula because I just think it's amazing that we have a 22 and a half for formula instead of a full number but but so not only do we need to change what that formula is this is what I can tell you is that 22 and a half is below the state formula so the state formula I believe is 26 so if the if a DPS formula is 22 and a half then the difference between 26 and 22 and a half is locally funded right because we are not receiving State resources for that difference and it is clear to me that sometime in the last few years years there was a CommunityWide effort focused on reducing class size and I believe

that's where the changes in the formulas came from reduced class size is an important factor with regards to how you might want to focus on student achievement and I believe in DPS in particular that Focus had to do with um supporting the needs of students particularly in schools that were identified as low performing or identified as continually low performing and how could lowering class side support students students in those schools um I do think that you can but but if you but in order to sort of test that hypothesis I think you also need to look at your average class sizes across the district and our average class sizes across the district from K through sixth grade are below 20 that's that's pretty low that's pretty low so you clearly have local resources that are going into that and we want to say yes that's where we want to stay and then we need to use other

resources or ask for other resources to create this but you also have some classes in the district where their class sizes are more around 24 25 or 26 in fourth and fifth grade they're using their resources differently and again I I want to make sure that we are providing sort of a level Equitable playing field around expectations across the district is it okay for that school that has chosen to do have class sizes of 25 or 26 or maybe 28 or even 30 because you don't have a class size limit in fourth fifth grade is that okay in that school is it working are we putting it up against what's happening to student outcomes and are the schools that are that have class sizes of 15 or 16 seeing results in their student outcomes all of those things sort of Drive whether or not we change formulas or ask for resources I think that is work that your principles can do next year and that then sets the sort of the the ground for what you

incorporate the next year and then the intentionality behind restoring flexibilities um based on how you have determined what happened the past year and what your funding sources actually look like it is I you know I'm I can't be anything but candid um the the phrase that I've Ed with principles is that I feel like I'm sort of asking them to go on a starvation diet for a year while we determine really what the food needs to look like for the following school year what nourishment looks like for the following school year I recognize that um and I and and and I recognize that it is a transition I've also said that you know it's certainly possible that we'll be able to determine by September October whatever you know where we really are and maybe you know your next superintendent will come in and lift some of these things because there's a better understanding it's just it's just hard to know when we'll have a clear understanding it'll have to be after reconciliation I think it'll be after day 20 or day 40 of the first the beginning of the school year um but for now this is how we are starting the

school year and I I think it's just important to lift it up because our schools are feeling it the next item is around school-based Moes and I think this is what we call themes this is clerical support your your uh Treasurer School bookkeeper your data manager clerical support those kinds of folks so we've made some changes there as well we reviewed the overall number ofes that we had available across the district and all grade levels one of the areas that I thought really needed some um review and revision for the beginning of the next school year you know one of the things that I got several emails about when I was here early on was um schools the Baseline for elementary schools fores was 24 which is enough to fund a 12-month bookkeeper treasurer and a 12-month data manager and our smallest schools had no allocation for basically a receptionist for the school and so the

question that I asked was what would it take within existing resources to establish a baseline for elementaries that is now 34 that includes a 10-month position for a front office receptionist in addition to the bookkeeper and the data manager those two POS positions are required but the receptionist is not so we ran the numbers and we looked at where different schools had different allotments and what it did was we re we revised that Baseline and we revised it so that our elementary schools could have 34 Moes and they would have that additional support because where schools were getting it that didn't have the 24 was through conversions and other things that are no longer available to them um the cost to this was that it did impact some high school allotments because you have some high high schools obviously at with larger students had morees that were being allotted so we tried to

create sort of a baseline for elementary a baseline for Middle a baseline for High um and all you know as you go to Middle to to you go from elementary to Middle to high there is more there are more Moes but I think this is also a place where you're going to have to have continued review and Analysis over the next year to determine whether or not those formulas need to change and that would request that would require additional months that might replace some of what was lost at the high school or the Middle School um some there was there was equal opportunity or equal offensiveness going on here in terms of people gaining and losing at all of the levels so but I think that's another place where where you'll hear something a couple of items on budget training updates I'm working with the north Carina Association of school business officers uh these are the folks that do all School business finance things in the state of North Carolina um and we are finalizing a two to three day Baseline training for all school-based bookkeepers treasurers um this will be

two days of training that is provided by NC asbo and the third day will be um sort of a collaboration between NC asbo staff and DPS staff to look at DPS specific um pieces around budget manager training the the first couple of days through NC asbo are things like what are the laws what are the ethics what are the requirements those kinds of pieces and then the third day would be specific to what are the systems we use in DPS that we apply towards um our bookkeeping practices and how we implement the law uh in in DPS uh what do our forms look like what do our processes look like for um approval of expenditures and that sort of thing and then um we're also finalizing a two-day Baseline training for all School principles around budget manager and what their role is as the leader of the building now I want to say as we do this that we are going to make this required training for the school-based

treasurers and for the principls we also know that there's a wide variety of expertise and background already with those folks and so I will say that we may have we may even have some folks that could teach these classes that are going to be asked to take these classes and so I say that I I say to those unapologetically I look forward to your valuable contributions as leaders in those groups because that's also what it takes is we collaborate with each other we learn best sometimes from each other and so I really do look forward to those folks who do have strong backgrounds and strong experience already being leaders in those groups during those two to three day sessions and thank them in advance for their cooperation um we we expect that we will have this training in place and done by the end of August and we are also looking at how we need to establish this as a part of onboarding so that everyone who is going to be a budget manager in a school and a

principal and eventually you're going to want all of your APS to take this training as well as a part of preparing to be a principal so um but those are a little those are further out a couple of words around systems and processes as we move forward I have already done the work to establish begin to establish a contract to update our DPS Finance manual we do have a finance manual we do need to update that Finance manual um revise reinvigorates reestablish some forms and processes that have already been in place I really do think the pandemic did a number on all districts with regards to having to find new ways to do things um because nobody was present in buildings but I think we have to get back to practices that we had in place prior and that you know we've got new people and so all of that I think is part of revising and updating our existing Finance manual um and that is going to and and while I'm Contracting with somebody outside of DPS to begin that work it's going to be

critical that they work with DPS staff in different positions to to get that updated um I'm also establishing a contract to create that DPS allotment manual that we talked about earlier this is one that we we have some practices and guidelines around allotments but we don't have a a manual that really guides all of the work that any principal or any person can really go to look at to establish and see how we are allocating resources in schools um we also are doing some work to update and revise and I'm using several terms here and I don't even have all of them extra Duty what I call Extended employment which um sometimes other people call extra Duty we have stiens we have differentials we have stuff um that uh supplements there you go I knew there was I knew I'd miss one thank you um that are all additional compensation of some sort for staff so I think we need to clearly Define what those are and I believe that if

something is considered compensation the board has a role in voting on it and approving it so that's another reason that it's important to Define what is compensation and what is a a you know a task or something you know you know curriculum development might be a task that is um set there's some funds set aside in the academics area to pay for curriculum development that's fine um and those are you know contracts you do individually with teachers but you need to have some standards around what the pay is and what the expectations are um and and we call a lot of things extra Duty that I think are e extended employment right so rather than paying extra Duty for a month in the summer for somebody to do something why don't we create thate and have it be a part of how they aot their work rather than doing extra Duty and the other reason for that is our extra duty if you read our extra Duty for forms it says at the top needs

to be approved ahead of time and there's a timeline by which it needs to be submitted we get a lot of her Duty in May after the work has already been done and after the timeline has gone by because things get done at the end of the year so we need to reestablish some expectations around how that work gets done and we need to know if those expectations are getting in the way of the flow of how the work happens so that we can revise that and so that that's all part of this and then we need to do continued training around the implementation and the deployment of syllogist um the accounts pay and those pieces are already there um I think we've had a really Rocky implementation um we're we're trying to come so it's going to continue next year um but we've we have started eating that elephant and we need to keep going um however what I will say is that the HR and payroll that we had hoped to have ready for this year we will need to defer that to at least 25 26 we need to

4 I I do believe the district can and

figure out ways to um make the adjustments that are necessary to fully fund what is here uh based and again with the caveat of depending on what the legislature does in the second year of their biannual budget um so I think we're in a good place uh again depending on what the legislature does to implement what we set out in the superintendent's proposed budget and then the board's final proposed budget uh late breaking news I think I got an email earlier this evening that the Senate and House are looking to adjourn tomorrow and so anything anything budget related would need to be voted on tomorrow um uh so uh you know I think there they there's some caveats in there that they can return if they pass something that is vetoed and they need to come back to override a veto or something along those lines but um but it it looks like they may be trying to close up shop so we may

we may actually know something tomorrow we'll see what they decide to do so in terms of a budget timeline the board's proposed budget that happened in May the Durham County the local appropriation Durham County Commissioners that happened in June the general assembly budget is still active their process is still active we'll see you know if they do actually close that up tomorrow and come to Su a decision state and federal planning allotments are already in process um you know we're already hearing from DPI on some allotments that are that are being populat as they come forward Federal planning allotments some of them some of those come in a little later um some federal programs don't begin actually until October it's like that the title one is an example their their calendar runs till the end of September so you like you always have to have carryover in title one so that you can pay people in August September and until the October funds roll in so um but those allotments are all in process um the board will be uh voting on its budget

resolution which is when you finalize in the fall where all the money is going to go that is the normal Cadence it is usually sometime in the fall because it is dependent on when the state legislature completes its budget process and then our finance staff have to get to work on making sure that we prepare everything in the final numbers before the board sees it for adoption um and it is in that final board budget resolution for 2425 that uh once we have all the numbers we do the work to finalize what happens with salaries for example um and this is all related also to the fact that we are right now and in the throws of the 2324 close out um so we are we're closing out this school year and it is a Mad Dash um to make sure that we are maximizing our resources uh and then as a part of that there is an audit that happens after the

2324 closeout that leads to the annual comprehensive financial report that the board usually receives around November or so of the next school year which really kicks off the budget development process because it is in that annual comprehensive financial report that you see the end of where you landed for 23 24 so it's like a full circle right and then I'll just say again before I open it up for questions um as I finished this presentation that focused sort of on the financial piece of opening up for the next school year and and that is the reason I'm bringing that today is because we we are in a Mad Dash at the close out and we know that um uh this has been an area of critical uh need and review um given where we've been in the last six months um so I wanted to make sure that everybody was aware of where we are headed I wanted to lift up um the you know what's happening in schools and

the things that they're having to deal with as they get ready to open a new school year as well as well as the opportunity as we review the impact of these changes that we're making to have a strong Head Start for how we go into the next school year and any changes in resources or needs that may need to occur as a result of what we see in the implementation in the opening of this school year and then lastly um the knowledge that there are other pieces that are also opening for the important for the opening of the next school year that probably need to be the part two that comes to this at the first meeting in August happy to answer questions uh thank you enor superintendent Moore for that really comprehensive view of where we are look to board members for questions I'll start with Miss berer so I want to thank you for your um leadership at this critical time um um and I also when we talked about some of these

um issues earlier you had some thank yous to hand out and I didn't know if um I feel like if we all had spark pins right now we would have give seven of them to miss oo who has been leading heroic work on behalf of the students and educ ators and staff of this district and so I just um know that we all see you and and appreciate so much that that you are doing and leading um on behalf of our community District um I think it would be helpful if we can say in plain language how we got so much in this County local budget and we are still having to do hard things as we start school because I think that's where I'm hearing

disconnect from our community who's like we won we got it all Tada and so the the reality is we're starting with a lot of these freezes in place that you implemented we're starting with continuing to review because we're not in a healthy position and we are trying to get there and so we're asking our our principles and our team teams to do really hard so I just want us to continue to be clear about that as we can be so that yeah I think you have and I can and I can and I can give some examples of some things you know some of them were embedded in the presentation things like over allotments U to schools um that were done beyond what was available in formulas um and not having a strong process for ensuring that we are verifying funds available prior to doing that I think that um we ALS so and and and I say that it comes from a place of wanting to give schools what they need right which is a a fabulous orientation

to have around our work um and and I go back to something I think I said in one of the very first maybe the first meeting where I actually spoke about this we can do anything we want to do any fabulous thing as long as we have the money for it and we need to verify that so you know there so you know the positions was one piece of it the conversions that put a strain on the local budget are another um some of the inconsistencies that are applied across schools and in terms of who's doing what and how they're making those decisions you know we had a we had a a piece in our Charter School um budget uh appropriation that was unexpected um where the amount that the board had approved in their October continuing budget in their their budget in October was actually insufficient for the amount that we were calculating cting we actually needed for the year so we've been working on that in the last few months so those are and those are continuing needs that we will have next year right so you know if we were short

funds in something this year we will be short again next year unless we make changes so I think that's that's an important place to to do that um and you know we made the changes with the assistant principles because we were overextended there um we've made some changes with um teachers who may not have an active license because we we needed to make some changes there in terms of moving forward um and then we need to see that those changes are having the intended impact when we um open the next school year and finalize after reconciliation the uh allotments that we're getting the resource that we're getting from the state and where we sit so um you know there there were just places that we found that we uh were overextended or hadn't made the calculations exactly right and and I get how we got to all of them but I think it just means that as we move forward we

need to make sure that we are in a a sound financial position and that we are not overcommitted or overextended another thing that I've gotten questions on and I'm sure my colleagues have as well is a lot of these um clerical months of employment that we're changing and this might be for Dr lay I'm not sure ha people made you know health insurance decisions and things for their summertime changing are people are people being impacted right now in ways that that um are going to cause some of the harms that we saw um last fall um like when did we notify people that their job that they're currently in was changing and so we had lots of discussion about months of employment but we just decided the final numbers here recently however in preparation for

allotments like back when projected allotments were given um schools were um preparing at that time many of the principles had conversations um early with staff anytime we have transitions like this we try to work one on-one on situations like say for instance a lot of schools if they had a vacancy come open they didn't go ahead and feel that to reduce um having potential impact on someone but I would say we have limited cases where individuals like what you're talking about with the health benefits but there are some of those situations that exist that we will have to work with the employees one onone I think one of the and I think a um just another piece to add to that is because we remained pretty I I will say to you that with the UMES the clerical supportes we actually had to was it 34

37 how many 34 for element no overall oh no overall the additional wasn't it somewhere between 30 somewhere we we had to make sure that our budget could hold 30 to 40 additional months of employment in order to implement that formula so we don't have fewer positions we have more positions by three or four than last year and we we verified that we could support that for the sake of establishing a baseline formula so if there is someone who no longer has a position in a school there should be a position somewhere else that they would be able to to take a look at okay I just heard of someone their position transitioning abruptly on them from a 12 month to an 8mon and I was I was like oh dear it'll be it'll be helpful for us to G gain some understanding of that in particular because that um sounds like number one it would have been a school-based

decision and number two uh may have been prior to this this most recent uh change and and if not if it's if it's after we've made this recent change it it was we need to know who that is so that we can have a conversation with the principal about um how they are how they are implementing the autonomy that we give them to manage their resources in their building that's helpful and I would add one piece to that some of this is related to the choices of employees also so like if there's another position somewhere else that is equal to the terms of employment they had before and they elect to stay because that's all that school has then we have to deal with those situations too so there may be an option for them but this is what I'm electing to do uh Miss

Travis um I really I really appreciate this work to standardize our allocation of resources um one basic question can you just um uh share the difference between extra Duty and extended employment so I you know um uh all right extra Duty in it for me and and and I'll just say to you that this is just me talking we need to Define these terms right so what I'm getting ready to say may not be where we end up defining them but a distinction for me is about something that is beyond your normal work hours and work sort of job description versus doing the same work

but for a longer period of time than you're contracted for and this would be somebody who is hired for 10 months to do something and then does it an 11th month for example an assistant principal if you have an assistant principal that's hired for 10 months or 11 months but then you want them to be 12 month that shouldn't be called extra Duty that's extended employment it's the exact same job it's just for another month and so so that's that to me is a is a difference and that's a simple one um there are a lot more nuances with regards to how how this is done um I'll give you another example we have um prek assessment teams that they are assessing students All Summer Long the families are coming in all summer long we have three or four teams one team is a 12month team I think all the employees are 12 months the other two or three teams are 10-month employees so we are we the you know exceptional Serv Children's Services is requesting extra

duty to for those people to work in the summer doing the same work that they do all year long it it it seems to me it would make more sense to make those 12 month team teams um or 11mon teams or whatever is needed in order to handle the volue um and I think that that um that would help I think we do things like um we we um I can give you so many examples um we may have a high school that has a I don't know like a drama department where they are paying the Drama teacher extra Duty for doing things like the fall play and the spring play and those kinds of things because those are those are things that occur outside of the normal hours that require additional commitment for for me that is an extra duty but it should be not paid at $40 an hour in one school and 1,200 for the season in another school um it should be standardized and so from that

point of view you want to create a schedule where you define the positions Define the roles Define the amounts whether it's by level or activity or both um and it's on a scale and it could be you could do something around years of experience if you wanted to um so that every drama person at every High School is guaranteed x amount of additional salary that is extra Duty for doing the work of um the number of plays or um other events that they're putting on in the school that that require a tremendous amount of time um and so that it's not variable from one school to another and because extra duty is salary it should be a schedule a chart that is approved by the board and so it is the same no matter where you are that is different than extended employment and it is different than curriculum

development pay or something else that might happen by the hour so th that that's a I can speak for 28 hours and and run in circles around this I just think that it's about establishing what that framework looks like and and we're actually talking to schools about what those positions are what those needs are what does that look like um because I I just I think it would provide again structure and continuity um but it does need to be responsive to what we're seeing in terms of the needs of our schools superintendent Mo I we actually have a definition would you like for me to share that yeah that's great that's what I was trying so this is our working definition but we um still may have nuances that we change but extra duty is an additional duty that is distinct from a staff member's main responsibilities extended employment is when a 10 10 or 11mth um staff member

Works additional months or additional employment from you know we could make some arguments for some other things there in a year in the same capacity and so those that kind of highlights the distinction and we can add whatever additional nuances um to that um additionally it is important to highlight that extended employment does not change the terms and conditions um of the employment and is not guaranteed in future years and so that's where we're working and going with those definitions to help um clarify that for employees and is this part of the working group work or yeah this is our draft work for the working group thank you thank you that is so helpful I feel like I have a clear understanding now and and um yes I think this will be very helpful and I'll be um interested to see when it comes to the board um what it

looks like across schools I think obviously it is important for fairness um of uh the uh distribution of Labor across our district and um fairness and pay um for our workers um I'm also interested to um to hear what comes of our gathering um data on the impacts of the class sizes um and N work um so I just want to say that and then of course I'm wondering overall as we go on to this uh more tight year what will be the impacts on schools um will some schools be affected more than others what will it look like on the ground and um in this main are there places and maybe principles and um other school leaders are already thinking about this but are there places where we can ramp up our

Community Partnerships or increase our volunteers so we have additional supportive members of our community who are um playing roles to uh to support our students in various ways so if if we do have that sort of Need for more Community engagement I hope we can uh just really create Pathways to to to name that and and say that so we can um so we can get that engagement um as early as possible so thank you any other comments Mr car I do have one um thank you so much for this presentation I think I ask we need a state of where we are coming off of this past couple months I and I think everything in here has been really

helpful I'm curious what has been communicated already to directly to staff members um and that'll start with that question so in terms of the changes that I've talked about so obviously you know the assistant principal work started a few months ago they were that's that's been settled thees is more recent so that's those are coming in now if there are questions from schools um the the um uh you're going to stay within the allotments that you are provided started February or March um as the allotment meetings began um they were aware that we were going to be sticking with formulas and that we would not have positions beyond the allotment formulas that they were provided we did we did tell them when we started those meetings that every that things were still um

they weren't uh solidified yet because we were looking at some things and and where that's mostly happened has been um with the assistant principles and the the clar support at this point but I I will also say that we made we have made a couple of updates to enrollment projections since March or April that shifted some allotments um and I heard from some principles on that and we had a meeting on that not too long ago and basically said stop um you know principles can't finalize their hiring if we are changing enrollment projections and changing resources so we sort of you have to stop and say this is this is where we're moving from and um and then incorporate a process for review during the course of the summer um where a um if a if a principle sees that based on the enrollment numbers of the kids that are coming in and the

impact of the changes with growing together that their numbers are going up by 50 or 60 and they can show me on paper that not me but the the folks on paper that they have the numbers verified with the families and the students then we can create a process for requesting additional resources um during the course of the summer as enrollment changes but we need to put that responsibility and ability in the hands of the principles with clear clear Communications and processes we we can't do it from here and change their land hiring landscape on them that we need to set the landscape and then create a process for for them to come to us but conversely principles also need to keep an eye on what's happening with their enrollments on a daily basis quite frankly especially in elementary school um with K3 class size every single day they need to be working with their data manager to see what their enrollments are looking like because their enrollments may be 30 or 40 below what

what they thought it was going to be and come September reconciliation will happen and if they are under enrolled and and and didn't earn all of their resources um or if they are over enrolled and they requested additional resources and they came in perfectly or maybe they are over enrolled and didn't request additional resources and they might get some after the school year begins in order to make sure their class sizes are right um all of that will happen and so um a good good principle um is going to be taking care of looking at their enrollments on a regular basis and making sure that um if they need to hold back a position maybe and not hire it because they don't have those students just yet and they don't see it it it's a fluid um incredibly um uh exhausting almost task all summer long to do that work because I your candidate pool in May is

different than your candidate pool in September and so do I hire this position now even though my numbers aren't quite there because I I'm pretty sure I'm going to get it or do I hold that position open do I wait until September but my candidate pool in September is not the same as my candidate pool in May it it is such a balancing act um and we really have to admire and respect the work that principles are doing all summer long to try to balance it we just need to make sure we're helping them from our level with how we communicate to them and give them the tools they need to manage their resources well I would just share that we we created a a new document this year and it allows principles to see those numbers in real time at any point they can see how many students are actually enrolled they can see how many are in progress they they can see how many are pending um approval and so they can see it in real time at any moment at any

time um all year so that that's that's been I think really helpful for them thank you thank you for that a couple questions about some of the other trainings that we're putting in place do you see these as a one time do you see us every three years we're doing this every two every year kind of wish what do you believe is the right Cadence for that so I think that there is um I think it is a baseline for anybody who goes into a role first so that that it'll that is part of like onboarding for a role I think after that a yearly meeting with your bookkeepers at the beginning of the school year in August to talk about changes updates new forms new processes whatever that might be is also in order um I think that you know for administrators not necessarily unless it's a big huge implementation of some sort of program or something that

changes um less so I mean that can normally be handled more through memos or in principal meetings with an update in a session along those lines um but I think for your your school-based um treasurers bookkeepers you're going to want to have an annual opportunity for them to get together because I think there's there's turnover there as well and I think it just like with any other sort of affinity group the greatest powerful learning that happens is when you work with each other and so that opportunity should be provided to them as well thank you that's really helpful um this is a really great presentation and I'm wondering how do we move it out of our lovely boardroom I'm sure we've got millions of folks streaming us tonight um but I think the community also wants to know where are we what are we doing what is DPS made changes in based on what we've learned from this past year so I'm wondering if there are any thoughts on that already or if we

want to think more but I just think there's a lot of conversation as Miss Buy's already brought up you got this whole County ass but this and familyes going to go back to school where's my favorite AP like all of that is Shifting and changing so I'm wondering how can we be really transparent about sharing what we're learning what we're changing um with the community sounds like maybe you're asking for a digestible version of all of this is a part of a maybe more robust board update to our community don't we normally do a some sort of an update of our meetings to the community is that is that what you're saying or you talking about something distinct or separate from that I think something distinct and separate from that I don't know exactly what it looks like but I think something I think it has to go to it's an internal and an external message right there's a message for our families around this is what we've learned and this is what we're doing differently but like the whole Durham Community uh in was influenced by this spring and so I

think it's important to let everyone know what shifts and changes that we're making based on what we've learned um and I think it um it's short it's digestible it's easily sharable but it allows everyone and I I've talked to many people who are like but what are y'all doing now what happened what was the end of the story what happens next um and so I think how do we get this part of the story out there I think it's really important was a request yeah and and and I think we just need to maybe spend a little bit of time trying to understand what the best way to do that is and and what the best mechanism is um because it does need to be digestible so there you go Sheena you you're hearing it thank you thank you so much Miss Cooper uh no I I just think it it's gota leave this space right so I think we do a lot of talking here but how do we get that out to a lot of people who followed

this and who followed us closely for a couple months um this spring and this is my other last comment I know we need to move towards this kind of being really clear around allocations and allotments and what did you use the word uh starving for a year or starvation diet starvation diet for one year and being lean for this upcoming year but I want us to also consider what happens after that when we figure out where we are and what is the right formula for and process for providing what I think is like equity for schools that need more resources and so if we go through this year and we realize this school actually really needs this assistant principal because of the needs of the school we've got new leadership in a school and the right team actually needs to be this um we seeing chronic absenteeism in a school so a full social worker needs to be added to this school all the different needs that we see coming up

how are we creating the right system and processes for that once we get to this year and think about the upcoming year and I would say to you that that it is after it it is number one after reconciliation and then as we're in moving into the beginning of the school year next year that there's an opportunity for principles and groups to come together together and take a look at impacts and changes um additions modifications that might be needed whether it is Shifting ex existing resources or creating additional resources that that work does need to happen next fall prior to the budget development process uh prior to the allotment process and the allocation of positions for the next year whether you're asking for new money or not so that it is informed by what the impact is as they see at the beginning of the school year and and I think that you know a little extension of that is once you identify really how all of your

resources are positioned in the district let's say that we determine you know we've got another we've got a capacity for another $2 million worth of stuff based on all these changes that we've made that we could allocate on an annual basis to schools for resources what's the best use of that $2 million is it Resort of practices coordinators at the elementary school is it additional counselor positions is it changes to the AP formula is it carving out a chunk of funds for our higher needs schools based on some criteria that we establish for specific resources and support that those schools may need I I think it's a it's about being intentional and strategic about our existing resources and whether there is space in those resources to do that um or it requires a new resource um something else I think that that we can take a look at is you know there were there are intervention positions that have been created in some schools but

not all schools um we could establish a formula or a basis I mean um we are allocated resources to support at risk students we should use those resources but and establish some sort of a um formula around what those atrisk determinants are for students see what that concentration looks like in schools and a lot of resources based on that for example so that's those are all that's all sort of work that's before us um but we just need to establish sort of our Baseline first but but there's room for all of it I appreciate that look forward to hearing more about how we're making those decisions it sounds like we're going to have a pretty robust agendas in August and September um considering what we're talking about tonight there any other questions or comments okay good thank

you the next item on our agenda is a closed session move that we go into closed session for the reason stated on the agenda second it's been moved by Miss berer seconded by Miss Chávez is there any other discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed use the same sign passes unanimously we're now moving into closed session

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we're now back in Open Session uh inor superintendent Moore good evening again uh board chair board members I request approval of the Personnel Action Report dated 62724 move approval of the Personnel report for June 27th 2024 second it's been moved by Miss buer seconded by Miss Rogers is there any other discussion all those in favor say I I all those opposed use the same sign all right we are on the board is going to go back into Clos [Music] session the the board is preparing to re I am preparing to receive a motion on behalf of the board to go back into Clos session but before we do that we recognize so many of our staff members today who are here currently making sure this board meeting operates many of those staff members were also impacted by all of the payroll and we want to make sure they have an opportunity to go home home so thank you all so much for

being here this evening once we uh have this motion to go into close session the board will come back out and con uh close our meeting in open but we will have no further business so will no longer be streamed all right move we go into close session for the reasons stated on the agenda second it's been moved by Miss Rogers and seconded by Miss Byer that we go on close session for personnel reasons all those favor say I I any oppose use the same sign it passes unanimously good night to our viewing audience again the board will come back out and close the meeting in Open Session thank you e