Board of Education · Regular Meeting · September 26, 2024

Approval move approval of the agenda as presented colleagues I'd like to pull an item from consent sorry about that I'd like to pull item Toc repair and renovation Lottery fund requests and and add it 5B under operation.

Services second is that okay I oh oh I accept that as friendly amendment of course yeah thanks second it's been moved by Miss buer secondary by Miss Chavez to amend the agenda and approve it to move item 2C to become item 5B all we have to do a Voice vote because Mr tab is virtual is there any discussion Mr tab your virtual we're going to start with you when we do roll call are you ready yes please state your name and you're this is this is board member Wendell Tab and I vote I thank you Miss Chavez hi Miss Carter uton hi Miss Beyer hi Miss haral go hi Miss hi and I vot I the agenda is amended passes unanimously thank you now we can get to the minutes go ahead move approval of the minutes from August 22nd 2024 second it's been moved by Miss buer second by Miss Chávez to approve the agenda from August 22nd 2024 is there any discussion Mr tab this is board member.

Wendell Tab and I vote I miss Chavez I miss Carter uton hi miss berer I miss Harold gof I miss umet I and I vote I the minutes pass unanimously thank you the next item on our agenda is general public comment. I'll do a quick review of the rules and then we'll get right to it a quick review of the rules please state your name if speaking for an organization please state your name and the name of the organiz ation second speakers are asked to present their comments in this in two minutes 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 will indicate your time is up complaints about named staff students or parents should not be voiced an 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 board members will listen carefully and.

Consider the comments but we do not engage in discussion with speakers our first Speaker tonight is Tamara Stanley followed by Wilma Oliver and JB hen.

Miss Stanley yes I'm ready start thank you I thought I had one minute but this is awesome so good good evening H my name is Tamara quick Stanley I'm the regional manager vice president of the triangle region for Self-Help Credit Union and as a hillside alumni and a parent of three Durham public students two at Pearson Town one at Jordan I stand with over 400 community members to request the naming of a Durham Public School building after former mayor and county commissioner William V Bell mayor Bell was instrumental in creating Duram public schools by merging city and county systems to ensure equity for all students his legacy of serving service includes 12 years as County Commissioner and 16 years as mayor he inspired many including myself a little black girl from McDougal terce by believing in me and supporting my growth honorable Mayor Bill Bell while he is still alive and living with us today will highlight his contributions to our community so please please join us in recognizing his.

Selfless service by naming a Durham Public School building after him and remember without former mayor Bill Bell there will be no Durham Public Schools thank you thank you in addition to this we also have the petition with over 400 signatures that you all will receive as well as letters from former mayor Steve sh Durham committee on the Affairs of black people as well as the West Community Foundation okay thank you thank you.

Good evening my name is wima Oliver I'm just here to speak on behalf of our Educators and Durham Public School staff on this last meeting when I attended we know that Duram School of the Arts was passed even though the construction cost is very high and it wasn't really a lot of concern about the budgeting for that school and we already know that the final as buil calls can be more but I want to make sure that there is a comprehensive plan to pay teachers and staff fairly for working in stressful and deplorable conditions such as no air conditioning and leaking roofs America has lost too many of our Educators and staff to gun violence throughout America so we have yet to receive a clear transparent and Equitable plan of action for Durham Public Schools staff pay structure I hope you bring the teachers to the table and those who are working in the schools to help with this plan to show that we do appreciate them so more than just giving them their.

Little gift card but show them in the paycheck as well thank you. Good evening board members my name is JB hen and I'm the school social worker at carington middle school and I have a master's of Social Work degree as I stated last week many of us School social workers fought alongside our fellow teachers and classified staff to get this new budget passed for this school year we were under the impression that we were going to be compensated for our masters of social work degrees however over the past two weeks weeks it truly does feel that DPS leadership and the Board of Education just doesn't value or appreciate School social workers that's just the general vibe that I'm getting from my colleagues right now y'all my school social work license clearly says from ncdpi professional Educators license according to ncdpi Social Workers are considered teachers and are paid on teacher scales tonight I really want to and here explicitly stated why you cannot include social workers and other positions with relevant master's degrees into Master's.

Level pay please answer that question why please explain it to me and my colleagues please tell us why our positions are not as valued as others was the $ 1.2 million in the budget designated for Master's pay not enough to include us if so then we have been misled and we want you to figure out a solution not for next school year please I'm begging y'all not for next school year for this school year please find a way to make it work so School social workers and others with relevant master's degrees can be fairly compensated and please finally with my last few seconds please pass the meet and confer policy y'all the workers so that workers the heartbeat of DPS can actually be at the table with y'all making these decisions thank you Tabitha Jones Evans Sabrina verine.

Ner just want to get a good look at everybody hello I'm a product of Durham Public Schools from the 70s and the 80s ove Elementary Neil Junior High and Southern Durham High School I moved away for 17 years I just moved back I worked in elections technology in the private sector I am now a career technology educ educator with Durham Public Schools I'm experiencing my own issues but I'm not here to discuss that I'm here because I want to give back I want to give back I want those students I want to share my knowledge and work experience of the tabias that are coming through the other tabias the toms the Mar's but let me tell you what changed the tide for.

Me a month ago my students came in the classroom room and they said Miss Evans Miss Evans we we don't have we don't even have teachers in this class we don't have teachers in that CL I mean I was like what are you talking about they said nobody cares about us we don't have teachers nobody cares that's right you don't know about that nobody cares anything about about us and I had to stop for a minute and I said oh my God this crisis that's going on in Durham is starting to be a reflection on this students the students are actually thinking that their value and worth is nothing because they don't value their Educators they don't value their certified workers they value no nothing or nobody and I'm like this can't be so Miss Evans nobody wants to be a teacher they don't get paid any money thank you.

Good evening my name is Sabrina Vine I've been in education for 29 years can you pull the mic closer to you please thank you I've been in education for 29 years and I love education I knew I would always be an educator when I taught my first Kindergarten class how to read a complete sentence I just saw one of these kindergarteners at a teacher viiew Year banquet and he was getting a beginning teacher of the year award so this career has come full circle for me I'm currently an interventionist at city of medicine where I offer instructional support to other teachers and I love it I love sharing all that I've learned all that I have as an instructor with other teachers who are leading our profession but I'm here to ask you to recognize our Union because just like we seek to amplify our students voices our teachers voices deserve to be Amplified as well currently we have an erosion of trust between our teachers and those who are.

Making decisions that greatly impact Our Lives if we had a meet and confer policy we could reestablish this trust our hope is that you would value our contribution to the teaching and learning profession for Duram Public Schools a allow us this seat at the table just build a bigger table for us allow us to lead in our profession our vision is that you would include us in making the decisions that greatly impact our lives and the lives of our students and so we ask that you would just simply build a bigger table make some room for us allow our voices to be heard as well allow us the ability and the opportunity to make decisions that greatly impact us thank you thank you ner Dora Alberto Daniel km and Kelly mford.

Hello sorry I'm back again harassing you guys but you know so my name is no and I'm a DPS parent of two incredible kids who have attended DPS their whole lives our kiddos have really good experience with DPS Educators DPS staff because of the folks that show up really energized and committed to these kids every single day and the DPS staff who have actually been the most supportive and the most helpful for them in their educational career are the ones that were already deeply connected to community and already engaged and organizing with the Union our youngest actually just transferred to a new school and this is a kid who loves School loves learning is very beloved by his his teachers some of who I just saw outside but now he comes home saying please do not send me back I don't know if I'm actually a good student and it's been really hard his performance and his identity as a good student who gets good grades is really starting to suffer he he's not.

Having as positive of an experience at this new school even though the staff are really incredible and hardworking but the energy is different this is a school that's on the edge of the city really kind of disconnected and I think that makes a big difference and my assessment is that the staff feel unseen and have resigned themselves to being unheard and I wish they felt more empowered and more connected and part of a bigger Community like his teachers previously at Lakewood in his commment sense that when people feel supported and empowered at work they can actually show up that way supporting and empowering our kids when we walk into businesses that pay low wages and do not care about their staff it is very obvious it's obvious when employees feel empowered and it's obvious when they don't and I think that there's an opportunity right now in front of you that would ensure that DPS Staff feel valued and feel empowered and feel listen to is that my time thanks thank you.

I'm going to ask that you come on in line up at the podium Dora Alberto Daniel km Kelly Mumford.

Alberto hang on just one second.

Yes mhm.

You also get four minutes well two for you two for her.

Alberto MPS.

Kind.

Dan.

D.

Good afternoon everybody I have two minutes to make you all go to sleep but well my name is Dora I am the parent of students from DPS I have two those children that have been in DPS and I want to say that I have had a good experience actually an excellent experience with DPS and who doesn't have like stories to tell with teachers and students well I have one of my children when he was in kindergarten kindergarten he had a teacher he was a great teacher when my student was going to pass to first grade the teacher was moved to fifth grade that was the grade that he was supposed to be teaching but he told my son I'll be waiting for you in fifth grade and every time that my child will move to the next grade he will be thinking I'm a grade closer to get with Mr Daniels and I feel that this is a great experience because my child that was his motivation to go.

To school because he was going to be getting a great closer to go to Mr Daniels after that another story we had a family loss and there was this social worker and this social worker work me with my son he actually the social worker gave my son a notebook and then social worker told him to work write their their feelings write what they were feeling what they wanted to say and this was also a nice experience that I had with DPS so I want to say that I believe in the system I believe in DPS but also I believe in the teachers so I feel that now is the time to listen to the teachers we see the tables we have all these teachers and it's time to listen to them and what they have to say and what they are doing for the system thank you.

Daniel km Kelly Mumford Andrew. Peach good evening members of the dur Public School Board my name is Daniel Kemp and I'm a science teacher at Riverside High School tonight I want to take a moment to highlight the importance of recognizing our majority Union and in doing so address the dire working conditions that many DPS workers face every day for too long Educators support staff and other vital workers within Durham public public schools have been operating in environments that are unsustainable we're talking about overcrowded classrooms broken air conditioning In the Heat of the summer and inadequate supplies that Force teachers to dip into their own Pockets just to provide their bare minimum for students these conditions are not just inconveniences they directly impact the quality of Education our students receive beyond the physical working conditions there's also a deep issue with respect and lack of voice in decision-making topown mandates often fail to consider the realities we face on the ground for example curriculum changes are rolled out without proper consultation leaving teachers scrambling.

To adapt without the resources or training necessary to meet new expectations we're given directives to manage discipline but with little guidance or support leading to chaos in classrooms that disrupts learning for everyone our support staff bus drivers cafeteria workers custodians are also overworked and underappreciated many of them earn poverty level wages while being expected to keep our schools running smoothly we've all seen the impact of this underfunding and neglect delays in bus routes dirty classrooms and long lines in the cafeteria the burden is on them to perform essential duties underg that no one should have to toate these work conditions are symptomatic of a broader issue of respect for workers who make DPS run we ask for a voice in decision-making when we advocate for transparency we are not just seeking better conditions for ourselves we are fighting to ensure that our students are learning an environment that are safe clean and supportive we can't provide the education they deserve when we are warned down by system by systemic issues this isn't just a.

Question of policy it it's about bringing workplace democracy into dur Public Schools over 3,600 workers and 1,300 community members endorse a policy that will honor union rights and give workers a real voice in shaping our schools there this is why we need a real seat at the table please adopt me thank you. Kelly Mumford Andrew Peach Jamal nisbit good evening board and superintendent Dr Lewis my name is Kelly Mumford I am an ECI in the cat program at the new Mary massenberg elementary school as well as a proud D AE member this is my second year here at DPS I'm coming from New Jersey with 20 years of experience I expected a lot of change when I moved here to North Carolina because it my was my first time you know moving south but some of these changes surprised me some in a good way some in not so good way one of the first things I noticed when I got here was all the black people especially black women in leadership.

Positions until I got to dorham school I had never had a black principal before in my 20 years in education this was really surprising and exciting to me I felt proud and impressed I still feel proud and excuse me and impressed when the spark emails come out and I see all of women people of color get in these positions when I first saw this it made me really hopeful that this would be a school district that shares my beliefs and equality and a place that all people would be treated fairly where all students can be successful and crucially where all workers voices will be heard sadly that was not the experience of DPS leadership last year throughout the pay debacle and the disrespect I felt as a classified staff member was very upsetting first I had 20 years of experience erased in an email then even though they gave me my years back I still had my pay cut by hundreds of dollars a month then when our Union X.

For a seed at the table so we could work together on these issues and and start rebuilding trust I was shocked and disappointed by how resistant DPS leadership was and still months later there is hesitation when all we've been asking for is to be treated as equals and get the same rights as workers everywhere else to hear this hesitation coming from black leadership just doesn't make sense to me with all the progress and Progressive values here in DPS with How Far We've Come In terms of diverse leadership T tonight we need to take the next step forward on workers rights let's not continue with this gym prolog.

Instructionist speech therapists therapists therapists psychologists office staff cafeteria staff and custodial staff.

Not join.

To listen to us.

Thank you. Jal Christy clim Heidi Joe headin all right that was great good evening board Dr Lewis everybody in the vicinity my name is Jamal Nisbet and I'm an elementary school educator at Hope right now I've been teaching for 15 years nine years in New Jersey six years in North Carolina and so to start off as you all know collective bargaining is banned in this state right it's outlawed there no doubt in my mind that you guys are all aware of that but oftentimes I wonder if you guys really like deeply reflect on and no disrespect on why like why is it banned in this state you know why is it banned you know Across the Nation you know there are laws in place they're federal laws so it's federal laws that give citizens the right to form to join or to assist a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes and to work together with co-workers to improve terms and conditions of employment so this is the right across the nation.

But in North Carolina we don't get that right like there there's a problem with that so I I mean I'm baffled by it so tonight you know meet and confer is not collective bargaining but it's the closest thing that we have to it and you know I'm calling on you guys to to be Trailblazers to be a light the state looks at North Carol at Durham for leadership historically this County Greensboro other Counties have been Trail lasers and pushing back unfair laws and so I'm just calling for you guys tonight to just be brave join with all of the co-workers you've seen the work that's been going on and to give us those rights thank you see Clen Heidi Joe hin Katie mcgo hello I'm Christy Clen physical therapist I'm here on behalf of classified employees es certified employees those folks in Dae and those folks who are not Dae members I've sent you an email youall already know my feelings on the decision you made last week with the EC supplement and the.

Master's pay actually I should have said hello I'm Dr Christy clim I have a MERS in teaching if I was still a teacher I would get Master's pay went back and got my doctorate which is entry level that's not recognized and I'm paid on a bachelor's level you aren't even discuss ing classified positions that require higher degrees for what we do on a daily weekly basis I talk to Transportation Miss Peggy Miss Melanie folks in finance Miss chenice data managers Rosemary folks in the warehouse Kendrick Mario entree security it nurses Spanish interpreters Vanessa was just here tonight Mr Pablo I saw today custodians Miss Anna Mr Mario Mr B CNS workers Miss Nikki Miss Linda IAS shishi Miss Cobb Miss Williams I could go on and on from element from prek to Elementary to Middle to high school every day every week I talk to these folks I ask them not only about a students and how we can work together to help the students but I ask them how.

They feel what can I do to help you what can I take back to Dae are some of those folks I just named Dae members yes or is every one of them no but that doesn't dictate what information I take back to the leaders within Dae for us to discuss and hear opinions how many of these folks do y'all talk to on a daily or a weekly basis cabinet members how many of these folks do y'all talk to on a weekly basis who talked to EC to say who should be even discussed for a supplement nobody consider me me and confer do the right thing thank you good evening I'm Dr Heidi Joe hetland a physical therapist I do have a doctorate degree I had a been because of my age I'm have a bachelor as my entry level degree went back from my doctorate I also have an advanced degree that is related to PT but definitely not necessary and does enhance what that I do I want to thank.

Everybody that has consistently been here since last January saying the same thing over and over again and speaking up for people who can't be here because they have families to be with or perhaps they're at their second or their third jobs that they need to have to make a living sadly during this time since January DPS employees have less transparency about the budget and finances which honestly didn't seem possible transparency is the quality of being easily seen through to be open and honest and I think classified certified employees all would agree that does not define DPS the opposite of transparent is opaque not allowing light to shine through synonyms are muddy murky cloudy dark that presents a more accurate picture of the budget our salaries and even things such as Employer headcounts that come from HR I watched last week's meeting at home and from the body language and facial expressions that were being shown clearly on the screen it's apparent that there is a lot of mistrust animosity and.

Confusion among the key players who hold employees salaries or livelihoods in their hands we hire top-notch Consultants and we can do that from now until the end of time but if DPS doesn't provide them with accurate reliable And Timely information the work of the Consultants doesn't matter nor does the money we have spent on them doesn't matter how much money DPS has or how much money we don't have how many certified and classified employees we have who has doctorate master's degrees and who's getting paid for them and who is not without transparency that can only be achieved through meet and confer none of that matters if you're not willing to sit at the table with the people in the voices who are in the schools who are talking to custodians working with the children working with children with special needs it doesn't matter if you are not willing to sit with us and it's past time for you all to agree to meet and convert so that day does not come thank you thank.

You go ahead I've been here so often I don't need an introduction after nearly two years of advocating for my school I finally had a board member reach out to me and we met last Saturday we sat down with my colleagues and we got to express our it's not my experience because I chose traditional because I knew we would not follow through we sat down with my affected colleagues and she got to see the Surplus shelves desks and tables she took pictures of the room with all of the boxes she got to see our reality she's the only person in this room that voted no and I'm so proud of her because she had the foresight that I did her draw nearly hit the floor when she realized that after 30 years of Excellence with DPS in the monor program that they've yet to create the curriculum that aligns with all of the stuff that you buy in the map she was shocked when she left she said help us on the.

Way and I trust her do you know why I trust her it's because she showed up she listened and I believe her if we had had a meet and confer in 2023 the first time I stood here we would not be in this situation this is not a little river problem this is a this is a DPS problem you trust this side of the room and it's been a long time since their boots have been in the ground on the ground in the mud in the muck and it is time that you give the B power to us talk to us listen to us meet and confer Dr Lewis as a parent please I'm your ultimate stakeholder.

Thank you thank you Ariana Johnson withi Christy Patterson and Micah tweet meire.

Ariana whisk ECI I see some new faces before me this evening which means some of your colleagues have already felt the sting of being out of touch with one's constituencies last time I spoke to you I reminded you of who our enemies were but tonight I am here to remind you of who your allies are one of the most memorable and angering moments for me last spring was reading the email you sent out before the first school closures and days of protest which read we appeal to everybody in Durham Public Schools to remember our mission and our commitment to providing our students with the best possible education as if our purpos Were Somehow Divergent every union meeting I attend as reunion Mee where I attend is with my students in mind and our unfailing dedication to them when you stand with the Union you stand and for public education last time I told you to be brave when standing in the shadow of our enemies but you do but you do not.

Stand alone when you stand with the Union you do not just stand with the more than 2700 members of Dae when you stand with the Union you do not just stand with the 25,000 members of ncae when you stand with the Union you do not just stand with the three million members in the Nea and when you stand with the Union you do not stand with the 14.4 million union members across the United States of America but you stand with the 4 the 49.4 million public school students in the United States lest you think we have forgotten our classified siblings that you meant to set against us we stand United that we will not rest until the injustices upon them have been rectified their pay is restored and trust is established by recognizing the meet and confer policy that was G agreed upon when I say Union you say Union.

Union good afternoon good evening some of you may know me as the loud one the resiliant one the passionate one the one that comes in with all the fancy quotes and rhetoric well I don't have any of that today I'm truly exhausted how was your day because my day let's see I had a student who suffered from anxiety attack and because she was hungry I had another student who acted out because the behavior at his behavior exemplified something's going at home just to hear that he was getting abused and I had to get on the phone with CPS with my social worker who's amazing so let me reintroduce myself I'm Christy Patterson I'm a EC special programs teacher at carington middle school I am a river side women's flag football coach I am a we are Queens coordinator I am a CDL license holder to drive the bus what's the common denominator our students I've met with a lot of you and a lot of you have said multiple times that the student is at.

The base of all of our decisions but your actions contradict that where my actions don't I live eat breathe my students and tonight you will be presented with two meet and confer policies one which has our student at the center you know Dr Lewis I respect you and one of the conversations we had you said I'm not worried about having a job because I can get in the classroom tomorrow I respect that and I hope you stand beside it because if this policy is not passed you're going to have to freshen up your license and for those who don't have teachers license you might want to go get them because you're going to be in these classrooms teaching them because you won't have have Educators in them.

Anymore hello my name is Micah Hunter tweet Meyer Durham Association of Educators I'm here as a proud Union member and proud Union president on the precipice of a historic night for Durham's Public School workers tonight we are closer to achieving formal Union recognition and a meet and confer policy the goals of the meet and confer policy are to facilitate a more collaborative relationship between you Administration Employees the policy's aim is to improve learning and life outcomes for our students make DPS a highly competitive employer that attracts and retains staff achieve High staff and school morale and Advance the mission of the schools our students and communities deserve all through the transparent development and Improvement of policy and policy implementation as you prepare to discuss the proposed policy we encourage you to reflect on the history that we could all be making together if you vote to adopt our meet and confer policy we would become the first North Carolina School District to honor union rights despite the Jim Crow law that has disenfranchised our.

Public School workers for 65 years together Durham can lead North Carolina as we often do and often say we do and lead the change towards undoing what the NAACP has called our last Jim Crow law BPS workers are ready for a formal seat at the table we are ready to engage in work that improves conditions for our students and our co-workers and we are ready for the hope that things will get better thank.

You the next item on our agenda is a.

Consent agenda colleagues Madam chair I move approval of the consent agenda items item a overnight field trips item Item B change order number 15 increase to GMP contract for Murray massenberg Elementary School item C change order number not the other one c repair and renovation Lottery funds request see we move to the discussion which one did you move the that's why I skipped that one okay the repair and renovation wait mine are mine might be labeled differently than yours let's see okay what tell me the topic please Madam chair of the one repair and renovation Lottery F let me try it again Adam item a overnight field trips Item B change order number 15 increase to GMP contract for Mary massenberg Elementary School item C next change order number five GMP f for New Durham School of the Arts item e College and Career ready Labs purchase and item F CTE contract for services with West Staff Workforce Solutions LLC hopefully that was.

Accurate is there a second okay it's been moved by Miss buyer second dat by Miss Carda-Auten to approve the consent agenda items a b the D and.

F we have to do a roll call vote is there any discussion Mr tab this is board member Wendell Tab and I vote I miss Chavez hi Miss Carter Aton hi Miss Beyer hi Miss Harrell Goff hi Miss Umstead hi and I vote I a motion passes unanimously thank you so much the next item on our agenda is the next two items come from the chief of staff presentation a is swim for Charlie partnership this time I'd like to invite Dr kleene back to the podium the board heard a little bit from Dr about Dr kleene from Miss Shea Cooper when he received his spark pin but I wanted to give a little more background before he starts and before he starts his presentation Dr kleene is a retired family physician serving in that role for over 33 years he now coaches a master swim group with Carolina Aquatics and he has taught swimming to people of all ages he was a head coach of an aged group summer league team and he has.

Served the community as a member of multiple Health boards and advisory councils and I am honored to finally be able to have him present to this board the great work that is he is doing he came to I believe I don't know when we met but Dr Klein basically I met with him regarding his idea about swim for Charlie and Durham Public Schools and when and he's going to get into some details but when he explained to me the statistics on black and brown children's drowning deaths I was sold so and I'm very proud that we and Durham have invested the time and energy and resources to make sure that our children are able to swim and be water safe but with that Dr Klein please thank you so much good evening board members and superintendent Lewis thank you for inviting me to to share swim for Charlie the Dr Charles Vander horse water safety initiative which is changing the lives of many DPS students swim for Charlie is a Community.

Partnership addressing the public health issue of lack of water safety skills in North Carolina students next slide please here's the background drowning is one of the leading causes of death 79% of children in households with incomes less than 50,000 have little to no swimming ability 64% of black 45% of Latino 40% of white children have little to no swimming ability this is a problem that cuts across the entire Community disproportionately affecting those of low income and those folks of color 10 people drown every day in the United States 10 times that many near drownings occur so we have a defined public health problem the beauty of this let's look at the final bullet point swimming lessons reduce the likelihood of childhood drownings by 88% so we have a known public health problem and a very effective treatment plant all we have to do is implement it okay fortunately oh so to address this problem swim for Charlie was founded with a mission to equip children with life-saving water safety skills by.

Providing a high quality water safety program to second grade North Carolina students what do we mean by high quality we mean that our instructors are trained and we have a very low student instructor ratio that over the past two years has been about 3: one imagine if you had a classroom a teacher teaching three students how effective would that be okay next slide please so what our program is is the students receive eight free costs zero 40 minute lessons at the pool along with a 10-minute water safety video and discussion that's done at the school so the the teachers at the schools show one and a half to four minute American Red Cross whales Tales video and then they have a discussion of the the pool rule of the day that's a water safety topic this program is based on American Red Cross curriculum it follows dpi's North Carolina healthful living standards and is therefore part of the Children's Health and PE curriculum instead of having gym in the.

Gym for those eight days they have gym at the pool and if you've seen these children in action at the pool you can know that the amount of EXC size that they get in our program compared to what they get in the gym no not taking anything away from the gym but way more way more okay this is our program has followed a proven model that has been in place since 2012 between Guilford County Schools and the greensbor Aquatic Center they've graduated maybe I think they're up to about 12,000 students they have 60 elementary schools they have about 40 of them on board next plot slide please Dr Charles vandor who this is named for was an infectious disease physician a leader humanitarian who used his knowledge and compassion to solve difficult medical academic and societal problems he was a champion for those most vulnerable and he had a deep love of children he was a lifelong pool and Open Water competitive swimmer he died unexpectedly in 2019 and his friends founded swim for.

Charlie in his honor that's why we're called Swim for Charlie next slide please we are as I said earlier a Community Partnership and who is that partnership well we started in 2020 in Orange County schools with the Orange County Sports plex three Title One schools we lost two years to the pandemic during that time we were fortunate to make a partnership with you DPS along with Hollow Rock Racket and Swim Club and North Carolina Central University that was in 2022 2023 the next year we grew to add more schools with Durham Parks and Recreations Edison Johnson Duke Brody Aquatic Center Hope Valley Country Club and this year we've also added the Duke Faculty Club so we've grown from 194 students the first year 788 the second year 1165 last year and we hope to put 1800 kids through the water this year and so what does this partnership mean this partnership means that all three Partners have skin in the game and certainly DPS has ponied up their skin in the game the schools provide.

Transportation background checks on all instructors a male and a female chaperon and lots of logistical support at the schools with the principles the teachers and staff what are the pools provide a clean safe venue at no cost we don't have to Prov pay any rental fees for the pool they provide lifeguards and and sometimes instructors and so some people say well hey you have the pools they have the children you have the you schools have the children the pools have the have the pool space well why why couldn't you just do it together what do you need a middleman for well because of course if you could have done it it would have been done okay and and so what do we provide we provide a staff dedicated to making sure that the logistics of the program work for all the participants all the partners we provide swimsuits and towels to those students who don't have them every child gets a mesh bag to carry their suit and towel a.

Certificate of completion goes to all students attending more than half the lessons a skills evaluation form going through all the different skills that the child learned along with some narrative information on how what their child did well what they could do a little bit better and I understand one of the board members children has gone through the program and I hope you've got that skills evaluation for and on the back of that it lists some water safety tips so how these children can stay safe at any aquatic venue it's information to the parents and then we give a plaque to each new school in the program and in fact I presented a plaque just this morning to principal Hall of Club Boulevard Elementary School I don't know if you've seen any of these plaques but they're quite lovely okay we also recruit and train instructors we have over 150 instructors and we need that many to keep our our student instructor ratio low and we also then.

We want to make this zero cost to the pools so we reimburse the pools for their lifeguard and instructor time that comes out of our money can we do the next slide please so what's the history of swim for Charlie for DPS it started in the fall of 2020 when nccu associate Vice Chancellor Johnny Sutherland connected me with DPS Board of Education member mini fort Brown I'm sure you know that name okay to assist with expanding swim for Charlie to Durham Public Schools many set up a meeting between me and superintendent Pascal mbenga who agreed to support the program then DPS Chief of Staff thank you T reviewed and signed off on the memorandum of understanding between swim for Charlie DPS and the different pools chief of schools Stacy Stewart followed by assistant superintendents of elementary schools Kimberly Ferell and Julie Spencer have continued to ensure the smooth execution of the program okay next slide please so we don't just have this program we have it because we want to.

Make sure that we're making making a difference and so we look at two sets of metrics we look at participation metrics and we look at achievement metrics we want to make sure we're reaching a population that really needs this 70% 77% of students start at level zero they're fearful of the water or level one they're not fearful but they have no water safety skills those two groups of children 80 almost 80% of your students if we put them in the water day one they would be a statistic they are not water safe about a quarter of the students have some basic water safety skills 1555 DPS students have participated in the program which is an 87% participation so we offer this program to 100% of second graders in in the schools that we are part of and 87% of the parents sign the permission slip and the children show up and we have a 91% part completion rate what that means me is the children once they come they continue to come because they find.

It's valuable next slide please and so we don't want to know that we're only that we're getting reaching the right population we want to make sure we're making a difference 5 53% of those early Learners get to level two or higher they can get from a front to a back float independently pull themselves out of the water and they have the skills and the knowledge to save themselves from water over their head head we'd like that number to be higher but let's look at the denominator in that denominator we take all comers so we have kids who will never be independently water Sav severe developmental delays children with missing limbs autism we have we take 100% of your students okay 78% of those early Learners even though they maybe not not all of them get to be water safe they're much more comfortable in the water and with maybe a few more lessons from their parents to get them to schools they'll get to the spot where that water safe 92% of.

Students starting at level two or higher they have some basic skills they improve we make them more resilient in the water so I have I've heard from some parents well my child has some water safety skills why should they do it because 92% of them get better they're much more resilient okay next slide please oh just before and so in addition to those those important metrics to contributing to their water safety there are other benefits that have been seen improve stamina okay decrease School absenteeism during the weeks of swim for Charlie and afterwards I've been told that by principles APS teachers and parents improved confidence and well-being improved academic performance and here we are are the last slide it takes a community to make children water safe thank you very much for giving me that lovely spark pin I love that but it's not me okay who is involved in this and let me just tell you if any Link in this isn't isn't part of it it doesn't happen.

School board members if the board says no it doesn't happen if the superintendent says no it doesn't happen the principls the teachers the bus drivers other school staff whole administrators aquatic directors lifeguards instructors all of these people our staff our our board members our hundreds of donors and granting agencies that allow us to provide the things that we doing so it can be zero cost the volunteer instructors youve saw several of them back there our our program manager Valerie and instructor Donna make this happen parents and Guardians they don't sign the permission slip they child doesn't get in there the the students so it takes 7800 children I mean people to make 2200 children water save okay so it's not me it's those folks can we just go through this next few slides pretty quickly so these are the skills we show your children how to blow bubbles hold breath in the water it's for some people oh yeah it's a big little big if you take a really F.

Scared child that's a big deal getting their face wet okay next slide this is a be look at that slide in the middle going down hopefully your children look like that in the pool they're raising their hand demonstrate a beautiful front float come up you can see she's not wearing goggles No Cap we want to make this a water safety program if she fell in the lake or her attention Pond she doesn't have her goggles on she doesn't have a cap we want her to to not panic we want her to know what she should do and there you have some cute kids floating on their front independently on the back we can see back float and these instructors are showing different techniques on how to make these children's comfortable in the water on their back next slide.

Please look at the smiles on these children's faces and so we drill into their heads you get into the water and you're in water over your head and you're getting tired what are you supposed to do and they'll yell at you get into a back flow that's what they're doing that will make them water safe next slide please. Get them from a front to a back float they fall into the water and if they can't back float that's it there's statistic that's a huge skill there's instructor Jade nccu grab doing it elementary backstroke so they can get easy very little effort next slide and that's ball game so you got more you've got a a a PDF is being sent to you that has some of the comments that are not on the slides and also a few more slides that you can enjoy I'm sorry I took so much time thank you so much you have stepped up to the plate Durham Community has stepped up to the plate and it just warms my.

Heart thank you so much Dr Klean thank you Board of swim for Charlie for being here colleagues any other thoughts gratitudes to extend Miss buer so I just want to extend such gratitude to you all and to all of your volunteers and I'm encourage any Community member that is interested in an amazing volunteer opportunity that is so much more fun than water aerobics and if if folks stop by sometime when y'all are teaching this is one of the most joyful learning experiences I have ever seen and so I'm so proud of of the work that is going on with swim for Charlie so proud to see your numbers increasing to 1800 students and thank you for sharing your hearts with our.

Students thank you Miss harof yeah I you mentioned I mentioned my son went through swim for Charlie so I can test ify that not only did he he did he was he looked forward to going school every day that he had swim for Charlie but he also after just that those few sessions that summer he started swimming and we had been working with him he started swimming right after that so it was pretty amazing Miss Carda-Auten I'll just Echo the things so really excited that y'all are here this evening that presentation was beautiful and and heart for I mean I my daughter also went to the program last year and loved it and and also I work at school I worked at the school of medicine with Charlie and so it's so wonderful to see this program continuing in his name and he would just he would be so happy to see what y'all are doing so thank you for all of your work and the work of everybody.

Else can I ask you to come to the mic. The back of the literature that we send home we tell the parents that they can go to Campus Hills or Edison Johnson and can take their kids there for free certain days after school and Saturday Sunday afternoons and that's just such a great thing that's awesome thank you for sharing thank you Miss umad I just want to Echo the appreciation and I think especially when we think about students of color and this lifesaving skill our community has been impacted by students who needed the life saving skills in order to have a different outcome so I just want to say thank y'all I appreciate that thank you the next item on our agenda is the review of policy 2130 Miss Giovani Dr Ry good evening Dr Lewis chair Rogers members of the board this policy is before you for the board's discussion and review and consideration of some some potentially outdated Provisions in the policy and as we work through.

The various policy updates we will be bringing forward different policies for the board to consider as this is a policy 2000 which are the board policies it is generally the practice that board members would lead those discussions versus going to recommendations from Administration on what it is that the board should do so with that I would like to turn it over to chair Rogers to lead the discussion thank you Dr Giovani colleagues policy 2130 allows board members to seek reimbursement each board member as I guess it's 2130b three board member communication expenses each board member will be eligible for a mobile device technology supplement to offset the board members official use of a personal mobile device or technology resources the amount of the mobile device supplement will be established by the board as part of annual budget preparation and authorized required by law this policy was last revised in 2016 when we were operating with nights free nights and free weekends and had PL minutes on our cell phone policies don't remember that.

Missad I do but I think in 2016 we had moved past that oh okay. Okay so we have colleagues that are seeking reimbursement for technology use but also colleagues that have been notified that the district could offer us an opportunity for a district issued device which would be in line with our counterparts at the city and at the County but we need to understand how much that would cost so I'm going to ask Miss Malone to come to the podium or to the table wherever she chooses to be to speak to the cost of the devices and what's available for board members good evening chair Rogers good evening board good evening superintendent Lewis the current District standard for cell phones for nonr transportation staff we have available Apple iPhones 12s the equipment is no charge the standard monthly charge for sellia and data of those iPhones is $42.39 a month per phone and then there is also an optional charge if you choose to enable mobile hotspots on those.

District cell phones and that is an additional $13.62 a month and that includes taxes we do have these phones available tonight if the board does choose to make that. Decision thank you Miss Malone I did have a question can't remember it now colleagues anybody have any questions for Miss Malone. Okay so it would not be within our policy right now to issue cell phones but I know that some board members have requested cell phones so the question that I have to the board is would we be open to having Miss Malone issue cell phones to board members at the expense that she's just named and do we want them to have mobile hotspots.

I would like to I would like to be able to have the option to have a have the board be able to be issued a cell phone for for safety concerns for better to be able to be able to you know communicate and and be able to have a place for a community to reach out better as opposed to having to use my personal phone so I would like to have that option as far as the price goes what I'm understanding is that it we could either choose to have a a device issued or we could choose to have reimbursement so I wanted to clarify that if we're using a personal phone for that use so that's up to the board we would have to wave our current policy in order to have the devices issued so what I would recommend having heard from several board members is that we wave the current policy and request allow board members to request a phone from Miss Malone or reimbursement for the same cost of the D.

That DPS is paying for cell pH all right Madam chair can I make a suggestion yes oh given that the devices would belong to the SE school system and would be returned when the board member no longer needs it or is no longer on the board I'm not sure that it falls under compensation it's more akin to like the laptops or other because you're borrowing it essentially we don't have a laptop policy okay so we could certainly add something like that to the policy of just discussing in general that board members would have access to technological devices the the technology supplement as a reimbursement I think is also I think it is permitted by your current policy but it setting an amount you know that that it would perhaps be C at what the board pays for its own phones would make sense so if you capita that where do you start it so to me so board member compensation as you know has to be approved by the.

Commissioners but I don't think that a reimbursement is compensation it's like reimbursing you for your actual expenses so I would say it is the if you're getting reimbursed for your cell phone use I suppose you could start it at the amount of your bill up to $42 or whatever the the current rate is does that make sense so each individual board member would get a different reimbursement based on their bill and whatever plan that they I say I am assuming that most people sell bills are more than $42 and so most people would get $42 but I think that's open to I I don't know a lot about the logistics of how different board members may have different I guess what I'm saying is to for it to be an actual reimbursement The Only Exception here would be like if there is a board member who doesn't have a cell phone they wouldn't get the reimbursement do that make sense okay but beyond that as long as it's a reasonable amount that is tied to.

You know an actual expense that you have I think you have some flexibility thank you colleagues any thoughts on next steps emotion Mr Miss Chávez do you you have something yeah I just wanted to say I'm in favor of of waving this policy at this time but I also think we should update the policy if this is going to be a a standard thing that is done year toe which I think is makes a lot of sense to have a board or a district issued phone for those who choose to have that so miss Chavez are you offering a motion yes my first motion is that I move that we wave this policy in order to allow for board members to receive a district issued cell phone it's been it's been moved by Miss Chavez seconded by Miss heral G to wave policy 2130 to allow board members to be issued a district cell phone there is discussion Miss Umstead yeah just a couple clarifying points when we wave policy is that the whole.

Policy and there other are there other implications for that it would be my my understanding is the motion is just to wave any portion of that policy that might otherwise not allow this okay and then is there a time frame that we are looking at this should we revisit it from year to year as well and and sorry and should we amend that motion just to be clear around communication expenses because there's other things around filing for reimbursements and conferences in this policy and I just want to be clear about what we're waving and what we're not waving yes I think that's fine so the motion can be to wave it's B3 that's started the discussion B3 B3 of policy 2130 in order to allow for board members to receive a cell phone if they choose and I also I think that putting a time frame on it would be F like a year and then that gives us time to modify the policy could it could it be along with our annual budget absolutely.

Okay all right so can I ask one more clarifying question we're waving the policy in order for people to actually get a device so with the annual budget that's already in the policy correct around like looking at the supplement for phones that is already in the budget but do we need do we need a different checkpoint for the issuing of a device because those were like two separate issues right so my understanding of the motion was just about the issuing of District owned devices and so then if there's a separate action about the supplement that that would be a second motion did I understand that correctly right okay but also if we do it when we're considering the budget as part of our budget that would be a line item in the board budget and should be expected for the next year if we make that request and then we if we decide we don't have the money for it then the devices get turned back in or people don't get that.

Reimbursement which would also require us to change a policy for the expense and the reimbursement yeah I guess I'm I see them almost a little as two and so it's a little confusing to me which one we're doing but I think if if if other folks are clear that's okay but just the giving of device is a a loan right out to the we're loaning you this te technology to bring it back but develop the supplement is a part of developing the budget which one might not impact the other is what I'm also hearing that's right so the current policy already provides for the provision of a mobile device supplement I think if the issue is that you know it says it'll be part of the board's budget and it wasn't this year you could just ask the finance officer to prepare an amended budget that includes that for the rest of this year and I could be loaned a phone without it impacting the budget also maybe what I'm.

Hearing so is the board not paying the expense that Miss Malone just suggested yes so Madam chair depending on how many board members tonight select to get phones going forward we will be reaching out because monthly we have to pay Verizon and so we will let you know based on the number of phones time that $42 how much and you would provide us the budget code where we take those funds from each month so it would still impact the District budget I mean the board budget if that's not something that's currently in the board budget you could amend the board's budget to include it I would think am I making sense I see wait so we're connect the supplement and the phone can be the same device can be the same I think I heard you talking about this kind of we're giving a device as a loan type of action that I was thinking they're not the same action Hardware doesn't have a cost it sounds like but it's the.

Service Mr tab do you have any comment no I I was just saying that well thinking that I thought when we discussed this we were just saying that we would just they would just issue the cell phones to those PE persons who wanted it we would just be waving the policy that we already have just for distribution of cell phone and it would come out of the the current budget but if we need to wave the budget I mean or get an amendment to the budget then that's just we probably need to add that to the to the.

Motion okay so a couple things the first thing is we do have a line item for technology and so it can go to that line that's not the issue we just have to approve that it's going to that line okay so there no other thoughts from me then just I think that others have cell phones and I think with the board business and it's a lot of board business that we need to to continue to do board business on on District. Equipment thank you you're welcome so Mr Chavez offered a motion it was seconded by Miss heral go is there any further discussion okay so the motion is to wave 2130 B3 to issue mobile devices and review it as part of our budget if this is going to be forthcoming or annually all those no we have to do a Voice vote Mr tab board member Wendell tab votes I miss Chavez I miss Carter uton hi Miss berer hi Miss Harold goof hi Miss said hi and I vote I the motion passes.

Unanimously board members can seek a cellular device from Miss Malone if their convenience should they so desire is there any other discussion on this topic colag Miss Chavis a related point is just that I would like us to discuss at some point our full budget as a board so we can look at that and approve it we can do that M Madam chair I would like to ask is that tonight before you go into close session we have your phones they are labeled with your phone numbers I can personally give those to you and if you need any support we will have our Tech here that can provide you support with getting logged in and everything to those devices thank you thank you colleagues is there anyone that would prefer to be reimbursed if so we need in motion for.

That well we have to determine how much they going to be reimbursed because we haven't established it yes it does say the amount of the supplement will be established by the board okay so how about you said 42 a month I'm thinking that may go up in the future so to cover us up to $50 a month does that would that work I'm trying to keep it moving here that yep is there a motion yeah I was just looking for yeah people's eyebrows and then I was going to say I move that we adopt a technology supplement if folks choose to apply no yeah to seek reimbursement of up to $50 a month for board member thank you it's been mov by mpire second byste to allow board members to seek reimbursement up to $50 per month for technology use is there any further discussion okay Mr tab I Bo tab FS I were you asking for the vote or you asking for asking for the vote okay yeah.

Our board member when they tap vote I miss Chavez hi Miss Carter Aon Miss Beyer hi Miss Harold goof hi Miss said hi and I'm ment and I wrote Hi passes unanimously thanks.

All the next item on our agenda is a Board of Education item we've asked Miss Lori MCN to make the presentation with an update from the ad hoc committee on Mee and. Confer bit good evening Dr Lewis board cabinet staff members and community members I'm here to provide a brief report of the progress of the ad hoc committee tonight this committee was formed in early 2023 at the request of the board to guide and create a policy 2024 right not 23 20 2024 last school year long I know it feels like a long time sorry yes it was February and March I'll just leave it at that to create a policy that would guide the Inception of an employees relation slash meet and confer policy that would increase communication and collaboration between DPS Administration the board classified staff and certified staff the committee consists of two board members including Miss Lewis former board member also four employees who are current Dae members for employees who are non Dae members DPS Administration which is.

The superintendent chief of staff and Deputy superintendent myself as the facilitator and consultation from legal representation from both ncae and DPS a little bit about the history there have been a total of six meetings five between March and June with a brief Hiatus for the board's summer time as well as to give Dr Lewis a little bit of time to get his legs Underneath Him and kind of understand the context of what was happening and we started back up just a few weeks ago in September for our sixth meeting the content of these meetings has really focused on understanding the perspective of all of the parties involved their needs and then to create the structures for that employee Relations Committee both Dae and DPS Administration brought forth policies to just about every meeting and with each Meeting those policies were then revised in in large part coming closer and closer to consensus they were undergoing revisions at many of those meetings and so we went through those and gave feedback at each.

Meeting as well there were definitely points of agreement and there were points of convergence at every meeting Divergence excuse me so the ad hoc committee also discussed policy 72 10 which is the staff involvement in decision making then the board chair did refer this to DPS Administration for review I want to highlight some of those points of agreement and some of where opinions diverged so I think all ad hoc committee members agreed that every employee deserves a voice and every group of employee deserves of voice and some feedback to leadership and the board there was also agreement about the number of meetings so it was agreed that quarterly meetings plus a fifth meeting during budget season and the option to have additional meetings as needed and agreed upon by the committee the key points where there was lack of agreement with the ad hoc committee was really about the basic purpose of the board so whether it was an employee Relations Committee or a formal meet and conferred which have some significant differences especially around.

Composition and who gets to attend and have a voice during those specific meetings the other point was really around the scope of the work of the committee and whether that should be Focus solely on compensation issues or whether it should be expanded into other topics that are important and impactful to all employees I am now going to hand over to Dr Lewis for any comments then to Rod Malone or his design and then we'll hand it back to the board for other comments thank you so much M mnol I appreciate your facilitation in what has been a a long process obviously I only attended one meeting and I do recognize the work that has been done prior to me arriving I think it I've shared before that had experiences in two different states with collective bargaining agreements both in Kansas and Missouri in terms of employee voice and hearing from from staff when we think about the work that the ad hoc committee has done to ensure that there is a meeting confer.

Policy and also just suppose that against the policy 7210 a goal is to develop a policy that is legal first of all in ensuring that we are following I think it's 95-98 and ensuring that the terms that we use doesn't violate that that speaks to any governing body cannot enter into an agreement with a labor union so that's I want to make that clear that we don't violate that and I also say this a a a policy even a collective bargain agreement is not worth the paper it's written on if it's not put into practice if if actions are not behind it in terms of getting employee voice and then what do you do do with that you know getting an employee feedback you know there's a huge difference between input and feedback right and so making sure that there are spaces for both to happen and also recognizing and acknowledging existing spaces that exists for the purposes of hearing employee voice teacher working condition survey and I will tell.

You that based on my experience staff will not continue to complete surveys if they don't believe that their voice is being heard with in that platform and and nothing is is is being changed there in addition the superintendent staff advisory councils teachers and classified staff space is there and I do recognize and again I'm still learning this is day 33 now and with that I've visited 35 schools in in 33 days and I if you have been to your school you know I T talk I talk to you and and going through this process of listening and and learning and so we think about the superintendent advisory councils I've heard that that has just been a formality or a checkbox and nothing happens after after that and I will tell you that during my first meeting feedback I Reed from teachers is one of the things we need to change is the amount of time that they're on the advisory Council which has been one year you know we only have four or.

Five meetings what can we get done in a in a year and so I changed that now two years and so that's an opportunity for us to really do some great work together and in that platform we talked about ways that we can really focus on you know one or two things that we want to accomplish this entire year yes we want to hear all the concerns that are going on within the buildings but but but an what do we want to work on as a Council that we can say because we met because I was on this Council two years we were able to accomplish this for our staff we were able to accomplish this for our our students so all that to say I just want to honor the spaces that's currently in place and let this board and staff know that I utilize those spaces not just as a check boox but to genuinely listen and genuinely hear and then take action on those things that.

That that we can as I mentioned two previous districts I got a letter of recommendation from one of the Union presidents and I shared with her my goal is to work you out of a job because when you bring concerns to me if we if our team can make it happen we're going to make it happen so again just acknowledging the action that needs to happen after voices are are heard and so I I think we're at a pivotal point in terms of where we've been where this district has been prior of me arriving over the past nine months with an a huge opportunity before us to really sit down and think about what can we do together that will benefit ultimately all of our Scholars and so I'm looking forward to the discussion but also looking forward to as we are moving through this process you always hear me say our kids can't wait and likewise our staff can't wait and so as we're moving through this process and.

What can we continue to focus on that we're hearing already and the things that I'm learning as I'm getting out into the community thank you so much absolutely and so obviously I am filling in for Rod tonight and you know certainly a a Mee and conferred process a Mee and confir policy is something that we can develop and as Dr Lewis mentioned there are guardrails around what the board can do and what that can say I think it might help me to know what questions you have for me or what you'd like me to address in specific whether it's policy language or do you have any feedback on the drafts here sure absolutely so as Dr Lewis referenced there is a statute in North Carolina it's 95-98 that prohibits any agreement between any government agency in any La labor union and so that's it's fairly sweeping it's been the law since the 1970s and so that is one of the largest guard rails of course that there is not there's not negotiation there's not.

Reaching agreement or any sort of binding agreement I also do want to highlight another more recent statute which is 115c 3359 and I'm not sure this one's been discussed before the equal access act that it is the intent of the general assembly that all education employee associat s have equal access to employees at schools and so this was the Statute that said you know if you open your mailboxes your newsletters and so forth to one employee organization you have to open it to all which makes sense but it also states that a school system may not give any education employee Association preferential treatment through par procedures policies or any other means and may not endorse one education employee associate a over another so I do think that that the policy language that references like certain organizations being sort of official and being deemed as members of this and others not could be problematic because it causes the board to pref to give preferential treatment to one organization and not others so.

I do think that's a part that we would need to look at in in drafting a policy the only other things in looking at the drafts there in I think the first draft was a provision that the that again that there would be one employee representative organization and then it would select Representatives on this committee or advisory Council and that the board would then appoint those representatives and I think there would need to be some discussion about the fact that the board has discretion there so we can't de would not want to delegate to a non to an out to a third party group the total authority to select who's on a board advisory counsel I think and I will say that is mentioned in the memo from the ncae attorney I mean her Memo said that the compos authority to choose the composition of a council must rest with the board so I don't think that's controversial I think we just need to make that clearer in the draft that that the.

Board would not be delegating its ultimate decision-making Authority as far as appointing although it would certainly take nominations from the from the various constituent groups so overall I think you know certainly the board can have a meet and confer process you know the governor has one state agencies have one this is definitely something we can do we just have to be careful that we say within those two statutes and structure it in such a way that I mean when you look even I looked at the National Education Association which has a list of labor terms and their definitions for educators and meet and confer is defined as in an area where collective bargaining doesn't happen a process of coming together to discuss issues and solicit input and I think that's that is the definition of that process and so looking at a process that is about conferring soliciting input having the opportunity to give input and have it be heard by the board is is what a good meet and confir.

Policy would represent but we would need to avoid you know that we're like negotiating and voting on policies that would then be binding thank you I'm not sure I've seen that memo that you're referencing can you make sure that sent to the board the which one from the NCA legal council yes it was from back in February so I just happened to still have it thank you I can appreciate that colleagues any comments Miss bu so I was back to to trying to understand 115 C- 3 35.9 so can you read aloud again some of the sure text in that legislation that that gives you pause yes so this this was titled by the general assembly the equal access act it was adopted with the 2012 2013 school year which is confusing because there is a federal equal access act that applies to schools but this is a separate thing defines education employee Association to include teacher associations teacher organizations and classified employee associations and states that all education employee associations should.

Have equal access to employees at schools and that schools may not favor or endorse an education employee associations so then there's a list of five things that you can't do one has to do with mailbox access one has to do with recruiting events and not allowing one unless you allow all like coming to PD or other school system events to recruit but the ones that gave me pause is number three may not give an education employee Association preferential treatment through procedures policies or any other means and then it has a reference about payroll deduction that I don't is not an issue here and then number four may not endorse one education employee Association over another and then a I don't think this applies here or is relevant but a school shall not discourage or prohibit an employee from joining an organization or show preferences toward any.

Association my second question would be having reviewed the policy drafts that are posted and brought here to to the website are either of them ready for action this evening I would say no okay neither okay and and then some of the language that in the in that I've seen in emails from from Dae refer to language that the one of the demands is beginning to negotiate with us and do you have feedback on on how we clarify that expectation as we move you know forward with some policy to to increase employee voice but that negotiation kind of language that keeps coming up so that I think would be part of the what the North Carolina prohibits because if you're negotiating it's to reach an agreement and that we are not permitted to do but again of course soliciting input and then the board chooses to accept and follow the recommendations of an employee group is absolutely within your.

Purview I have a follow-up question to that and then I'll let other folks go I think my question is when we're looking at where my computer for. Sleeping when we are looking at the first meet and confer policy that shows up in our prees articles one through three. The school district shall recogniz is one a the school district shall recognize employee representative organizations that demonstrate at least 25% membership in the 23 24 school year and then at least Le 50% membership in subsequent years among non-administrative and non-managerial Durham public school active employees administrative and manager employees are defined as individuals is that section asking us to endorse an organization so well I don't know if it's asking you to endorse but it is asking you to prefer one over another in the sense that it says it it would create a system where the board has a process for receiving input from organizations that have a certain membership and does not open that process to others and I think that would.

Be a problem under the statute thank you that's helpful ales Miss heroff. So my understanding is that we are exploring several different ways to engage to to do a better job of engaging our community as Dr Lewis was mentioning there are all of these existing spaces for people to come and to you know and and we're hearing from Community those spaces are not working and that and even if they are being heard then we have to begin to process what's happening so this meeting confer policy the ask is that it be designed to be one of the arms of those spaces understanding that we have to be within the law and that that space be for the ER and so I am I've come prepared today to make make a motion to develop a meet and confer policy to establish regular meetings with the ER that demonstrates the drro that demonstrates majority the 50% membership among non-administrative and non-managerial Durham Public School active employees as of the end of last year.

What I'm hearing is is that in that statute that could present a problem because it sounds preferential so I would still like to I would like to amend to change that and to still ask if to make a motion to devel develop a meet and confer policy to establish regular meetings with the ER it doesn't name the er but what it does is it does clarify that this particular policy that we would be developing would be still for that purpose to discuss issues and to solicit input from one of our a stakeholder in our community that has done so much organizing historically to represent voices and our staff in during Public Schools so understanding that we still need to do the work everything that has happened up that has happened in the ad hoc committee to this point is valid and relevant and heard all of those voices also need to be heard as part of the whole hand that has to do this work in all of these various spaces that we can.

Improve but for this particular policy we want to focus on the ER and and recognize and benefit from the historical all of the work that is gone into organizing over the years so is is that that motion clear do I need to restate it all right so I'm making a motion to develop a meet and confer policy to establish regular meetings with the ER so what that does that that separates the the ER from other entities in this particular.

Policy motion fails without a second anybody else have any commentary or any other comments they want to offer to the policy so I have a motion trying to bring us to consensus wait can you make a motion while a motion is on the floor motion's not on the floor anymore it is one second I move that the board refer the meet and confer policy to the superintendent based on the feedback from the ad hoc committee and from the greater Durham community and work in consultation with the board's attorney.

Move that the board refer the meet and confer policy to the superintendent based on feedback from the ad hoc committee and the greater Durham community in consultation with the board's attorney and is the the desire that we would bring back a draft that incorporates that feedback as much as legally possible yes and assuming that it's a legal policy that us move forward in Durham and thread what are nearly impossible laws. Yeah again the motion I would second there been moved by Miss buer seconded by Miss Umstead for the board to refer the policy to the superintendent include the feedback from the ad hoc committee to develop a policy with the attorney that falls within the law and feedback from the D greater feedback from the greater d Community is there any discussion Miss Carter uton I guess I'm confused is there a precedent on this board before my time for passing a policy making responsibilities from the board to the superintendent and I'm wondering why it's why it's believed that that's not something that.

The board can do with our attorney so if you could speak to that a little bit more and kind of explain your those of you who are in support of this speak to your thoughts around why this is something that the board cannot do so I think that meet and confer is actually work that the superintendent will lead with our employees and he will develop a policy that to bring forward to the board it I think most of our policies actually come from staff or recommendations from staff and ncsba so yeah we don't draft much of the policies that we pass and I'm I'm appreciative of of the feedback that we've received and the time that both Dae and the teamsters and individual employees have brought to this process I think both of these need to come hand inand with 7210 which is already going to be worked on by staff and I think that's the way to move it forward most expedi I don't expeditiously I don't think this board will words Smith it.

Sitting on the dis I think that's the way to get it actually done so that's why Miss said yeah and I would add I'm happy to add a board member to that mix the motion that if if so mean by Miss buer I I think that what I've heard is tension between what's been presented to us the legally legal portions of that and the work that needs to happen to Move It from drafts and feedback to like something that the board can wrestle with and so I see that that motion with a direction of how do we move towards something the practice in our board has been that staff works with whether it's ncsba and our legal attorneys to bring policy to the board as drafts the board gives feedback and Direction and then the staff goes and works on it some more and then brings it back to us that is has been the practice of our board I think I am clear and I think most of us are that our dra our.

Job as policy makers is to pass policy but we need to make sure we do that in consultation with our staff who understand what it looks like in practice we do a consultation with our attorney also to make sure we stay within legal bounds so if it you know if it also could work to add a board members to that designate board members that also work with the superintendent illegal I'm happy to do that so we can have board voice as a part of the perspective or part of the next steps Miss Carter Aden did you have a response Mr tab wanted to speak also are you responding to miss umid okay go ahead I appreciate that historical perspective we do have board policy titled board policies where it says the Board of Education believes that the development of policies and the evaluation of policy Administration is the most important function of a school board the board reserves to itself the functions of developing and revising policies for the school.

System so while that might have been practiced it's not in policy that was established in 2016 I can't recall y'all were on the board at that point right yes so I joined the board in October of 2016 I think what I have seen happen often when we review policies board and staff are together having conversation around policy and changes that we want to make and I think it is I just think it's vital that the people who are practicing the policy and are implementing the policy and that are impacted by the policy are in the room when we're making the policy and I understand that we as a board have a decision to make that happen I have a a duty to make that happen as board members and I believe in how do we consult have excuse me be in consultation with other people in order to make the work happen and so I think in order to get from drafts and feedback to the policy we're going to need to have.

Conversations that can happen outside of this room to move it to that place and then our board comes and says we like it or we don't we need to start all over again right actually let's go back out send two members to do the work like that's our role as a board to do that work and I think it can happen again in consultation with staff and folks were impacted that's my belief on it Mr tab the Miss Harold G the Miss Chavez thank you very much I appreciate the dialogue from all of my colleagues on on the board what I did want to say was that we at a point where either we really support me and confer or we do not support me and confer or we are all going to work together to try to support meet and confer by finding a finding a way to stay within the law but yet bring the communities together to making sure that the that Dae and the work that they.

Have done of course will be realized I am concerned with the motion from the standpoint of the ad hoc committee where I think that that committee itself still needs to to work out what I heard from the beginning was that there were some places of of agreement and then there were places that they did not agree and I'm not sure if the ad hoc committee will continue to be able to work that out I would hope so but I'm just a little uneasy about that I would as I shared with the president of the Dae that I I support and confer but I also would like for Dr Lewis to be a part of the the conversation that together as we talk about bringing people together being transparent being trustworthy all those things open communication that we've talked about this is an definite an opportunity for that to happen so I'm little cons I'm not totally buying the the motion I apologize for that but I think there are some problems that we know.

That's within the adoc committee that if I wouldn't want that to be in the motion so so Mr tab if I appreciate that that I did not intend for anything to go back to the ad hoc committee I while I am appreciative of that work I know that we've reached a spot where there are differences that won't be resolved there that will need to be resolved by the board so you know my motion was not to have that be a living place but but I do want to acknowledge the voices and the feedback and the draft policies and the documentation and the minutes and all the work that that group has done so far as as vital reference points for the superintendent and staff as they work forward so I hope I I'm so I'm glad you pointed that out if it wasn't clear I I was not trying to send it back to and keep it keep an ad hoc committee going forever and I want to take this.

Opportunity to actually Express so much gratitude to miss mcnalty for facilitating what have been some of the most challenging conversations Brave conversations bold conversations and I appreciate you know folks coming when things were uncomfortable and having those conversations together Miss Chávez Miss heral go Madam president I thank Miss bias for for jumping in there ER and clearing that up but I wasn't quite finished yet Madam okay Mr tab go ahead thank you I would definitely recommend I mean I would offer a a an amended motion that that we can support meet and confer through through the actions of the Dae president and and the superintendent Dr Lewis and giving him a an opport Unity to work and to work with her and work out those particular details and keeping us within the law but I and I think that I think that may bring us all back together to making sure that we can get a meeting confer if possible thank.

You the motion to amend the motion does not have a second and therefore it fails can we repeat the original motion one more. Time okay the original motion and then Mr tab after Miss buer reads back the original motion will you restate your amendment I move the board refer the meet and confer policy to the superintendent based on the feedback from the ad hoc committee I'm the greater Durham community in consultation with the board's. Attorney Mr tab the amendment the amendment was that I proposed make a motion that the superintendent work with the president of Dae in consultation with the board's of attorney and working out the details to bring it back to the board.

Second are you asking if I would accept that friendly Amendment Mr tab yeah the only thing I was really taking out was the ad hoc stuff L I think you added in the with the president of the association of Educators is that how I heard it is it yes but I thought that's what you would yeah I want to I want to appreciate your background too Mr tab it's fabulous I I welcome that I am trying to figure out and get a nod from the attorney that that's not gonna cause us great concern I don't think so just to consult certainly if other groups had feedback I know that they would send it to Dr Lewis also perfect thank you.

Miss shz yes we're still following the list that I gave out earlier so I wanted to say going back I wanted to clarify about Joy's motion before letting it die so I don't know we can go back to that after this or or what but or make a new motion but I think I I just wanted to further draw out what you were saying about about that motion so that's one thing with with this current motion I think that well there are a few things one I do think it's the board's role to develop policy and I think board members should be involved in that two the I think referring the meet and confer policy only to the superintendent and and attorneys would that's again leaving out the voices of the people which is the me incomer policy is trying to achieve and then I think think I also thank you Miss MCN for your work facilitating we gave you a very difficult job I think because in observing the ad hoc committee I.

Really appreciate everyone who showed them and gave their all their thoughts their just their energy and I think that we were working with different of assumptions in the room and so it was difficult to come to a one policy because of that of that issue right there and the board set that up so so we could have gone back and and done that differently but I appreciate you know the work that was done because it a lot of a lot of U meaningful dialogue came out of that I think also so let's see with this policy the the first time the board received a version of the meet and confer policy from Dae was in February the board has seen numerous has seen it over time we've had it and Mr Malone has reviewed it multiple times and has been also present at the ad hoc committee so the piece about preferential treatment I'm not sure why it's coming up now I also don't I don't think I realize that that's you know a matter.

Of it is it seems to depend with the statute on how one reads preferential treatment and I think that and so I'm not I'm not sold on this on a meet and confer policy with a with an ER that meets a certain threshold being preferential treatment and I think that I mean I'll raise and I know the statute refers to education associations but that the governor himself has a meet and confer policy with a an employee Association whose membership includes at least 20% of the employees with the threshold so I think that I I do want to go back we can finish out this motion I want to go back to the one that the joy was working on making and and just ask to for clarity about that so we can get that back on the table and I'll save my other thoughts thanks M go I'll say it again we're in the middle of a motion so this is discussion on the motion so refer the policy to the superintendent include feedback from.

IHot committee and the president of Dae with the attorney all right so with feedback from the community my concern about about whatever is moving forward my understanding is that we are not going to be voting on any policy today that's clear not voting on a policy today what we're trying to do is to move it forward with the clarity that it will be with the SRO and not with the the ER excuse me ER and not with the community at large not with the what was the term you used feedback from the greater I think the feedback from the Greater Community was what I said because we have just posted this information recently and Durham folks always like to share and and they should I I I'm every it said one of the things that everybody agree everybody's voice deserves to be heard but for clarity for this particular policy development my concern is that it is for Simplicity for clarity transparency that this particular what we're we're moving forward is with.

These next discussions to to to get to that place the legal place the language that we need so we can be in compliance and everything is with the ER and not we don't use the language you know so that it we we're moving from the ad hoc committee to this next step of moving forward meet and confer with the erro okay that is I want to make sure that that is what we are doing so I have some comments but I would like to offer that there's a motion on the floor and we can take up that motion and then revisit if it specifically speaks to the ER or not to separate those two things is what I'm offering all right so this because we have to give them direction as to what we expect them to discuss and what we want a policy to look back look like when it comes back to us right so that discussion should be with the ER with that ER what I'm saying is are we we.

Haven't voted to ask Administration to do anything right now to ask Administration to work with anybody we haven't taken that vote okay yet once that vote is taken if it passes we can get very grenert and specific about what we wanted to see by a motion and making sure because the only way we can communicate as a board is to move that four or more of us want to take this action. Together Miss Travis I have an amendment to the amendment okay am I gonna get to give Feb back oh yeah go ahead I mean I don't have to no do you you can offer your you can offer your Amendment okay I would like to move that we refer the meet and confer policy to are you Mak are you making an amendment I would like to the motion no I'm trying to amend the motion because the the motion on the floor right now is is to have the superintendent and the president of Dae meet with the attorney with the attorney to.

Discuss the mome for a policy to bring a br back to the board that falls within the law so I would like to amend the motion the motion to include for the meeting to include the board chair and chair and vice chair and to come back with a policy by the October 24 meeting hold on let me see if that's the right date 24th I I am happy to accept the addition of the board chair and vice chair and I I do not want to put a timeline on the superintendent's work and and so I I happily and I want to hear also the feedback from Miss Rogers as well thank.

You I don't know where to.

Start I want to thank thee for asking us to think about what a meet and confer policy would look like for working with us through many meetings many conversations about how employee input could be implemented better in. Durham I get excited about when we have opportun unity and Durham to in Implement things that are Innovative that are different and that reflect our values and this is an opportunity that we have. Here I sat in many meetings many ad hoc committee meetings and asked the same questions and I understand the concern that every that so many members of our Comm Community have expressed in regards to the makeup of the ad hoc committee there are things that I learned through that process that I wouldn't have learned otherwise and I hope my colleagues have learned some of that as well it has never been the intention of this board and it iteration to pit certain employees against others and that's what it felt like often but also we have a.

Policy for employees to give input and feedback and we delegate that work to the superintendent because the superintendent is that management team Dr Lewis has been here since a August 12th and members of Dae have met with him more often than than board members have they shared that with all the employees that work for DPS and the outcomes of those meetings I don't know I don't see any evidence of that we Dr Lewis and I had meetings with the AE around the salary and the salary schedules to make sure that we all had an understanding we have full intentions as a board and a governance team ensuring that employee voice is recognized and is implemented and that feedback is offered I think I've heard from so many members of the bo all the members of the board tonight that they strongly support having a meet and confer policy I do have some concerns that our attorney raised tonight and would love to sit in a conversation to continue to work through.

That so that we can get to a place where we can authorize meet and confer there are other districts that are doing this well both in Union states and non-union States I would love to have more conversations about what it looks like and exactly what employees want to hear and want to see specifically I've asked an hot committee what is it that you we will see realized from an a policy being passed that isn't already happening in practice I want to I I need to hear more about that I need to hear more about what the specific scope of the conversation will be I have shared my interests in the spefic specific scope of the conversation being around budget as it pertains to salary pay and hours worked and how all that is reflected within the purview of what the superintendent can authorize given State Statute I want us to continue to work through this and get to a place where we have a policy that can be approved a a meet and confer policy.

That can be approved that includes those things and doesn't exclude people. Without moving it from ad hoc I don't know how we get there without having people actually work on it to put a policy together to work on it I don't know how we do that also miss Carter and you were speaking to the evaluation of policy and I think implementing meet and confer policy is an evaluation of 7210 that is what we're doing when we Implement such a policy when we get to a point where we can when we have a policy in front of us to do that I wish I was more informed about the the preferential treatment I am frustrated we're just hearing about it for the first time but this is also the first time we're having such a discussion here and so I recognize that and so I know all of us want to pass a policy Miss said did you have you wanted to I didn't mean to cut your com but I.

Did have a few things I think I was responded and and added information to the motion earlier I I do want to also share appreciation for the work of the ad hoc committee there's many and and for you miss mcnolty for leading and facilitating you all did have six different meetings and I know oftentimes we're here past the time that the meeting was decided to end and I think it was because everyone cares about figuring out how do we move this work forward there was countless hours reviewing policy providing feedback and from what we've seen I think there's still a little bit more work to do and what I feel like I'm supporting today is how do we get from where we are today to a finished product right and there's a little bit more work that we need to do to get to that finished product and we need to imp so we can be as a board have a vote and have a policy draft that we're ready to look at.

Many of y'all who know me know I believe deeply in collaboration like I do believe and I just missed this in the first motion yeah we need Dae in the room to look at what we're working on to make sure it meets the needs and I think collaboration takes listening deeply it takes seeking to understand it takes agreeing to disagree sometimes is giving something to get something in return and requires compromise and I think our relationship needs to have all of those different factors we know that Educators who are in the buildings can tell us best how our policies are being implemented right what the impact is on you what the impact is on our students and our families because so many of you wear multiple hats right you are a parent you are educator as well as a community member here in Durham and so figuring out how we get that information is vital but we got a couple of steps before we get to the end and I really.

Appreciate all the work that's came to where we are today I think that's the right combination of folks that can get us to the next step and get something that we can all agree on and I also did not know about this equal access act so I'm looking forward to learn more about that want to make sure we're within the law but also want to make sure that we're collaborating because we hear you loud and clear our work is better when educators are at the table that's clear right I know that I believe in that that's why I want you around the table we're talking about policy and making developments that's why that's important to me and I think that collaboration takes a lot of different efforts so thank you'all Miss Carter uton F and haral go I think we are all clear that we want our Educators at the table and I'm glad that we are at a point where we all feel United there but I do want to.

Clarify that that's not just what our staff are asking of us and what they've been asking of us a full 2third of all of our staff have asked for and continue to ask for at every single one of our meetings since February a meet and confer process with the ER that represents more than 50% of our employees that's very different from let's just hear from folks and two-thirds of our employees are saying this and if there's one thing I know we need to trust what our employees are saying we give a lot of lip service to in order to solve a really difficult problem you have to talk with those that are closest to the problem but when are we going to actually act on that again they're telling us this why do we think that we have we continue to have the knowledge and we know better than our staff it just feels puzzling to me that we'd still sit and very frustrating that we'd still sit up here as a.

Board and not listen to them I'm I am also I looked very closely at all of Rod's markups of our policies and to me what stood out was that we need to really avoid words like agreement and negot iation and bargaining and that felt clear and even words like shall so that all feels fine to me but this newish piece that I'm glad to have heard about and I I do appreciate you sharing that with us is something that I want to explore further and it feels like if there's a threshold that's set then that threshold is applied across all associations and that doesn't if it's the same threshold it's not like we're giving one threshold to another so I do want to look at that further there's so much to say I just I mean we're clear that North Carolina is one of a handful of states that doesn't allow collective bargaining we know that it does not prohibit conversations or consultations it doesn't prohibit feedback from.

People and I just want to note that this board always complies with state law even when we disagree with it super recently we had s sp49 come to us we stated publicly that we didn't like what was in that legislation and what did we do we didn't just sit back and say like oh well darn we got together as a board we talked about ways that we could create more robust systems of support for our students and our staff amidst harmful things that were coming from our state that is what this board does that's the heart of what we do and we talk about all the time why can we not do that here where again we do not cross the line we don't break the law as a board but I challenge us to step right up to it and to do what we can to listen to our staff nobody here is advocating for breaking a law no one here but I just think we need.

To listen yes we are we've all suggested that we get yourself myself Dr Lewis Miss tweet Meyer and our attorneys in a room to work on this policy so that we can move it forward we've all suggested that we're not shying away from the law we've all suggested let's move this to the next step I think that we're not clear on who should be in that room that's what we've been discussing and I'm not sure that particular room yes okay so you don't want myself yourself the attorney superintendent and Miss tweet Meer in the room that's not what you want thank you for clarifying I wonder if it makes sense if it's just m tweet Meer and we have our attorney why does she not have why is she not there with their attorney she can bring their attorney their attorney has been invited to meet and confer and didn't show up to the ad hoc and didn't show up okay so I appreciate the the conversation and really have offered.

This and motion and accepted amendments in a in a way to bring us and move us forward expeditiously so I am I am so appreciative of the discussion that's gone on I'm so appreciative of the voices and snaps in the room I think this is our most efficient and effective way to move forward with consensus from the majority of this board or hopefully a unanimous vote I would say at our last ad hoc committee meeting the chair went around and said we're going to bring these forward at September whatever 26th and everybody gave a thumbs up up and I watched the room and Dr Lewis did not give a thumbs up because he just got here and we all know and our teachers know that we have operational issues that we are working to fix urgently and when folks say we want to talk about bed bugs and Chromebooks no wants bed bugs and Chromebooks we we are fighting we are in this together this board has always been in this.

Together and so Dr Lewis is in the midst of his 100 day entry plan he is an experienced leader working in good faith with labor and he has continued to meet regularly with leadership from the Durham Association of educators I believe he's the right superintendent to consider these complex issues and bring us together as we collaborate on ways to include the voices of employees and continue to lead through our District's ongoing stress while we work to re rebuild trust I'm asking us to move forward tonight because we are truly in this together I call the question colleagues the motion on the floor is.

To refer the policy to the superintendent based on the feedback from the ad hoc committee with the chair and vice chair and the ch president of Dae and attorneys to review and come up with a meet and confer policy to bring back to the. Board second it's already been seconded oh so discussion no we've already done discussion we're going to the vote she called the question oh okay you. Can I get some clarity first I think from from my seat it's not a matter of if but when we will pass a meeting confer policy I just want to be clear on the direction when we say the superintendent the board chair the board Vice chair I love working with you all and then just one Dae president feels kind of like government's heavy and so I have I'm happy to defer to the vice chair I have full faith in our team and working with Micah and her team that we can bring something back for the board to discuss and hopefully.

Pass in a nice way I'm saying give me a charge out the way and let us do it so are you so you're advocating Dr Lewis to not have any board members in that convers is that where you're and in the initial so let us do the work let us do the heavy lift of bringing putting something in writing obviously Consulting with attorney and then bring it back for the full board to discuss and hopefully bless and and move on or send us back to the drawing board but do let us do the heavy LIF are you comfortable are do you think that that is something that we could revisit in the next board meeting next month and or or what what what does that timeline look like for you and I don't want to put a timeline out now I want to meet with our team with with Micah to see because we have to we have some had some great discussion some great feedback from those two so I think we're at a.

Good starting point to begin those conversations and I always say although yes I am in my first 100 days but you know our kids can't wait our staff can't wait and so I think we can bring something back in the near future and so again while I'm doing the listening and learning to that can inform some of the work that's going in on the meeting confer as well my question would be then you're just to clarify you're advocating for meeting with Dae leadership who they choose to bring and our and our team as well okay but I I want to make sure we have a good robust that's why I was kind of confused on the feedback from the entire Duram Community is it is it's just listening as you're on your listening and learning right and if Teamsters reach out to you you got to respond to them and and you know there there are just there are groups in Durham you'll hear F that's all I just.

Want you to be able to kind of listen as you're listening yeah absolutely please though when we do bring something back it's going to be fully vetted and a lot of input will have gone into it so I just need those guard rails and we can make it. Happen Mr tab yes the motion this is board member wendale tab I v I miss Travis hi Miss Carter uton hi Miss Beyer hi Miss heral go hi Miss hi and I vote I it passes unanimously colleagues Miss Chávez wanted to revisit Miss Harold Goofs.

Motion Miss Chávez did you want to speak to that yes I think the thank you Miss MCN you don't have to stay standing. There I wanted to clarify the motion and I think it is still a good idea to have a motion or if possible to establish that the meet and confer policy will be developed to establish regular meetings with with the ER that demonstrates the threshold that we were looking at so I wondered if you modified your motion but I wanted yeah go I stand by that the original motion to clarify that the meeting confer policy will establish regular meetings with the ero to demonstrate to demonstrate 50% membership among non-administrative and non-managerial Durham Public School active employees as of the end of last school year second sorry it's been moved by Miss heral goof seconded by Miss travez to establish meeting confer with the ER to demon that demonstrates 50%.

Membership with non-administrative positions among non-administrative and non-managerial during Public School active employees am what she. Said I make a motion to develop a meeting confer policy to establish regular meetings with the e that demonstrates 50% membership among non-administrative and non-managerial Durham Public School active employees as of the end of last school year Miss buer so my question is and and with 100% like need for clarity why do you all think this is necessary when the last motion actually included Durham Association of Educators and no one I think it's necessary to to it's another step to put out there that that is the meet andc Comer policy that we are trying to have developed and I think that that's been a big point of conversation since February that's why the ad hoc committee included Dae and nonae members intentionally who had who were with with different a different basis of assumptions and so this is another step to a stat to just clarify the intent of the Mee come for a policy that.

Will be developed through these meetings so I want to speak to some of the conversation that you all probably heard at the ad hoc committee that gives me a bit of pause as we consider this motion one time when D Dae walked out of an ad hoc meeting the teamsters were present and their language got added to be representative of a you know nearly 150 of our employees please don't laugh about other unions 100% respect and as we've come through this crisis we this board has come to understand that.

That that all kinds of employees have major impacts on the operations of schools and so I I want us to be open to understand whether there are other bargaining units other Union memberships that we're not aware of so that so that they could come and ask whether they want to be at this table whether Durham would enlarge a table for folks that feel like their voice is is not represented so I'm struggling with with that that's that's something that Dr King spoke into this space about potential other bargaining units that that we need to be inclusive of and with full respect for the Durham Association of Educators and celebration of the mighty growth that the association has seen that has been the result of tremendous work and and is to be celebrated in in our community Across the.

Nation Oh there's two okay Miss Chávez Miss carteron Miss Harold goof Mr tab I just want to share all of my thoughts at this moment about why I think we should have move forward with a meet andc for a policy with an ER that demonstrates a particular threshold and I have had the opportunity to to learn a lot more over the last six months or so and especially in I don't know may or so I really realized I needed to learn a lot more myself about about about unions about collective bargaining and about meet and confirm in states that don't have legal unions and or collective bargaining and so I've really appreciated the opportunity to learn in the last couple weeks from from a school board member and an Union president in San Antonio who utiliz a meet and conferm policy similar to how I hope that we will do here in Durham and one of the biggest reasons that I am in favor of this policy is that is that I see it.

Allowing us to improve the functionality of of our district it I see it as allowing us to be proactive rather than reactive we have as a board been quite reactive since I've been on the board to many to many things particularly last year and I want us to to benefit from the Collective input through a democratic the an organization with the Democratic process that represents over 50% of workers and who collects information from all workers I want to benefit from the process processes that they have and and would bring and the input that they would bring to to the board and to the administration and to help us make better decisions as seven people we cannot with the wealth of experience knowledge background all of that that we have we cannot possibly know all all of the different things happening in our district the needs the experiences from school to school and this I really see this as a way through again working with an ER that has a democratic.

Process and a way of collecting input from staff a way of of helping us to to to be more connected to make better decisions and to to just have a more reciprocal relationship with our our staff we talking talk about rebuilding trust building transparency this is a way to do that I think that also when you know when people are heard they are less likely to feel like they have to resist in other ways and I I want want to grow to where we have mutual understanding across the district and in a in a bigger way this is a labor rights issue and it and I do believe that workers have the right to organize and I am the daughter of a of a union worker as well and so I think about how I benefi benefited from that as a child this is not collective bargaining this is something that as Miss CA uton was saying gets Us close to closer to a a process that would that would have us have a.

Structure where we meet and confer and discuss different topics and take input in a structured way but it's not collective bargaining so it's not Crossing that line so and furthermore and I've said this before I think this is a way of sharing power and I think that social justice is lived and we should share power thank you Miss Carter Aton Miss Herold goof Mr tab I appreciate the mention of the teamsters but I did want to clarify that there's not bargaining units in North Carolina because there's no bargaining so it does make our job more challenging because we don't have that structure outline for us and I W I was looking back I remember that we were Reed an email from the teamster representative back in May and I went back to her email to make sure that I understand understood what she was communicating so she outlined this robust system of advocacy that Teamsters Teamsters have had in place and all the successes that they have been able to achieve she said.

That some DPS employees choose to be members of Dae and some choose to be teamsters and some choose both and that any DPS employees can join the teamsters and that quote employees should continue to be able to join any employee organization they choose to join so there's that and then we're left with and then in a follow-up email I'd asked her how many members they have and she's said 130 so we're left with the fact that 130 people are choosing to join the teamsters and over 2,000 are choosing to join Dae and they can all join either and I just want to speak to also like thinking about the minority Voice or listening to everybody and I know there's been some question about will Dae really represent everybody and all of our staff and I think that's baked into the structure of how they do things if people don't see that the priorities they bring to us and what they're accomplishing are actually happening and represent them and they're.

Going to choose to not be members of Dae same with the teams in any association or Union right if some if it doesn't feel like someone is accomplishing what you want them to accomplish they're going to choose to go somewhere else or not pay their dues and take part in what's happening and I just think it's important especially as elected officials who are not elected by 100% of our constituents right this is like it's a democratic institution that they're running just like we are part of democracy here we're elected by the majority and then even those people that we that did not elect us we represent them and we sit up here and we represent their interest and we still listen to them and we hear from them and we make decisions based on the good of the whole and that's what Dae is telling us and what I think it's I think I believe them when they say that they're representing the whole so people who are not choosing to be.

Part of Dee not paying to be part of it or they're still receiving the benefits of of what an association provides to our district even if they're not doing that and so I think this concern about this minority and what's happening with them and are their voices really heard just like we heard.

In public comment tonight also like that's not we're making a bigger issue of it than it really is M her go I just wanted to clarify that the motion did not name Dae named Yaro and that leaves it open if something you know if it evolves you know because we appreciate and we respect the Democratic process then we they also they have not come to us and said that they want this particular process where this ER has said we want this process we want this policy for this so I believe we address all of the other community engagement strategies that are that we are still trying to strengthen we have policies that exist for that we have other things we have all these other avenues all of that is being addressed I've heard I I feel like I don't want to put words in I feel like I'm hearing from our superintendent that this is a priority to address all of that and we can add that extra finger to the hand.

All of those different Pieces by having a meeting confir policy that is specifically for ER so that's that is what we want to clarify we don't want to muddy those Waters we want to do that and is what I'm saying and it doesn't say the the the motion says EO not Dae Mr tab thank you very much colleagues thank you all very much for this really robust conversation I think the the main the main goal here that we're trying to look for is how do we support meet and confer at least that's what I'm hearing overall how do we support meet and confer we had a motion on on the on the table we we supported that F that motion to get the Dae president in the room with the other people that was listed in the motion which has got us gotten us to a great place I'm just really concerned that as we continue to have this conversation that we're going to end up going down another rabbit hole.

Of long discussion that's going to get us nowhere I think that we're in a great place to to have that get that conversation going with Dr Lewis that we can we can try to bring this to a close and know that we support me didn't confer and I think that we're we're in a good place but the conversation I think is going to end up getting drawn out again that may be unnecessary because I think that we are in a good place by saying that we support meet and confer and we have made progress to get them in the room again and we can work out whatever the things that the attorneys need us to work out to stay to stay legal and I think that meet and confer will eventually will be confirmed or approved and so I hope that we can move forward now and try the best we can to bring this conversation to to a close Madame President at some point please thank you Mr tab the.

Motion on the floor is to establish meeting confer and the regular meetings with the ER to that demonstrates 50%. Membership that's the motion that's now that's the because we've already approved one motion yes sir and I'm call I'm asking you your vote on the motion for now so board member when tab votes no Miss Chávez hi Miss carteron hi Miss Beyer no Miss haral goof hi Miss Umi I am so sorry can you read that motion one more time to establish I'm a visual learner y'all so this audio is harder for me Mee and confer to establish regular meetings with the ER can you slow down just a little bit sure the motion is is to establish meeting confer policy that establishes regular meetings with the ER that demonstrates 50% membership all right I had more discussion I didn't know we were voting I apologize so I'll vote Yes I'm sorry I wasn't Superior and I vote no the motion carries four to three.

Congratulations. Everybody I just want I wanted clarifying the difference between what we just did in the motion before so it it is done but I it was not clear to me what the difference between the two were I would have loved to have that discussion I just want to offer Dr L I'm available I know board members were not included in that but if there's any support that I can offer I'm happy to do so excuse me I want to see this get to the Finish Line I do recognize you know October 25th means it has to be done actually in the next two weeks so I think we need to be mindful of what that looks like that's right we didn't approve but just timeline wise board members we need to be mindful right of what that means and the work that it's going to take to get it to a version that we can have so I just want to be clear with everyone our board packets.

Are du a week in advance so that means their timeline is even shorter than where we. Are any other conversation colleagues we have more items on our agenda operations Dr Lewis. Yes we have Mr Clifton Williams who will be joining us via Zoom I'm going to go patch him in so that he can speak okay can we take a short recess I move that we recess five minutes that okay thank you second it's been moved by mpire second by miss her go to take a recess all those oh five five minutes Mr tab taking sorry I got I having a hard time finding this unmute button but I miss Travis I miss Carter uton hi Miss berer hi Miss heral go hi Miss Umstead hi and I I we're in.

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We're back and. Is Mr Williams joining us now yes he is Miss Smith when you patch Mr Williams in please for the operations items. Thank you for being here Mr Williams the first item colleagues is the monthly change order report any questions or comments about the monthly change order report okay thank you oh miss buer oh it doesn't even need a motion I was just going to and thank you and I did pull the repair and renovation Lottery fund request thank you Mr Williams for staying up late and hanging out with us to get some questions answered yes ma'am can you hear me yep can you hear us yes ma'am awesome so colleagues this item is asking for $400,000 in allocations from the repair and renovation Lottery fund and my questions around this have been what specific buildings was this going to touch and what is the process for the board to understand that these item those items have been completed with the allocation of that $400,000 and how did we come to the.

$400,000 request. Mr Williams can okay I wasn't sure if that was a question for me so yes so these are all districtwide repairs that we are asking to make for roofing flooring Replacements and life safety repairs there's not a specific schools that that is going to be receiving all of the repair but they are to support Building Services for districtwide repays so for example for roofing like you know we already have some known roof roof leaks that this money would help support the same thing for Life Safety repairs as we do our life safety yearly life safety inspections we would need this repair money to make repairs such as horn stros exit lights you know pool pool stations all those type of things will be part of like districtwide repairs I essentially you know pulled that money we have a total budget available of $610,000 that I decided to pull you know $150,000 for roofing repairs $150,000 for Life Safety repairs and $100,000 for flooring repairs or.

Replacements okay so they no specific locations so I have some known like roofing repair that are needed for example Hillside DSA there are some known Roofing repairs that I will make as soon as this money is available but it will be more than I don't it's not all going to one it's not going to all be allocated to one. School okay so it's not okay and your certain repairs could start what's the date on here by December yep I believe that through the process of getting this money approved by the time I get it will be December and we will start right away and it will be used this this fiscal year okay Miss Carter Aton thanks so much for again sticking with us late tonight and answering our questions is there we know that there's are so many repairs that are needed across our district and probably all of our schools do is there anything else you could say about how the how the ones will that will be addressed with this funding were.

Prioritized even if it's a like a general process that you could share with us right now and we could dig into more later so yeah the primary process is going to be just on work orders that are submitted to our department so I don't know if I gave my full title but my name I'm Clifton Williams executive director of Building Services and Facilities so any of the work orders that come for roofing flooring and life safety you know would be the priorities so I would say just based on the amount of work orders that we have it would help supplement.

That okay thank you so when schools submit work orders then they're put into a queue correct okay thank you Mr Williams this this item has to also go to the Board of County Commissioners for their approval is that correct that is correct that'll be your next step with this as you pulled a portion to to start addressing I'm sure what are extensive fires to put out yeah I appreciate you moving this forward so you can get the work done and then yeah thank you y no problem any other questions comments colleagues I have one last question I know that you share their extensive work orders and I don't doubt that I have been in the school buildings I believe it I understand it can we get an update on the number of open work orders that are out it doesn't have to be right now you want to you you're asking for an update for the open workorders for the entire District well yeah we oversee the entire.

District so yeah I know it's a lot and then probably some of the age on those work orders for sure yeah we can we can pull that I can submit it to you right I appreciate that we're using the lottery funds this way Miss Travis should we get board consensus we should I mean if y'all don't want it I'm okay with sitting it out but how do you want to do consensus just thumbs up nope Mr tabs on Zoom you make an emotion could I ask I ask M chair Rogers if we maybe as for an average I assume that the work orders are open like we're having multiple different types of work orders every day and that's shifting every day is it possible to have maybe an average per day or average per week I think that might give us a little more complexity over one point in time yeah I'm comfortable with an average and the age of the oldest I mean the oldest work order right the oldest open work order yeah.

That you need something to happen in order to miss buire you look I just want to get Mr Williams some more money because I know he's working really hard to get ridiculous amount of projects moving so I mean that yeah yeah and I feel strongly I mean I'm not stopping this because of that but I think that that can inform some of our. Requests so does someone need to make a motion yes okay ideally if not then we can leave it alone you make the motion since or or batina since you who's going to carry out the vote if I make the motion I can do.

Both okay I'd like to move that in a follow-up item we get some updates around the average number work orders that are open average number average age of the work orders as well second it's been moved by melicent Rogers and seconded by Miss heral go to get the age of the average age of work orders average number of work orders that are available per day all is there discussion I'm board member Wendell tab I vote I thank you Miss Chavez hi Miss Carter uton Miss Beyer hi Miss Harold goof hi Miss umid hi I'm M or I vote and it passes unanimously thank you Mr Williams no no problem than thank you have a good night oh that's right that's right move that we approve the repair and renovation Lottery fund request I second it's been moved by mpire seconded by Miss heral goof to approve the lottery fund request Mr tab I am boy member Wendell Tab and I vote I miss Chavez I miss carteron hi.

Miss Beyer hi Miss har go I miss I'm said I and I vote I passes unanimously all right thank you thank you Mr Williams colleagues.

We have closed session I move that we go to close session for the reason stated on the agenda second it's been moved by Miss Chávez second by Miss buer to go on a close session for the reasons on the agenda is there any discussion Mr tab I am boy member Wendell Tab and I vote I miss Javis I miss hi Miss ber hi Miss heral goof hi Miss Umstead hi and I diet passes unanimously for now and close.

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Dr Lewis thank you madam chair we're asking the board to take action on the Personnel report move approval of the Personnel report dated September 27th 2024 second it's been moved by Miss buer second by Miss Chávez to approve the Personnel report all those in favor say I I the vote passes unanimously 60 Mr tab has not rejoined us oh then we'll take a Voice vote Miss Umstead hi Miss heral goof hi Miss Beyer hi Miss Carter uton hi Miss Chávez hi Mr tab we're voting on The Personnel.

Report thank you for joining us we're voting on The Personnel report Mr tab board member W tab votes I and I vote I the Personnel report passes you name unanimously that with that we Jed.