Good evening. Good evening we're going to call to order this special meeting of the Durham Public Schools Board of Education Thursday January 19 2023 we're going to begin our meeting as we do.
With a moment of silence please.
Thank you before we move on to our agenda I want to acknowledge that we have our two board members joining us virtually board chair Bettina Umstead is online I'll give her a moment to check her mic good evening everyone glad to be here thank you and board member javania Lewis is with us as well virtually hey David evening can you hear me we hear you loud and clear thank you both all right board members we are on item three agenda review and approval Mr chair I would like to ask that we amend the agenda to move item five academic Services a growing together Elementary rules to item four above the general public comment.
Second thank you it's been moved by Miss Beyer and seconded by Miss Rogers that we move item five up ahead of general public comments and general public comment will happen right afterwards this will give our Administration a chance to make any statements they wish to make is there any further discussion on the.
Amended agenda we'll do a roll call vote since we have virtual participants Miss Umstead my name is Bettina Umstead and I vote I Miss Lewis aye Ms Rogers aye Ms Byer aye Ms Chávez aye Miss aye and I vote I as well the agenda is amended item four will be academic Services growing together Elementary rules Dr Hardy thank you good evening chair Umstead Vice chairman Sears board members and Dr mavinga for our community and our board we have included in the public packet the materials that were presented at the January work session last week this evening we will highlight a few items to provide Clarity and address some of the questions received from our board and community at this time I would like to ask the members of the growing together project team to stand thank you the growing together initiative is directly aligned to the board's current strategic plan tonight we are bringing recommendations that honor the board's core beliefs of equity and supporting the whole child these recommendations intend to meet the.
Goals of diversity Equity access and growth this plan addresses the structural inequities imbalances and efficiencies that date back to merger over 30 years ago our proposal will increase the number of pre-K seats for students in Durham Public Schools increase the number of special program classrooms for our students who have more severe disabilities and reduce their transportation times both to and from school and increases access for every Durham Public School student by ensuring that all elementaries with the exception of w.g Pearson have a geographical base reimagining neighborhood schools for Durham all elementary students will have access to Visual and Performing Arts World Language weekly and STEM Science technology engineering and math integration at this time I would like to review some of the key points of the proposal and address a few questions from last week now give our technology team on page 43 of the public packet slide 41 if we could pull that up please all fourth and fifth graders will remain at their current School if fourth and fifth graders want to go.
To another school they will work with the office of student assignment within our current transfer policy younger siblings in grades k-3 May request through the office of student assignment to remain with their older sibling please note that these requests may be granted however we will have we do have our K3 class size legislation and that restricts the number of students in those classrooms I would also like to note that the growing together initiative believes that program continuity is necessary to support students academic social and emotional well-being and the rules developed honor this belief for students currently participating in our application programs this specifically includes students that are in the current upper level of our dual language immersion program given existing enrollment information we will be able to provide continued program enrollment for Montessori International Baccalaureate and year-round students in their region of eligibility for students who want to remain in these programs the office of student assignment will work directly with schools to create a streamlined process for those students next Little River.
Little River will be transitioning to K5 Montessori beginning in the 2024-25 year and Montessori will be beginning with all Pre-K and kindergarten students as well as one lower Elementary classroom for grades first second and third the remaining classrooms will continue as traditional classrooms and teachers will be needed to support our students in those classrooms training for Montessori will occur during the school day and staff will be compensated for time beyond the instructional day the office of Human Resources will support staff who would like to transition to another Durham Public Schools location we are making the following update to the recommendation regarding Little River and their middle school program due to the small number of middle school students Little River will only offer k-35 instruction beginning the 2024-25 Academic Year therefore the current fourth grade students will attend their base middle school or their assigned School through the application process if they choose to apply for a lottery seat I want to acknowledge that some of these comments may have been focused on.
Programs that may impact a smaller number of DPS students here in Durham Public Schools we value each and every student and their family growing together is about all of DPS and ensuring that we are able to improve Equitable access for our children this is about DPS not just one individual program or one individual School it is about setting the stage for long-term growth and enrollment and preparing DPS graduates that are ready to innovate serve and lead in the Durham Community nationally and globally board members tonight this item is before you for Action the growing together project team looks forward to answering questions as you discuss this item and at this time I will turn it back over to Vice chairman Sears thank you Administration board members we're going to move to amended item five general public comment I'm going to have a few statements here before we begin the Durham Public Schools Board of Education wishes to extend a warm welcome to everyone who is joining us this evening both in person and online.
The purpose of this meeting is to inform our parents staff and constituents about the work aligned with our mission to embrace educate and Empower every student to serve and lead the interpreters for tonight are Martha romarugules and Marty Ramirez we appreciate you being here I'm going to read the rules for public comment first please state your name when you come to the mic if speaking for an organization please state your name in the name of the organization second speakers are asked to present their comments in a specified time given that we have over 45 public comments we're going to limit the time this evening to two minutes per speaker when the yellow light comes on you have 30 seconds left to start winding up your remarks when the red light comes on it will beep which indicates your time is up complaints about named staff students or parents should not be voiced in Open Session however we are very interested in hearing your concerns with regard to public education safety of students or.
To the operation of the school system if you need translation while making public comment simply request that when you come to the microphone if we have side-by-side translation the time of two minutes will be doubled to four minutes to provide time for one language and then adequate time for the translation I'm going to speak briefly about concession of time speakers are allowed to concede their time to other speakers however if there is a group of speakers the group of concessions will not exceed six minutes so we have a policy that discusses groups of four can receive up to six minutes that means for tonight first Speaker second speaker third speaker concede we're not going to 8 10 12 minutes that is six minutes for the group I also want to speak about maintaining order during this meeting we ask that everyone in the room be respectful of all speakers regardless of your views on the content being provided last meeting at the end of the meeting we had some.
Behavior that will not be tolerated this meeting that kind of behavior can lead to folks being asked to leave the space and to speakers being asked to have additional time to make their point please be respectful of everyone in the space this evening. Finally the board members will listen carefully and consider the comments but we do not engage in discussion with speakers after public comment we have our own board discussion on this agenda item and that will conclude the meeting our first Speaker this evening.
I appreciate everyone's patience with pronunciation Candace diamond and I'm going to announce the next two speakers so that you can be prepared to address the podium Beth Rudd Myers will be our second speaker and Mackenzie Fisher will be our third speaker. Good evening Dr mubega members of the board my name is Candace Diamond I have been a little river teacher I've been at Durham Public Schools educator for 18 years and I am representing the staff of Little River K-8 school 3A of Durham Public Schools current strategic plan is to quote reduce the teacher turnover rate to below 14.3 percent end quote just yesterday via social media DPS shared the disc shared the message that quote you belong in Durham Public Schools end quote the inaction this week from our District's leadership directly contradicts that idea at last week's board meeting members of our staff stood right here and told you that as a result of that growing together initiative over 96 of our staff will be seeking new employment.
Since then no one in this room has made an effort to share the plan that affects our entire school until this evening when Dr Hardy spoke how can it be said that we belong in Durham Public Schools if 127 individuals are allowed to represent the 14 264. pre-k through fifth grade students in our district and all of their families how can I be said that we belong in Durham Public Schools if 11. out of the 32 elementary schools were not even represented in that collection of data the message that I hear is this you belong in Durham Public Schools if you don't want to be heard you belong in Durham Public Schools if you want to be ignored and best of all you belong in Durham Public Schools if busing is more important than our children members of the board I strongly encourage you to vote no tonight thank you and take the time needed that's the end of your time thank you.
Next speaker is Beth Rudd Myers followed by Mackenzie Fisher and Erica McRae hi my name is Beth red Myers and I'm a parent of a first and fourth grader at Club Boulevard Elementary I'm asking you before voting to clarify the rules regarding Legacy students at schools such as club that in addition to having new boundaries are also losing their subject area magnet the proposed policy states that students attending an application Magnet School who do not reside in their current school's updated boundary must reapply in the lottery to the comparable program for their region students will be provided priority in the lottery the problem is there is no comparable program for us anymore because we're losing our humanities magnet so we don't know we don't know if our students even if we're still in the zone will have access to priority and we've been trying to get this information and have no sense of clarity we need to know so that we can plan for what we would think is best for our students thank you.
Thank you Mackenzie Fisher followed by Erica McRae followed by Jennifer Harrison my name is Mackenzie Fisher and I'm conceding my time to Erica McRae hello everyone I'm Erica McRae and I represent Little River but I also represent all teachers so with that said let's play a game we are going to play Guess That essential Appliance okay so this is really easy I'm going to say the clues and you're going to guess which essential Appliance I'm referring to hint number one I hold ice packs that are used daily for real and imagined injuries at number two I contain healthy snacks and meals for students who often do not have access to them at home hint number three I hold the only meal available to an exhausted teacher who works with no lunch coverage or the ability to leave her class for more than six hours straight which is hence number four I contain materials for science experiments and extension activities to extend learning hint number five I am apparently safe enough to be kept.
In college dorm rooms but a bear that that's right can you guess which essential Appliance I am but you went even more you win the opportunity to allow us to keep our refrigerators in our classroom you keep your refrigerator you keep your refrigerator bonus prize also microwaves you get to keep the microwaves too yay triple bonus prize here it is this is a solid suggestion from Little River teachers to you you can keep the funds that you would like to spend on training us to be Montessori teachers and to all that money that you would spend on all those Montessori materials and you can use it to improve the infrastructure so that we can then keep all of our appliances and they wouldn't cause an issue with anything at all and then everybody wins you.
Thank you Jennifer Harrison followed by James guptill followed by Alyssa Platz hi my name is Jennifer Harrison and I'm a teacher at Moorhead Montessori I'm not here to talk about buses or changes in school assignment although I do understand the frustration of our families I know that growing together is a difficult path and I commend the school system for taking on this challenge the growing together plan includes expanding and changing our magnet programs I am the middle of my Montessori training so far I've been in training for four weeks in the summer and once every weekend for two years I have countless hours of horse work to complete to finish the program all of this is unpaid it is difficult but excellent training I know I'll be a better teacher if I'm allowed to implement what I've learned but it's not easy nine teachers from Durham were supposed to start training when I did after one year three were left in the program Morehead has had four classroom teacher vacancies until just one month.
Ago we have a great school a great staff and community and Leadership but classroom teachers annually cite the stress of the training and blending the Montessori philosophy and curriculum with District requirements as the reason for leaving I hope there's a really good plan for keeping this from continuing happened if we move forward with this we need District leadership that understands our magnet programs and values the time that teachers are giving to train and values their expertise as Educators after the training I hope the growing together plan includes Consulting people at the school level as they build new and refresh old magnet programs I hope District leaders will value and learn the programs and not just put the name Montessori or IB or dual language on the school sign please make sure there's a clear and thoughtful plan to ensure the success of these programs.
Thank you our next speaker is James guptill followed by Alyssa Platt and Teresa Donald blackkinson good evening my name is James guptal and I have a kindergartner at George Watts I do not envy anyone tasked with redistricting a school system I grew up less than a mile from here when this building was still Hillandale Elementary but I was districted to Holt Elementary so I know it's a challenge however it makes no sense geographically to call everything north of 85 one region my child attends George watch was a very short drive for my house not only is it a quick drive to school but it's proximity to my house has made it easy to attend PTA meetings and parent-teacher conferences our proximity to where classmates makes attending birthday parties no problem at all because I work an hourly wage I will not be able to take off work to attend PTA meetings and parent-teacher conferences at Little River my daughter will be attending a school where the majority of her classmates don't live anywhere near her.
The bus ride she takes will probably be an hour or longer every day the location of her new school which I'm not even sure will actually be able to provide a Montessori education since there are apparently no teachers there that want to teach it would be logistical and financial burden for my family I ask that you delay the vote to reconsider honors honoring Legacy students and also reconsider the regions as they are currently drawn up I have a lot of respect for the teachers at Little River my father was also a public school teacher I understand their frustrations if they don't want to provide a Montessori education to my kids I don't want my kids to receive that education from them thank you foreign thank you our next speaker is Alyssa Platt followed by Teresa Donald blackkinson and Jessica Abramson.
I'm Melissa Platt thank you for everything you do I want to save my time to Teresa Della blackmonton very good you'll have four minutes my name is Theresa doll blackington and I'm a Club Boulevard parent and the PTA president Club is a school that ticks all the boxes of growing together is supposedly aiming for diverse sought out by families of color families of varying socioeconomic status Spanish-speaking families and lgbtqia plus families with the humanities program that has received National recognition and active Community committed teachers and strong academics this didn't happen overnight we including many of you on the board worked hard for it we should be a model for growing together yet we are essentially being dismantled losing our programming as well as what looks to be up to 50 to 75 percent of our current student body though no one seems to be able to actually provide us with any numbers we are transforming from a school with an amazing Humanities program that benefits all 400 of our students to a.
School with a program that will serve 24 students per grade it just doesn't make sense and no one can tell us what the club of 24 25 will look like we have been entirely left out of the conversation about assignment schools the proposed rules state that students attending an application school who do not reside in their current schools updated boundary must reapply in the lottery to the comparable program from their region is there any program for which club students will have priority the proposed plan states that if a child is assigned to a base school with a special program they don't want they may opt out for a Traditional School in their Zone would Club qualify as a Traditional School in this case considering that DLI is a program within the school and only begins with kindergarten and what happens to dance and cultural studies and Friday clubs in our Open Access Library all made possible through our magnet funds and what happens to our teachers when one class a year is.
Replaced with a DLI class and what happens to the community that we have built and invested in over many many years when the majority of that Community is displaced is there really no way to allow our current students to stay and finish out their tenure these are not just details or things to be figured out later these are the things that matter to our community the things that families are trying to figure out to determine whether to stay even next year or seek out a more stable option for their family the things we need to know to recruit students for next year so we don't lose funds and staff due to low enrollment currently we have a very small walk Zone from which students can automatically come to club the rest come through the lottery but who's going to apply when they have to switch out the next year we need funds to get these students here and we need to be able to tell these students what.
Club will look like we need to know what is going to Rise From the Ashes after you burn Club down while this process may have taken years in total this last piece feels rushed and incomplete with missing details and overlooked consequences our ask is simple please listen please listen to our entire Community not a small portion of it who was able to make meetings during one week at one specified time with no and very little communication please work with us to find a way to maintain and even grow these aspects that make our schools special please take the time to get this right please keep what makes so many of us proud to be Club Boulevard manatees thank you.
Thank you our next speaker is Jessica Abramson followed by Linda you and Paige McCullough my name is Jessica Abramson and I seed my time to lend you good evening board and members members of the DPS Administration thank you for your service thank you for your time my name is Linda you we have four children a seventh grader a fourth grader and a kindergartner and they are all at Durham Public Schools our youngest will be entering Pre-K the fall of 2024. our family is in support of growing together's vision of fostering diversity equity and access to all of DPS programs we also recognize that we come that our family comes from a place of more privilege and access than many in our community are asked to the board tonight is that you please delay your vote on the rules of access reason number one we are deeply concerned that if you vote tonight your decision will be based upon severe errors with Transportation data and justification transportation is incited as the driving.
Factor behind the aggressive timeline of reassigning Legacy students however the values provided counted both base School Miles and new school miles for growing together Savings in addition you've been told that running two school systems has an escalator cost but this is incorrect student miles will decrease each year that Legacy students phase out you've been provided incorrect data to support your vote that will drastically disrupt students lives hundreds thousands of students please delay your vote number two we are deeply concerned that if you vote tonight your decision will accept and be complicit in the lack of consistent district-wide inclusion during this process particularly in the last nine months for example the growing together Regional Workshop surveys do not have any input from 11 schools six of these 11 unrepresented schools have 99 percent of their students receiving free and reduced lunch is it because they didn't know about the session they didn't attend the session or they didn't submit the survey we don't know just because DPS used Flyers automated phone calls emails and social media.
Doesn't mean that the majority of our families do Patricia Herrera excuse the pronunciation said it best last week Lack of Color here tonight doesn't mean lack of concern it means lack of access to information families of 6 000 students do not know that their child is are being is child or children are being resigned to a different School in 2024. families of 6 000 DPS students do not know exactly what the transfer application process looks like what Lottery prioritization order will be for 2024 and Beyond families of 6 000 students do not know how Durham Public Schools can rebuild trust with them Durham County population has increased four percent in the past three years PS enrollment has dropped 5.8 percent in the past three years what does that mean for community support and Trust for our local schools I know that this has been a plan 30 years in the making and the effort was announced six years ago actually February of 2017. yes we are overdue for this change we need this change.
But we need an informed and inclusive change supported by accurate data please delay your vote on rules of access until you receive correct Transportation data and you've seen evidence that schools with the greatest need have received the greatest communication let us grow together thank you. Thank you our next speaker will be Paige McCullough followed by P Lewis Bunty and Christina Hague there we go my name is Paige McCullough I live in Northgate Park I was there 30 years ago speaking with the Durham People's Alliance in support of the merger of the city and county school systems by a vote of our County Commissioners those County Commission meetings were also full of parents and school Personnel so speaking to the their fears for their children's education and well-being I remember it very well it was very hard there was significant division of opinion along racial lines we know that the merger was about making one Durham Public School System more Equitable for all Durham students and we must continue to struggle to hold that value.
We can also recall I do that the process was painful and uneven even for those of the best intentions we believe in the hard work of the DPS team to create the growing together plan thank you to board member Rogers for sharing your lived experience of this event in Durham history which acknowledges that there was grief along the way some people in some places are letting go of families School traditions and happy times for something that can be equally wonderful for more kids more of the time it isn't easy but it will be worth it we urge the vote the board to vote to support the plan thank you.
Thank you our next speaker is p Lewis Bonte Christina Hague Kim Howard I apologize if I mispronounced that hi my name is Louis Montague I can see my time to Christina Hague. Thank you I'm Christina Hague I'm a parent of a kindergartner and a fifth grader at Club Boulevard the the purpose of forming this committee was trying to increase equity for all students at DPS however I really do not feel like this committee considered in the slightest the effect this would have on working families that require after-school care for their children there are a hodgepodge of private programs across the district scattered including the YMCA various daycare centers that provide after-school programs to elementary school students because DPS does not have a high enough capacity how do these programs get counselors they've increased their prices from seventy dollars to sometimes as much as three hundred dollars more than DPS charges for after school care that has the effect of causing more busing needs across the district did anyone even look at the.
Data of how many buses go from an elementary school to an after school program did you include any of that in your calculations furthermore as a club parent I'm really concerned that the central district will be left with only one after school option that's the Trinity Baptist location of the YMCA that is within the central district for five elementary schools how will you get after school care to the families the Working Families who need them has anyone calculated the effect this is going to have on lower income Working Families the central region has excluded Duke Street KinderCare and Child Care Network by like 0.1 miles kids are kids is out there are no other options simply by increasing the cost of after school care and yes of course having a sliding scale feel fee just as the YMCA does might have prevented a whole lot of heartache and but extra busing costs I don't want my kids to have to be bussed to the YMCA after school every day I would rather.
Them be at Club but there's no spots for them has anyone considered this this for Working Families furthermore have you considered how this will change the the look of each Elementary School have you considered that will this will change I'm sorry I'm getting very emotional this will change how each elementary school provides care to its its Working Families Club alone provides has a program to provide care for lower income families that program is going to have to go away like we won't necessarily have the resources to be able to offer those options and and that distresses me greatly no one has actually gone out to the schools each individual school and asked the PTA and the principal how this is going to affect their school's community and I think that's very important I would also like to reiterate that club not just Club but for other schools I'm sorry three other schools do not have priority when they when their students will transfer and and that is completely unacceptable that that it's completely.
Unclear what students will stay and what students will go and whether or not they will get to go to a comparable School now I realize Humanity's a special cultural studies as a special case perhaps the closest equivalent to it would be International Baccalaureate or perhaps Montessori it combines techniques from many different styles thank you. Thank you our next speaker is Kim Howard I'm Kim Howard thank you all for being here to listen I'd like to see my time okay go ahead.
Hi I'm Blakely Hildebrand okay thank you for being here and I'm also going to see Dr Rocio Evans okay Rocio Evans will be followed by Chris Todd and canteen Dortmund. You have six minutes buenas noches good evening my name is Rocio Evans and I come here tonight with privilege a Latina with privilege how great is that my privilege is access tonight and I feel very blessed to be bilingual so that I can access information so that I can advocate so that I can ask questions so that I can give my opinion so that I can clarify therefore tonight I want to speak here on behalf of some of our Spanish-speaking parents from Moorhead Montessori I also want to speak here to the urgent need to include us to include these families in the growing together process like I said I can access this because I understand the language and I'm able I'm able to understand those emails but for the last several weeks I have been trying to get this parents together.
Just just out of curiosity to make sure that they know what's going on because I know it's been a lot for me to process and to plan what's going to happen to my children so I created a WhatsApp group because that's how Latinos communicate don't we we use WhatsApp and long long voice messages so that we can say what we want to say because that's how Spanish is very wordy so my idea is to share with them and to try to see if they have any questions so that I can then pass those questions on to whoever it is that we need to ask nearly every family that I have talked to has been unaware that this is happening and is shocked that their children might be displaced from the school actually all members of that what's up group are here tonight and some of them will speak tonight so past the speaker as a as a speaker last week said it and was echoed tonight the board should not mistake the.
Absence of Hispanic and Latino voices as for lack of concern or a lack of Engagement really it's lack of awareness which reflects that failure to reach these families where they are instead of expecting them to attend these meetings working groups and school board meetings in their free time if DPS is truly interested in equity which looks like from what the plan stands we urge you to include us and to ensure that these families not just in Moorhead but all over DPS are aware and understand what's happening and are included in this process and conversations moving forward translation is not enough not even for me who speak English I need translation from English to English to be honest and we know that these families are not understanding just from Mere translating emails we need to also be heard to be able to Advocate to be able to ask questions and for someone to explain it to us into terms that make sense to our families we need someone who can meet us and.
Answer these questions and our concerns tonight on behalf of these families I ask you to delay the vote so that we can take a look more into this to include us so that we know what's happening so that we can be able to speak for our families and advocate for our own children let's take time to get this right gracias. Thank you our next speaker is Chris Todd followed by Caroline Dortmund and hortensio Garcia hello my name is Chris Todd and I'd like to seed my time thank you hello my name is Caroline Dorfman I'd like to seed my time.
My name is.
Kinder. Is. Otencia I'm a mother of a second grader at Moorhead and I'm very concerned because I just found out through a what's up group about all this is happening and my daughter's been there since Pre-K and and I would like her to be able to stay at Moorhead.
Our next speaker is Kendall Doyle followed by Jeff Freelander and Emily cachetkova. Hello my name is Kendall Doyle and I'm a white Latina mom at GPS who's deeply believes in public school when my eldest when it was time to register my eldest for kindergarten we confidently registered her at our neighborhood School Hope Valley and then we spent a really traumatic Year trying to not only support her but also to invest in a school that didn't have the capacity to utilize parents or even communicate with parents in the most basic way I was at a loss and I felt powerful powerless and how to make a difference at our school or even how to advocate in a meaningful and impactful way for my own daughter we didn't know what we were going to do and then we won a lottery and we ended up at Moorhead I cannot stand before you and in good conscience say that my children deserve to be in this program any more than anyone else's child.
We need to do better by all children and I hope that we'll find a way that does that that doesn't sacrifice one child for another and I don't envy the position that you're in and the decision you need to make however I want to speak on two things the current plan to roll out growing together doesn't recognize the importance and the impact the community has on a school on its outcomes on a child in their education and speaking specifically on behalf of the Latino Community are on our ability to support and advocate for our children as you can see even just basic communication happens through these networks that we create building Community is an unpaid and apparently unrecognized labor that is done primarily by women and the current plan to shows that DPS doesn't value or appreciate this while simultaneously asking that we do it all over again and finally as a former Hope Valley Parent I'm angry that this plan doesn't talk about or address how we're going to.
Invest in these schools how are we going to set our schools up to be successful how are we going to do better by these kids and it just repackages the same school as something fancy and desirable by only changing the Academic Year foreign next speaker is Jeff Freelander followed by Emily kochikova and John Baker hi I'm Jeff friedlander can you hear me can you hear us we've been telling you our concerns for months in polite emails phone calls and public forums like these our questions are met with vague reassurances non-answers or most of the time just silence are we wasting our breath are you really dead set in shaking the school system like an Etch A Sketch and just seeing where the kids fall are you so disinterested in the chasm of unanswered questions that you're willing to just drive us off a cliff will you not at least pump the brakes and look around and maybe find another route we all want diverse and Equitable schools but how many families from your least.
Advantaged schools even know about this plan about a dozen of these schools have not had one survey response what do you think they would say if we asked if they feel included in this process if you can hear us listen to us give our kids time to finish in their schools reach out to every family and get their feedback and understand the ramifications before you ram this through to do any less would be negligent thank you. Thank you Emily kachakova followed by John Baker and Aaron Justin good evening my name is Emily kachakova and I have two children at Eastway Elementary which will become the Central Central regions year-round program when the changes happen I support the growing together plan and I thank you for all of the years of work that you have put into this I also want to say that I agree with what you have all acknowledged about needing to do better to engage with families yes you do and there are many additional data points to support moving forward with.
These changes I cannot speak on behalf of the families that you haven't heard from but I can share some observations from my nearly three years of experience and relationship building at Eastway which is a school that we love and where my children are thriving not everyone is able to look 18 months let alone two or more years into the future to think about a hypothetical school choice scenario when they face housing and job insecurity in the Here and Now a lot can change in a family situation in that time frame stability is often an unspoken prerequisite and privilege for this type of Engagement not everyone trusts that schools are going to do right by their kids this is a view that is based on generations of bad and traumatic School experiences in this country especially for families of color and especially for black families it's hard to want to engage with a system you don't trust this plan I believe can help you build trust by doing right by the kids.
There's a lot of race and class segregation within DPS for example six-figure differences in PTA budgets between schools that are within two miles of each other this plan will shake things up in a good way ultimately building relationships with people who are different from us is a critical skill that we need I have worked to maintain Community with my kids preschool friends and friends who have changed schools we can make new friends and keep the old thank you thank you John Baker followed by Aaron Cheston followed by Megan Hudson good evening my name is John Baker and I have a daughter in kindergarten at Eastway Elementary I also support the growing together plan and want to say thank you to all those involved in this process I agree with comments from parents and board members that more Outreach needs to be done not everyone feels comfortable putting their personal information into online systems even basic things related to signing up for an event or filling out a survey person-to-person offline organizing and communication is needed.
A very important point that was made last week is that the need to apply to enter a lottery for a school is a huge barrier I have not heard any outrage from Durham families about this very clear inequity failures to make this process more accessible have benefited many of the families who are protesting this plan by reducing the competition for application seats making these popular programs the default option for families who have historically been left out of the choice process is a big part of the solution and I applaud it I think this is an important moment for our community I want to challenge us to think about what is good for all Durham kids and not just our own change is hard but it's also usually the path to something better thank you.
Thank you Aaron Cheston followed by Megan Hudson and John Blackshear hi my name is Aaron Cheston and I seed my time thank you I'm Megan Hudson And I also seed my time to Dr Blackshear if members of the board thank you for having us this evening how are you doing growing together when I first heard it I honestly thought that we were doing some sort of sustainable Community Farm action at all of our schools and as a way to teach our children how to be prepared for climate change I honestly did so I was obviously one of those people at the 11 schools that did not provide feedback I do value diversity equity and inclusion and I am a parent of four active students and schools here in Durham and one student has already graduated not into the world and the the process by which we have come to understand with the growing together model is what it's intended to do and how it will be impactful for our own children and the children.
Who attend schools all across the district has been opaque and it feels exclusive and what gets someone like me very worried about that is when something feels opaque and exclusive oftentimes it winds up having intended or not inequity built in that winds up causing harm some will argue some have argued with me that the decision makers are to be followed without question like these people have your best interest at heart and I believe that you all have the best interest in this entire Community higher why would you do this if you didn't the question I would ask though and and because I have confidence in everybody's integrity and character on this board is if you were sitting on the other side of this process would this feel okay to you would you feel as though you are moving your babies into something that felt like you understood it and you know that it's going to be moderately impactful and I do believe in some ways very very good but the opacity makes us terrified.
I've heard that you know you should just trust folks because oh this was said to me you should the people who are doing this have all the education in the background and they got the phds listen the people who set the foundation of inequality in America have always been the people who were educated to know better and powerful enough to do whatever they want I am not assuming that about anybody in this room I'm assuming that everybody in this room has one thing as their focused and that is making Durham Public Schools the consistently excellent for everybody construct that it should be I've also heard that some of the complaints of like oh well too many it's just too hard to include everybody go out and talk to everybody equality and inclusion is hard disregard is easy as hell sorry but it is disregard is easy to make a decision without being inclusive is easy I'm begging you to do the hard thing and to bring us in Embrace us hear our fears.
And concerns and put yourself not in the know but put yourself in the don't now and imagine how terrifying this all is this is all you're hearing is fear it's called growing together and I like that I like the fact that my children grow up here in Durham I could be almost anywhere places have called me beckoned me I'm from Savannah Georgia I love that place I don't want to leave my I don't want my children to leave here I truly don't but whose voices are carrying this initiative I don't know whose voices are omitted I'm concerned as a parent I am the executor of my children's growth and as board members you have entered into a partnership with me to assure that we provide those babies the best opportunities to grow up to be incredible Dynamite human beings I'm gonna do my part for show you see a kid with the last name black chair cutting the food called me okay but if we are going to grow together I beg that you.
Take time to understand that we are dealing with post-traumatic stress of having children who have endured a pandemic and then soon I'm gonna have to talk to my same kids who are just getting their feedback under them at their school and say well now we're going to flip you flip a switch on again put you somewhere I can't tell you what it's going to do or who you where you're going to be or what it's going to mean but some people say that this is for the best and if we are going to grow together I beg you to work with us on this initiative such that it is transparent and inclusive which are the Hallmarks of equity our children deserve no less from any of us thank you kindly foreign.
Thank you our next speaker is Mary barzi followed by Brian Callaway followed by Kristen Southworth.
Hello members of the board my name is Mary barzi and thank you Dr Blackshear I really appreciated that I thought of something today as I was leaving I lied to my kid and I didn't tell him where I was going I said well I did actually I told him I was going to the school board but I didn't tell him why and he said mom why do you keep going there why don't you stay and have dinner with us and I said well I don't know I'll see you later I'll be back in about an hour anyway because I can't be honest with my own kid right now because I'm not really clear what the consequences are for him or for the rest of our community like Dr Blackshear your assurances today at the beginning actually really helped me I am a Watts parent and you've heard from me before that I'm a Montessori Advocate and a huge believer in Montessori education I applaud your responsiveness to parents and Educators about their specific.
Concerns regarding the continuity of Montessori programs methodology and future plans for the new Montessori school that information was so helpful those tweaks are so helpful I ask you to delay the adoption of this plan until other communities are additional communities know of this plan and better understand the implications for their families and for their individual schools leaving the possibility that rules can be tweaked a little bit to provide continuity and stability for families who crave it. Thank you our next speaker is Brian Callaway followed by Kristen Southworth and another board one second please sorry and Shamira wellmeyer thank you all right I'm Brian Callaway I actually don't really have any problems with redistricting Dr mango I know this was on your radar for a long time since you got here just thought that we should mention too that this this plan started right after three of the most senior members of the school board were just re-elected so I'm sure the timing was coincidental for you to just start your your new four-year term but.
I I do sense though that that we're losing the community in this conversation with the unnecessary complication of this plan the plan seems rather complicated the communication is messy makes makes me rather concerned about what implementation will look like and I I know that redistricting itself is is really like a tertiary concern in in my household with my I have a partner with working single single mother of two you know we've gone through the iterations of DPS seemingly forgetting that child care is an issue for elementary parents and the buses continue to be a saga this year as well I mean for neighbors too I'm seeing folks you know having to scurry and and I'm on those text messages some of the time about trying to get kids to school even this week Still Still maintains or still there's still some issues with that so it seems like we just kind of pinball from crisis to crisis in this District often and Dr mabenga I I would ask that you would please give us.
A functional reliable bus system today and we might have some faith that that a redistricting can be implemented tomorrow so thanks thank you our next speaker is Kristen Southworth followed by Shamir wellmeyer and Teresa maharan. Okay good evening board and DPS employees who have worked on this plan I'm so thankful for your service to our community and all of the students in DPS I am a DPS alumni and a parent of two current DPS students I was also like many people have said lived through this transition 30 years ago I think what I find really disheartening is to hear the same excuses used by families today that existed 30 years ago and I think we need to call the reason why those things exist I'm not saying that those hardships don't exist or that they're not important or have an impact on those families however I'm asking you all to choose our most vulnerable students the students who don't have a voice the students who are not able to be here over.
What is a at this point perceived loss or inconvenience because we don't know the answers that is why it is important for us to move forward today so that we can begin work on those answers so that we can supply the teachers who are begging to understand what this means for them to include their voices to reach out to all those families who we have not heard from yet and how it will impact them to think about how EC teachers are going to manage all of the transitions of of these vulnerable students but I think you all know that that's the value of Durham and that this plan has that value so please move this forward tonight the students can't wait another 30 years or even another year.
Thank you Shamira wellmire followed by Teresa maharan and Kyle Whitaker hi everybody it's actually Samira willemire but thanks for trying so like Kristen I'm a Durham native a graduate of DPS and a parent of two current DPS students who are in grades first and fourth at Easley Elementary we applied for a seat at Easley to get into the year-round calendar before my son entered K and we were really happy to be there and we love the community we've grown to love easily it's a great school the admins the teachers the families everybody and under growing together our neighborhood American village will be moved from the northern region to the southwestern region so our baseball will change from Hillandale to Forest View and our year-round option will also change from Easley to Hope Valley Elementary so since my daughter will be a rising third grader in Academic Year 24 25 she won't be eligible for the Legacy assignment and That means that we'll be transitioning to a new school Community.
We don't know which one yet we don't know whether we're going to continue with the year-round model or try to get a seat there and that means that this is going to be a big transition for our family might even be inconvenient and it might be stressful and we will be really sad to leave the Easley community that we've grown to love but we will be making this transition gladly we'll be doing it thinking of the other families in Durham that this will be benefiting and not centering our own discomfort or inconvenience in the process I've been anticipating this redistricting and hearing about it since before my oldest son entered DPS I've participated in the focus groups that you guys have offered countless meetings and conversations and I appreciate being given the chance to share my input on the plan I feel like my voice was heard I believe in the goals of growing together I see the vision that you all have laid out and while I do feel some.
Discomfort and uncertainty about what will happen with my family in the future I am going to make this transition gladly I believed in the important in the importance of the process when the merger happened 30 years ago and I believe in this thank you could you give me one second I I missed someone here so after cursor will be Jenny Jones coldren and Then followed by Kyle Whittaker thank you my name is girja Mahajan and I have two children at EK Poe my feedback on growing together is very simple this plan is too complicated for parents and caregivers to navigate and it will be even more complicated for the school and District staff to implement I understand why and support the reasons why we must read District but never did I imagine that the new system would be so complicated and predicated on so many operational components successfully aligning specifically recruiting more teachers and construction projects finishing on time is there a magic wand somewhere to make this happen I ask in all.
Seriousness the district does not have a track record of good enough let alone skillful implementation of policy changes I speak from the experience with return to campus challenges of spring 2021 the bell schedule change and the Aftercare shortage of 2022 in all these situations the central office administration said to families and staff we hear you we understand your concerns we are making decisions to improve learning and teaching conditions District systems and Service delivery trust us however the reality of implementation was anything but trust building in each of these major policy changes the reality was poor communication logistical breakdowns Staffing shortages finger pointings and evasive responses or no responses from decision makers I am sorry to say this but I don't trust the district's ability to deliver the promised results for staff and students as outlined in growing together finally most families including mine just want their child to attend a school that is somewhat close to their house is fully staffed with competent caring and supported teachers and administrators has a well-rounded curriculum in Fosters.
Community both in and out of the building that is it just the basics I urge you to delay this vote. Thank you Jenny Jones coldren followed by Kyle Whittaker and Lindsey Roberson good evening I'm Jenny Jones cauldron I am one of the co-leads for the People's Alliance education action team and this is not my first time standing in front of you and I don't know if y'all can hear my voice shaking but I have never been this terrified and I want us to like sit with why that might be because I know I'm about to say something that disagrees with the majority of people here that said I'm speaking on behalf of the People's Alliance tonight when I say that we are DPS parents and teachers we want what is best for our children and we support this plan we understand that change is difficult and disappointment is painful and we support this plan we recognize the community outreach and engagement effort from the district around this initiative we're not robust.
And we support this plan we know that moving to a new school before traditional transition points may present a challenge for some Young Learners and we support this plan we appreciate that the financial medical social psychological and emotional challenges of the global pandemic are not fully behind us and we support this plan we are parents and teachers of neurodivergent and disabled children and understand the unique challenge this presents during unexpected transitions and we support this plan we acknowledge that alter altering existing programs at schools places an additional burden on teachers already at capacity and we support this plan we hear the angry fear-based rhetoric pathologizing under-resourced communities we know this rhetoric is likely to get worse before it gets better and we support this plan we hear families threatening to leave the public school system if the district does not make certain allowances or changes and we support this plan our children are watching and listening are remodeling respect resilience and a spirit of collaborative problem solving we support this plan thank you thank you.
Kyle Whittaker followed by Lindsey Roberson and Dr Lawrence Lauren Sartain good evening my name is Kyle Whittaker I'm the parent of a kindergartner Moorhead Montessori I share many of the concerns articulated much better than I can do tonight but want to also quickly Elevate two additional concerns first in light of new information that was presented tonight about guaranteeing current magnet students access in a spot in their current program I applaud that that is great to hear would like to see more to help the communities that are at those schools but I do think it's worth noting the fact that this is just now being brought up calls into question well it wasn't considered sooner and kind of highlights the fact that you know all options to minimize the disruptions to the current students haven't really been diligently explored you know I think there's an obligation not to me not to any of the parents in the room but to the thousands of children who may be displaced by this.
Plan and not the plan but the implementation of the plan is what people are concerned with next I want to call to light a couple several policy specific concerns that I believe weren't some discussion prior to any vote because I haven't really heard them address and I think they need to be to date we've seen a handful of slides to summarize the proposed rules not an actual policy and there's a lot of complexities nuances details that will have a drastic impact on how this rolls out and how it impacts families and students first how does priority get codified for lotteries now for legacy students and future how will sibling priorities be handled will students who accept the lottery seats be guaranteed their spot for the duration of elementary school there's a big question the current policy 4150 only guarantees a spot for one year does not guarantee continued access to that school as it's currently written so with that please take the time to get this right because if we don't as a community the.
Implications are drastic for our students for the staff that is here tonight and for the community as a whole thank you. Thank you next speaker is Lindsey Roberson followed by Dr Lauren Sartain followed by Travis Morrison hi I'm Lindsey Robertson and I seed my time to Lauren. Hi good evening my name is Lauren Sartain I'm a DPS parent I have a kindergartner and a third grader at EK Poe where I'm also the PTA president where I also spent three hours this morning pulling kids from their classroom and helping them with phonics based reading instruction I did that not because I have a ton of time I did that because our schools are understaffed we don't have a reading specialist in our building I wasn't even sure if I was going to speak tonight I didn't know what else I could possibly say I've sent the board and the district emails describing analyzes that I would conduct as a researcher to provide evidence that this plan will actually increase diversity in schools which I.
Think is something that most if not all parents here tonight want I've sent examples of one pagers FAQs that the PO PTA has put together for our parents that we had translated in Spanish and had physical hard copies that we passed out to our Walkers and our car riders as they drove up to the building most of the parents that we interacted with this was last week didn't know about this plan at all so what I have asked you guys to do what I asked last week what I've been asking is for somebody from Durham Public Schools to go to each School community and talk about how this plan directly affects each school Dr Hardy I hear you when you say this is not about one school or one family and I agree it's about every school and every family and so I do not think it is too much of an ask to go and talk to families go and talk to our Educators who work for too.
Little pay who show up every day and do more than one job thank you I hear over and over again from the educator the poe that they don't know what it means to be an IB Elementary School I hear from them that they don't know what training they're going to receive they don't know what it means to implement a curriculum they don't know if it starts in kindergarten and phases in that's a lot of questions for educators who are tired and burnt out families what do I hear from Poe families I hear a lot about not understanding why DPS is taking a diverse neighborhood Elementary School and transition it into a magnet school I hear a lot about not understanding how our redistrict families will be given priority at our elementary school which is being converted to a magnet so it's unclear what rules apply to us these are Educators these are families who went through three principal transitions in three years we had the covid crisis where our.
Children were at home for an entire year including my now third grader who has multiple neurodiversities could not learn online these are the same families who dealt with a pretty big bell schedule switch this morning I argued again with my neural diverse daughter about why she had to be at school at 7 30. We had families who continue to show up at our old bell schedule time after the transition and that's a really simple policy so I wonder how many families don't know and don't understand this policy so please come to our schools and talk to us thank you thank you.
Our next speaker is Travis Morrison followed by Gene Cormier followed by Hannah wheeler hi my name is Travis Morrison I am the President of Moorhead montessori's PTA I want to say that you can dismiss the small scope of what I have to say on the grounds of privilege in fact we were just one school small school in the system but what I say cannot be dismissed on the grounds that we are a neighborhood magnet growing together could have eliminated magnets or limited walk zones but they didn't and because of that my voice should be respected if it's just one tiny egg that needs to be broken to make an omelet that's your call there are reasons to be excited about the coming changes to Moorhead the new bay Zone will diversify our student body a planned expansion will make room for those students and many of our non-walk suit parents are in the Southwest District there's a there's a happy ending so I asked to bring that home that you at least permit current in-region.
Students and magnets if not all students to continue and finish at our school we have fought so hard to keep our community together and support our teachers and staff through brutal challenges a year more of uncertainty of who is coming and going will be devastating to the very community that wants to welcome the new students to the gifts of the peaceful and Humane environment fostered by principal Webb the person I've come to deeply admire and whom I consider an honor to serve as PTA president the changes coming to Moorhead are very close to fulfilling growing together's goals I share them and I like to think that in my ignorant rock and roll singer way I've been part of moving our community in that direction but the confusion uncertainty of making current students reapply will be a huge hit to our community and thus the very goals of growing together like I said if this is just how the board and the school system wants it to be I can't stop you but it's.
A heartbreaker and I beg that you hit pause for the cause and reconsider thank you. Thank you our next speaker is Gene Cormier followed by Anna wheeler followed by one second Latoya Moses hi I'm Gene Cormier and I seed my time. Hi I'm Hannah wheeler I see my time tillatoya Latoya you'll have six minutes hello all when I applied for the lottery and my son was selective I was excited for him and my other children who would have the opportunity to attend Moorhead I wasn't even aware of the changes until last week after many emails from the parents this is disappointing news to me and my family and other family members who are still aware of this process in case you're not aware people of color minorities non-white families like myself have not been part of the groaning together process and we're not aware of what's going on I had to learn from other parents the workshop you hold today in this meeting extremely inaccessible to many families.
You claim you're trying to help do not take this lack of representation as a commentary that we're in agreement to what's being done have never received any communication from DPS about this proposal they admitted that you have failed on the communication part and promised to do better and I really hope you do I do not support you forcing my son to leave his current Montessori school I feel like the implementation plan is not fair and you do not want my sons at his current School giving my son the opportunity to try a new learning style that his new base school does not offer is not the best interest for my son he has been so happy where he's at and has built built friendships and in the community I have Bill support as well in the school community these kids are more than a figure or number give the families a choice to decide what is best for their children you say that the big part of decision has been around Transportation well give.
The opportunities for us to make that choice and opt out the busing system if that's the case for us to stay in the current school because I believe what's best for my son not you so I'm asking you to allow the student to stay at their current school and delay the votes delay and in that time get out there and talk to the people talk to the families and I urge you to take time to make every single family know what's happening before you vote thank you.
Thank you our next three speakers will be Megan McCurley jacquelina Urbano and Amanda castezizo.
Hi y'all today my name is Megan McCurley today I'm speaking on behalf of leap which is the Latino educational achievement partnership we are a bilingual preschool in Durham we serve 49 students 95 of whom are latinx 90 of whom are received free and reduced lunch this a perfect plan for everyone does not exist and while I do believe this plan is an attempt to balance individual family student needs and the collective needs of DPS in Durham whatever our intentions now this plan will only be Equitable if we continue to Center black and brown families immigrant families and working class families as and their needs as we roll this plan out if you guys choose to approve this plan tonight I want to ask beg that school administration and the board increase efforts to communicate to All Families focusing on Plain language avoiding jargoning names like growing together defining terms like boundaries regions assignment seats application seats I also want to ask that will you guys ensure that every single DPS family.
Receives a letter in the mail you know old school with their current and future assignments as well as any other strategies yard signs organizing door knocking to be and that be implemented before the magnet application deadline so that people can make choices finally I want to ask that we delay the magnet application deadline it's February 9th schools like us we support four-year-olds preparing for kindergarten we haven't been able to even start communicating to our families because we didn't know what to tell them yet and we need time to help them fill out applications to help them visit schools learn where they're applying we just need time thank you.
Thank you thank you our next speaker is jakalina Urbana followed by Amanda castezizo followed by forgive me Rachel O'Brien noches. Good evening everybody and I said my time to Amanda Castille is.
Magnet.
Izers Familia. Organisms.
Information.
Gracias.
Okay. Good evening Board of Education I am here as a member of the community and I I had my children in one of the schools and I want to tell you that we are here we received on Thursday at 9 45 some information and it was until midnight we didn't have any information before as family we feel isolated the information is not coming to us or if it's coming it's coming little by little but it doesn't and the the message is not clear the language is not clear it is very difficult to to take the best decision for students when we don't have all the information we need to ask you please extend the window to solicit this seats for or this for the school's Magnet or the others so we need more time to analyze what is the most stable option for our families I would like you to ask to every school to organize meetings so then we can know everything all the information know what is our base school and what schools.
We can solicit as it we don't have all the information and then this about the changes on the zones on the programs of this in the schools in six seven and eight grade and we would like to have this information for the spring we are taking decisions about our kids but we don't have all the information please know that we are here to advocate for our students and then if we if we are not here it's not because we are not concerned it is because we don't have all the information thank you.
Our next speaker is Rachel O'Brien.
Good evening my name is Rachel O'Brien I'm a parent of a kindergarten student at Watts Montessori and I'm also a pediatrician in the Durham community I commend the Board of Education and everyone involved in developing growing together for the goal of providing all of our children with equal access to excellent education with that said I cannot support the current plan for implementation stability is imperative for our children to grow up and become the contributing members of society you and I want them to be they are not pawns to be moved about on a chessboard our children have already been through so much in the past few years due to the covid-19 pandemic they were already ripped from their classrooms once please don't do it again please do not Overlook how important a stable educational model peer relationships and communities are to our children you cannot simply swap out half the second graders from a Montessori school and replace them with students from a Traditional School even considering this would be a tragedy.
For all students not just the ones forced to attend new schools the Mental Health crisis among children and adolescents is at an all-time high studies show that children who move schools more frequently are more likely to have behavioral disturbances and are less likely to graduate from high school people so frequently think oh children are resilient they can handle anything this is simply not the case please consider all the consequences of uprooting so many of our Elementary School students please allow students to remain at their current schools and complete the education they were promised when they first enrolled thank you.
Thank you that brings us to the close of public comment for this evening's meeting I want to thank everyone here for the civil conversation for the feedback and for spending time with us I also want to thank those who spent time emailing us emails coming in both raising concerns and questions but also emails coming in in support of the plan at this time board members we're going to engage in our discussion regarding the plan that the Administration has brought for for Action this evening I want to remind my colleagues as well as those president online that are chair Bettina Umstead and board member javania Lewis are online with us this evening and we'll be participating and with that board members is there anyone that would like to begin the discussion this evening I'll start with an Aspire and then I'll check in with Mr Lewis and Miss Umstead.
Good morning good evening colleagues and I want to express deep love and gratitude to the Durham Community for your presence here your heart for our community and your love for our schools and our school children I was delighted to hear how passionate your perspective is and how much you could all listen and respect each other at the same time and and I'm so thankful for that I have questions still and I don't want to how to go through all of those together but I just want to frame my conversations in the notion that I have a I have unreadiness with moving this forward tonight but I also have strong strong belief that this plan is built to help our community aspire to become the community that we want to be and so let me just kind of start with some of the questions and then I know I might have others later but these are some of them Dr mabenga Dr Hardy I heard one speaker say from your comments tonight that.
Their child was guaranteed a spot at remaining in Montessori and I I that didn't that was not how I heard what you said earlier so I wanted to give you a chance to kind of rephrase and re-state that so that we have more clarity on on that issue if that's possible. Thank you Miss Harrell Goff and I will begin and I know the team is behind me as well if there needs to be additional clarity it is our intent to ensure that students who are currently in any of those application programs Montessori International Baccalaureate or year round that they will have a seat in an appropriate School of that same programming in their region.
And there is I don't know exactly which slide but that is also clarified on a slide in the board packet and one of the team members may know immediately because they may have already been looking there as the question came if not we can I can find that and I can alert the technology team so those watching and in the audience can see that as well in terms of the packet the board materials that was submitted. Dr Pittman says slide 42. I knew knew they were ready thank you Dr Pittman.
So that's helpful I just want us to to be clear with with folks and I guess one of my ongoing concerns is that we've learned and clarified through these last couple meetings I feel like if we can give folks a little time to do some Outreach in some specific School communities that we heard from tonight that that need to understand how this will impact them directly I heard Club I heard Little River I imagine Aaron Harris as they're changing the way they're getting their students and there are there might be others.
Yes yeah so it's probably I mean and and I want to be clear with folks when I look at the Timeline that you all presented this this any vote on these Legacy rules is not the end of this process or engagement it is a is another step forward and there is deep deep work to be done but I those are some of the communities that I heard still have strong strong concerns that that we need to kind of go in and Ms Rogers and I were honored to be hosted easily last night and we are so thankful for the parents that put that together we found that in that space where people could ask their questions and and get more clarification that was a very trust building space for folks to be in so I know the pressure is on because of the magnet window being open now and so I wonder if if you all have had some clarity on how we better communicate to families especially of incoming kindergarteners.
So that they look up the region that they're in so that they evaluate that choice with a way that might maximize their chances of not having disruptions and I'll agree with other folks that this plan is complicated enough that I feel like we need to almost staff push those dates back a bit and staff where people can come in and and have our team help them navigate the the process a little bit. But but I want to hear kind of y'all's thinking on that because I know a lot of people are anxious for those decisions as well and and that wouldn't necessarily be popular in the in the community either so tell me how we're thinking about the current window and and how we navigate this forward thank you Miss Beyer and Miss Chávez is also watching but we also have Dr pack and other team members who may need to add to this response in response to your first question in regarding our younger students and their placement or.
Geographical base school for 20 24-25 as soon as we have additional guidance from our board in terms of able to move forward on our recommended rules It's Our intention to work carefully cross-departmentally so our magnet office our office of student assignment our office of community engagement office of public affairs to really targeting those current youngsters so that they are aware of what their school will be for 24.25 and working with them if that is an application school to apply to that application school so if entered in the lottery and then accepted then that will reduce the transition for that child so if my geography geographical Bay school would be Sandy Ridge and I apply to Sandy Ridge and get accepted into the lottery then in 24 25 there would not be a transition for that child so we are committed to doing that that was your first question the second question in record in response to the magnet timeline we have been looking extensively at the magnet timeline and know that within.
That timeline that does it doesn't just include the submission it includes Windows where you are accepting your seat we're assigning your seat and we're making sure that we're ready to open our year-round programming schools we are it is not our recommendation from staff that we make any additional adjustments to the Magna application window we we worry that that would put us in a place where we would not be ready to make sure that families and students are aware of those seats and we could appropriately begin our year-round schools in July.
So you don't you don't feel you have the flex of a week or two to push back from February 6th I mean that that helped me understand well I may be the only one with that question so that's so the challenge and let me just I do have the the application all of the states the challenge is if we were to extend for example the window the deadline for submission then I would need to condense the window that families have to select and confirm their seat or I would have to condense the placement of students in communication so any additional movement in that window has almost a domino effect on the other aspects of the application window and would impact families and their response that would need to occur for that particular Lottery seat that I know that Miss Chávez and I'm getting the nods from the team so thank you so I have a question that sort of piggybacks off of that is there something contingent about this.
Vote that will modify the current magnet application process that makes it so this has to happen tonight are we putting up language to say this is a one-year seat are we changing the application that's open right now. I think the one piece is the communication to our families in regards to their Science school for 24.25 and how that may impact their decisions during this particular Lottery application window and wanting them to have as much time as needed we are committed to also making sure that we once we have clear direction from the board just as in the example I mentioned earlier making sure that for example those first graders at that may be attending Sandy Ridge in 2425 that we are working with those families so that they are aware we would not want to do any of those actions ahead of the board's decision regarding the geographical rules that would govern Elementary placements for 24.25.
Missed buyer any additional questions at this time for some time for later I appreciate it and see what others are thinking thanks great I'm going to go to Miss Lewis next and Miss Umstead following her and then we'll go back around the table here thank you my computer signals a little low so I'm gonna joined by phone also just in case it goes out but can you all hear me this is javonia Lewis can you hear me all right so far yes okay I just wanted to start put on one second.
All right I just wanted to start. By saying that I appreciate having the full presentation foreign. I appreciate having the full presentation last week and hearing the public comments both this week and last week thank you all who have given comments and on reading several emails I would like to just share similarly to last week I have engaged with several of the school communities parent groups principals and administrators through this process and I know from the depths of I saw how difficult this can be for many families of young children I truly understand this to be difficult as parents just want to be the best that they can be in Guardians and deciding what's going to be the best option for their children you know as a parent I I walk in those same shoes I've been making these decisions for over 15 years with my youngest one in fourth grade now and still continuing to make these decisions you know I understand your anxiety and feel that.
And I want to help to ease that as quickly as possible I appreciate the time for this discussion as we have already discussed this last week we asked our questions at the administration I don't have any additional questions that I didn't ask during that time or throughout this week thank you for the updates and changes that you've made based on those questions and based on the input we know this is plan is allowing us to get started thank you for those again those resolutions and those compromises and and now having this recommendation before us I want to be clear this plan will not take effect until the 24 25 school year and families need to plan now this gives us families Administration plenty of time to move forward with these rules for the administration to prepare mass communication that has been the heart of this work is engagement in continuing this type of communication for the duration once we can have a plan in place with the policy will be able to.
Have many means of ways of letting people know what to expect and answer these questions at this point this gives us at least 11 months of planning for the 24-25 lottery thank you Dr Hardy for giving me some more details of what it would take if we were to extend the Lottery application or delay it and that allows others to determine even in this school year what decisions and options they want to make knowing that they still have 18 months before these policies create the next implementation I repeat this plan is not happening until 24 25. I know there's a lot of moving pieces and I understand your anguish and the excitement for so many diverse voices historically over 30 years those who come back and was here with a city and county merged this redistricting will go down in history as it has been not been done since the city county merger this brings greater access and equity and being clear we've talked about this before equity and equal is two different things.
But what does access and Equity look like I know that we are in this discussion history can be made in this moment I like to make a motion to accept the administration's recommendation with plenty of time to adjust but getting us started with these rules a move that we accept the growing together recommendation for Ellen Marine school rules for policy 4150 School assignment in addition the timeline for secondary school program recommendations and of course with this motion if it is seconded of course the floors open for further discussion but I just wanted to be very clear about where I stand in this.
Okay thank you before we go to chair.
The sound went out for me can you all hear us or can you can hear us we cannot hear you. Yeah I I can't hear you Mr Sears.
No still no sound.
Thank you yep testing testing testing we can hear you now yeah you're back all right we are back so I'll repeat yes I was going to ask can you repeat I saw that Miss validara spoke but I didn't hear what she said if you could repeat it that'd be great thank you yes Miss vaidar is understanding that we are going to have additional discussion seconded the motion and we'll proceed with our discussion and and move to you Miss Umstead if if you have comments or questions at this time yeah I am there's so much that's already been said and I know that my colleagues will share more questions and concerns this work has been in the work for a long time I remember us having a board retreat 2018 or 2019 discussing how we got here and how the magnet rules were first created and what that meant for the families now and today and so I think this is something that has been a long time coming but it doesn't mean that it.
Makes it easier for families who are going to experience this transition I think that I hold that challenge and in one hand and I also hold the opportunities that come in the other that students will have a space for music and for art they will have classrooms that aren't filled to capacity that students will have access to opportunities in dual language in a Montessori in a year-round program and I have we have to hold both of those truths together at the same time that's our hard work of understanding that some of these shifts and transitions also create opportunities for other students I think that I too have questions and I think that there's more engagement and conversations that need to be done but I worry if we wait on this vote that it means for families who are making decisions right now for those Rising kindergarteners or students who are interested in the application process for the other grades won't have the information that they need for the application process I originally talked.
To Dr mabinga about this and said you know I'm a little worried it's a tight timeline how can we get a vote in early so families have the time that they need to make decisions and so I just worry about delaying it one more week creates more stress for families who need to make decisions and need lots of information to do that I think that we need there are a lot of lessons to be learned from how this engagement has rolled out so far and as we continue to think about starting in 2024 with an application window that may start in January of 2020 for what does engagement need to look like from today to that point and so how do we have Rich conversations with school communities and with families and making sure that networks and people are aware of what's happening and what opportunities are available I think we got a lot of tech savvy in our community I wonder if it's as easy as you type in your child's name your.
Address comes up you can see their current school and then they tell you what your options are for 2024 and how to get connected to those because this is complicated I think one of the goals of this new process was to try to simplify and I think we might get there after we roll out this implementation but I really think we need to figure out how to make it simple and make it plain and so that families can understand so that they can make decisions but I think one of the other kind of truths that I believe is that we have really great Educators in our Durham public schools and then these shifts and transitions students will still have access to some really great Educators and really great principals and teachers who are going to be excited to love and affirm and to teach our children and I think that that is available in all of our Public Schools none of this transition will happen without some challenges and complications I heard that there's also.
A lack of trust between Durham public schools and our community and so we have to do some really hard work to rebuild that trust we have to over communicate we're going to have to work really hard on some of these Logistics we're going to need our community to partner with us to make sure that we have enough bus drivers and after school care workers and other opportunities to make sure this can work we as a school system can hold a lot and we also need our community to help support us with that and so we need to I hear as we move forward and think about this we have to think about how do we rebuild trust with some of our community that feels like that trust has been broken to this point I still again like I said at the beginning I have some more questions what does happen with some of our programs that might be sunsetting what does that look like in reality when it comes to allocations and funding how.
Much flexibility do some of those schools still have to continue to do some of their core programming that's become so core to the nature of the school can Friday Club still continue at Club Boulevard and can R and here still have their integrated core magnet I think some of those questions still need to be answered but I think we can move forward with rules of implementation and answer many of those questions for families and for schools so I just again thank the administration for their work I do think it's important that we move forward tonight because families need the information to make decisions about what to do next thank you Miss Umstead I'm going to kind of come back down the line here miss viadaras Miss Chávez Miss Rogers and then we'll see where we are good evening everyone I am Alexandra and definitely hear the experiences of many families I've appreciated all your thoughtful analysis and email I mean we have a robust community that cares about our students your support.
Whether you support the policy or not but it is support and we are lucky for all the comments that you've made some have told us about the RTI survey given really valuable feedback about the survey not including all our schools all our families that is a very important Point as we consider you know partnering and partnership and maybe giving more time and adjusting some of these Partnerships that is Vital Information we are taking notes our Administration has gotten the richness of the ways you think we that families need to be engaged and some of the ways that you have also helped the district done that lift with us every time you open the WhatsApp thread created a an Avenue brought people here you know there were there are so many dedicated people who are spending as was pointed out you know their dinner time here and that is service and that is dedication what I want to say is that I would do no service to the role that I have here.
To try to pretend we've had very difficult votes this term we have grappled with very serious implications for a lot of the decisions that we've had to make and I I'm so grateful that it was put into context we had to vote on reopening there was an imminent law we there was there was no other way there was no other choice and yet we had to do the choice that was that we knew before before as that was before us we've had to deal with with many many situations and and I am so grateful that our our community you have told us the ways that we have tried and not met the mark and that is very very clear to us what we have today is a situation and I'm going to call it situation and the situation is that it's 20 23 and 2024 is around the corner and if you have been looking around in Durham you know that there is a population shift you know that we will be dealing with.
Not only 32 000 or even 33 as we had before the numbers will grow and Durham Public Schools will grow to serve as many children as live in this community some will make choices to go elsewhere and you know we know that some of you are making those choices now but I want you to listen to this the trend analysis that has been done tells us we have no choice but to move overpopulation is not the only problem that we have we have overcrowded schools right now we have children who don't have access to the services that they need it's it's children who qualify for services from the EC Department children who need early childhood and that's something we want to we want to be able to grow and make Universal Pre-K a standard in DPS but we will not be able to grow programs if we continue to have issues of overpopulation some of you have pointed about transportation we know that that has been an ongoing issue.
And some of you have made the point we've read all your emails and all your calls and all your messages even on Facebook believe me we've gotten all your your your your feedbacks and also the ways that you have told us Transportation cannot be the factor driving decisions and I agree with you but I will say this Transportation should not be the only Factor driving decisions but it is a very important one and we're not the only District that is grappling with Transportation shortages and what does it mean to not have the fleet and not only not only the fleet but also not have the drivers for the work that we have to do it would serve us not nothing to have top programs in our school buildings and leave those children in their bus stops waiting and waiting and waiting it would service it would do no purpose to create the most Stellar AAA whatever you want to name it programs if our kids can't access can't.
Access and that is their do right I also want to tell you we are grappling with people who have their shared history of DPS I'm going to name that there are people who are angry with DPS and have been angry with DPS for a long time for many other issues and this is the opportunity where a lot of them are rising up and finding this is an opportunity for Unity and that is a that is a celebration actually because if it takes a problem like this to bring people together and there are people in this room who may not have even talked to each other and are here today because they care about this that is a win for DPS that means that moving on for implementation I'm counting on all of you you know in in in that feedback but we are grappling with this very serious thing that we have to make a choice and to say that we delay this vote whether we delayed a month or two weeks is not.
Going to do service and we come back with the same plan to you that is the harsh reality and the truth and the honesty I owe you that delaying this vote for two weeks if you have the hopes that we will change something that will go back to the drawing board there we have already voted as you know we've done steps there's been a timeline and I'm grateful that our Administration has been transparent that there have been steps along the way that already mean there's no course back there's no going back to the drawing board we cannot go back to square one we have already voted and voted this is this is a very important vote and it's an important step this is about our Legacy students the details you know that we have and we have talked to our Administration we've had those meetings with them small group meetings we have called them we have emailed them we have forwarded your emails to them and the analysis you brought about the engagement here's the.
Thing about the administration when we said there's a school like Holt it wouldn't change anything to give Holt what they were asking for a year-round calendar there's an analysis that was done for that school that allowed that school to keep their year-round calendar there was the earlier on if you remember when we were talking about the DLI program in a school who thought they were going to lose the DLI program and our our superintendent told us that school can keep their dear life program they're not the district Eli program but they can keep that if they have the the the resources you know we the district didn't assign it in that way it can continue and so those are things that was Lakewood Elementary and so what I want to tell you is that we have had these conversations about what does it mean and and all that is entailed in change and all that is entailed in the Legacy that fourth and fifth graders will be able.
You know to be the ones who can stay at the school that is that is something that was talked about because of your feedback so what I want to say is celebrate your feedback celebrate the partnership and know and own that we have not done the engagement the way we have to so you keep you have told us tonight and you have told us before what we need to do and I agree with what was shared about the School site the school level engagement but as our administrators told us in order to move forward with even putting things out as policy putting it out as putting it out as as official it has to become a vote and the vote has to happen now so that then the schools can also start putting the information and know that this is information they they can count on without having to hesitate and say we're not ready to to share something that is not conclusive and so what we are asking you tonight is this.
Conclusive move to approve and move this plan forward comes with your demand that the schools do the engagement they have to do that there are I've heard many different things about being able to work with our magnet application program and have some kind of you know the wording that lets parents know that they're applying to this program that there are changes we heard you about leveraging our systems whether it's blooms whether it's any remind or any of these groups that schools have to leverage we we hear you we have a parent app that we develop that parent app can also push forward information we hear you on the fact that we need to continue to do the engagement and do it in multiple languages and do it to reach as many folks I looked at one of the numbers under it says that there were 12 000 can somebody from Administration remind me I wrote it down but it was twelve thousand singular visits to our VPS twelve thousand four hundred I don't.
Need it now I got it 12 400 unique visits to the website so some of you have said you have used the RTI to say 11 schools were left out you made the math you multiplied the number of kids that go to those schools and you assume that all those families were left out of information but there were 12 400 unique visits to our website not the totality of all our families but keep in mind we have families versus students sometimes there are families as we heard tonight that have me before for stakeholders in the in the district so we can't assume that it's 32 000 hits that have to happen here but we're starting somewhere and what I want you and want you to know is that we hear you on implementation needs to look very differently than this rollout that we're doing and we hear you and that there's a need to keep in mind the ptas keep in mind the Affinity groups the parent groups and do that.
Engagement and we have some vetted organizers here on this board so you tell us you know and you tell us what you need you need us at a certain time this board is. What they're doing is what they have to do they've done the engagement they've done over 50 different sessions whether it's at school sites whether it's in community chip you become famous I'm telling you you've you know so so our our families have seen these different things and some of them have accessed it but I'm telling you that this board has vetted organizers and folks who are connected and you get your you get your pick you know you get your pick and you tell us what else you know you think your schools need in order to do engagement the way it has to be done you have already told us a lot tonight and we can mobilize on that with this vote tonight I thank you all for your patience and I thank you all for understanding that we're in a unique.
Position in 2023 anticipating the next five to ten years what is population going to be like what does overcrowding do in terms of trauma for students who don't receive the attention that they deserve we have we're a one-to-one district but that doesn't mean that there's Equity throughout and so we just want you to know that we hear you we appreciate the analysis and this is all analysis that is worthwhile and our engagement needs to improve and we and we appreciate the ways that you have let us see and have been partners with us throughout this whole journey thank you thank you Miss viadara's Miss Travis all right I also want to thank the community members who have spoken up via email phone calls public comments and in person at events I really do thank you for sharing your experiences and your voice and your opinions I thank the administration for this long and detailed work of putting this together I I will say there are some things that are standing.
Out to me and I have several questions as we discuss this I I mean one of the the biggest things I'm hearing which is echoed by my other board members is that we have some communication work to do and and I also really you know I've said this but I really see how our Communications have improved so much over last 10 15 years it's just there you know there's so much work and so you know I thank you for that and also I'm hearing again and again that need for that school level communication and and I I do think communication is at the root of successful relationships and and you said something in a meeting about something else that but we were talking about our restorative practice centers in in December and you said it's real it's a relationship-based model and that has stuck in my head as a value that I want to uphold as we move forward being relationship based and so and so I think.
To me that's one of the most key parts of moving forward with this plan is how do we build those relationships and get buy-in I am concerned about the the lack of buy-in from a number of individuals and and community members I and I do think in general with issues there are some people who won't be moved at all there's some people who might not you know be willing to or be able to kind of get on board with this plan most people are in the middle usually with any issue and then there are people who are over here kind of ready to go but I you know I I know the Administration has done so much to reach out and at the same time there are a lot of people who still haven't been aware obviously of what was happening with this plan so I'm gonna ask some of the questions that have stood out we've gotten so many questions so many you know so much analysis it has been impossible for me.
Personally to respond to everyone but but I have taken in what you have said and I think you know all of us have been keeping up with the correspondence so one of my first questions is around our metrics for success and and this question has been asked and I know it's been discussed and I will say also you know I came on the board after you know this this summer and so I'm coming in knowing that part of my work would be to support the implementation of this of this major redistricting plan Dr Hardy or Dr mobanga could you go over what would be our how will we know this plan will be successful in one year five years ten years what are we looking to see in our district I want I asked that because I think the metrics are important and I also want our community to know what our vision is we talk about Equity we talk about diversity and opportunity but what does that look like what will that look like.
For Durham.
Thank you board member for the question ready for my comment to be at the end but I will just go ahead and answer your question I think this is really timely when it comes to our strategic plan which is going to have really specific priorities as well goals and the smart goals what I've been and there's specific strategies how we're going to be able to meet those goals if you're asking about this particular plan how are we going to measure whether or not is successful that's going to be a part of our strategic plan as well but I'm moving forward as we spoke a lot today about Equity as well as access I've been really visible in the community I've seen families living our school system because of access that they did not have those were going to be a part of my comments at the end I think the more access we're going to have for our families that's going to be one of the metrics as well knowing whether that's.
This program has been really successful so I'm gonna reserve my comments at the end depending on how the board is gonna vote.
Thank you and I think I mean when we lay out the Strategic plan this coming year I think that will be very exciting for us to know what we are going to focus on what measures we'll be looking at specifically to improve some of the building on our current strategic plan and some of it new I want to ask about the transportation issues because this has come up I wanted to go over again if we could to talk about why Mr Palmer you you've shared with us the data on Transportation you know as I said it is a I mean it it's an issue for those of us who take transportation for granted it's not an issue so much but it is it's an issue that we get our students to school but could you please speak again to that data there have been some questions about that in our community and how you came to the calculation of the miles and maybe we could go to that slide there was a question about.
Why we were counting twice those miles and I just I guess part of this I'm taking the opportunity to offer us a chance to educate ourselves and our whole community on the sort of details of this plan thanks thank you and good evening all chair Umstead board members Dr mabenga the conversation with regards to Transportation I do think deserves a very a very brief reboot and by that I mean let's go over a couple of the basics I would ask as well from my colleagues Dr Pittman and Dr Hardy if you could give us the slide number where we have the comparative Transportation data that'll be helpful we'll have RIT Department pull that up as well in the interim as we pull up the data slides in the presentation particularly the summary data slide that shows the implications for growing together as well as Legacy scenarios under consideration I do want to point out there seems to be some large misunderstanding on what are our key performance metrics that we're talking about with transportation.
It is not mileage and I can understand when we introduce an important measure Like Home to school miles let's start there home to school miles are for all students in Durham public schools that would include for example students riding the bus but also students that do not ride the bus the reason we included this information around home to school miles is because that gives us a sense of compactness or diffuseness of our Student Assignment policies and particularly the geographic boundaries we use the examples when we have district-wide application schools of which currently there are many where we're bussing from Person County to Chatham County Wake County to Orange County for one school Amplified over our total number of applications needs the home to school models should never be used in this example for any level of comparative measurement or further analysis this was included to give you a broader sense of how large or compact our school bus networks in particular but transportation networks for all DPS families are.
The key measure that we need to be thinking about is the next line and that has been lost in this conversation how many bus routes do we have to carry for elementary school students today and I do mean today that number is 188 in a vacuum where there is no time and where there are light switches and every student could tomorrow be at another school that would be 130 and we have modeled that out when we've discussed the possibilities of additional scenarios for legacy in fifth grade or fourth and fifth grade students every grade level we have has approximately 1500 Riders on it we've discussed our Rider data and why that's so important let's pause there for a second we are short today 43 bus drivers we bridge that Gap through what director Harris and his team do we wanted to emphasize that we are not at a stable level today and you've heard that in public comments you hear that every day in your emails I do as well it.
Is an ongoing process for improvement having said that we could save 58 bus reps drivers for elementary school students where we were able to do a full implementation immediately that cannot and is not going to happen that is not what our proposal says in any regard what we are saying is is that for every year that we Legacy onto that for the grades that we Legacy onto that it's 50 additional buses as we go up right that point is crucial I'm going to use an example if we had a neighborhood with 60 students in it it's a Sim per second of the 60 students you have 10 kindergartners 10 first graders 10 second graders third graders fourth graders and fifth graders all sixth grades in one neighborhood 60 students and we consider this last recommended scenario I mean of this 60 students currently today we could have one bus servicing 60 students the capacity of a bus is 72.
However if we Legacy those students I'll use a community like let's discuss weldon's Village for a second today their base school is Merrick Moore now they have to cross over Interstate 885 the East End connector to get to Merit more but it is Merit more one bus servicing 60 students now under growing together that boundary is adjusted for wise men that will not have to cross the freeway to get to school however we've also recommended Legacy and grades for one Bond that's 20 students right I've got 40 students that are at a new school grades K3 and 20 students that are Legacy for grads 4.5 director Harris still has to run two buses to get the 20 students that are in grades four and five and to get the 40 students that are in grades K3 there's an amplification Factor as we layer this on when we're talking about the escalating cost what we're talking about is we're going to have a very complex system where in there again.
For every grade on top of that you can begin to see we're talking about parallel school systems I know that's been a conversation as well we're talking about is two different network designs or two entirely different student populations right there are overlaps that's why again we have not said it's 130 drivers and 130 drivers we think we can get 50 buses for each individual Legacy Grant it will add complexity but the conversation should not in any way be about mileage the conversation is about the number of buses that we have to run how many students we can fit on those buses remembering again today the average of our busloads is 48 students that's about middle of the pack for transportation funds could it be improved undergoing together we're trying to show you yes absolutely it can be improved we can be more efficient with our buses with the limited resources that we have we use the Wellens Village example to show you the number of students that can fit onto those buses remembering.
Those buses will still have to drive the same number of mileage routes irrespective if I'm loading 20 or I'm loading 60. that was the point that we were trying to make with this illustration I hope that's helpful in clarifying that just a can I just follow up while we're on this so as Lessons Learned as we continue to to learn from our community and and how to communicate better I think some of the the confusion also comes from the slides that have the different scenarios on them where they put a red X by Transportation so like scenario one can all grade one through five students stay and and you know families that are living that right now want that to be a green check they want to like and and when they look at that slide they see a red X and and they they tie it as we presented it to Transportation only and I think that's been that's that hasn't been helping us communicate the the complexity of that scenario and other.
Scenarios that have more of these Legacy students staying nor has it it took me a while to figure out how chaotic A system that took six or seven years to do that would be so are there any other aspects K3 class size new families moving into town and where would they go to school like MLS listings like are there other pieces of that that we can share that make it clear more than just folks centering on Transportation as the only scenario you know the only obstacle I would start at a fundamental level with the Strategic plan and the schools that in compass and in bracket Murray massenburg Elementary School each one of those schools is deploying mobile classrooms with our children learning in them today that was where this conversation started if we go back to 2019 my working with the board goes back to 2018.
We were talking about the size of our schools we were talking about suitability we were talking about capacity in some schools we are significantly over capacity in some schools we are significantly under capacity there again that was the point of our color coding of we're trying to get to the green we have deep red and deep yellow and balancing that out as part of particle five not only fiscal but operational responsibility and you've heard me use that word in our conversations last week and I'll say it again tonight any recommendation we've brought to you is with not only trying to be reasonable and compassionate for our children but also responsible can we do this I use the Wellens Village example because that same neighborhood is now under this recommended scenario going to two different schools one bus coming in and taking those students to Merrick Moore across the freeway and one bus going and loading up the students that remain and going on to y.e Smith you can Envision how as we add grades.
That will add additional complexity additional costs associated with it as well as the time associated with how long do we have to live in that transition window. Thank you thank you for that that explanation I think I think it's helpful for us to understand and to revisit that you know the slide about the the number of roots I think now I'm going to ask the different type of questions thank you so much I really appreciate Mr Fulmer so I also wanted to ask about just we have precedence for redistricting we've done that with a number I mean a number of schools over over time it's just been 30 years since there's been this massive of a shift and so I wanted to I guess going back to the communication issue I wanted to ask how have we how have we kind of dealt with that in with other situations even Lions farm this year opening how did we ease the you know did we have school level conversations how did.
How did principals introduce that the idea about you know some children shifting to a new school and and coupled with the the communication I also want to ask about just how we've eased transitions I asked about that last time a number of people have brought up the you know social emotional issues and in the mental health of our students and I think that you know it is important that we take into consideration what this move will mean for our students we have moved students historically you know many times it just hasn't been again this massive of a move in a very long time and so how do we how do we ease that what are what happens at the school level to ease that transition.
Chair Umstead the vice chair Sears members of the board good evening it is as you just said it is less challenging it's easier to be more robust with smaller changes with the transitions that we had with Givens and Brogden and Creekside And Parkwood as well as with the opening of lion's Farm we had certain grade levels that were enabled to Legacy we had school level meetings and we had robust conversations with principals of assisting them I I'm not going I'm going to call out my colleague but I have on my staff a director of communicate of strategic Communications and marketing who is also a lion's Farm mother and was very much aware of played a role in supporting the new principal and was involved with the on the PTA of the of Parkwood where she was previously there so we worked very closely with individual schools at that level on those transitions including and especially after the decision was made so that we could explain the options and share.
Information about next next steps we are working with our we are working as a growing together team with your with your action we will be able to put together simple relatively speaking simple school by school information starting with our Lottery with our Lottery schools about what the options are for your school you don't have to navigate through multiple School options what happens if I'm in these grades what are what are my options what will the process be we will be able to turn those around relatively quickly I want to say within a month I don't want to I'm not with my colleagues who are helping work on that so I don't want to make provinces on their behalf we are also in a position where we will be able to with this decision get geocoded and addresses for every student who is affected by this plan for every student and this is your address this is your designated school for 2024 your base assignment your year-round option your DOI option Etc and so on so.
That's the mass communication piece of this there is also an engagement piece and I think I said last week that there there is communication there is engagement and board members and members of the public have spoken to us very clearly about the kinds of Engagement that are necessary we have been having these conversations in the last a few weeks I mentioned I mentioned last week that we have made an organizational a reorganization to provide greater Focus to family and Community engagement as well as communication we are through I've described you with you the communications efforts that my office will lead working with growing together teams to increase that we and we will be working with the office of Federal programs and Community engagement to collaborate on greater access to Whatsapp communities to school level meetings and moving forward we are 11 months away from the opening of the lottery period we are roughly 18 months away from the from the new school year we will be ready in regards to the question about.
Students and supporting students in their transition we've been working closely with the office of student Support Services we want to thank the board for your support of our trauma-informed professional learning for our teachers and staff within those resources and professional learning our specific examples and strategies for working with students and families regarding major transitions such as a global pandemic and that would also include transitions when your school Community will be changing we're also committed to working with our school counselors and school social workers to make sure that we are able to start to work to create networks within schools and families so that they will know a friend a companion who'll be transitioning to that same school based on their new geographical base to make sure that there's someone in that new environment that can help support them so know that in addition to the work that Mr Sutter's mentioned regarding the engagement communication that we stand ready to support our students and families socially and emotionally with the transition.
Thank you I appreciate hearing that and I know some of it might feel like redundant but I think it's important for people to hear again and again how we're going to do this people's children are the most precious thing to them and nothing but part of their life part of their heart and and so and I think you know in talking to people and listening to concerns I I just hear this this sense that you know the school Community is so important to people people are rooted in that now and it's only recently the parents could especially you know of younger children could start to be more part of the physically part of the school Community post you know opening back up in person and all of that so I just want to be mindful of the the need for a sense of belonging and Community for children and for their parents but I appreciate hearing that I have more logistical questions but does someone else I my other questions are specifically about the rules.
So just I wanted to go back to Natalie's question about just clarifying that students who are in a magnet program now will be able to be in study in that magnet program the wording seems a little bit different on this slide and are we are we updating that to make it more explicit or I I wasn't sure because it says it still says priority will be provided I thought that was the same languages last week is there a need to put guaranteed or is that is that something that we can offer the guaranteed part to clarify to the board and the community the materials that are part of the packet were are the exact same materials as last week so there were updates shared in my opening comments and know that once there is action taken our future materials will communicate the action that the board has taken as well as modifications that have been made we wanted to make sure it might be that Mr Palmer Dr pack or Dr Pittman can speak.
To this we wanted to ensure that for every pupil we could ensure that there would be a seat for those programs in that region and our planners have done that work which gives us the ability to say we will ensure that in that region for those programs we will make sure if you would like to have a seat at that school within that region and I'll look to I can't see okay I just can't see oh there he is sorry I couldn't see it.
So miss Chávez I want to make sure that I'm directly answering the question that you're asking could you could you be stated just so that we have a linear thread yes I just wanted to clarify that what we were just absolutely that what we are saying is that a student who's in a magnet program now or next year 23-24 is guaranteed a seat in the same magnet program though not necessarily at the same school yeah just that yeah let's you know I'm servicing okay let's walk through that for a second because I think it warrants just the specifics of the variables that we're talking about the numbers that we're walking back from the total capacity of the school and how we derive it at the seats would that work okay so using an example we we can discuss for a moment Morehead Montessori right the capacity for the school we as a we have is 260 K5 students right today we recognize that there are enrolled students that live in the new.
Base area or boundary for the school we've discussed all the reasons why the old priority zones were in equity as well as a logistical kernel for many families setting that aside there are 52 students that live in the new boundary for Moorhead Montessori right in addition there are currently 47 enrolled fourth and fifth grade students right so we've looked at the new boundary we've looked at the Legacy students that are not in that boundary right we've also looked at the reassigned kindergarten to third graders that would be in the new boundary that don't currently go to Moorhead but this would be their new base school right that number is 24.
We also know that there are enrolled students that are not in that base area I believe that's the question that you're asking is that correct yes okay so enrolled students at Moorhead that are not in the boundary of the school so they have a different boundary school but they are in the school today that number we also have is 47 students from Moorhead right so you can see we're taking the total capacity and walking back the subtraction of I want to State this again because I as we discussed last week this is important the number of students that live in the new boundary that go to Moorhead today so we're converting from effectively a lottery placement to a boundary placement right we have Legacy students that are not part of that boundary but they go there today and we've discussed all fourth and fifth graders would be Legacy irrespective of the program we have the reassigned students those that live in the new boundary but don't go to the school.
And we have those that go to the school that don't live in the new boundary but live in the region we've modeled that out for every one of our campuses to Dr Hardy's opening remarks we can say that we have seats designate we understand how many students fall into each of those categories for each of our application schools I believe the words earlier will that there has there's a plan in place recognizing that this is January 19th 2023 but with the data that we have today we do have not only allotted seats recognizing each of those categories of students but remaining seats as well for the remainder of the eligible Durham community so we can account for those in the base area will say this the third time just so we're very very clear those in the base area that enrolled today those are Legacy four five that aren't in the boundary those that would be reassigned to the school as a function of the new boundary those that are not in the boundary.
But are in the region are eligible and that still gives us remaining seats to allocate to ensure that as we talk about increasing access if we were to go through those categories and there were no seats left we would have a there would be a challenge there because we would be talking about a change but there would be no opportunity for the remaining families in Durham so we're saying sharing with you well we've walked through each of those categories we've geolocated those specific students we've accelerated that trying to get answers for tonight's meeting and we do stand with the opening remarks with Dr Hardy I think that captured what we can say at this time so I'm sorry you've said that for Montessori and we're saying that for year round we talked about that last week that we have capacity region wise sorry Miss Travis I just when these these things come to mind we know we have IB capacity because we're growing capacity but we also heard concerns about schools.
And I'll talk about club and Poe that were very represented here this evening that feel that same connection to a school but might have the same kind of things about students that are there from other regions other places and their desire to stay either at Poe or whatever do we besides the four or five Legacy that we're doing district-wide have you all looked at any of those other schools K3 capacity or everyone in those scenarios goes to base schools that is that fair question we've let me make sure I understand the question Miss Beyer you're asking the question have we looked at every school across the district to evaluate remaining capacity given the program foreign.
I feel tension with this point about guaranteeing continuation for application School students but that's what we're saying but I want to be clear that we haven't done that work for the remainder of schools and some folks are in schools that are magnets today that that are being demagnetized so what's the ongoing thought about those families they're unclear they're unsure and and especially if they have younger siblings I think some clarity is helpful so how we have thought about that challenge is in regards to academic and program continuity not continuity in that brick and mortar space to ensure that children have access if I have started in a particular academic program that we will ensure that that vertical alignment and access continues and so we have had program or magnet schools that have been arts schools and have had that as a focus with this recommendation every school has Arts as an as the opportunity for every child that attends that school that is part of our recommendation and so that is not.
Something that is special for just a few DPS elementary schools we heard loud and clear from our community that that was a value that needed to be in every one of those schools you did ask specifically in regarding club club is a Humanities school and Humanities programming is inclusive of History language and the Arts again all DPS elementary schools will have at a minimum weekly access to World languages and STEM Science technology engineering and math and the Arts so not just at one or a few of DPS elementary schools at all DPS elementary schools in addition Club will also have a cohort of students that would participate in the Dual language immersion program so what we have tried to do is to make sure that we are being thoughtful about a child's social emotional and academic progression and ensuring that that those progressions and needs can be met and that does mean it may not be met in that same brick and mortar School and I I hope that.
Brought a little bit of clarity and I'm going to look back to to check with the team thank you yeah I don't want to monopolize all the time I just want to be clear that that's my unreadiness this evening and and I'm still imploring to my colleagues both here and online to give this another week to put some of that information in writing so that we can actually continue to use this as we as we have to kind of build trust and you know some of the items that you presented tonight Dr Hardy were were very helpful in reassuring to families that are in this space but they were verbally presented they're not on a slide yet they're language matters and actually like Mr Palmer you presented great data I'm not a I'm not a verbal learner I gotta see it I gotta you know you know so I'm making notes but that's not the same as like actually seeing it and so I I I I want us to help be clear through.
Every step of this and and rushing ahead tonight rather than giving it till next week kind of gives me continue to give me pause so that sorry I think Miss Travis I was in the middle of your question sorry we can build on each other well I have I have a I have a related question to that which is just then to I want to make very clear so if a student is in a magnet program such as Sandy Ridge or club that is being sunsetted do they get priority in the lottery for a different or somehow related magnet program but but with the idea that we're not going to have that we're not going to have an Arts Magnet School for elementary anymore do they get priority for another type of magnet program or no does that make sense.
Are you asking if I attend Sandy Ridge and I apply in the lottery 24 24 25 would I get priority for Montessori yeah. No I don't get priority for Montessori because I've not been in that academic program so Our intention is preservation or continuation Within the academic programming that the child has been experiencing so that there would not be a break in that programming thank you that that makes sense and I wanted to clarify that that is something we have heard that question has come up I think just in comment and also via email and so I think it's important to just be clear about that so if a student is in a magnet program that will continue then they get priority for that program that magnet program but not one that is no longer going to exist and so they would need to apply for they could apply for a different program okay another question is there was a question that came out up about kids opting out of a certain program where do.
Those kids go with their a certain school where they will be then zoned for if say they don't want to do year-round or they don't want to do IB programs where the whole school will be you know on that model unlike DLI where there will only be some classrooms doing that program how do they get to decide do we have a list yeah so families who do not want to attend their geographical base assigned school they have two options their first option is to apply to the lottery their second option is to work with the office of student assignment within our normal transfer process.
Dr pack wants to add to my answer.
So first for students who are using the opt-out process we and I'm I'm talking for Melody Marshall who's not here tonight but there will be a separate opt-out process that will be under the transfer process but it'll be specific to opt out and so again that is part of the communication that we will dig in and provide to students and their families about their options along with if they don't want to go to the programmatic school so they're zoned for a Montessori and they don't want the Montessori these are your options and that will be part of it the opt-out process and those schools will be within that region and I know we clarified that last week I just want to make sure that for our community if we have new folks that are listening within that region thank you I have one last rules related question I think which is about sibling preference if I just wanted to clarify that so if someone if a student is legacied into.
A school and then they apply for sibling preference and they get that does that sibling that younger sibling stay in the school for the rest of the time that they're in elementary school if I will give me give you an example okay my base School my base school is Hillandale but or I'm I'm a I'm a fifth grade Rising fifth grade student in 2020 24 25 younger student is in kindergarten they get sibling preference to stay in the school even though I'm now zoned for a measure easily and and so does that younger but then the fifth grader I'm the fifth grader I graduate and I go to Middle School does my younger sibling get to stay in the school for the rest of the their time in elementary school so the recommendation that we have of the rules is that that sibling would stay there while the fourth or fifth grader matriculated and so then at that time they would then go to their basis on school or the lottery school that.
They've applied to and received a seat in and that that younger sibling is not guaranteed a seat they will work with the office of student assignment and remember in those lower grades remember that group of children are going to their geographically assigned based school so they'll work with the office of student assignment and we will grant as many as we can within the K3 class size legislation because we have specific limits on those particular classrooms so thank you I think all these details are really important I'm going to say one last thing and then I'll let my colleagues speak and I do think taking the time to get through some of these details is important because these are the the questions that are you know again being asked of us and and people want to know and so the last thing I just wanted to say is as I you know I asked that question about metrics and I know Dr mobenga you'll speak on it more and.
We will talk about it with the Strategic plan process but I want to say that my the metric I would be wanting to see is most is around racial equity and and so that's my priority in thinking through this plan I always have the you know have the numbers of our our our academic outcomes in my mind and and the discipline data that we reviewed in December which showed that our black male students were 18 more times times more likely to be suspended short-term suspended or referred to the restorative practice centers over the last four years then white female students these are the things that are in the back of my head as we're looking at this data thinking about Equity thinking about creating more opportunities for our students and and equalizing our programs across the district and so ultimately if we see those numbers changed and academic outcomes of our students in particular our students of color our black and latinx students which are significantly lower than their white counterparts than that's the.
Kind of success that I'll be looking for great thank you just a quick process we're going to head to miss Rogers next Miss Beyer I'm going to come back and see if you have additional questions comments Miss Umstead has an additional comment and then I'll make some comments and we'll see where we are. So bear with me I have a lot of feelings around the growing together but I want to thank the staff and let you know that I appreciate all the time you've taken with us this week to talk about all the questions we had last week all the time you've taken to speak with members of our community that has not gone unnoticed and is much appreciated I remember having feelings of nervousness when these changes were being made in the 90s and I respect that from all families and I wouldn't expect anything less from Durham last week I did acknowledge that we needed to do more to get input from black and black and brown families.
But I also want to make sure that our community knows we also expect them to hold space for members of the black and brown community to let their voices be heard because I'm not sure that happened in our working sessions I know it didn't happen when people attended work groups and information was not supposed to be shared and did get shared so trust is built in both directions and we can't expect that from our Administration and not give that back to them and we have to make room for people who have a more difficult time saying I know these other people really want to hold on to their programs but we really need access to and so it's very interesting to be in this space and on the board at this time and I'm appreciative of the work of my colleagues I mentioned that I was unready last week and I remain unready to take a vote tonight and I'm already I need to I would like to see some frequently asked questions.
Particularly around what happens at Aaron Harris what happens at Club what happens at Sandy Ridge people have been asking for that from the beginning we haven't done it yet and I could vote Yes if I could see the answers to those frequently asked questions the questions that board member Chávez and Miss Beyer have asked for tonight included in those frequently asked questions would be helpful for me I know it's time I don't want to delay the time I don't want to put us way out of whack but even one week would give us an opportunity to get those questions answered they're not new we've had the opportunity to respond we've had opportunity to go in and have individual school-based conversations I'm concerned because when I think about I think about Educators who've left Oren Harris because they didn't feel secure about what this growing together plan is going to look like that our families haven't had that opportunity they've gone to other schools in the district and gone outside of the.
District and I'm concerned that we haven't given families the opportunity to make choices for themselves and I know I'm not asking us to delay the vote a month I'm asking for however long it's going to take to do the frequently asked questions because families need that in order to make the best decisions I've asked several questions that have gone unanswered particularly with concern particularly with concern around the Legacy students in fourth and fifth grade and their ability to apply to magnet programs when we're talking about club and Aaron Harris and Sandy Ridge where it sounds to me like we're saying well we're not going to do this magnet program anymore but you applied for this school so you're locked in in fourth and fifth grade and you can't go anywhere else and I'd like to hear more about why it sounds that way and if it is actually that.
I really do appreciate this work I know it's time we all know it's time. We just need a little I think even the board is coming in tonight with so many questions that is going to be difficult to say with certainty what we expect the outcomes to be on February 6th and we're asking people to apply to programs that we don't know are going to be in 2024 and I don't think that's appropriate and we just need can we see a frequently Asked question sheet before next board meeting or whatever time and make a decision then that's what I'm asking my colleagues to give it some more time we have a lot of questions I'm concerned about teacher turnover where Educators gonna go they're already talking about leaving they're already talking about looking at going to different schools that have a different model and what that looks like so I want to make sure that we have also a frequently Asked question list for educators if I know there's a limit on our transfer portal.
And so if that's going to be the case are they going to be looking outside have we had those conversations and what have I want us to hear what happens if we don't allow fourth and fifth graders to transfer what happens when they withdraw their students do they re-enroll at their base school or do they get put back in to the magnet seat that they were already in if they leave and go to Charters what are the ramifications of them deciding that they want to come back if we lock them into their seats or tell them they have to go to through the transfer process we have to be good to our people and our people include parents and families and educators and making a decision without answers to so many of these questions tonight feels to me like we're not being good to them.
So I appreciate the discussion because that's how I think this board listens and continues to listen to each other and and reconsider how we move forward I've this is like I appreciate these gears are still here where'd you go I appreciate Garza who said this is a complicated plan but it's also aspirational and I would expect nothing less as we plan for Durham growing together but it I've been working like diligently both to understand it and to be able to communicate it because it's so complicated and what it will get us to is a more simple Fair place with this Regional model it's not just about Transportation it's about keep your kid first go look at your base school because your Bay school is going to be great it's going to be stronger than it's ever been it's going to have foreign language it's going to have books in the library and and technology and everything that children need and art and music and and joy it's going to have if it's been a.
Program that that where the teachers are committed to the humanities they can still teach that and we will Empower them to do that if they are integrated arts and core knowledge they can still teach that and use all the Delights that that is they just might be getting their students in a different methodology but I also like the the FAQs I want us to put in writing so that people can see it it's not unclear and people aren't interpreting what a staff member said vaguely as they're really trying to contemplate these very individual personal personal decisions for themselves and I've been trying to make this Regional map I just want like here's what's in the north and I can't make maps but y'all can but I want people to see it as they're contemplating magnets this year and I want us to be clear that your per if you choose a program out of your region that might increase your your child's disruption in the future so I want us to.
Be honest about that with what we're communicating both this session and and going forward so I would love some kind of map of the five regions and I know I hassled y'all back in the in June to or may to mail out those Maps those pieces of paper but I still think they're some of the most important things we've done because people can see it take it home think about it like before the after the why and I think once people do they're with us much more profoundly understanding the why and I appreciate so much the the emails that came and said I understand and support the vision and Equity goals of this I just want us to be able to to actually give it a week or so and be as clear crystal clear as we can with really complex material as we're communicating it I struggle still to communicate DLI like how is that going to work because at some point we said no it was going to.
Be a whole school everybody was going to benefit from the cultural infusion and it was still going to be touch every student in the school and then we said it was a track Within and so I still am wondering like how those applications will come how that matching will come that that you know you put one Spanish speaker with one non-spanish speaker as you build those programs so there's work to do there there's work to do a lot of places and I know y'all want us to say yes so you can continue to do the work so I I think the community hears from from conversation tonight that that this is as gentle of a transition as we can logistically make I think they hear that from this board unanimously so I don't think a vote tonight changes anything but I think a vote next week would go a long way towards building trust so those are those are kind of some of the things that that I would like as we move.
Forward however this moves forward I I'm going to say it here and and we need more staff to actually do this and and hand hold people through these decisions and understand it because if we send stuff out to a school some folks it's it's very address specific we have to have to have those conversations we have to have them in Spanish we have to have them in their language of origin we have to put more staff behind this transition for people to as we continue to build trust and I'm sorry that the Little River folks left because I want someone at least to in to talk about real quick if you can why we picked a little river we did K-8 there because there's so much capacity in that school and and need for growth and I think once those little river teachers understand how much what Montessori is and how much folks love it and how much children and Educators love it and as we support them and pay them.
For training they will be the biggest champions for that program but I don't think we've had a chance to even tell them kind of how we picked their school it didn't it wasn't random it was not random at all I mean it was very thoughtful and I hate that we got there without being in step with them but can someone speak to Little River Why Little River I don't know who I'm looking at in staff that yeah.
Just a reminder of the order of the meeting we don't respond to public comment and we're not going to engage in public discussions we're having a board discussion.
Okay so one of the important attributes when you have application programs within a region is the idea that the relatively equivalently placed and accessible for all students and families that live in the region so use an example we have several schools that are on county lines not a great example would be Creekside Elementary truly in the town of Chapel Hill but in Durham County right that would be very difficult to get to for all of Durham in the north when we were looking at the suite of schools that are in Northern Durham and in particular our Legacy of enrollment history in Northern Durham also recognizing that respire to your point historically it has been a K-8 school and we have struggled significantly at the middle school great spans as it accelerates the primary feature when we were looking at the Montessori program recognizing that the demand for our community across Durham asking how could we have access to more seats right this notion that there's several schools that have access several neighborhoods that have direct.
Access to our Montessori program but the rest of Durham was effectively shut out of that but to the point about Little River its capacity is 489 students that would significantly increase access to the Montessori program from across Durham we are stable if not declining in our enrollment in Northern Durham because we cannot bring additional residential development to Northern Durham we are seeing a population Arc in Northern Durham particularly after we cross over Homestead Road right I share that because that's all relevant when we're looking at the location of a school recognizing there again part of Little River is accessible not only to the northern region but to the Eastern region yes we have 15 501 access but there are also Snow Hill Road and other roads that connect us to Eastern Durham so what we're talking about that the placement of a school the reason I use Creekside is a counterfactual is that freaks out is about as far away for the students that would be eligible to go to it as we could get.
Little River is therein accessible to the northern region but also through additional roads to the Eastern region we felt strongly that that was a great locational choice we called that centrality how far is it in relationship to the population around it that would be eligible to go to the school and is the school situated to accommodate both boundary students and application students there again tonight you've heard the importance of neighborhood access to schools we've heard it from our board we formed from our parents in our community it's even a part of the Durham comprehensive plan right I'd say all of that there have been those questions as well why are we looking at boundaries in Lottery seats and we're trying to be respective and reflecting of the values that sometimes Our intention with one another that we've heard from you the board in our community so Little River given its centrality within the northern region accessible to Northern students as well as Eastern Durham students recognizing they're again currently those areas of.
Durham have effectively no equivalent statistical probability access to schools it was a wonderful opportunity to bring a program to a campus that's been struggling with enrollment the only thing I would add to that is that those pieces of the puzzle that he was just talking about the centrality to the region the Roman of the school all that for the criteria that we put into policy 4150 that was adopted the updated policy so that gave us the rubric the guide to look at which schools in which regions would be best suited to house application programs thank you.
Okay we're going to move to miss Umstead as a comment Miss Lewis has a comment the misfied ours. Thank you all and I just appreciate my fellow board members for all the discussion and different questions that you all have I don't disagree that a FAQ would be really helpful I think I just want to also give some feedback to the administration that we have to be really explicit Sandy Ridge magnet program as we know it and this current plan will not exist in the same way and and those there might still be Arts at the school but as far as a magnet that you can apply there that won't exist and I worry that sometimes we get a little too jargony sometimes in our language and I think we need to be really clear in this FAQ and making sure that families understand what options they may have because they could trans ask for a transfer into that school to stay there or understanding what programs may still exist whether in the specialist programs.
At some of those schools so I appreciate it you miss Rogers for listening out you know RN Harris Sandy Ridge I think there was another one that you all listed how do we get really clear about that in an FAQ I think is important and I also think that we can vote today and do that still at the same time I think those that feels really important to hold both of those true together as we continue to clarify and we can come back to if we need to you know this actually we need to do this or do that in order to make sure it works out for those schools and those schools communities so that's all my only comment I wanted to add thank you Miss Umstead Miss Lewis this is javonia Lewis and my comments are very similar just that this is a public meeting this is not a one-on-one that a board member is having with an administrator the statements that Dr Hardy made here.
Is public record so I just want to thank you for that transparency and the individual scenarios that Ms Chávez brought out this can be important to communicate with this forward movement looks like those scenarios are important to have you know there are guides and Maps out here for the purposes of an FAQ you know I was just looking at that same flyer that you held up Miss Beyer with governance and Direction More concrete communication can go forward and that's what I'm looking forward to I like what the direction that chair Umstead just gave around the FAQ and I believe it can only be done well after having the governance and Direction what is a policy that will allow these things to be laid out the last thing I want to say as I hear these scenarios that Miss Chávez brought up you know it seems complicated listening to it right now but remember the system we had before was even more complicated than what was just shared let's not forget this plan.
Creates access for students and families who normally would not have had the access that this plan is allowing this creates opportunities in East Durham as important as it has been the families have come out and spoken towards that this is a next step toward implementation with understanding that we have the next 18 months to further take deeper Dives in the communication with concrete plans with a day in the life of a assignment plan as creative as this Administration is and I don't know that if I said thank you thank you for all of your hard work and every phase we've been through in this plan this is public record and I also believe that the anxiety is better relieved when people have answers and understand the direction of voting yes for the motion that's on the floor passes the policy and we get to make history tonight thank you thank you Miss Lewis Miss Raiders it's it's been such a wonderful night I know this is a discussion that.
We've been having over and over and over in so many different ways I I want us to ask some questions just reflective questions the question is at this juncture that our Administration has been working on this plan for a long time where we have had some tweaks and changes which are which are celebrated at this juncture in a week if we delay it for a week for next week let's let's say that hypothetically we delay it we delay the vote for a week now I just want us to think about this what about the plan is actually going to change in one week engagement is something I just wanted to separate the different components because engagement has to happen when the city of Durham decided to change the Udo you know they created Ambassador programs it was Durham engage I don't know how many of you filled out surveys I can tell you that the city of Durham undertook this and put money forth to pay ambassadors to give incentives to.
Get surveys to have people share in their respective whether it's a faith-based organization whether it's anywhere there was an engagement effort but the Udo was changed and not a hundred percent of all stakeholders in the city of Durham got to weigh in on the Udo being changed I'm going to give you another example right now there's going to be a change about a Greenway that is happening on Allison Avenue you know that that decision was made 10 years ago maybe 11 now because it's been actually some time since that decision to create a Greenway similar to what you see with the American Tobacco campus it's happening on Allston Avenue and the engagement just happened to take off it's probably been like a year and there have been organizers there's this concept of people who are rooted in communities who are influential who can sometimes become Gatekeepers but the thing is that the plan was made 10 years ago some of you are having conversations about the school DSA the conversation.
About what school could be upward in that wonderful part that is very forested that is along the lines of the elderly Greek watershed those plans that was talked about 10 years ago so where I'm going with this is just a question about what will really change on the paper and I wanted the community to think whether we are doing you a service by saying because we know that during the implementation phase we have to do engagement because implementation means you have to communicate what the changes are would you prefer for us to pay to a certain degree I'm not going to say lip service but I'm going to let you know that we have talked and talked and talked with our Administration we have pushed them proud of them they have also given us the real they have given the real in terms of scenarios in terms of what does it take what's feasible and sometimes our emotions do go with you and and we want to stall and we want to you know just.
Stall the process and say you know I'm unready people are ready I feel their tension I feel I feel their fear I feel what they're experiencing right now contemplating the possibility that they may or may not because we don't know yet there are different processes and systems in place that could give you a chance whether you're no longer zoned for that boundary that you're not no longer there or you know maybe you're not in the Legacy that Provisions that have been communicated maybe you could go to the student assignment office and file and do the transfer process you may get in so they're they're still what I'm trying to say is that there's there's no certainty unless we actually take a decisive move that decisive move is based on the fact that we cannot delay this longer it's not going to be another year the more that time passes our Administration will not be able to communicate effectively any plan that is unclear what you heard tonight even from board colleagues tonight is that exact.
Problem of not having Clarity of what it looks like because it's not yet implemented and it hasn't been communicated broadly even at the school level the administrators do not feel that they are in their do right to talk to their stakeholders their actual School Community about what this really means because they're still saying if it's not concrete if it has not been if it's not a fact if it's no if it's not we haven't gotten to that step it's still pretty much in the air and so my question is I would gladly I will gladly join I'll I'll I'll I'll I'll we we this is we have a board with many different opinions and there's both things out there one is we vote tonight and we start the implementation and we start deploying the different vehicles that we have for communication so everybody knows and the FAQ and you know the the ability for families to get clear information from their schools which they have been asking for the other option is we don't vote.
Tonight so I'm putting this on we don't vote tonight we wait another week we hear more from more parents and more families who are finding out and the question is will the plan be different a week from now will what we presented tonight and I actually put this through Administration I want to hear from you all because this every single day when I've been grappling with this question and engaging families and I'm hearing from the different School communities the question about the magnet application closing it's February 9th right February 9th is when the applications the magnet applications six sorry February 6th we just talked tonight that the February 6 deadline will not be moved unless we have we have a strict timeline because we have schools that are year round that will start in July so it's not feasible for us to delay the application unless we we delay in one part Dr Hardy you said then we would have to make the response time shorter and I can already tell you many families.
Have issues responding within the time frame because the computers access you know what so many different things questions they have to have discussions with their family and and rushing that process will leave families with I was trying to answer this question you know and we don't want to create chaos in that in that part so I want to put it to the community because I owe it to you as somebody as somebody who's representative who's listening I would tell you to just be honest and just say the truth the truth is that when we've had these votes we can delay things but then it still happens does it matter that we delayed it for a month for for a week or a month if the plan is not going to change it's 2024 when it was reopening we had a very unique situation where the reopening was happening in that time period so the vote and I decided to also vote with my colleagues who decided to delay it was.
Because those days would have made a difference it was in that time in that same time period that the reopening was going to happen so it made a difference to delay and I delayed the vote I delayed and I said let's let's wait and we and we actually got to reopen with a leeway of a few days and that made a difference because there were teachers who could go on break and come back and know they had time to you know get their classroom set up and and make sure that everything was you know the six feet apart and so many coveted precautions that we had to have we also had time during that time you know to just reassure the community that we were prioritizing their safety not perfectly and we owned that but it made a difference then because the time period is right then and now and it was a matter of days before this would kick in our board member Giovanni Lewis mentioned and she said for clarity this.
Will not take place not right now and we know this this is 2024 2025 does delaying help you does delaying if the plan doesn't change you know if the plan is not going to change at all and we know that we have to do engagement that can't happen until it is solid until it is a solid plan our Administration is in a certain way you know not able to give the directive to all the principles that they need to be communicating this because it's not set in stone the application process as it is right now when I talked to and I call today my question was can we put something on the how has this impacted we do it today versus a week from now and how it impacts is that the time is running out for that application magnet the magnet application I was told if it's not a solid plan we can't communicate it in the magnet application it can't be a disclosure it can't be something that can be said to families.
Who are applying currently right now it is impacting them their ability to see how this affects them so we will wait let's say we wait till the 26th the magnet application closes on the sixth we'll we'll be doing service to the families that are currently doing their applications so their child can have access to these programs without no without having that information there I I want the best for the community and I've been listening and I am so appreciative and you may not like me just right now some of you may not but I'm letting you know that we have been tested through time and time again through difficult decisions and this is one of the difficult decisions my thing is do I do you a service to just sweeten it a little bit and say okay we'll delay it for a week it's going to kick in in 2024 2025. we'll delay it for a week we'll hear from more people that we have to hear that we will be.
Hearing anyways because we want to hear from you next week even if we pass it tonight we want to hear from you next week because that's going to help us do the engagement better so I just want my my colleagues also the vote tonight is a vote about are we are we really thinking we're going to change this plan and administration is going to go back and bring something different that's that's a question we have to Grapple with that's one week because if there is something different next week believe me I'll delay it I will delay what else are we going to change I am willing to delay it if there's going to be a change to a plan that's going to impact families I will delay it if there's if there's something else but I also just want to put it to Administration have we checked all the boxes there was a question tonight have we done all our due diligence and that is something the administration can.
Answer as well but I'm ready to vote tonight because I I'm telling you that it has been an ongoing conversation with many families who feel that they haven't been engaged as much as they can and that the principles are not empowered yet to give them concrete information because we have not made a decision and just like the city of Durham when they changed the Udo and just like when they're building that walkway on Austin Avenue and they have to do the engagement some of these decisions are based on factors that can't wait our children can't wait one of my colleagues said we have some serious trouble Upstream if we do not address the overcrowdedness that is currently happening today and kids in in Mobile units today and as time goes on we you know we can't be responsible in that way we have transportation challenges we have many kinds of challenges but overcrowding will yield to students who do not get what they deserve they will not get the.
The attention that they need and there is trauma and there is all kinds of research showing overcrowded schools are a bad recipe for education and I think every child deserves to have an education where they are seen where they are valued and we are working with other systems you have told us that we have to write policies that prohibit discrimination and bullying it doesn't matter who you are or what your family looks like we love all our families all the variety and diversity of families we're working on the student assignment office and even last year you know I was looking and I'm going to tell you this the magnet application period even last year was a challenge for us because we were dealing with covid and the student assignment office and the MRC offices worked together to support families to complete the application outside of the digital Dr Hardy remember that I was emailing you and I was saying you know there are families who it's in it's an equity.
Issue they can't access the online application they need that one-to-one help and we were dealing with the pandemic and we were not actually able to have the open doors for everybody and yet you told me and I quote you that there was a conference room right that would be reserved so people can come to the MRC and have that space and get what they needed to get and I and I just put that on you because that is the way that this District responds to things we don't do it perfectly but we figure out we figure something out in terms of what needs to happen to but do better engagement and that is part of implementation that is the phase of implementation where you communicate clearly what the changes are where every school needs to have what that school demographic or what the not the demographic but what the change is going to be for families and I just feel like this has been a very very very important moment for all of us.
And it's an important moment that addresses other systemic things other things in our system that need to be addressed in terms of access in terms of better communication in terms of respect the respect to be included and we hear that and we will continue to work on that but this is one one thing that ties into so many things and it is a gift to be in this moment my thing is let's give Administration what they need to do the work that you want them to do which is to provide concrete clear communication about what this plan really is down to the case that if we have to set up stations or a call center where families call in when they cannot access the arcgis data set that we can actually triage what's going on if they if they go on to the arcgis data set that allows you to put your address in and it'll give you what school it what school you are zoned for and what are your options if we need.
To do that Dr mubenga I do feel like this is a call for us to figure out whether the 18 million needed help us with some kind of you know we have we have we have we have some conversations we need to move to about those 18 million dollars and how they can be used and I know that our Administration is working on recommendations but we will have we need to have sufficient support for families that are affected by digital inequities and so we have to continue to think about how we're going to communicate but the implementation is very key to this and the clear vote tonight is a way for our Administration to catch these families that are about to apply tomorrow or even tonight to that application magnitude and have better communication about what's really happening or our schools and everything else thank you I'm sorry so I appreciate all of that Mr validaris and you and I like spoke earlier about this I'd like to hear from an administration.
Because I just want us to know that we are doing everything we can be to be clear so we are we are united in that but currently you go to the magnet thing it's magnet time and you go there and we do have language up it's in Red so it jumps at you I don't know I hope it's in Spanish too and other languages Elementary School assignments for the 23-24 school year are only for one year Elementary School families who apply for application magnet schools for this application period and accept a lottery sheet may have to reapply for the 24-25 school year and we'll receive priority for a comparable program in that region click here to learn more it takes us to the map that works for some people and doesn't for some people I'm just saying like I think that thing you talked about for covid magnet we need extra people just all hands on deck help people in person this year whether we vote now or a week from now.
But I think we could I think it's so so critical to get that as as right as we can so we disrupt Less in the future it is not this goal this board's goal to to increase student mobility and and all of that and so that's the part that really is tearing at me I've heard you answer it from conversations with the administration I haven't heard Administration answer it and that's why I'm trying to like get us a week or so February 6 to the 16th I don't know get us a little time to actually make sure that people are making informed decisions with with the best information it's not just these rules it's it's them visualizing their region because people aren't trained to look for that yet either and we need to help them that's that's what I'm looking for Dr mabenga allow you to respond Miss Chávez you're going to have a comment in a moment and then we're going to move forward all right thank you Mr Sears.
You know this is not my leadership style when it comes to a tough decision where I see the board is pretty much split in half I like to stay behind and see where the decision is gonna lie but this is what I'm gonna say we bought a plane tonight as you all know we spent more than three years engaging the community we receive your feedback and this is a working progress you all know that our my Administration has been very receptive who will do everything that our board asks us to do we've done it during the covet a tough time and we are ready to do this as well I'm gonna reiterate pretty much what Dr Hardy said whether the votes tonight you are making it really hard for us to move forward because we're not going to be able to change the window when it comes to the application process board trust us we've done this hard work before we're gonna bring all the resources possible we have 18 million dollars.
When it comes to transportation we have million dollars that we're able to put on the side when it comes to Growing together we have about 2.5 million dollars put on the side so we can address some of the concerns that our parents that we really value by delaying a vote tonight is going to make our job harder I'll say this a lot of these folks that are working here they've been working really hard with this particular project delaying a vote for a week these folks are not going to completely stop other responsibilities that they have in order just to Target or to focus on one item they're going to continue doing other stuff at the same time knowing that this is a priority for our board Miss Ryder said it a weak letter I don't see us really changing the plan we can shoe record it say how you want to hear it next week we're gonna have the Q I mean the questions and responses that you're asking.
But I promise you they're going to be more questions again are we going to delay for another week but with all due respect you trusted my Administration we've done some hard work during the covid and we are ready to do this work that's a lot of board in the past they did not want to touch it this work a lot of administration in the past they didn't want to touch it I'm not going to say about my conversation with some other parents are the leaders in the community that's represent the leaders of community of color for them not to be here each person have their own interpretation I'll keep mine silent this is great work that's gonna give access to all our students we really thought of this particular project growing together Durham is growing DPS is not growing I have three kids two of them are in the twenties one in the 30s they all went to Wake County Schools as their parents I dealt with these well my kids were born here.
All this transfer I dealt with this as the parents this is tough for parents when you're feeling comfortable your child had met friends you love your teachers this is really tough but I've said it's my last comment for our staff especially our teachers it's been only a week when we heard comments from Little River my staff knows this we had a plan to go talk to the staff but we're not just gonna jump within a week while we had other responsibilities as well Little River is the only nut school we have other schools as well that we're going to meet with staff after school thank you both we take your feedback very seriously we are pretty much in this business of continuous Improvement we're not perfect but this is really hard work that's my Administration has tackled for the past three years even yesterday they stay up to 7 PM trying to compile all those responses a week we'll do everything that you ask to compile all the informations but this.
Is going to be the implementation that's going to take time it's going to take many a lot of men powers to make sure we get it right 18 months away a week I don't think it's Gonna Change anything thank you thank you Miss Travis well. I must say I feel honestly conflicting because my biggest I don't think let me back up I want to move forward with the rules as you laid out Dr Hardy I think that that is what I'm I'm pleased with the way you've integrated feedback and I feel settled I don't have any uneasiness about moving forward with those with those rules implementation rules the part that is most standing out to me is relationships I am and building and getting buy-in we heard from I've heard from we've heard from a lot of people representing a lot of different communities with with concerns about moving ahead and then we've also heard people from different communities who want to move move forward so I I guess my biggest question that I'm asking.
Myself and I will ask my other board members is there and maybe the administration as well is there an opportunity to build more trust with the community if we delay the vote by a week I'll say honestly I also don't want to I want to maintain our trust between you know the board and and you Dr mubenga and our Administration we are a strong District when we are united and move forward together and so that's that's my wondering I mean I think the I think policy changes things period you know it moves things along but I'm also wondering if there's an opportunity to build more trust in this week or not so I'd like to put that up to the maybe to the board or Dr mobenga if you want to speak to it at all that is my only hesitation.
We're going to do our due diligence to engage our families ADM to us enrollment matters we're going to do everything possible to engage our families but would a week address that I don't think so. I want to thank my colleagues in the administration for the the detailed conversation this evening I appreciate that question Miss Chávez I'm going to share a few thoughts and then we're going to move this forward one way or the other so I I want to talk about the plan itself and just be a little transparent in my thinking there's I've got some pluses and minuses here I'm going to start with the minuses because I think they've been identified for us and Administration I don't think this is going to be news to you I I actually the the fourth and fifth grade Legacy I think is a is a compromise and I I'm not in support of the fourth grade piece because I I think we're already struggling and I'm not confident that we can deliver on that.
Promise we're struggling to deliver on Transportation promises today so I'm I'm concerned about that I don't feel that the Montessori schools having a basis Zone goes far enough in reducing inequity I think the plan does diversify those schools but it still leaves us in a place where if you happen to live in an area you can have access above and beyond your neighbors we do have communication challenges and we've had those Natalie brought up and it's fresh on my mind that we had to work just to get paper home last May to outline the changes that were coming and then I also am concerned we're not going to do DLI well enough dual language immersion is the best way for Native Spanish speakers to learn and while it's a step to say we're going to put it in five zones and there are additional schools that have it it's going to take an incredible amount of work to fill those programs with Spanish speakers because those classes have to be 50 native Spanish speaker 50.
English speaker and I'm I'm worried we're not going to do well enough to deliver on the promise that said this plan has tremendous upsides I am thrilled about class size balance I'm thrilled that we will no longer have any teaching and learning and trailers we're doubling our magnet seats our zones are unbelievably balanced in implementation the Administration has compromised to where there may be as few as a thousand students affected and perhaps even fewer and then I think this is critical this plan works to reduce level it works to level the playing field in terms of economic privilege that is critical and we're not going to let things like Transportation unbalance the work that this plan has tried to to deliver on I also want to talk just a second about my colleagues here and just to share a little bit with the community because we are going to make a decision be that tonight or next week beyond the visible diversity of this board we have parents of students at all levels of the.
Schooling we have parents of DPS graduates we have DPS graduates we have future DPS enrollees we have Educators on this board who have taught in these schools we have folks that have worked in Support Services in these schools we have folks that are Community organizers on this board. Finally I want to zoom out to the macro and talk about where we sit in this educational landscape in this state and Beyond the state constitution says we have to provide a sound basic education for your students or our students for this community students you can drive to places in this state where you can see what a sound basic education looks like you would not want to send your students there tonight we're arguing about Montessori programming dual language programming Visual and Performing Arts access stem programming even Sports these are things that Durham does to go above and beyond the sound basic education mandate that we have to adhere to and we do it and it's hard to do and this Administration Works incredibly.
Hard to execute that so that we can have arguments about how many years of Legacy can Montessori students have how much DLI can we offer where can we have IB programming you are seeing I think you are seeing the cracks I think you're identifying the cracks that are coming in this unprecedented time of attrition of job renorming the great resignation we have cracks they're visible communication is a crack transportation is a crack and I'm sorry to say more cracks are coming you only have to look at our legislative agenda to know that we are about to face teacher Staffing shortages across the state and it doesn't help that we were just ranked as the 49th out of 50th state in terms of student funding given our financial situation as a state and then finally this goes without saying but we are we're going to hold the administration accountable this plan we are going to hold the administration accountable to this plan to improve communication to execution of the plan.
And you also have the ability to hold us accountable so that's a great segue into the Democracy you're about to see parliamentary procedure we have a motion on the floor we have the opportunity to amend motions to vote motions up and down board I like the call for the question yeah so thank you for that it's it's great to put this in historical context and it's great to I I our beloved former School attorney and Majestic may she rest in peace when she had cancer Heidi Carter and I took her a meal and she lived in Durham because Durham was her home through and through and she wandered aloud if communities like ours could do this work this is what was troubling her on her deathbed because parents need to think and act in the collective while still acting and in the best interest of their child and she wondered if Durham could do hard divisive Student Assignment work she said it is the worst work that school boards and administrations try to tackle.
Because it is so divisive but she believed and Heidi and I believed that Durham could and would and would use this stressful time to actually come together and build equity and build something more glorious as we together bring our children together to learn to play to laugh to create to want more than a sound basic education to demand more than a sound basic education so in her spirit we're here supporting this transformative work in Durham and Dr vinga I know a week won't make a difference but I certainly will hold y'all to to accelerate Communications right away yesterday because to our community who's been kind of watching on the fringes and then sometimes getting engaged and then sometimes seeing the piece of paper and the map and having great great anxiety it doesn't become real until we have the conversations that came out on the 9th and so we're here 10 days later and I know that feels like a complete Whiplash experience for a lot of our community and that's not what we want.
For them so you know I'll go out and and go with administrators I'll go out and listen to parents we'll I trust we will work this through together but it I it still comes down to that building trust question that that Miss Chávez presented and this timing is not ideal it's not the pandemic was not ideal it wasn't and then here we are really tight up against this magnet deadline and it feels like and I need you you to hopefully hear and and affirm that if in conversations with our community there's need to flex on this stuff we will Flex we we are this is not a edict but it is an ongoing building and conversation and I've used too many words but I just appreciate where we're going and I want whatever decision this board makes to be unanimous I don't want this to be a divisive issue for this board it is hard work for for administration and for boards I was going to say earlier can you all hear me yes.
I would like to call for the question the motion on the floor being to accept the growing together recommendations for elementary school rules for policy 4150 School assignment in addition the timeline for secondary school program recommendations and just to say the last thing of course with the passing of this policy as Miss Chávez stated in her presentation last week this is a first level of policy development development and more policies can be passed Beyond here Dr mabenga has shared that we have funding and a physical plan to deliver on our promises I enjoy this Rich discussion that we've had I think everyone has had an opportunity to speak and share where they are I just want to acknowledge that there's emotional on the floor and see if we can go ahead and get this voted up or down with this very difficult decision.
Is there additional discussion before we vote Miss Meyer can we just take a straw poll to see kind of where we are because I get so passionate I can't figure out what end is up sometimes so yeah is that possible will the attorney allow that. I mean you certainly can I'm not quite sure what that legally does but if you want to do that before you vote I mean I mean I'm not aware of a Robert's Rule's reason that would prevent you from doing that but you'll still ultimately need to vote on the motion yeah again I'm not quite sure the purpose of it well because I and I appreciate it Miss Lewis I appreciate your tolerance of me we're here in real time and it's it's hard to see and read expression and and things from you all you all aren't popping up on camera until we get to you and I know the hour is late but it's it it goes back to that trust question for me and I still think.
We could use this even if it's a week to build trust I so that's that's kind of where I am on this and and that's what I wanted to be clear about so maybe maybe I'll frame it this way if if folks have felt that they've been unclear in their position and I can do that myself we can speak to that I think that answers Miss Beyer's question I think some people have been clear about where they are both on what a vote means but also this this extra week piece I'm in favor of approving the administration's plan this evening with the expectations that have been laid out and look into the whole Administration accountable to those expectations and I will vote to move this forward with because I I do trust our Administration to move to take our feedback and to continue building relationships around this issue and building that trust and and also as I said I support the rules as they're laid out and and believe in the growing together initiative and.
Also think that if you know we need to make big changes later on we will but I I understand that you know the timeliness with the lottery program to the magnet deadline as well and so for all those Reasons I'm going to vote to move it forward. I'm I don't want to paralyze the work that has to happen to engage communities and I am ready to move it forward trust building is something that a system like DPS has to work on continually not just today every single day for all of our processes and that is what policies do that is what all these other things that we can work on in improving communication that is lifelong work it is not limited to one particular issue but trust building is also very relational it's intimate a system cannot be trusted because it cannot be intimate in that sense but it can have trustworthy people who care about it and work every day and that is what I am telling you in terms.
Of what my role is what the role of all this board is is to be good people you know to really really be as honest and as transparent as possible if there's a leeway I would tell you there's a leeway but to me I'm supporting this plan for the reasons I've stated before and the trust building has to be ongoing and it is definitely important to improve communication and so you know continue to engage us and our Administration hurt really loud and clear the ways that we need to start engaging and we will find out more ways to engage we have to use any resource that we have to do so so thank you so much.
It's still enough for me. Okay unless there's further discussion we're going to do a roll call vote I'm going to start with our two remote board members that I'm going to come to miss viadarism down this way chair Umstead this is Bettina Umstead and I vote I Miss Lewis this is javania Lewis and I vote I Miss Fighters this is Alexandra I miss Chávez Emily Chávez although I I'm Matt Sears and I vote I miss buyer Natalie buyer ever I miss Rogers Melissa Rogers Avenue right I want to thank the administration I want to thank our community for engaging with us this evening with us last week and for continuing to engage with us as we move forward.
With that this meeting is adjourned.