Board of Education · Work Session · August 8, 2024

um good evening everyone the D Public Schools Board of Education session is now in session at this time we wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone who is joining us this evening the purpose of this meeting is to inform our parents staff and constituents about the work aligned with our mission to embrace educate and Empower every student to innovate serve and lead the interpreters for tonight are Martha Romo ukes and Vanessa pen Ramirez thank you for taking the time to join us the next item on our agenda is a moment of silence thank you colleagues um we are now the point

of our agenda for the agenda review and approval um I wish to take a moment to acknowledge the storm that we're going through with the understanding of all the things happening um we are planning to uh reduce the actions taken at this meeting so that we can thoroughly engage the public and um make decisions that are informed by them so most of the action taken tonight will uh move things to the consent agenda for the August 22nd Work session unless the board decides otherwise on each individual action but at this time I will take a motion to approve tonight's

agenda don't forget to unmute folks and I think there was discussion about removing the public comment from the agenda for tonight so um Mr Malone it's not I don't think it's removing it I think we modified how we were receiving and Reporting out on it um but not not fully removing it okay okay thank you sorry so I'm sorry I am happy to make a motion when we get to it I and there have been a lot of conversations going on today and I just want to be clear I thought we were removing actually some more items like Board of Education anything that wasn't too essential this evening so um maybe I'm confused about

about how we're moving forward this evening um and and what will be discussed and what won't be um what we're holding on um I guess that wasn't a motion that was just a statement of kind of looking for clarification on what what was essential for us to proceed with and what we were thinking of pairing down in this virtual format I think it was my understanding that the main concern was not to take major action tonight um in light of the fact that not everybody can join and watch the meeting or um be present to make public comment but I don't think that we need to remove um discussion from the agenda or presentation from theenda but I would be interested to hear others thoughts on that

Em are you talking because we can't hear you can you hear me now okay um I think the main intention um was to hold off on operations a um the DSA update and board action um and move that to the um consent agenda for the 20 second and I'm not sure if there I don't know that there are other um other actions perhaps Title 9 also if if you would allow me I'll I'll take a stab at where I think we ended up after multiple conversations today and and then see whether or not based on what I've said the board chair can chime in to th affirm or U revise um all information items discussion items would

continue on the agenda this evening the items that have an action associated with them include the following uh or let me just go through the agenda the title 9ine was discussion I don't think there was an action associated with that this evening um the various policy updates were here for first read and we will defer to the board's will when we get to that item on what the board would like to do whether or not to approve them this evening or move them to the consent agenda for first read at the next meeting um the DSA item we will provide an overview and a recap of what has been done already the agenda item does request that the board take action um but the board can choose to or not choose to take action on that and defer that as you have been discussing today to the next meeting but the recap would happen in case there were any questions that the board wanted to ask of Staff um the uh the aptg website presentation would happen there is no action associated with that the construction change order report is really just an information

item there's not really even um uh an a a presentation for that it's just a request for the board to receive it um the opening of schools update is a presentation no action and then the um Board of Education items I believe are I don't know if they are the first one might be potentially to move forward with an action um and then the second one was discussion so I think that's up to the board if you want to discuss those today and determine whether or not you move forward with any of those chair Rogers is that correct um so the only thing that I would correct is that uh B what is action and a could be for um get to get some feedback on an RFP um determine what party would uh finish complete the RFP put it on consent for the August 22nd agenda so then it could be posted if the board decides to move in

that direction so colleagues not hearing a motion on approving the agenda or amending the agenda i' like to move appr approval of the agenda second it has been moved by Miss Carter auton seconded by Emily Chávez to approve the agenda uh we are virtual tonight we will do a divorce vote is there any more discussion Miss berer thank you and thank you chair Rogers I would just ask that um as we work through uh this long agenda that we give our attention um to all of these academic items if we feel as a board that um the Board of Education minutes can matters can wait until in

person um that we're you know flexible enough to kick those forward uh two weeks from now if possible so I appreciate y'all's consideration of that as time drags on I just um I so much prefer inperson meetings and I appreciate y'all's flexibility as we uh work through this storm together thank miss m your hand yes I just I wanted to ask if we wanted to have the durm School of the Arts update not be on consent in the next meeting I feel like we want to make sure we're engaging the public we might want to have that be an act like the action item not be taken on consent at the next meeting um which I might propose in that we move the whole item so we can have the presentation um at the next meeting but that was just my SU suggestion understood uh we have had conversations about that um and anything that is on consent on the 22nd can always be removed at that meeting should we find the need to remove it and

so um I think the question would be what would substantially change between today's presentation that is very similar to uh the public hearing uh presentation to uh call us to need to uh postpone hearing from Administration until the 22nd because we will be able to hear from the public then and at that point be able to remove it from consent and consider all that public comment as well uh that that's that's fine with me okay Miss berer I want to address your concern about the Board of Education items and I uh appreciate that and hear that

um the one thing about it is policy 2130 requires reimbursement to be requested within 45 days and the 22nd hits really close to that window for the ocp reimbursement request that may or may not be approved by the board so thank you for that clarification I I just look forward to to working through this together thank you do you would you like to offer an amendment and see if Miss Carter and Emily Chávez would be open to an amendment or are we it's my understanding that as as the move meeting moves on if needed we can all agree to amend an agenda so I'm I'm fine if if everyone else is ready to proceed thank you okay thanks everybody um it's been mov by Miss Carter Aon seconded by Emily Chávez to

approve the agenda uh I'll take a roll call vote based on the way you're showing up on my screen Miss berer hi Millicent Rogers hi Miss Cara uton hi Emily Chávez hi Mr tab hi Miss Harrell go I'm Sorry Miss Harrell go we didn't hear you we still can't hear you I vote I um and while we wait for Miss Harrell goof to um fix her uh techn work to fix her technology

issues we will move forward and the vote passes six I guess 70 with an exension from Joy Harrell Goff go thank you all uh the first item on our agenda is um the board of of Education minutes from June 13 2024 colleagues have you had an opportunity to review move approval of the minutes from June 13 2024 second it's been moved by Miss berer and seconded by Emily Chávez to approve the minutes from June 13 2024 again we have to have a Voice vote um and I will call you out as you come up on our on my screen I will ask Mr Malone how do I handle Mr Tab and Miss Goff who were not on the board at that time do they abstain from such a

vote no they can approve the minutes it is a quirky thing that occurs from time to time but they certainly are a ble to vote on the minutes um and can vote to approve the minutes awesome thank you uh Miss berer hi Miss humad hi Miss Carter Aden Emily Chávez hi Mr T hi Miss haral goof we still can't hear you um and I wrote I the agenda passes 61 with one extension I'm sorry the minutes are approved with a vote of 70 with one AB exstension next item on our agenda is a general public comment as noted before um I'm as of

453 due to the forecast of inclement weather the board is prioritizing safety by holding this meeting virtually to maintain the board's commitment to public comment an online form was made available to document remarks the link to the form was shared on the DPS social media platforms and updated on the district's calendar of events and Board of Education meeting notices we are aware of the discrepancy in the link that was posted but we were able to capture public comments from both forms we have received 34 public comments comments in their entirety have been posted online with the board meeting materials we will not read comments this evening but offer this summary to our community all comments are in support of renovating the current durm School of the Arts campus again all comments may be viewed on the DPS website with tonight's board meeting materials additionally we have received

more emails um sharing their uh opinion about DSA the board is Thoroughly reviewing all emails as we always do and invite the community to continue to engage in this conversation with us and share their thoughts we are now at the consent agenda colleagues can you hear me I can hear you now okay I got thanks awesome approval go ahead sorry approval of the consent agenda item second thank you it's been moved by Miss Carter uton seconded by Miss berer to approve the consent agenda items um is there any discussion we will continue the voice Miss berer hi Millicent Rogers hi Miss

Carter Emily Chávez hi Mr T hi Miss haral goof I and I vote I the consent agenda passes unanimously thank you everyone um we'll now pass it over to Chief of Staff about Dr Giovani yep we're all out of practice we can't hear you either we still can't hear you

I had to switch my microphone um I don't know if this is the same as yours I had to switch it there's a um a little arrow and I had to switch it to seus system for my microphone to work just a suggestion it might help Alex would you like to give Miss Giovani some time she says one minute

okay I'm calling in from my phone can you hear me now okay yep Y and I don't I've only got my one screen is Title Nine the first item for okay so this is um as the board is aware and on August 1st the Biden Administration adopted new rules for Title 9 for um higher education and K12 there are several policies that are we currently have for Title 9 but in the interim of that being going into effect on August 1 there were multiple lawsuits that were filed and are currently working their way through the courts after consultation with Mr thanington and we also attended a meeting with all of the school attorneys in North Carolina at this point we are recommending that the board not move forward with all of the changes because we want to make sure that we've built a runway for all of those changes and kind of let the

litigate lost your voice lost you Tanya voicewise she appears Frozen also policies that are listed in that we can't hear you clearly Madam chair I can hop in on the Title Nine ones if to to help coverage I I'm not in a position to do the the policies but I can I think I know where she was headed for title n if if you'd like me to yes please help there um so she's exactly correct and and what we are recommending to many of our clients is that in lie of um

adopting new um regulations at this time that you kind of do a hybrid and the prees actually kind of spells out exactly um what we have in mind and and it would be for the board to effectively approve the following um statement um that the board is committed to complying with app law and providing a safe and supportive environment free of discrimination and sexual harassment for all students and staff the board authorizes and directs the title n coordinator and other relevant DPS staff to apply the title n procedures prescribed in the attached ncsba model policies 1720 1725 and 4023 rather than the tit on line procedures described in the current board policies to any title n issues or concerns um pending further action of

the board um you know the policy committee or the board you know will subsequently review these ncsba policies um and revise them in alignment with the new federal Title 9 regulations and then you would um update your policies once there's greater Clarity and stability on the law in this area the superintendent or design will consult with the board attorney as appropriate to promote title N9 compliance during this interim period so this is kind of a a hybrid which author IES um staff to work with the attorneys to make sure that the the proper Title Nine procedures are being implemented to the best we can uh to things that come up as we continue to navigate the landscape of the litigation that's pending it's um and then and then over time this gives you time to to give more

reasoned um review to potential titer n policy changes thank you very much Mr Malone um colleagues any questions comments or concerns Miss said do have a question the are we the pces does ask for action and I think that was what was described tonight so are we looking for um a first reading or just a discussion on where we are right now this a clarification question so so you're not technically adopting these policies so it would not go through a regular first read and second read you would just be authorizing staff to use the procedures that are in the ncsba model policies um as we navigate these tital line issues so I think that if you were to approve

this at some point it would be a single vote um I think that from what I've heard you wouldn't actually approve this tonight um but would consider approving this concept um at your next board meeting is something said does that answer your question so just follow up so I'm clear what we would we're the we're adopting the documents so that they could be follow but they wouldn't be considered policy they would just be procedures is that correct what I'm hearing that is correct these basically would form like what would be a typical regulation and procedure to an adopted policy and as the board is aware may be aware the biggest concern that that's part of the litigation um with title n is that um the new title N9 regs recognize gender

identity um as as falling within Title 9 and um your board has already had many many policies that deal with protecting um students from gender identity so that particular part of the litigation is really not an issue in durm because you already recognize and protect um those students but again that that is what's really being debated um at the moment I appreciate that that's Help full clarity I think and this might just this is a detail it might be helpful to put procedures on top of the policies at the top just so it's not so we're clear what's what what is our D DPS policy and versus what we're using as the procedures um especially if they feel like they're I haven't um compared the two to all of our policies but just to make it clear which one is policy which ones our procedures that we're working

to follow um I can definitely work with Dr Giovani between now the next board meeting to um revise this prees to clarify further that these are really procedures that only and are not and this is not intended to change in the existing board policy we can I can definitely do that with her for sure yeah and I think it's in the prees but maybe in the documents too because the documents have policy numbers listed on there which I know they're from ncsba but it just makes it a little confusing we we can do that and um yes we can absolutely do that I'll I'll work with Dr Giovani to do that for sure we can do that colleagues do we have consensus on that change everybody is okay with that I think that is extremely helpful thank you um for that Clarity between policy and procedure awesome Mr Tab and then miss

Chavez thank you thank you very much this question is for attorney Malone um now that it's been cleared that we're dealing with procedure um while we work through this and while it works through the court system are we in violation of any kind of breaking of any law while we wait for it to work itself through the court system no no not at all um you will the your staff will be implementing um the the most protective Title 9 UM regulations to protect the the students um as we work through this period so we feel very comfortable um that the board will will be in a good place um the litigation actually is more of a It's actually an injunction against the uh Department of Education from for their enforcement of the rags um so we

think that you're taking this action and then your staff implementing um procedures that will um um adequately protect the students rights and their due process rights as we as they as as these matters are investigated um that you will certainly be well um within the law and and certainly the board should not be um out of compliance Mr tab does that answer your question oh yeah I needed to hear him say that that's fine thank you Miss Chavez um thanks for um presenting about these policies so what or procedures I should say um what exactly I have a few questions what exactly does change about our procedures with um putting these into place

does anything change so this so these procedures will um so one of the things that we will have to do when we work with staff is to balance um the procedures that the board currently has in place against the new procedures and the and the plan is to make sure that we are um you know applying a a version of your procedures and what's been proposed that provides the best protection so where where there may be um some difference and depending on how we handle these is that the prior Rags um provided more protection let's say for the um the the student who may

have been accused um of discrimination the newer Rags do not um have some of that same protection but the newer regs also allow for um for the board to kind of create a you know pick a version and what we will be trying to do in the interim is to um is to try to strike a balance um that keeps you in compliance with Title 9 and also respects the board's current policies in this area if if I could step in I think it also means that um as principles or anyone contacts us regarding a title N9 concern question or allegation of violation then our office uh Title 9 support can use the regulations and policy previously established by the board and compare it with the new regulations and the new language and make sure that

we are providing the correct and and um most beneficial uh interpretation of ensuring that both of those are um able to be incorporated into how a response or an investigation might occur um thank you I so I'm still confused as to actually how like what would what changes um or um it like how this would differ from our practice before I do understand we have board policy that is protective of gender expansive students um but what would um what would the I I'm just not sure how this these procedures are different from the prior

procedures I don't know if other other people are also confused but so the so the so the I would say this so the the new regul ations um are proba are more aligned with your current reg regulations um so if we were to and this is what I'm saying if we were to if we were to um if we were in dealing with this in Durham we would be more aligning the recommendations to your to your current practice um and how you have dictated that title n matters are to be investigated um so there may not be much

change at all in the recommendations that we would provide to your staff about the implementation of these because of how your current policies align for some of our clients um the the policies that they have in place now um there is a a a a bigger difference between the newer rags and and what they've got in place and then there we'll have to do a slightly different Balancing Act but with your policies as you've been implementing them and certainly when we look at the new Rags um your policies are more aligned with the new Rags than some of our other clients if that makes sense I think that makes sense um I think it would be helpful just before we um we vote on this to to just understand what what if

any differences do exist if there is a shift at all um and it sounds like what you're saying the new regs the new regs for our district or the new RS are more in line with the policies we already have in place for our district are there any discrepancies I guess um you know is this a shift in any way um for DPS um and um I also just wanted to ask about the uh the litigation that's expected to go on for some time I would imagine so we probably we don't anticipate or when would you maybe anticipate that there is clarity about this next year or yeah I don't that's an question that no one really knows the answer to um the you know we just don't know how that's going to play out I mean you know litigation sometimes things get resolved quickly and sometimes they drag them for years as you know um and we don't know the answer to that but but that does not

mean I guess what I would say is that a litigation answer we may ultimately come to you before the litigation is resolved and say we now feel comfortable based on what we're seeing with the board adopting this policy and these Rags I mean so so but as we as this goes over the next several months we're thinking that this is just a better opportunity to kind of put a pin in it for a little while while we see where this is headed um I don't foresee that we will wait until the litigation ends before proposing um an actual policy in set of Rags for you um but we're just not trying to rush to meet the August one deadline given some of the uncertainty that exists right now thank you thank you Miss um Harrell go and then Mr

tab Miss haral go you're muted sorry about that thank you I just wanted to um again ask a clarifying question so um the gender expansive language that we're adding to the procedures these are our current these are our current Title Nine procedures and we're just adding this gender expansive language to them no no what I was saying is that the the the litigation over the title n regs is largely about the gender identity expansion in the new title n regs but your current you your current policies already recognize and protect students um against um against that um North Carolina's part of the fourth circuit where the Grim case several

years ago kind of um established that um that that is a form of sex discrimination here so I I think that again for you and especially for Durham um there's not much um of a difference that you that we'll see I think in in how we recommend that this be implemented in durm thank you Mr tab thank you madam chair um what exactly are we being tasked to do at this point right now uh in terms of voting what exactly are we voting for so we are being asked um to allow Administration to work with the attorneys and with um principes to start making the procedural changes in

practice to understand the implications of this title nonexpansion so that they can put in front of the board for first read and second read a policy that includes the title line changes that have been made by the federal government we are not ready to entertain a first read of a policy because we're waiting on some of the outcomes from the litigation as well as a way to make sure that what is shared um is in line with what the expectations are from the federal government and hopefully aligns with the policies that we currently have in place okay thank you madam chair that was a that's a very long answer to to what we're supposed to do here so do you want Dr

Giovani and uh Dr Lewis to work with Arington Smith to come up with a policy that gets us aligned with the federal government's requirements okay thank okay good right there thank you yes all right got it is that right Mr M yeah so yes so there's an August one deadline to adopt new kind of regulations and procedures for implementing T Title 9 there's litigation that makes it a little difficult to decide exactly what boards ought to do at the moment although we know that you need new title 9 regulations to be in liance so to be in compliance we are recommending that you you give staff the ability to have some flexibility to to use some version of like the model ncsba policies and your current policy to to make sure that we're at least able to say that we're in compliance while we work on a policy and a set of rags to bring to you in the

near future um that you would adopt as a more official set of r so this is a a temporary measure to ensure compliance with Title 9 UM while um giving us time to craft policies and rs um that we can feel very comfortable with before you approve them okay I'm I'm fine um thank you Miss um chairwoman because your your respon thank you for your response uh attorney Malone thank you uh I got it I'm good thank you ales are we comfortable um with this uh change that we uh Millicent Rogers has requested and we agreed to to highlight specifically this is a procedural change for now and then when the policies come back for first reading

and to make those updates are we all comfortable moving forward is there um I'm seeing some thumbs up I see this is marked for Action I would prefer motion I'd make a motion if Mr Malone would restate it so yeah I think the motion for tonight would be to um to add this to an action agenda um at the next meeting um with changes to this to clarify that these are um regulations and procedural changes and not policy changes so moved second it's been moved by Miss berer and second dat by Miss Herold G um to

uh direct Administration to make procedural changes so that we're in compliance with title none and bring for a first read um the policy changes when farington and administration have worked through those changes so it will not come August it will come at a later date now this part will come August 22nd it will yeah this the the the procedural regulation Authority for staff to implement will come August 22nd the actual policy and real regulations will come at a subsequent meeting okay so it's been moved by Miss bu seconded by Miss haral goof

that um we are going to uh authorize Administration to work with uh the attorneys to come come up with a procedural implementation of the title n policies and it will come back on August 22nd is that right yet Mr [Music] Malone yeah I think I think it's I think so I mean I I think the the motion is to um to revise how about if we do it this way to revise the prees so that it clarifies to revise the prees and the attachments so that it clarifies that the proposed changes um are procedural and and regulations um and to bring that back to the board

as an action item um at the next meeting thank you Miss harol Goff Miss buer is that your understanding that is my motion okay revise aaes and attachment so that the proposed changes come back to the board for action on August 22nd all those in favor will get an opportunity to vote in order um any other discussion okay miss berer I miss Umstead hi Carter auton hi Emily Chávez hi Mr tab I miss heral

goof I and I vote I the motion passes unanimously we will see the Title Nine um proposed changes on August 22nd Miss Giovani you look like you're back with us I can you hear me now okay all right I you pull up the PowerPoint please for the various policy updates and while that's being pulled up I wanted to let the board know that there is periodically the North Carolina Schoolboard Association drafts polic new policy updates generally Every Spring and fall and what we have done is we're trying to get ourselves caught up to make sure that we are up to date on those we periodically will bring other policies outside of that when we see that they need um when Administration is recommending those updates or something has occurred that makes us realize that maybe we need to tweak some of the policies outside of

that um fall spring and fall update cycle but these updates are all related to that and so they are generally um statutorily required or highly recommended that those changes be made um this is next slide please sure okay um so we've got 10 policies here tonight some of them will be a little more in-depth and have some additional conversation but as I indicated previously the majority of these are in a statutory editorial amendments at the first policy 1310 42 parental involvement next slide please if the board will recall we did quite a bit of um work on this when the parents Bill of Rights um statute came out so durhams is very customized on this so the only um edits we did not make some of their recommended changes because we did not include those pre those edits from the school boards Association um last fall but this is a

change that we are recommending and the language in that policy that we're recommending be added statutorily is um on your screen and that simply um it's the letter P in the list if the school or school system is identified as low performing we have to submit these notifications and they must be made within 30 days of the identif ification as low performing so that is something that the um academics um Department under the deputy superintendent are U aware of and have that on their checklist of making sure that those all of those statutorily required notifications are done within the mandated time period so it is um it's a minor change but it does codify what is advised in the statute and we all have you do have the track changes of these policies in board dos as well uh next slide if there's any questions you want to ask questions now or just let me go but otherwise um I'll just move on unless you um have questions

about a particular policy change the next policy is policy 1610 7800 professional and staff development similarly this is next slide please this also um includes updated language about the new statute for professional development requirement and we are as I indicated before we kind of get on um there's generally a rhythm to these and we're making sure that we are caught up as you can see beginning effective 23 24 and just because it's not in the policy doesn't mean we haven't been doing it but we want to make sure that our practices because we have but we want to make sure our practices are um codified in our policies so as you can see the language on here it is requiring local boards to provide professional development um and then it lists some of those areas requiring that professional development next next slide please next slide please and this one and again as I indicated the track changes are in there

this changes that they recommended in this policy were simply changing unlawful activity policy or practice to wrongdoing so everywhere that phrase was indicated it was changed to um wrongdoing and we did Administration does recommend that that be a change that we make as well next slide please and this is policy 3220 technology and the educational program um we worked with the director of digital um teaching and learning Mr Ron whan uh to make several of these changes we did have robust conversation um around that regarding AI Mr whan did share with us that they are um creating he and his team are creating and AI working task force or working group to make sure that we are looking at all of the best practices around AI but if you look at the track changes language in there it does lay out a little bit in a

little bit more detail what AI is generative Ai and kind of starts the conversation so that Durham is kind of in the modern era on AI but as I indicated you know this is um an always ever evolving topic and Mr Wayan is going to be having this working group so I anticipate that additional changes will be coming uh once that working group um completes their work or at least begins their work for the board's consideration as well next slide please next slide uh this is um again u m under Mr whan's um leadership making the changes that reference the generative AI guidelines and I again anticipate that we also added some resources for um the community in the policy a link so that they can get some additional information around um generative AI as it exists within during Public Schools but this these are the recommended changes um

that we are making or recommending for the board next slide please next slide and this is policy 3420 student promotion and accountabil and these were these changes that are being recommended by the um student Support Services office and the track changes that are included in your packet for example indicates that they there's some statutory language around high school credit for studying abroad and that is included in the track changes I won't read it to you but um we're happy to entertain any questions around that but those are um statutory requirements regarding High School Credit when studying abroad in the high three-year High School graduation in section K and we did have some conversation around um kind of word

smithing um how we refer to that and so we are still in conversation around that and just wanted to kind of do at this point just um bring it so that we are in compliance on the policy but like all policies they're always um going to be a moving and evolving um item and so at this point this is the recommendation that Administration is making for these policies next slide please next slide again this was these edits that are you have in your packet for 3460 graduation requirements um indicates it does the require notice requirements that are included as well as referencing back to the form foreign um travel that overseas travel that students credits they may be gained while they are traveling as well as change local graduation requirements to local graduation recommendations so there are

several track changes in the packet that um was provided to you uh previously next slide please and this is policy 3620 I am going to turn this over to Dr Pitman um to next slide please so I'll do the initial piece but if you have any questions on this one this one is a little more detailed um as indicate as I indicated before a lot of the previous policies were kind of um editorial or just you know statuto um codification but this one was a little more detailed so um Dr Pitman if you wanted to go ahead and um provide the board with an overview based on your conversation with Mr Hackney our meeting with Mr Hackney certainly and the highlights are captured here um beautifully the policy will be more aligned to the State Board policy around attendance and the Athletics and moving away more from the

North Carolina High School Athletic Association guidelines and aligning more intentionally with um anything in the law or board policy and then there is a new subsection that addresses um participation of homeschool students and a requirement that they would be enrolled in our District at least 50% of the time to be eligible to participate and it outlines some of those special Provisions relatively straightforward thank you thank you Dr Pitman next slide please next slide uh the only change to this policy the the existing DM policy is that it eliminated a reference because that commission no longer exists and we did make that edit next slide please next slide please this is policy 4270 concussion and head injury we just updated uh

statutory references and made some minor editorial changes um to keep us kind of up to date with the recommendations um from the state from the school boards Association Next slide please this is the last policy in the group um that we are bringing tonight for first reading next slide please and this one it specifies we there's a language a bullet added that indicating that copying work produced by artificial intelligence is considered plagiarism and there were some minor editorial changes next slide please I have provided here what those as you can see on your screen the track changes um under prohibited Behavior under the amended 4310 integrity and civility uh the red language or the red words that you see are what was added the purple language under number four was originally removed by a recommended

to be removed by the school boards Association um after feedback from a board member if we are putting it in purple because there was a recommendation that this language remain in there with some additional clarification that to make sure that people understood that intending to def frud would be and to cause harm is prohibited Behavior so um next slide please and with that um we are happy to entertain any questions these are presented for first reading for the board and what that is what we typically do with that is when we do these presentations we ask the for feedback from the board we also invite the community to email us if they go on board docs there's um my email is on there and you know we have gotten feedback that has changed policies across the state from our community members here in Durham so just wanted to make sure the community knows that these are not um dead documents that we still

want their feedback um after this presentation as well as the board so with that um we are I think Dr King and Dr Pitman and their team members are here with us and happy to answer any questions I just want to make sure that it wasn't this isn't on for Action that is just for uh discussion and information and then it would be moved to the August board meeting for second reading hes any questions comments concerns I just want to ask a clarifying question so if we're we're moving it for a second reading we do want some action tonight like to approve the first reading to move it to a second reading just for clarity Dr yes that is correct but no adoption or re adoption or revision of the policies thank you Miss

berer thank you for um staff helping lead us through these uh tedious policy revisions that are so necessary and um such a important part of the board's work um and I appreciate the groups that have worked on these I know one that I struggle with and would love to keep struggling forward with is 3460 I appreciate the language you all put in there in bullet point 4 about this accelerated three-year graduation um which is really only being offered by the state across the state because it is required by a new state law um and so I wondered I like the language that you put in to frame it as um Durham Public Schools values the full High School experience and believes is an opportunity for students to maximize academic success explore extracurricular interest and prepare for a variety of post-secondary options therefore DPS

continues to recommend all students earn the 26 credit diploma offered by our school district I think that framing language is so important but I wondered if we could move that actually to lead that section rather than be nestled um within other text about the accelerated thing but actually to start it and frame it I thought that would strengthen um that section of that revision but um I am thank you so much for all your work on these thank you Miss berer colleagues do we agree with um Miss byer's request to move that language to the top of the policy for our second reading can we get a thumbs up consensus okay I see a consensus Dr Giovani for you to make that change any other I just want to point out that um I don't know if I I said student support services but Miss W saterfield and Miss artist did this work on these um policies for student support services and did an amazing job so I'm I don't want to take credit for that

because they did this work thank you thank you uh colleagues any other questions comments or motion to move for second reading missad uh thank you Dr Giovani and your team for working on these and board colleagues um it's a lot of work to work through the policies and make sure they're updated I did have a question just it's a little more General and I have two questions actually just around Ai and how we are continuing to learn and think and um about it and will we be revisiting 4310 if necessary as we continue to learn and think and and um I think a lot of workplaces are also grappling with uh with AI a lot of other educational opport uh Ed educational institutions and so I'm just wondering um and I'm looking specifically in the language that said that you know work produced by it could be used as plagiarism and I'm

just wondering how we might continue to think and evolve on that if if we do or don't I don't know I don't have an answer to that but I just know that it's a a new field that is growing and that lots of folks are using it to support their work which is I think good and also like how are we wrestling with what this policy May mean in practice I feel like I'm rambling a little bit but yeah I don't see Mr Wayan on here but he was when we met and discussed it um you know he's the as I indicated the director of digital teaching and learning he when he was telling us about kind of the task of the AI working group it really is to you know educate and support our students in the use of AI and make it so that it's a tool for them but it doesn't impede like their critical thinking and how it supports that critical thinking so I think um so the answer is I absolutely expect us to revisit um the policies that include the

AI piece as well as policy 4310 where kind of that punitive piece right and just a lot of the conversation we had around that is um we don't want to be focused so much on the punitive piece but we do want to also make sure that our students um are you know building their brain muscle so to speak um while they um grow and learn uring Public Schools so I would say based on the conversation from Mr whan and what the group talked about I do fully expect us to continue to have these conversations and part of that would also be providing training to our teachers right and to our um other folks that are working with our students so that it's really kind of a a building process um in how we interact with our students and their interaction with AI thank you thank you Miss Amed for highlighting that and thank you for your response Dr D Ron Mr T and uh Miss go Harrell G and then miss Chavez thank you um Dr Giovani I'm just

curious to how um you all arrived at the um arrived at saying that AI is considered PL plagurism what was the process for that and then how do we what are the procedures to to being able to determine if a kid plagiarized because it's AI so the first thank you Mr T for your question the first part of the conversation is is that was the recommendation in language from the um school boards Association and I think this is you know if I can use a Trope you know with the AI I think everyone is flying the plane while they're building it um so to speak so I this is not mandatory you know to have that language in there but based on the conversation what from the other Educators when they were talking about it is what you don't want as a child to kind of put in a prompt and then produce this and then

not really get the value of the education so that is you know I didn't initially draft the language but that is based on you know kind of the footnotes Etc what I believe is the um kind of the impetus for that so that that would be the first um part of your question your second you repeat your second part of your question again to make sure I got it right the second part if we'll M making it into a policy how will we uh how teachers or whoever able to to document or or be able to say that a student did plagiarize if they use AI right when um like I'm gonna continue to have to lean on Mr Wayan as the expert in this but what he had shared with us is that that's part of that working group's plan right to provide that training and to set those standards and those guard rails so that we don't have our teachers out there you know not

sure sure of what to do and our students not sure of what the rules are and what that guidance is so what I anticipate is that this will be um as I shared with Millicent Rogers uh just well the everyone but in response to miss mad's question this will be an ongoing process in an evolving process where this working group can bring back things and kind of they have these experiences provide training get that feedback from people that are in the kind of boots on the ground working with students so what I don't anticipate is uh for the teachers to be on their own right and just be like well I think this is AI so I'm going to give this student an F that's what we don't want right but we also don't want our students as I indicated earlier to put prompts in and then when they go you know off into their next iteration in their lives career or college Etc and not really have some of those um 21st uh critical thinking skills that during Public Schools um provides to our graduates and our students I I would just conclude by saying

um if we're going to make something a policy I just wanted to make sure that all of those things have really been worked out for the teachers because I definitely do not want to put them in a position where we have a policy and they are still not sure of how to navigate it and then we have it as a policy that's it thank you Mr tab um miss her goof the miss well thank you um I didn't know I was off mute um I just wanted to take the opportunity um to say thank you to Dr Giovani and her team um this was a you know being um being new on the board and and thinking about all the different policies that we have to you know that that we're reviewing that we want to be responsible for um I I I want to acknowledge um and publicly how this

process is has is being demystified um I really appreciated you know how prompt they were in making sure we knew what to look at and how to look at it all the explanation that came you know prior to and the discussion we were able to have before we you know uh came to this point um and um thank you for uplifting how the public can also when it's when it's U being presented how the public can also reach out and make comments on these policies I think these are very good things to to know as as uh as I am still discovering how the process of these things work and how we can make sure that um we are knowledgeable about our policies and how they impact our our schools so I just wanted to say thank you um a lot of it went on where they you know they're bringing us up to speed and how this works and it's it's daunting it's a lot to to consider and so the processes that you guys are going through to make sure

that this is happening and and helping us to understand keep up the speed and being able to give this kind of input I thought are very very good and I wanted to acknowledge that thank and thank the team um for bringing us into these processes miss m said I'm gonna um pass it to miss Chavez who had her hand up previously and hasn't spoken to this topic and then come back to you I'm sorry I'm also re refiguring out how to zoom use zoom apparently um forgot how to raise my hand on here anyway um I have a question thank you Dr Giovani I just think um yes this I I agree with Miss heral Go's um sentiments and I really appreciate the the going through of um this batch of policies um that we've gotten a chance to look at so um I have a question about policy uh 4310 um that number six where we took

out hazing I just wanted to ask why that was taken out and then second part um just the intentionally interfering with the ability of other students to learn in a peaceful and safe environment I was wondering if that was an effort to take out um something that would be more subjective and um where we know um sometimes more subjective um uh infractions um are judged more harshly um with students of color um so I yeah just wanted to know where those two pieces are coming from so two things um these are the recommended removals similar to that purple language number four it was recommended by the school boards Association um and I don't want to put her on the spot but um Joy Harrell Goff go did lift that up also and I had neglected to point that out because what we had indicated she had the um similar concerns and wanted to um make sure that

we um address that language so I think with not having my two you know all of my stuff in front of me um it's a was a little clunky for me but I do think that that is a conversation and that's why if you notice this was the only policy that I really kind of gave you um a lot of the language showing the track changes because um M heroff had shared that about the number four and number six so it really is up to the board on you know these are recommendations from the Schoolboard Association I do think that my response to when she asked that question was uh the response was similar to your estimation that it is a little vague but miss herol did recommend that we indicate um we could say in intentionally interfering with the ability of a student or an individual student so that it's that kind of works through that vagueness of like other students right like just but if you are intentionally interfering with a particular student so that could be a recommendation that is included in there so we would get rid of the strikeout

that says and I defer to you miss her golf if I'm stating kind of what you were sharing properly um intentionally interfering with the ability of a student to learn in a peaceful and safe environment so even if you had let's say three students that would still fall under a student and you would be able to kind of have Clarity for the offending allegedly offending student and document it versus just a general feeling that someone is interfering with just a an amorphous group of students so with regard to The Hazing piece um I think that probably was taken out because it is typically thought of a lot of times kind of in that college um Arena and it's covered in my opinion it's covered under the abusive and dangerous tricks piece which would probably be more applicable in the K12 space thank you for that explanation and um just to be clear I wasn't necessarily advocating that we keep those items in

either I just wanted to know the intentionality around taking them out um so um uh I understand that about hazing um and with the second part I'm okay if we change it to interfering with the ability of a student um or leaving it out because I do think it's generally covered under the playing abusive or dangerous tricks and um yeah the rest of the the phrase there um but just wanted to see sort of um where that came from thank you Miss hon uh yes thank you um again Dr Giovani I just wanted to like I me this is really a question for the board following up on my question around that going back to the artificial intelligence do we want to put that here as saying it's plagiarizing without

having a little more clarity around because to me the policy also has to have the procedures and the training so teachers and Educators know what's happening next so I I'm curious we want to keep that um there um so that's one I'll stop there that's one question that's really for the board and then I have another comment on a different policy but okay um Inspire and then we'll get consensus on that so the plagiarism is in 4310 is that right um so as we in a small group and I think U Mr Tab and Miss Harrell goof were in this group with me I think the three of us were looking at the initially on draft together I think what was important when we got to this notion of AI and plagiarism it was the notion of representing it as one's own original work that's the thing that makes it plagiarism in the way that it's defined

here so I think that's how we tried to um not not at all say that AI didn't have a use and a place and that the use of AI itself was plagiarism but it was the representation of it as one's original work that was the problem um I just wanted to make that clear I think was was how we were trying to to bridge that Nuance in in our small group um when we T when we talked about hazing my question was and continues to be do is that a term that is still used a lot today do people know what that is or is there something more current that that is um a better word to use there and then I'm not remembering Miss Giovani where this uh policy talks about Holocaust um studies elective but I saw it on your slide and I don't think I saw it referenced in the specific policy so if we were supposed to be adding it we

might need to double check that we actually added it I think it's one of those new state laws and and if we contemplate something like that in Durham and needing to comply with that state law I would hope that there was there would be a way if we had to design a course like that that we could actually expand it to include islamophobia all the horrible things that humans do to each other in the scope of and and teaching on equity in a broader lens um just in a Durham way but um I'm going to figure out how to lower my hand and get back to y'all but thank youall thank you Miss berer I will double check to make sure um as we indicate it is a very heavy lift and so it is possible that um in the various iterations of the policy that got you know taken out or um overlooked but I will double check and when we if you all approve it to come back on second reading um I will have Clarity around that for the board colleagues um to miss Ed's question do we want to include AI as

part of the second read on AI um of this policy um uh Miss Chavez just so on that um I read it the way that Miss berer did I think um and having been um in the small group talking about uh Ai and how we will uh have increased training for our staff and um and teach our students about how to use it responsibly I think that I'm okay with the way this is worded because I think that um it's really about about if if someone does use AI citing that in a responsible way um and I think this is talking about basically not citing that you're using AI but um you know acting as if it is something that you you

developed yourself so I'm okay with leaving the language as is hey I'm going to start calling on people Mr tab uh yes I I totally agree with um Millicent Rogers here um I'm just not comfortable with not having teachers trained um or going through some type of training process and and putting something in a policy that they're not prepared for thank you Joy Harrell Goff go um thank you I feel like leaving that language in the policy um reflects um our current societ you know what our youth are dealing with currently um and encourages us to continue to um move

forward with the technology so um and all of the etiquette that will be required um as you know because it's it's here already so I think that I agree with leaving that language in you know leaving it in for the second read and continuing to work towards um what it's going to take to um support our teachers and students with that language Miss Carter Aton um yes I agree I mean policy outlines that training will be developed and will equip employees with the necessary knowledge to effectively effectively employ and in their work and ensure that it's safe and responsibly integrated into the classroom instruction it feels like we can put this in policy like that's what we do put it in policy and then we expect for policy to be implemented so I feel in that way that we are Beyer staff

with what they need to implement this by what's currently outlining this policy thank you um I'll share my thoughts now and then recap where we landed um as part of my work this is what I do I sell products to um professors um to make sure that they understand the best ways to get content in front of the current students our students are currently go using AI um that is not going away we are an education system we expected to educate students on best practices of how to use the latest Technologies and I think that we should leave AI in the policy for that reason in a at least for the second read in addition when we set up policies some of the policies are set up so that

um students hold themselves accountable to to those rules and so that Educators can learn how to enforce those rules and learn how to educate students about being responsible with this technology use and so we ask them to show up with integrity and not represent this as um their own work because that is a part of that is the part of the policy that is important in remembering that they're saying this is my work when it's really not and they could even if they copied somebody's paper next to them or from some other period how would a teacher and an educator prove that it's still plagiarism and so um yeah so I I agree with um keeping

it in the policy for now and and as I have listened to the conversation looks like Millicent Rogers and Mr tab want some more procedural guidance for educators going forward around how this policy would be implemented and how that training is and then uh Emily Chávez Miss Harrell goof Miss Carter Aton Miss berer myself would like to move forward with AI and so a majority of us would like to move forward with AI in the policy acknowledge that students are going to um use AI anyway and we need to prepare for that in the meantime this is coming for a second read August 22nd I encourage our colleagues to talk to each other so that we can all get closer to the same page um as we move forward is that okay with everybody uh can I do Clarity um

yes sir okay thank you I I was not saying that AI itself should not um should be removed from the policy I'm just what I was saying that when you say the word plagurism that I want to make sure that there are things put in place for the teachers once you started saying to the students that is that you're plagiarizing just want to be clear on that thank you all right guys yes Miss berer yeah um one thing that was really impressive and I think um Miss Giovani Dr Giovani sorry has alluded to it was that Mr whan had a lot of um knowledge and has a task force ongoing about this and so I do think that it will be great in a future board update or meeting to

have an update from that group and on best practices within the district and I think that study sync actually has some tools built in to help our teachers I think our uh at Splash I think in other places um teachers have had some ongoing professional development in the use of AI so I think it's an area where Durham will continue to lead so I look forward to learning more about it thank you I could add just one additional comment um Department of Public Instruction provided at the several months ago uh a manual some guidelines um on AI in the classroom that is available to all teachers and I believe that that is something that our folks have looked at as well and for the record we're addressing 4310 any other questions comments concerns or emotion I just want to follow up on what

I I I too know this is where our world is going and want to make sure that we have I don't think that I don't want to see our students using AI to represent as their own work I think it's implicit in this statement that you need to cite that you're using AI but it's not explicit and maybe that's what I'm looking for an explicit um kind of mention of work produced by artificial intelligent representing on his own without or without proper citation just to might get it a little more clear I think I think this will will need to as um time goes on and people use the policy or students are having to navigate it and teachers are having will be able to even clarify the language even more um but I'm thinking about how this can get tricky around some things like emails or photos or some things that are not even um that we haven't probably thought about yet and so I'm wondering if there's some ways to be a little more explicit and then keep revisiting this as we go along um I definitely don't want our students to

copy and paste right and represent that as their work but we know that they're helpful tools that are being used around AI um so that's maybe what I'm thinking about but I'm also okay with you know where the board wants to go thank you um I see a lot of head nodding has anybody's position shifted in terms of a reference okay these are here for first read right these are here for first read but we would have to direct Administration to add that now or not oh I would be open to that to see in some language around that I I really appreciate that clarification from this unstead and think that that does make that could make sense so I'd like to see what that could look like the mention of citations or citing work to clarify that the use of AI is not the problem I mean somewhat explicit here

but I think to make it more explicit CER if I could recap so the part where it says representing it as one's own original work to include additional language about um the need to properly site um as a part of how it could be used appropriately as opposed to what you can't do to balance I guess policy yes T you got that it's true for AI and for any other any other work that you need to right but I think it for all yeah it's for all of number two right it makes it explicit in that statement all right colleagues I think Millicent Rogers did you have another question about another policy or was that am I I just want to make sure didn't miss it okay I did but miss berer caught uh she shared it it was 1610 I think the slide had some

information but it wasn't included in the policy around the Holocaust so I'll wait for you to bring that back in August I apologize Madam chair I'm Sorry Millicent Rogers and Miss berer for highlighting the 1610 anybody have a motion I would move approval of the policies as amended in discussion to our uh August 22nd meeting on consent is that where we're going with these I think we want a second read for second read but on consent okay yeah I would second that uh it's been booed by Miss buer seconded by Miss Umstead uh to move the policies from first reading to Second reading on consent on the August 22nd

meeting um any further discussion okay um Voice vote Miss berer hi Miss Umstead hi Miss Carter Aton Miss Chavis hi Mr T hi Miss haral goof I and I vote I the motion carries unanimously thank you so much Dr Giovani the next item on our agenda um is from operations Services the durm School of Arts update and board action in accordance with North Carolina 115 c-72 Mr evening members can everyone hear me okay yes okay great um good evening board members superintendent more uh

last week as you know our team presented a school closure study in accordance with North Carolina General statute 115 c-72 um with respect to the Durham School of the Arts to ensure compliance related to school construction and the closing of existing schools and as I did last week I just want to clarify that in this case Cas uh closing a school means building a new school that Durham school ofthe Arts students will attend when it's completed uh following the completion and presentation of that study uh the statute calls for the Board of Education to hold a public hearing as you know that public hearing also occurred last week and then following the public hearing the board May then take action on whether to close the school and I understand from the opening that that will be contemplated on on the uh next board meeting um I also wanted to share uh or remind folks that when what we shared is that we um submitted a cost feasibility analysis to the Department

of Public Instruction and that feasibility analysis compares the cost of building a new school versus that of renovating existing facilities and that was in accordance with a different statute 115 C- 521 the Department of Public Instruction requires an apples to app's approach so our cost analysis compared the cost of building a new Durham School of the Arts with that of renovating the existing campus to support the same programming capacity and instructional spaces that are designed into the new school there's no action that you need to take with respect to this cost analysis it's already been submitted to DPI um and then the final comment I had for this evening is I I just wanted to remind uh everyone uh public that a lot of information has been presented um um that was presented was based on prior work and studies that had been shared publicly on multiple occasions which ultimately led to a comprehensive Bond

education campaign and the community's passage of the 2022 construction bond which included building a new Duram School of the Arts we have staff here um if there are questions otherwise I will turn turn it back back over um thank you Dr lre for that presentation colleagues we are going to round robin this uh the first time around you get an opportunity to ask your questions and give your comments the second time around I would like you to share if you you have any further comments and um share with the board where you're landing on DSA with the understanding that we are reviewing all the public comments from tonight's meeting we will hear public comments from the August 22nd meeting we

just want to know exactly what document we want Dr lze and his team to put on the consent Agenda One Way or Another um we're going to go in the order that we've been voting Miss so let me clarify this section of the is for asking outstanding questions to staff about uh the presentations that we have received all the way up to date and the materials that are here tonight so Mr lfre one of the things that I think um didn't get highlighted the last time we talked about this were some of the hazardous materials that are present in the site when you all continue to evaluate the site um did could you all I guess Mr Davis is here as well could you all just discuss that just briefly for our understanding of of

some of the hazardous materials that are involved in the site I'm gonna ask Mr Davis to answer that question he's been involved with this from the very beginning greetings can everyone hear me uh yes uh traditionally prior to 1979 many of the constructing materials um have now been deemed hazardous such as asbest and other um construction materials and so uh when doing a renovation um when you touch or disturb those potential Hazard materials you just cannot isolate that to one floor or um a section of the school that was built prior to 1979 so um while we have estimated what it may cost to do a community approved renovation uh it really can become a money pit uh when trying to excavate uh detailed work under those conditions

so thank you and then the the other that um continues to be a challenge um is just traffic going in and out of that uh site and the stacking of cars um out into the roadway and the the current safety issues that we are creating both on our campus and and into the Greater Community um I think you all highlighted that um some I would also just reflect the the the ways we are um challenged by by the numbers of entrances and exites exits the security issues and just the HVAC concerns that continue to plague the students that are um in school there now so I guess I don't have questions I just have a a list of concerns about the ongoing conditions of of S of school for the

students the nearly 2,000 students that are that are in school right now um and and those are concerns that um largely drive my thinking on on this decision but I appreciate all the work that you all continue to lead forward on on this complex project thank you thank you Miss by this all your questions all right I think so excellent Millicent Rogers you're muted got it I appreciate that um I don't know that I have any additional questions thank you Mr leeze Mr Davis I know this has been multiple years in the making of getting to this place um and I was able I was um on a vacation so I was not able to attend the meeting but I've watched it I'm interested to hear I know we have um public comments on this item and I know

people will be coming next week so I all right I assume that folks will come on our meeting in August 22nd so I hope to hear and listen more to those comments and and understanding but I don't have any additional questions at this time thank you Miss Carter Aton I guess I appreciate the um questions that U Miss fire asked those were some of mine another that still feels like something that would be worth um discussing would be how much I don't know if this is possible but how much we spend each year on repairs and maintenance on the current DSA campus and some kind of estimate of the annual cost of these repairs and maintenance if we were to renovate instead of build new and I recognize that that could be very challenging to pull together but it feels relevant here if we're thinking about a true you know

quote unquote Apples to Apples comparison if we were to you know move forward with some sort of a renovation of part of that campus what we're left with still my understanding is parts of the campus that would not be renovated under some of the um under some of the recommendations um which would require ongoing maintenance I don't know if Dr lefree or Mr David C did speak to that or if not precise numbers like something generally about like what that looks like for that building and how it might compare to other building a new building as far as cost to our district and time from our staff Mr Davis do you have information about recent um uh Capital expenditures at the school um you know I I think about all the schools that with capital expenditures sorry to to to um deviate it slightly Fred but um there isn't sufficient Capital dollars to maintain uh your current

facilities across the district um and so you know you have a lot a lot of deferred maintenance um and DSA is one of those examples but Fred maybe share you know over the past five years kind of some of the major projects we've tried to do there so so uh prior to you join the board member Carter ala we did have to do an emergency purchase um because the chiller uh of just the main building uh went out um again when you're doing patchwor it can be efficient but then over the longevity you ultimately end up uh spending more money than you would uh with a new construction we highlighted that um several occasions we've run some numbers um we would save uh at the tune of $50 million however we would limit the students with applicable and appropriate programming uh to really call this a School of the Arts as well as a

comprehensive Middle School uh and um High School what that means is if we cannot provide that programming uh then we would have to look uh at the academic side uh to reduce capacity which means that that would also reduce Staffing in order to take an approach of a compromised renovation the other things that we we have established and have communicated is that once you touch the existing campus you must by code bring the entire existing campus up to the level of 2024 or I think right now it's 2020 um State Building Code um and so unfortunately it is not a patchwor that we could do um in that process if we decided to um reverse and go back into that route so uh I think while we have tried to make every effort to uh internalize and analyze the community's

suggestions uh it's just not economically feasible uh nor is it a professional responsible for us to recommend the board move uh in an alternative fashion um my other thoughts are kind of kind of questions and kind of thoughts and they're just you know it feels like so much work has been done much of which is before my time on the board um to assess you know the best path to at as we move forward and to look at costs and to look at different options um I do wish that what feels clear to me is that despite all of this all of the work that was put into this there's are significant number of people in our community who don't have the confidence in what we are proposing to do and I

just regardless of whether we move forward with building new um or renovating I just I think we as a board and as a district should think about how we communicate moving forward um with our community about this project um about like what kind of steps we want to take to plan for engaging the community and decisionmaking about the old campus um you know maybe communicating some of our commitments about how we plan to use this space for the benefit of the school system like even if these have been said before continue to talk about these um about these things uh commitment to us perhaps about prioritizing the elementary schools who are included in the bond but whose Renovations are not referred as a result of rising construction cost for new DSA um yeah I just think if we can communicate

continue to think about ways to communicate better about this and any future you know projects that we have going on here in the district to help bring our community along um and help everybody have a shared understanding of the why we're doing things um and how I think that's going to serve you know that'll serve all of us thank you um if that a is your questions Miss Carter I'm going to go to miss Chavez um thank you I um I share some of the sentiments that Miss Cardon um uh shared um and I guess my the question I would like to ask um is just if if you could um U Mr Davis speak to the discrepancies in the the numbers between the um the numbers provided by um the

community group and um what we um what you have um shown to us and um I think um in that I also just share the desire to um have an effective Community dialogue um around this and so much work has gone in into this project um but what is um um what do you see as the differences in um why the numbers don't match up um between what um your assessment of what the renovation potential renovation would cost um versus um what um people may be thinking uh or you know um thinking in the community and have um shared with U thank you for that question um board Min Chavez so uh historically we have

provide the district with numbers from um licensed professionals myself as a licensed architect Mr Palmer and myself as uh school planners uh as well as uh our construction Partners um to date we have not received any uh numbers from our community from those said experienced professional and so the numbers that we've uh projected uh in all of our reports have been done by licensed professionals um I am not sure of any discrepancies in the numbers if they disagree um with those numbers again the numbers that we have provided through uh countless hours of going back and forth are from licensed professionals we have not to date received any contradictory numbers from those said licensed professionals so to answer your point U we believe our numbers are the most correct at this

time okay thank you so much um for sharing that um I think that's all my questions at this time thank you Emily Chávez uh Mr tab all right thank you thank you very much this is um definitely a uh a conversation that is that is a tough one um being a Performing Artist myself um I really do wish I was on the on the board when this first came up to really get in the weeds of things and and how the Performing Arts um really really work especially with this Pro comes to programming so I'm I'm just not sure um about all the conversation that has already been had because I'm coming in on the tail end of this but I do want to ask as Dr freeze uh freeze I think uh the question of he brought up something about D DPI and

submitting um document to them is there going to is are we waiting for a response from them or it's just a procedure thing that you just submit but are they supposed to come back with some type of answer it's um my so it's a procedure thing that's required under statute that we submit a cost feasibility analysis we have done that um DPI receives it they review it and they forward it to the historical commission uh for comments it's my understanding from there that we would get something back from the historical commission indicating um whether uh any future activity on that site needs to preserve said historical elements Mr Malone might be able to uh add additional context if I didn't cover it all okay I'll pause it if Mr Turner Malone wants to add anything to that no that's exactly right sorry I was TR trying to find the mute button no the statute um

so there are two separate statutes that we're discussing um this particular statute 115 c521 it simply requires that the board um submit the information that's already been submitted to DPI DPI reviews the information and and once they conclude it's sufficient they then forward it to the historical commission and once that occurs it um it it it allows the board to kind of go forward with you know the project now what they get back from the State Historical commission as it relates to the future use of the building is um kind of unrelated to the um the construction of a new building is there is is there a projected date that we should await that um correspondence you know I don't know um the answer to that when our clients all

of our clients submit this information to DPI um but because it doesn't really have a bearing on going forward with the construction once it's submitted I haven't really tracked um how long it takes for for DPI or the historical commission to get back to school systems um on the submission so I don't know the answer to that I mean I can certainly look into it and uh and try to get back to you on that but I don't know the answer to that because again it really um it has no impact on going forward um once the information is submitted as it's been done here okay just for clarity is there anything um from DPI that would cause us to slow down or pause um moving forward now the only thing that happens with

DPI going forward is as the plans and specifications for the new school are designed um DPI does review the the plans for the new school um along with the Department of Insurance and other entities that have to review the plans and specifications for the new building but um as it relates to transitioning from this building um to another building there's nothing else um that I am aware of that DPI um has any involvement with okay so I'll go back to Mr Davis then and I'm sorry for the the questions that I have to ask because I wasn't involved in this so a lot of things other board members may already know but I don't know um so Mr Davis was there in terms of programming was there anything other than the Athletics um that M that made the decision to move from the old DSA um

more viable or could you okay um the program which uh cons was uh with academic uh the director of Theater Arts and the Arts at that time and so we took the original program that was currently on the site um and added other elements based on conversations with uh School leadership uh as well as an additional Concert Hall which was not currently in the program and uh the administrative decision to add a additional student capacity um which was not of course on the original um so those things amongst the athletic facilities uh were adds to the program right my my concern for um you know like moving the school based on athletic facilities and things like that because it is a performing art

school um I guess Athletics then still took um a lot of attention in terms of why we should make the move because of the Athletics a fields and things like that no um it was the program that drove the design uh and as we've done and submitted to ncdpi that same program cannot fit on the existing site of uh DSA um and if you may not be aware the Athletics we're not adding any new Athletics many of the Athletics that were on the existing site could not be uh programmed today uh we were renting um from the county in terms of baseball and we do not also have adequate softball so with the new site it allowed us to provide those essential Athletics to an already thriving program the the other thing I would just add in terms of um in the new building versus what's there currently um so the

blackbox theater is in a former Auto Body Shop um the building that it's in was built in 1906 I believe um and so you have examples like that throughout the campus in terms of um educational spaces specifically for the School of the Arts that are in spaces that have in essence been um um put together in an existing it with with the all the limitations that come with a building built in in 1906 um you have examples throughout uh throughout the different buildings in terms of capacity for spaces like the cafeteria I think Mr Palmer mentioned that at our last meeting uh it's under sized and um it requires uh significant number of lunch periods just to fit the students in you have the same situation with cl just typical class classroom sizes uh you have undersized classrooms and so those things if you renovate a

school um you can upgrade spaces in terms of the amenities and finishes but when you start talking about changing configur ations taking down walls expanding sizes you start to have to build new corridors it just is this huge domino effect um and so the school that is um designed and ready to proceed uh on the new campus uh is designed specifically to be a School of the Arts um and so the the programming um all the work that's gone into it uh it's all specific for that purpose all right thank you um yeah I'm very familiar with that school I taught theater there um while I was still teaching theater at Hillside for six years and so the fly system didn't work in 1987 um and still didn't work in the Weaver Auditorium so I'm very familiar with the need for them to really have a a new space um I'm struggling with

um the economic impact that the performer Arts would have in downtown durm all the work that you all have have done is is needed and it it really really um the designs that I looked at I mean it's you did a bang up job and I think it it definite goes to to programming um but if I I don't know a whole enough about all that went into this um as an artist it makes me only pause because I don't know everything that went in into this I just know that as an artist having a performing art school downtown is an artist's really great dream to be in a in a area so this is not about um for me who's right who's wrong in terms of Apples to Apples it's about 10 to 20 years from

now um we would not have a viable artist Artistry in the Progressive Downtown Development um and I would I would have loved to work with everyone to see how we could really really make that possible um and maybe it could not couldn't be possible um but I am just at pause because I I think that we're missing out on some great in internship ship opportunities for students being able to to play in in restaurants and um get internships uh readily available to close proximity to the DPAC the Carolina Theater just from an artist perspective not saying that any work that anyone has done um was not sufficient or was not needed because I know it is it is I would just be how

could you know being early on how could we have made this work and keeping a school in a Downtown Development which is what artists would love to have had um and just that's me thinking in terms of of the students and the future um of the downtown area and and the school but the work that has been done I am totally supportive of the design of of at you know making sure that the programming work so my only hesitation would would be that um looking down the road 10 to 20 years from now um we will not have that that presence in in the downtown area but that's that's what it's based on for me um but that and that's where my hesitation is not because another group brought you figures that are different than yours and would make me pause that is not it at all and I'm not totally so

on either way either way yet I just don't know enough thank you so much Mr tab thank you I've put my hand up and down a few times deciding whether or not I wanted to um share my thoughts but I will say um something that I've been uh interest of been thinking about that we're hearing from Community um I won't say from all aspects of community I'll I'll say that we've been hearing from certain parts of community have been around you know is is around sentiment and history um and um acknowledging the building for what has been there and I just wanted to my thoughts are going to there's a lot more history and a lot more sentiment um that

the whole of our community would not agree on um everybody doesn't see the value and the sentiment of the building in the same way I guess that's what I want to say um the history is very complex in that building um and in the location um and so I just want to acknowledge that that that there going to be that kind of angst and that kind of struggle when we think about um what's the best move for our schools and our students so um I'd love to hear more not now but I would love to hear more about um how when we're thinking about all of the things that all of our buildings need and the cost that we're putting towards this particular project right here the impact of what that is in a larger scale um some community members

are are voicing that they feel like this move is to the detriment of other schools whereas and and and probably and and some community members are you know are excited Miss haral goof you seem to have lost your sound oh can you hear me now hear you now okay oh my internet connection is unstable so I'll try to be quick um but basically being able to communicate better how this move or how our decision um really impa impacts the greater picture of our infrastructure across the district and why you know why this this move is really a impacting a the entire District in a whole like we have to do these kinds of improvements um and not just

um I I love the as an artist I love the idea of of having access our students having access to all of the culture and arts that we have you know in a downtown district as well but I would also really appreciate um us thinking about how all of our schools and all of our artists not just at the school of the arts have those kinds of opportunities you know the the downtown area is not specific to a location it is Durham we are Durham so um there are a lot of things to consider but I'm more interested in how this how the direction how this decision um is going to impact our greater infrastructure into the future like we're making these financial decisions we're going to have there's going to be consequences for our actions um how is this decision how is this consequence impacting infrastructure as a whole not just DSA you know financially these financial decisions that we're making and being

able to have the language to clarify that a little more um would be useful I think in helping people understand um you know not just Apples to Apples but really like um small scale large scale picture thank you Miss har off is there someone prepared to speak to that I'll I'll I'll take it um so three years ago we we brought a feasibility study um that looked at was it cost effective to uh remain on that site we we use a qualitative approach uh to determine whether or not we would uh recommend for the board to begin design of renovating that site or begin design design on programming of that site that was around October of 2021 from that presentation the board uh

made a conscious decision based on the information that was presented that it would be economical and feasible uh to move to doing a design in a new location um in that meeting and subsequent meetings uh Administration also began to bring forth before the bond was approved that we were in a unforeseen conditions and terms of construction inflation and so uh What I Hear The Narrative trying to betray is that somehow Administration has poured more money into DSA than any of the other buildings or projects that are in the current Bond we then went back in December of last year and showed you that a comprehensive High School of similar square footage and similar capacity was around2 200 to $210 million and so that is the Nar to say that Administration is not spending any more money on an identical Comprehensive High School Middle School than what's going

across the state and what it also says is that school districts around the states region Nation have to make adjustments to the approved project list based on construction and inflation um but Administration has not poured more money into one project than the other and thus if there was a pause it would only exacerbate uh the delay uh and then therefore exacerbate the cost of any decision that this board makes and so uh time is of the essence for us to make a conscious decision so that we can uh look at the remaining funds of this current Bond uh to alleviate some of the other community cerns uh regarding Building Systems in the elementary schools as well as districtwide needs thank you very much Miss haral goof does that answer your question a little bit yes thank

you um okay that brings me to my comments and questions uh I first want to uh thank Mr Davis Mr lre for continuing to come to the podium and talk to us about the DSA project and to answer our questions thank you for putting um a robust design for New durm School of Arts in front of the board for approval time and time again and for the work that you're doing for all DPS students um Mr Davis I don't want to put you on the spot but you've been here the longest um and I trust that you have the answers to the questions that I'm going to ask can we talk about previous Bond projects have there been pre previous Bond projects that have been left over um and how have we found resources for those

projects in between bonds and um can you speak to why some of the cost of those construction projects went up and had to be delayed like we naming some of those elementary schools might can you restate the question again I just want to make sure I answer it thoroughly previous brond projects that didn't get completed um from previous bonds how were we able to uh get those projects completed after we ran out of a previous Bond money so historically we we've the last Bond was a 2016 Bond and I think uh bo M Beyer may have been on the board uh I think there was plans for a new high school at that time um but through Administration it was approved to reallocate those

fundings to various building system upgrades roof Replacements uh at various schools um and so at that time that was the board's decision to reallocate that that funding in that capacity if that answers your question were there any other projects that may have been delayed or left behind from that 2016 bond that we had to get lobs or anything else to help cover the completion of projects so we we have utilized various other fundings like lobs from the county as well as Lottery funding uh to do a lot of building renewals um most bonds uh generally are for Capital Improvements which are new additions um anything that was not a part of the building and so all the elementary schools have a combined Capital Improvement and capital renewal uh Capital renewal is your life cycle cost which were highlighted in the 2019

facility conditions assessment that had our district uh in terms of cap renewal over $700 Million worth of need and so we've been able to utilize the funding buckets that the county and State uh and federal government has allowed us to do some of those cap capit renewal projects But to answer your question we do have a revolving list of capital renewal projects that we're constantly looking at funding to support and this is just this time it's just time to look at DSA and that's why I became a part of the conversation 2019 2021 because of where it Rose in the CIP plan that is correct our priority list is based on the facility conditions assessment which had DSA I ow this uh building on our portfolio at A7 uh and based on ncdpi standard uh anything getting close to the threshold one needs to be looked at being replaced thank you so much for sharing

that again as you did at the as I'm sorry Mr Palmer shared at the public hearing last week um that's helpful um and it answers most of my questions I appreciate the robust engagement that the community has offered us um as part of this process and I understand uh some of the sentiments my colleagues have shared as we've come to this point about how uh the community has been engaged in this process I'm really excited about that and I wish that we could go back and do things differently Mr tab would know more could have on the board maybe and been a part of that decision making um I look forward to continuing this community robust Community engagement um as we continue to move

forward and look forward to seeing Derm for DSA and other organizations and groups uh giving input on what should happen in this um downtown DSA space um I look forward to seeing how it can support all of the students in the district even on their Journey with the Arts because it is in the Progressive Arts District um and I hope that any of the businesses and supports of the Arts and Carolina Theater and DPAC are also being visited from students that are attending um and participating in the Arts at all of our comprehensive high schools because they deserve the same sort of benefit I'd love to see us reinvent that space for a shared space for all of our students as we continue to move forward and I hope durm for DSA will continue to engage with durm public schools and the Board of Education as we

figure out how to move forward and how to also support the students that will be moving from downtown Durham a little further north as they are at that new school um Emily Chávez had another question but she's G to ask that are you gon to ask that now can or I can wait until my next turn either way go ahead ask your question then Miss Moore has something she wants to share okay my my other question that came to mind um was just um about Community engagement going forward and um what is the plan for what that will look like with specifically with the DSA Community are you referring to um plans

um post the new school opening and what would happen at the existing uh existing facilities existing campus um yes but well or before the new school opens but um you know assuming we um continue on as we're planning um is there any Community engagement planned um to with the DSA Community um to uh to continue to dialogue about um about this transition to the new school so um of course you have a new superintendent starting next week and so we' want to definitely uh connect with with him about uh his thoughts this um I I won't be here for it either because I'm I'm in an interim role I can share with you perspective from Chapel Hill carboro um we would to me this is a like a community visioning task force and I I don't think it's just limited to durm school of thee Arts constituents I think

it's all of durm constituents uh and so I can see uh leadership in the district U pulling together Community Voices and conducting a visioning process for what the campus um what the campus future should be looking at the Historical elements looking at the community elements um and and again including that in a vision for the site Miss Travis does the answer help you yes it it does and it and it's something I think um thank you Dr lze and um I think we will um we will continue to talk about this um and certainly I know Dr Lewis is probably watching somewhere and um will be involved in helping helping us kind of navigate these conversations and dialogue going forward so thank you Miss Moore thank you chair Rogers um just wanted to offer a couple of uh perhaps

clarifications and extensions of some some things that have been said this evening and been sent in communication and a couple of acknowledgements and some thoughts so I think it's important to highlight again something that we've heard that um in this um cost feasibility analysis uh staff DPS staff communicated with DPI staff to ensure that in that analysis we were providing what DPS asked us to provide they asked us to provide a cost analysis of what would the cost be to to implement in a renovated DSA the exact same programming that is planned for the new DSA site that is what you saw last week in terms of an anticipated cost where two points first attempting to provide everything that's in the new DSA at the renovated DSA would actually cost more than the

new DSA and second that it really isn't feasible in many cases and so I think it's important just to note that that is what DPI requested and that is what DPS provided I want to acknowledge that the plan that community members have brought forward does have a lower price tag than the new DSA that lower price tag comes with not meeting the programming requirements that have been established for the performing arts school and and I want to say that again the lower price tag Flex not meeting the requirements that had the programming standards that have been established for a new school so you would you would have um a lower price tag and it could be40 to $50 million as as as folks have um brought forward but you would still be spending almost $200 million for a diminished level of

programming that doesn't meet the standards that we have publicly said is what should be in an performing arts school so you'd be spending $190 million for an inadequate level of service as has been defined by the district including the board or what a performing art school should provide students some of the additional limitations of that Community proposal include as I've already mentioned it it doesn't meet the programming standards it would require up to 7 years of renovation on site where sixth through 12th graders for seven years would be Crossing construction zones and there would be a safety concern and issue that would need to be addressed at whatever that cost might be um in order to make to to Really handle a construction site and a school at the same time I think it's also important to note that the reduced enrollment that would

need to be implemented at the Durham school of the Arts where there is already a waiting list there is already a lottery process it is an over subscribed school and to reduce the enrollment at that school by as much as half in order to accommodate the onsite construction these these are all aspects of trying to maintain the school on site that aren't spoken about and or are dismissed by those who would wish to renovate on site and I want to elevate them because I don't think they should be dismissed I think it's also um important to note that the the concerns or the questions that have come up about how the bond package was um messaged to the community and the all of the uh aspirations and schools that were a part of that bond package are important to note because um with I believe the bond package had an over 80% approval rating and one of the

lead items in that bond proposal was moving DSA to a new site and major Renovations or refreshes of a five or six elementary schools and since that Bond was voted on the cost of new schools renovated schools all construction has almost doubled in some cases uh we have neighboring districts that have schools that were projected at 22 million came in at 45 million um just recent L and so uh that's happening everywhere so if you were to not do something in favor of something else you're still not completing something that you asked the community for in the bond with a new DSA um that then won't happen and so e either way when you have a bond a CIP program you have to adjust to what's happening in the market and in this

particular ular case in the last couple of years what's happened in the market is that costs have escalated delivery times have been extended and so um you have to make those adjustments and make the dollars go as far as they can and um I think that it that um when we think then next uh to what would happen to the existing DSA site any future uses there because this is not really closing a school it is reloc ating students to another new facility and then continuing to contemplate get community input around what would happen at the current site I think there does need to be robust Community engagement on that I do think that that request of the community engagement would result in identifying potential uses and partners in the community and then you have to request and identify funding for what that would be as well so that's a multi-year project as well um I wanted to to make some of

those points this evening because um I think there are there's there's a lot of conversation about um you know small bits and talking points about saving this amount of money or you can do it in this amount of time and you don't really need to make all those programming changes and adjustments uh the the notion to create a brand new DSA that actually meets the program requires and establishes standards for a performing School of the Arts um is also Visionary um and it is a commitment that was made to this community Through the bond program and um so it it is no less of a commitment or more of a commitment than the other items that were in the bond program but to to to just say you can save money by doing it on site is not a sufficient picture of what has to go by the wayside in order to do that and the other complications that I've

mentioned including reducing enrollment um and the safety concerns that would come up with a construction site the fact that you cannot address the parking on site and the stacking that is necessary uh when you do this um or that some parts of the building some parts of the current school don't get touched in The community's Proposal so I think it's it's important to note all of those things because while there are responses to oh you can do this later or you can you know build a parking deck which of course there's no plan no agreement no funding nothing for um is is all conjecture and we have before us a plan that has been approved by the board that was supported by the community for which Bond funding is available for which $20 million has pretty much already been spent in terms of what's called sunk costs um and I just wanted to make all of those points because although I know that the board is likely not taking action on this tonight um what we will

be asking the board for on action or staff will be asking the board for for Action would be to recom staff would be recommending that the Board of Education affirm the relocation of the students to the new Durham School of the Arts once once construction is complete those are my comments thank you Miss Mo all right colleagues this is your opportunity to share um where you're standing with this project as of right now and where you would like Administration to put this uh affirmation onto our August 22nd agenda so that we can try to build consensus I do hear um Miss uh Harrell goof and Mr tab's concerns about not having all the background details necessary I would encourage each of you to reach out to Dr L freeze to try to get a

meeting between now and August 22nd to get some uh of your questions answered okay we're gonna kick it off with Miss berer thank you so much chair Rogers this is a um decision that um I continue to to be so appreciative of all the voices um who chime in and those that we don't hear from as we have been working on um improving investing upgrading renovating all of our schools s in my entire time on the board and when I decided to run for my most recent term I think I put up a post about Brick by Brick because I understand and you to understand how out of dat and in need of dire um Renovations replacement repairs

um and and room for growth Durham public school facilities are it is profoundly true across this District but it is shockingly true at Durham's School of the Arts and so I appreciate the Consultants from Nema that helped us I appreciate our internal staff that continue to lead this effort I look forward to ways that we can improve Community engagement in this moment and and going forward we but um for on behalf of the nearly 2,000 students that are currently served at Durham School of the Arts and in respect for the will of the voters of this community I continue to be be enthusiastic about supporting the new Durham School of the Arts as a physically responsible way to plan for

students in Durham for today and into the future I I am enthusiastic about that and believe that it actually is a plan that will save the taxpayers money I look forward to that I look forward to continuing to aggressively advocate for for everything that Durham students need going forward so thank you thank you Miss bu Miss Umstead um thank you all for the conversation and staff I have one quick question before I roll into my comments uh superintendent Moore you talked about the programming requirements that we want to make sure the school has and that have been set and can you just remind us of where those program requirements come from I don't know if that's for you or Mr leeze Mr Davis probably Mr Davis who was most most familiar with how those were set but I I can tell you that it it includes things like classrooms that actually

have the capacity and are built for the purposes intended with regards to Performing Arts with if you walk around DSA right now you see classrooms in spaces that are not intended to be classrooms you see classrooms that are all together too small for the number of students that they're trying to serve so I think that's a part of it but I think Mr Davis may have some additional information yes so uh again DSA is a combination of a comprehensive middle school and a comprehensive high school as well as uh performing arts and so because it is comprehensive ncdpi puts together based on the capacity standards of square footage and as uh superintendent Moore alluded to the current d uh essay does not subscribe to those DPI standards in terms of adequate classroom sizes so that was the Baseline of the program we then met with current staff at DSA to understand how they program their current uh location from there we added

some additional um program and that formulated what is the program for the new DSA thank you Mr Davis and Miss more that it's helpful to understand the standard and the requirements that we are looking to for the schools that we have here in the district right we want to make sure there's a certain number of square footage certain number of um different additions or facilities added on especially for an art school so I appreciate kind of hearing we use DPI as the as the starting place but then added additional Things based on the programming I think that's currently at the school and I think the programming probably they would like to see but can't do because of some of the constraints that are in the space um so I just appreciate both of that I'm reminded again that we are talking about a sixth through 12th grade school so a middle and in high school and I think um back to when we first made this decision in 2021 where one of my concerns was around the years of construction that it might

take on a current site and realizing that once we start construction you you don't know where it might take you and so that might be even longer some of the work that we might need to do in that site um and I appreciate all of this conversation I think you know when we had this original conversation it was 2021 and we were still navigating stay-at-home orders virtual meetings and so I can completely hear and understand the need um for more engagement I'm sure that that engagement looked different in that time and I appreciate all the folks who are engaging with us now and hope to have more conversations in the future um because we started again this conversation as we were coming out of of the stay-at-home orders um so I want to just acknowledge that we can do better with engagement um but I do think about this school being a place that we are proud of for the future and I think that you know I'm already thinking about what are other solutions that get our students to downtown um are we running a bus every

day that goes to downtown are we dropping off after school like what are the other ways that we can connect our students all across Durham with h what's happening in the arts district um and the Arts within our downtown area so um sorry I'm rambling I feel like now but I just want to thank y'all again for the presentation I am right now I'm sitting at wanting to move forward um but look forward to hearing more from our community next week um during the public comment period as well thank you Miss Umstead um Miss Carter uton um I'm similarly at this point um leaning towards wanting to move forward with this but I do look forward to hearing um reviewing the comments and continuing to take in more information but I will name the things that are compelling to me right now that stand out as being um what I'm thinking of as I lean in that

direction um one is as Miss Moore uh referenced the voters of Durham were enthusiastic about wanting um a new Durham School of the Arts and just as and that is that is just as much a fact as the fact that they also wanted renovations to our elementary schools but there was a comprehensive facilties assessment that identified Durham School of the Arts as a top priority so this feels to me like yes we need to continue to find resources to be able to renovate um and make all of our learning spaces ideal for our students um but that doesn't mean the students of durm school the Arts current and future for the next 50 plus years don't deserve um a premier art school space so for me um all of that is compelling the fact that this is

our art school this is our public entity for serving students who are interested in the Arts um many of whom might not otherwise be able to access many of these Arts programs this is not something I want to um they don't deserve a subing environment um I also am thinking back to the um what Mr Davis referenced which was when we were shown comps from neighboring districts for what um high schools cost these days and really despite the fact that this is a middle school and a high school combined and it's an art school the cost of this is really not that far off from schools at Charlotte mecklinburg and Wake County are building right now this is just a fact it's expensive um to build a comprehensive High School arts or not um so I think you know we're just in a difficult space right now of having Rising construction costs I also think

2 miles away so not Out Of Reach from downtown and as others have noted all of our students deserve to be able to come downtown every once in a while take a field trip down to Carolina Theater um DPAC so I hope that we can find ways to do that for all of our kids and finally I'll just reiterate that I think there are so many things that we could have done differently throughout this process and ways we could learn from our missteps in communicating with the public um about this and engaging the public I'd love to continue to hear more from folks um or suggestions on how we can do this better moving forward um to include any future projects but um you know most immediately uh what we're doing what we plan to do with the campus um and looking for ways that we can really do a great job of engaging

community members in reenvisioning that as a space for um education here in Durham and supporting um Durham Public Schools thank you um Miss Chavez all right um thank you um thank you Miss Moore for those um those additional comments um that you made I um at this point I will uh favor moving to the new DSA um and it I would say overall this has not been um it has been sort of um if you feels like an uncomfortable decision to make because there are um there are a lot of reasons why some community members want to want to stay um in the current building um the reasons that compel me to make that decision to move is

um one is the um the length of time one of the biggest ones is the length of time that it would take to renovate the current DSA um and the many um concerns that that poses for our students um and I I think um the reduced uh capacity at DSA um during that time the um having to whatever it would take to have um students exposed to a construction site um during that time um and just and and just the the length of time it would take to get to our new um our new DSA our expanded DSA um I also um I you know I am I was looking again at dur for dsa's um proposal um it it is hard to fully understand well the

numbers aren't written in such a way where it's it's able to I'm able to compare apples to apples and I understand that what um in in order to build out our full program as we're designing it um the cost would really be um extensive and I think there are some unknowns as well as um Millicent Rogers has um repeatedly brought up um in trying to renovate the current DSA um versus go to the new school um I think that this is as people have said fulfilling um a uh a promise a or a goal that was made during the bond um I think the need for DSA students is urgent um I think that um the expanded Arts facilities um are another um huge piece of this um and um and then the expanded capacity for students DSA has a long weight list as mentioned every year it often takes students many years to get

in um and um so all of those things um compel me to support the move uh let's see um I do think I I very much understand the desire to stay downtown I think if there maybe if we could you know wave of magic wand and create a different space that was um available downtown to create a new DSA that's what we would have done or that's what we would do um but given what we what we have have now um I I think the new DSA will even be closer for some students um I realized though it's you know it's not in downtown and there's a certain um there is a certain certain sentiment of connection there's a Nostalgia um you know related to the space as well as it being in a business district and there are certain um you

know a access points because of that um and um even so I I think that in making this decision what I hope we can do is to um allow people to um to to know what the decision is and to celebrate or M and move forward um and if we go in a different direction by you know by the next meeting then um then we then we do that but um but I think in the case that we are moving forward to the new space um it will be helpful for us to know that so we can um we can move forward with that understanding um and I would just say that um I I continue to oh I think that everything that we should do that we do should um help us to build Community Trust and so I do want to uh use um

opportunities in this process to to do that to really have um to to have dialogue it does feel like there's still some um there just more dialogue needed and um and so I think that Community engagement is really um really important as we go through this transition um so I want us to um to continue to think about that um and I appreciate all the work that's that's been done on this um um yeah Mr Davis you've done a very thorough job on um you know creating U so many I mean this project so um and your team so those are my thoughts for now thank you thank you Emily Chávez uh Mr tab the Mr Joy Harrell Goff I apologize uh thank you so so much I have a question for uh drre or uh Mr Davis

can you reiterate if we were to pause in a short nutshell what would that cause what kind of issues would that cause from an operation standpoint I can I can share a little bit and then I know Fred has also had some discussions on this but essentially if you pause um you run the risk of current bids that you have expiring uh or um the contractors asking for um uh increases uh you also have risks with um the next big p bid package which is a sizable one for in essence the majority of the construction and so every month that goes by that that bid package doesn't get advertised is inflationary costs um and then you didn't ask this in terms of the question but um uh hypothetically if you did want to have a professional cost estimate on the Community generated plan um you're going

to need to authorize additional expenditures on said plan uh when you just heard from superintendent Moore that that plan does not meet the current programming uh and educational requirements of a comprehens of School of the Arts um Fred you can probably add to that and comment on um other implications with our construction manager yes uh Dr lefree uh just to Reit reiterate um a PA equals time and we've had Administration has come um with three factors or pillars when it talks about construction Capital planning that's time scope and money any of those that move in an upward trajectory also moves everything else so if we spend more time we essentially will be spending more money and more buy money that is not going to 30,000 plus students here in DPS okay thank you for that um Mrs Moore um

cleared up a lot of questions that I had in in her responses um so I don't have to ask a lot of the questions that I really had the next um thing I wanted to ask before I give commentary is that if you if we do the ren renovation what happens to those students I know we talked about constructions but what really happens to those students if we started construction on the current site and what happens to them I think I I can Matthew can add to this I know Fred can M Moore can um I'll start um a uh active construction renovation process is going to involve multiple phases and so you'll have different areas uh and educational components that won't be available during constru ruction um you have safety security issues you it it adds to the cost of

development because they're having to uh take into account um uh separation of construction activities and students um um so those are those are those are some things um I know Matthew and Fred you can you can continue to add thank you Dr the free uh for the opportunity and Mr tab uh a good question a thoughtful one um with regards to our students that are enrolled um again this is in the vacuum of needing to do we would need to do deep exploratory phasing research with u construction management firm but on the premise that we were to do an occupied phased in renovation not only are we discussing seven years enrolled students would either have to be reassigned to another school or we would need to begin to truncate enrollment such that we could fit the enrolled students on the campus during the renovation as Miss Moore highlighted if

we were to move from 1850 students down to the reasonable number of a thousand for a phased in renovation You' be talking about the relocation of up to 850 students to another campus possibly for seven years that means enrolled students at DSA not being able to finish their academic program on the site again that is determined on how it's deployed and how it would be implemented I think the board and the community can appreciate that uh any of those scenarios would be disruptive to students okay thank you um that's very that's very very helpful um to get a a clear picture of of you know the innerwork of if you do one thing this is what's possibly can happen if you do something different then this could possibly happen um I would love to um hear what um the organization the community organization would have to say based on what you have already said you

know what what what is their plan you know if if they have plans to continue to remain at the same at the same location then how would they would have addressed what you just said um because that's where for me is putting the students first in the least that we can do to disrupt their academic you know education the better for me and that's the position that I'm going to be in uh at this point since I was not you know involved early on because this has been going on since 20121 this is a a long time for conversations about this new school okay so uh I definitely would agree with uh chair uh woman uh Rogers in that I would love to hear you know set up a meeting with you all to really kind of digest the nuts and bolts of from 20 from 2021

to where we are now and I would love to talk to the community group in terms of from 2021 what was their involvement from the beginning uh I will I have not talked to the staff anyone on the staff at DSA or some students in terms of you know where they are um because that's important to me um if they're if they're they may be you know really really eager to to get out of the old building I mean I probably would be um as an artist but I also understand the the economic and um artist benefit of being downtown um so personally as an artist yes I would I would probably say yes I would want to be downtown but as a board member looking at all the things that have already occurred I probably at this point would not stop that process but I would want to know more

information of how we got to this point and the pros and cons like you all have already stated but I would love to hear from the community group as well uh how they would counter what you all have already said that is perfectly laid out in terms of uh supporting the needs of the students um and that's important for me to not to to do not disrupt their academic process uh and if we do it would have to be you know at minimal it it couldn't be like what you have already described um that would just not work for me you know um so that's where I am I would love to have more conversation uh with with staff and with um with the community group and but as I am right now as a as an artist I would probably just say yep let's stay downtown but as a board member looking at all the things that you have already done I would

probably not stop that process thank you chairwoman thank you Mr tab Miss um Harrell go thank you um I have enjoyed hearing all of of the um the the information again I know that some of this has come back over and over I've enjoyed hearing it again I've I've gained some clarity um in this board meeting today I am leaning toward um moving um going ahead going forward with moving to the new DSA location um yes and to what everyone has already said um the and is the thing that is most compelling to me is that the programming and the programming and educational um benefits of the new space um could not be replicated in the old space and I firmly believe that if

we have found a way to give our students the best then we should give them the best um uh now and looking into the future so I I'm excited about what this building could mean for our current students and for the future of Durham Public Schools I'm excited as an artist for what the facility will provide um and so I am leaning that way having said all of that I'm also excited about everything that I've heard everybody mention about um really wanting to lean into more Community engagement um and I look forward to where those conversations lead us and and um how we're able to to make practices like that uh um better as we move forward thank you Miss haral goof I have no further comments except I look

forward to us moving this forward um anyone have a motion that they would like for this item in order to get it to our August 22nd Work session I'm sorry formal board meeting if I could get some clarification perhaps from um attorney Malone uh because the board because the staff brought this forth originally on the agenda as an action item where we were requesting um that the board uh take the action of um affirming the decision to um relocate the students from current DSA site to the new DSA site is is the action that the board would take at this point to either not move forward or to propose something

different and that would be the action um whether it would be to move the staff recommendation to either consent or action at the next meeting something along those lines yeah I think that the the contemplated motion would be that the board would move this um to the August 22 agenda either as a consent item or as an action item um you know recognizing that even if they added as a consent item it could certainly be moved to an action item at the next meeting but the um given that the board is not going to take action kind of formal action tonight that is the um the motion that was contemplated um for for this and other action items tonight A Move that we place the Durham School of the Arts um update in

accordance with North Carolina General statute 115 c-72 on our August uh 22nd meeting for consent a second it's been moved by Miss buer second it by Millicent Rogers um to put the DSA presentation on update in accordance with North Carolina statute 115 c-72 on consent agenda for August 2 second is there any further discussion okay we'll do a roll call vote Miss buer hi Umstead patina Umstead and I vote I miss Carter uton hi Emily Chávez hi Mr tab I uh Joy Harrell Goff I and I vote I the

motion carries unanimously thank you all for this robust conversation um the next item on our agenda is Just for information only is that correct Dr L free well actually yes a construction progress report is just provided for information um the items are have either already been approved by the board at prior meetings or they are under the threshold that require board approval but we are required to share it with you as information there's no action you need to take thank you Dr L we appreciate that is there a b in between there the app to g website apologies okay for skipping b um Miss Cooper sorry you don't get to talk to us often I forgot good evening chair Rogers board members uh superintendent Moore and my fellow DPS colleagues in our DPS Community uh thank you so much uh for

being here tonight and I'm excited to share um all the wonderful things that are on The Horizon as it relates to dur public schools' online presence here with me this evening I have Matias weot he is a vice president at AP and you'll hear a little bit more about AP as we continue this presentation uh one thing that I'm excited to share is that we uh Matias is local to durm um and he lives right next to one of our one of our wonderful DPS schools and he has a student who is a future DPS student um so we are super excited about this upcoming partnership and how it will benefit durm public schools and all of our families and students next slide please so today we'll do a brief uh status update regarding our current website and mass notification system in addition we'll talk about our vision for the durm public schools digital presence and what that means for all of our families who want to stay connected to

DPS additionally we'll talk about about uh the selection process for our new website provider and we'll do a formal introduction to that company along with talking about our implementation plan uh for bringing our new site and mass notification system on board and of course provide space for questions and discussion this evening next slide please of course everything that we do in Duram Public Schools is closely connected to our road mapap for Success which is our strategic plan uh this initiative in particular is directly connected to priority 4 to ensure that we cultivate meaningful and authentic engagement with our community um additionally making sure that our Communications and our messaging to those families is culturally responsive and it's understandable and accessible next slide please so where are we now with uh DPSS current website the provider that we currently used was acquired and therefore the product will be sunset in

June of 2025 this presented an opportunity for us to really think big about what we wanted the DPS online presence to look like and that is why we decided to engage in this process um to ensure that we have um the appropriate information and vision um for moving DPS forward as it relates to our online presence and how we engage current families and prospective families in assessing our current situation um our current platform um is outdated in its design and its navigation is difficult for our families to navigate and find the information that they need to support their students and as they continue to grow within during Public Schools the current platform also has limited mobile responsiveness we know that everyone does um all of their internet searches and they utilize their phones for a lot of the things that they do on a daily basis we want to make sure that um all devices were appropriately updated to ensure that connection and finding

information right in your hand at all times and also lack of integration with modern tools um we wanted to ensure that our families could find that information easily and create a One-Stop shop to ensure their success uh for our families as well and we wanted to make sure that many of the other tools that they currently use to stay connected with their Student Success um had the ability to be incorporated into this platform um so they're not navigating several apps but just one next slide please every great design begins with an even better story and one thing that we know is that the durm public school story is an amazing one and we certainly owe it to our families and all of our stakeholders and the entire durm Community to do an outstanding job of telling that story and we believe that a new website and a new um engaging design will allow us to better communicate that story with all who um desire to engage with during Public Schools next slide please

our selection process began in the spring and we launched a formal RFP process in which we solicited proposals regarding our new website and mass notification system throughout that process we received seven proposals from providers across the country and we really dug into the details of all of their qualifications and their expertise and how we could help take durm public schools to the next level and how it engages and communicates with its families all of those proposals were reviewed and the products and services were analyzed and ranked based upon a detailed Matrix to ensure that it checked all of the boxes and could provide all of the things that we know our fam's desire and then at the end of that process um apto was selected as our new website and mass notification system provider for all of the things that they bring to the table and how they will be able to elevate our presence online next slide please so a little bit more about and during the question and discussion I'm sure Matias will um be able to answer

any additional questions that you have the company is a leader nationally as it relates to supporting school districts of all sizes and cultivating their online presence for families and their Community they were founded in 2014 and they are publisher of CEO magazine which is a phenomenal publication um that is supported um through the company directly and provided to uh school public relations professionals across the United States they currently Support 32 districts in North Carolina through their online um website and mass notification systems and you can see a few of the other districts um that they also support some very large ones as well 4,000 um school public um public school websites um that they currently have within their portfolio and it's also a company that has not been acquired which is something that is exciting for us as we continue to grow and form a strong relationship not only with APG but also with our families through this website um they are supported by 400 plus employees which many we have already beg to engage with

as we start to look at what the new durm Public Schools website looks like and of course a 99% per retention rate which is exciting for us that means that their clients are very happy with their work next slide please so we have a couple of objectives that we want to accomplish with our new website and that really is taking our audiences in mind and we know that there are several different um groups of individuals who come to our site for several different reasons um but we really boiled it down to two buckets our prospective families those that we want to enroll their students in dur public schools and making sure that they have the information they need to make those decisions and um to make that enrollment smooth and efficient in addition to our current families to make sure that they're finding what they need so much easier in a way that makes sense for how they navigate current websites throughout as throughout their consumer um Journey next slide please so our communication strategy for this new website um we are currently um

discontinuing our current platform and we are rebuilding a new one from scratch um that is very exciting to us as we can be as Innovative as we'd like to be and how we showcase dur public schools to our larger Community we've officially had our kickoff call regarding that process and our beginning those initial conversations about what the new website will look like and the features that are important not only to um our communication professionals inside durm public schools but also with our families and what they desire as well uh we will have a new durm Public Schools mobile app um again making sure that the website is mobile responsive is essential in how we navigate and move forward and inform our families again I mentioned that we want to make this a One-Stop shop for all of our families so whether you're using um Power School whether you're using DPS Athletics platforms they can all be integrated into this one site and with a click of a button you can get everything that you need so we really want to make this easy for all of our families but we also want

to make it easy for our staff uh we understand that they are storytellers in and of themselves and they own a piece of sharing the story with our entire community so that means that on the back end of our system that they'll be able to easily update information um our social media platforms will now be updated through this backend platform as well um again making it easy for all of our stakeholders whether they are internal or external to dur public schools and again um accessibility is important ensuring that the site is ADA Compliant and also that there's language access for all of our families and that is a critical component as we know how diverse our school Community is that is a priority through this process and it is something that aptg has a lot of experience in and we are excited about what we will be able to do through this new site next slide please so let's talk a little bit about timeline um I should mention that uh this website redesign is not just for the main uh DPS homepage this is for all of our school

websites as well so there will be a new phase for every single school um in the next few months um it's a very ambitious undertaking but uh we are super excited and we know the results that it will yield upon completion so you'll see in front of you um where we've started um just last month getting kicked off on that call and we are in the strategic planning and design phase of that right now talking about all the very technical things as it relates to getting a new website up and off the ground and then we start to transition to more of that development and content migration that'll be really critical for all of our departments and our school leaders to understand um their role and how we're getting that information from point A to point B so on go live date it has everything that all of our families need and it is a seamless transition for all involved training is important we know that a lot of people update our website whether it be at the school level or the department level we want to make sure that those individuals have the resources that they need APG has a

robust training program in which um they provide um Hands-On walkthroughs in several different Fashions um for all of our stakeholders who will be navigating the back end of the website to make sure that they have everything that they need and then we get to launch and right now we're saying spring of 2025 um we know we have a little bit of wiggle room in that process but we want to make sure that we are being thoughtful and taking all the necessary time needed to ensure that all of our staff and all of our families know about the transition that's happening and that we are well prepared to launch the new phase for Duram Public Schools next slide please and at this time I will um open the floor for any questions or discussion you may have regarding the new website and mass notification system thank you so much Miss Cooper colleagues any questions comments

uh not hearing any questions comments or concern okay there miss berer has something to share I just have enthusiasm to share and I just um want to say that um the new capabilities the new video capabilities the new interactive capabilities the things that I don't even understand are coming I'm excited about and I appreciate y'all taking so much time to um do a thoughtful and thorough RFP that will help us better communicate with our families and really showcase everything great that's going on I know it's going to be a ton of work on top of work that you all already do and I know that um this board will stand ready to to help get some assistance if needed and I'm so glad there's local expertise um in Durham I don't have I wish I knew technical questions to ask you all about what this will do differently but the when I went to ap's website and looked at demos of other

school district sites I was so impressed with how Dynamic and vibrant and marketing strong I don't know even the language they are so I'm just excited um and I appreciate yall leading us through this and and helping our principles and school Leaders with this important transition um so we can be unified and ready thanks absolutely if I could that was one of the things that really U made AP stand out above is um the ability to really start to Showcase dur public schools and its website through a marketing lens and not just an information hub for families there are several things that we want to accomplish with this new site to ensure that durm public school stays at the Forefront um for its families and can appropriately showcase the innovations that are happening within our schools every single day thank you any other uh colleagues have questions okay Miss

carteron um I'm excited about this thank you so much Miss Cooper um I I'm curious to just to clarify so the um school websites will be linked or what's going to be the difference between this and what we have existing as far as um district and school looking to make things as I'm sure you are more simple and straightforward for families and for our staff at our school level so could you explain like what that will look like on the user end both from an app and like on a laptop for folks well so what people um might understand of a website now it probably will not look very much different to the average person of there will certainly be much more visually appealing in how you can navigate the site and find information but the website plat form um will essentially serve as we it currently does um the exciting thing that we have is how we showcase that information and get it directly into the hands of our families um each school will still have their same website um many of the

differences are on the back end now if schools have a social media presence they have to update that in a separate platform now they will be able to do that on the same platform through AP which makes it so much easier for them sharing that important critical information with their families they essentially key it in one time and it can go to all of those platforms whether it's the homepage of their website their Facebook page their Instagram page um and so forth so it really is streaming in the backend sight or the backend aspects um for our families or for our staff and for our families it will be a much more engaging Dynamic um experience U much more user friendly and user focused um those are some of the things that we certainly took into consideration um when looking at a new provider is is it truly responsive to how individuals navigate uh websites currently and how they like to find their information um I'll turn it over to Matias because he can provide much more of that technical information as

net George DWS that will stay the same so each school will have its own website presence and then there will be the DPS overarching presence but the design the navigation the flow of information we're going to work on that especially to make it easy for folks that want to enroll make that make that flow a lot easier and of course for all the current families thinking about what is the information they look for that they currently struggle finding there's a lot we can do in analytics to discover that and then make those make that also a lot easier so that it takes fewer clicks and then on the mobile app there will be a section for each school so that as the average parent or Guardian with kids in one two or three different buildings you can favor those buildings and then only see updates for those buildings that's great super exciting thanks so much for giving more information about that and I'm also excited about the translation

capability and then one more clarifying question schools also use um uh apps like do class dojo and other mechan I can't remember what other ones are called but um to send information to families and to communicate that will that remain unchanged in this and they'll still have that way that they receive information in addition to through the website and so those schools that use those additional apps like Dojo or Bloom they can still certainly use those platforms as well um the mass notification system in which we're referencing um many of the text messages phone calls or emails that families receive already um that is what is processed through this current system that will be um on board in 2025 um so how families receive it that call that text message it will still be delivered to them in the same manner it is just different how we execute it and we can streamline it um to make it more consistent on the back end for sharing but um yes they will still have the opportunity to use those additional platforms um to further engage with

their families on that level is I'm said uh thank you Miss Cooper for this presentation I'm really excited about some of the things you all said and have been noted before the language integration I think the mobile friendly is key our current website is real clunky when you go to the mobile it's hard to find things you also mentioned integration with some of the other apps or are different uh platforms that we use are you able to speak to any of those or will some of that information come out later I think the idea of really having one stop shop for families who currently are now in multiple different places to find the bus or to find the Dojo or to find remind and those things so can you speak a little bit to more maybe what you already know or what you all will be continuing to look at what integration might look like Absolutely I'll start and I'll turn it over to Matias to speak to that a little bit more but yes we know that there's several different platforms that our

families use whether they need to log into Power School to check grades or they're on canvas looking up assignments um and several other apps that they utilize um we will be able to integrate those into this site and through a click of a button it can take you directly to that platform instead of you having a different mobile application uh for that so our our whole goal is to streamline this process for our families we know that they juggle a lot of things and if they have multiple children and different grades um it looks very very different so the goal is that we're making it easier for them to engage with their schools engage with dur public schools and better support their students through through this application um in addition um in the mobile app it's actually going to look like a real mobile app and not necessarily um a template on the top of an an a desktop website that is then going to take you to uh what is just a website um and Matias can speak to more of kind of that integration as well but we're really excited about the

capability that this brings because it's going to speak to more speak more to how people currently utilize their mobile devices and navigate through those current platforms forms Matas yeah the only thing I might add is the as the state moves to Infinite Campus from from power school this will hopefully be really helpful where the link to the Parn portal as it's called is always in the same place even if that will change later on um so just yeah just to reiterate we're not going to replace any of those tools right we're just going to incorporate them and make it easier to get to them and find them so that as a parent I can just remember that I can go to the DPS app and I don't have to remember the names of all the other things and potentially in the future if there is appetite there is the opportunity to consolidate a little bit more and you know have it even easier but for now really looking to to streamline that experience without replacing anything other than the platforms that were being sunset at any thank you all that was really

helpful awesome thanks thank you all um anybody else have any questions comments concerns thank you uh Mr W Ward yes thank you both for being here uh for this presentation and answering our questions uh we look forward to seeing the work that you all are going to do together thank you thanks so much thanks everybody okay uh we're moving to item five academic Services a is the opening of school's updates I will take um this one for the a little bit of sake of expediency of time as well since there's so many folks that um contributed to this uh presentation today so uh at the last uh board meeting I did a brief opening of schools update

that was really focused on the financial transition from year end to the opening of the new school year and told you then that we would bring you a part two at the next meeting that focused on some other areas that were critical and important and of interest for our opening of schools next slide please the areas that we are going to cover in our U presentation today include some updates from Human Resources some updates around facility Readiness academics uh some more financial update on the end of year closeout and New Year um some up some updates from growing together in terms of a little bit of data I know that some folks have been expecting and hoping to see some of that um and then some operational Readiness in terms of serving students that uh will come as well next slide please next slide please so for human resources um and this is divided into three boxes I you know I know that you guys have had a chance to look at it but what I really want to highlight is that we are showing specifically breakouts for year round

schools that have already started and our specialty schools I believe some of them were supposed to start today so um and then all vacancies and and really what I want to highlight here is both the con the good news the glows and the grows so to speak um the the glows really are that um we are I think in better shape than we have been at this time of year um in the most recent years with regards to overall vacancies um in terms of areas of grows are areas of largest need and of Interest continue to be in the EC area um we do track Math and Science as well um and those are in better shape than we've seen in recent years but we do continue to have a a good number of vacancies and um and it we this was as of earlier this week I believe it says up there 85 um so hopefully we continue to put a dent in that and you've got a personal report this evening hopefully that'll put a

dent in it as well um but you you always have transition EB and flow at the beginning of the school year but I think overall this slide is really pretty good news next slide please facility R is next next slide so here you have really a laundry list of the kinds of things that go on that have been going on during the summer in order to get our schools ready to open um we have lawn care support going on all over the district you know it's it's amazing how much the Grass Grows when it rains a lot uh when kids are not in school trampling on it um um we also have some contracted custodial support for floor cleaning I know that we had a question about this the vast majority of our uh floor cleaning is done by um DPS employees uh in our custodial department but we do have to contract a bit in order to get the volume of schools done during a the short period of time in the summer uh we also have some contracted movers that support internal Services classroom move requests that's you know

moving furniture moving stuff around from from place to place as needed to adjust for the students that are coming in some OB bestus abatement has happened um since we closed at a couple of schools low Grove middle and Mangum Elementary we have some signage including Eno Valley elementary fille elementary some bathroom partitions at Lowe's Grove and Riverside High School a number of schools that have some interior painting projects those are just some of the things that have been going on during the summer next slide please couple of additional pieces pieces here are really about um construction and capital planning services that have been going on so obviously uh Murray massenberg we've all been waiting on that um we do have a temporary Co the teachers are in the building they've held their staff meetings they're starting to to get together and get ready for school to open on time for students um I do want to remind everyone who's listening that anytime we open a brand new school you kind of are under um I can't remember what that term is if somebody that's

online can help me uh for when they they go around and they put blue tape all over stuff and it takes and you actually it's under warranty for a year for everything that sort of needs to be done that's been overlooked or needs to be finished or that sort of thing so there will still be some things going on on the campus during the course of the first year that is the case for any new school that is opened um Glenn Elementary is another one the that's a comprehensive renovation and addition that's that project is in progress as well uh we have uh already put in some Investments uh for the Durham School of the Arts and we heard a little bit more about that earlier this evening we have made some districtwide playground improvements uh there was I know that a couple of questions came up about those and um be happy to have um Fred or Todd answer those if uh they are available in a few minutes some srhac improvements including controls chillers boilers you see some of the schools that have been impacted by that work as we move forward

next slide please there are some unfunded projects and we keep lifting these up because they are important and I want to sort of I've been you know trying to keep them front and center so that we continue to be reminded and so that both the community and the board can hold us as staff accountable for both the conversations and the planning that will need to take place to work on this we spoke about these as early as earlier this week at at the Joint meeting with the County Commissioners um the life safety renewal this is mostly the fire code uh things in terms of needs that we need to uh address some districtwide hbac renewal needs um that as you see there include um boilers chillers controls and air handling units next slide please this appendix I'm G to I'm going to let you know it's there and then I'm going to skip through all of those slides um the appendix really contains more detailed information about

construction and capital planning um so there's a lot of things for you to look at there including how um some Life Safety plan updates how some Esser plan Esser funds have been used some renewal spending that has happened a number of charts and graphs for you so we'll move on next to the academic section which is on slide 18 I believe thank you next slide please some highlights from academics in terms of the summer planning that has been taking place and getting ready for opening of the new schools I do want to highlight that we have completed as a district our letters training uh this is mandatory training that uh was um funded by the legislature that came through uh DPI uh with letters uh training regarding early literacy for all elementary teachers you see there the 634 teachers have completed that training as a cohort um we do have plans moving forward for new teachers who join

our district that will need to be a letters trained but this really is something to celebrate we also launched a parents guide to student achievement in response to Senate Bill 49 um this is while it is a requirement it is something that we hope will help our parents access be informed about and um be able to provide advocacy and support for their students we are engaged now as our calendars change in three different school year kickoffs for yearr in specialty and traditional so all of those have been happening as well or will happen soon uh we did provide some EC professional development for all DPS administrators as that is an area of need as we have seen with regards to Due Process cases and um concerns that families have expressed especially coming out of the pandemic with IEP and services provided to students we have a new principal onboarding effort that's being led by our principal supervisors to make sure sure that our new principles are getting off to a great start and and being

provide some coaching and mentoring for them their transition uh we do we have merged academic and Leadership services with Nicholas King as the deputy superintendent uh taking on academic Services as well as principal supervisors uh I think this is uh somebody highlighted for me that this might be the first year that we've started with a full complement of principal supervisors at the beginning of the year so that's something to celebrate and we do have a number of new curriculum and instruction team members that we know will bring their lens their classroom experience and their expertise to Bear uh as we move forward next slide please we have a couple of things we also want to highlight that will be coming to the board in the fall wanted to make sure that we put these on your calendar so that you are aware that they are coming um in September normally is when we bring you the school accountability results where you understand about schools that met growth exceeded growth performance composits for schools um all of that information including graduation rates it's it's all of the

data that usually sometime early in September is approved by the State Board of Education um and then becomes public and you will get an update on all of that as well uh we are scheduling a strategic Plan update in October for the board we did a strategic Plan update recently um around um all of the areas of the plan and you remember we did it I think in the boardroom and had sort of a gallery walk and opportunity to engage with the different objectives uh in the plan and so you'll get another update in October also on the calendar uh this is a continuation from work that began I believe in May when we did a discipline data update for the board and then another presentation uh maybe last month um we will be bringing to the board uh the next steps around what our discipline revisions could look like with regards to policy feedback that we've gotten from principles Etc wanted to make sure that you knew that work was still moving and that that update is scheduled for late in the fall as well next slide please uh next slide couple updates on

financial services so um we we're already looking towards budget development for the next year um at least internally within the finance department in terms of setting calendars and schedules um and making sure that uh uh we put out information so that divisions and departments can begin planning for how they will access the budget development process with which you know departments will be looking at their needs um in the late fall and that will start to crystallize into requests sometime around the beginning of 2025 um we are instituting some procedural updates with regards to how we handle contracts we are looking at updating some manuals and resources and putting some things out for both schools and Central services staff regarding uh procedures with finances uh this is really a part of ensuring that our our systems and processes continue to be updated or aligned um and are yielding um Good Financial stewardship of

District resources we do have a couple of financial system updates um syllogist Ed who has done our accounts uh payable and receivables for the last year is has some updates um we have paused on the um HR payroll side of syllogist Ed and and are planning to make sure that um as we do Implement that piece that we are providing a good Runway um and and really a more comprehensive uh look at what it takes to make that transition than what we did with the accounts payable and receivables piece because that has been very bumpy and then we have some school funds online upgrades uh that we will that will really help support our schools and how they are using their resources at the school site we have a number of training opportunities that actually are St ing I believe next week um we have contracted with NC asbo the north CL Association of school business officers um to conduct a

school business management Academy for our treasures and our principes and some of our folks in finance who will attend as well so all School treasurers have been invited to a training next week it's two-day training where they will uh do four modules from NC asbo to make sure that we have a baseline um a foundation of the expectation of training regard regarding rules regulations best practices North Carolina laws to make sure that all of our school treasurers have that same comprehensive Baseline similar training for principles two days of training for modules that provide them with oversight um as the budget manager in their building and their primary responsibility to make sure that they are good stewards of their schools funds uh making sure that they understand best practices policies procedures North Carolina law and how to manage the funds in their building so we're really excited about bringing that training to everyone next week next slide please a couple of updates from growing together um wanted to provide an

enrollment update for our yearound schools in terms of where they were as of August 1st what the projection was and what the stated capacity is for each of those schools you'll see that um some of most of our schools are a lot of them are on target for their enrollment and their projection some are a little below um and uh a couple are above their projected enrollment uh there were a couple of questions that were asked about how we are engaging with families especially for those year rounds who are New Year rounds for the first time and families who may not be aware that the calendar has changed um who may not be attending school because um they don't they haven't they haven't realized that it's already in session um there is comprehensive of work that is happening with our school social workers and administrative teams reaching out to families it is a targeted effort to make sure that they are aware that school is in session and um helping families

navigate either getting to the school and getting their kids in in in in or if the family is looking for an option uh transfer request or something along along those lines making sure that we are helping them access those procedures and processes as well um hopefully we are trying to get them in the school to begin with rather than than waiting but um I I would not be surprised especially with this being the first year of many of these schools being yearr to see a bump that happens when Traditional School opens but we will continue to monitor that and I know that um Deb Pitman and some others may be online in case there are any questions here next slide please we're also bringing you an update on the transfer requests that have come in and I thought it was important to at least provide a snapshot of where we are right now um and so you'll see that um that the student that student assignment has received 1,25 hardship transfer requests and um

227 of those were around a program opt out and then in terms of um the outcomes of those requests 215 were resolved and that means that the the parent maybe withdrew the request um or it could be that um the the transfer was submitted in error they were trying to do something else um a contact is made to the parent to inquire and it's actually a different need that they had and so staff helps them and guides them to the correct place for their support that they might need a lot of times those examples of those would be families who might need support with mckin vento or foster care needs for their children um and then sometimes that parents just withdraw their requests um after they're contacted about moving forward of the 125 to 752 were approved um 419 were not approved um of all of those hardship

transfer requests not approved 62 have been elevated to the superintendent level um for further review and you see the outcomes there 15 resolved 12 of those were approved and 36 were not approved um and then out of those 62 that were elevated to the superintendent 16 of the ones that were not approved of the 36 have been elevated to the board of education level of appeal and you see right now two of those have been approved 12 have not been approved um there are a couple that are pending I thought it was important to show those numbers as this being the first year of the growing together implementation and you know um being able to see how many have been submitted how many have been elevated to the superintendent level how many have been elevated to the board of education level and then the rates of approval and not approval and how that looks across all three of those areas as well next slide please couple of next steps coming out

of this area um on October 24th um at the at the next board meeting apologies I should have a double e in there um you will have another update on year one growing together implement and potentially a conversation about whether or not there are any proposed boundary or policy changes that may need to come as a result of the data review from the implementation to the beginning of the school year um we will if we have any changes that are proposed around policy or boundaries uh need to have a period of time that we have community and board feedback on those potential changes and then sometime in November at a board meeting we would propose actual adjustments to School boundaries or recommend any policy revisions to 4150 and the reason we would sort of want this Cadence for these changes is to be prepared for the Showcase of schools that happens at the end of September so that our families and our communities would have a better notion of whether or not any changes have been made moving

forward next slide please next slide couple of highlights in um operations in terms of getting ready to for students um in our nutrition area of course this has been a highlight I'm not sure we've talked about it enough we should be skywriting it um North Carina DPI is approval of all School sites for the community eligibility provision which means that every single student in Durham Public Schools is receiving breakfast and lunch at no cost um we are also uh looking to see that we have some participation increases during that first week of school we are continue to Market and communicate to our families to make sure that they are aware of this benefit for students uh we do want to ramp up participation ramping up participation allows us to draw down federal dollars for the reimbursement of those meals which then in turn allows us to be able to experiment and do more

22 that's not in the ontime arrivals we've probably heard from you so and I I can appreciate that because we we want to get that number even higher next slide

please I'm not sure if there's an appendix there or not next slide these questions so um I know that went through that very quickly but we have a number of folks online that are ready to answer any questions that you may have um so turn it back over to you thank you so much Miss Moore colleagues any questions or comments Miss buer I was waiting for someone else to jump in there and I didn't see anybody but I just want to express such gratitude for all of the um all of the detail that is here all of the the extensive work um that has gone on superintendent Moore during your tenure um just to see all the aspects in academics and operations that have been touched and are in the process of being

improved in the really difficult work that that your team has led um I think is something to celebrate the question I had was on the part that I think gives people the most pause any changes proposed to Growing together and so the slide where you detail upcoming next steps and those dates for growing together changes are you and staff seeing that those would be needed or are you at this point penciling in those dates in case there are things that are needed like this is the one that produces so much anxiety for families I was just wondering kind of how y'all are approaching it because I think of growing together as a plan that needs multiple years right to to show success and we need to give it time to to roll forward so so I think I think what I would say is um and and certainly Deb or Matthew can jump in if they already if they already know they see some things but I I want to be really careful here because we haven't even started the new

school year yet um we really do need to allow the school year to begin the transfer period to settle the fin enrollment numbers for 2425 to be in place which won't happen until mid to late September to really understand um how accurate our forecasting was around either where enrollment went up or down how families made choices where there is space and there is not space um we we just don't we're just not there yet right now so really what you see in the calendar items that are proposed is a proposed calendar for what will either be a disc discussion around the data and the implementation of growing together and reminders of what comes next um or potentially changes to boundaries changes to the policy based on what we see in that opening of school year data after the middle of September sort of but I would invite Matthew or Deb to add any other um components to what I just

said that's exactly right we want to have that timeline in place for those reasons superintendent more lifted turn I think I think part of highlighting that this is also just making sure that our community knows what the timeline would be for us to consider because you may also have some community members that may want to advocate for some changes and I think Mr Palmer wanted to maybe chime in just at the highest level to Echo um some of the conversations we had Tuesday at the Joint County Commission and Board of Education session everything we do here has to be looking near-term in those annual numbers but also with regards to the long range enrollment and so there is intentionality to this plan and we do look forward to sharing numbers of enrollment for specialty in traditional calendar schools um it is is much more Beyond these initial numbers no I appreciate it just to reassure folks that the there's perhaps

a nearby County um that reassigns regularly as and and disrupts families I don't think that is the intention of this board or this leadership um and I think that that the work that the planners did on the front end actually will minimize those disruptions to families and and that is my hope as we go forward that that we are planning with growth and continuity in mind and and hopeful that that there won't be large scale or even many disruptions at all to to what is um what we've set in motion but thank you all so much for that Clarity thanks thank you Emily Chávez and Miss on said thank you all and um and especially for the Outreach to those in the um in who find themselves in newly in yearround um School communities um I

7 8% as of last week

2% so we're now nearly at 97% and we always are focused on the ones that are delayed um there have been 245 routed trips over that interval servicing year round schools of those 245 100% of elementary students have arrived on time and there are eight trips that were delayed by cumulative 44 minutes across dat trips um those eight trips are for the second tier programs and what director Harris and our technology coordinator Mr Arnold are able to do on a daily basis is clock any delayed arrival and explore and evaluate was that a routing and design issue or is that a school bus operational issue we then explore that and look for any patterns and are able to De dive in with our area managers if it's a routing issue we do go back to the lab and do

everything possible to fix that uh it is not a Workforce um shortage issue what we have discovered again at 245 there are eight delays often what we're seeing is buses facing congestion Andor departing that Elementary School drop off as they then seek to pick up the middle school students traffic congestion in urban Durham is a very real thing as it relates on time arrival for buses particularly as we get into the second and third tiers um so I I hope that sufficiently addresses the the question we are uh sufficiently staffed for the purposes of ontime arrival um thank you I do want to just also offer one caution that this is data for the schools that are currently in session obviously there are a number the the vast majority of our schools are not yet in session yeah thank you thank you for that um superintendent Moore um and thank you Mr Palmer for that explanation that's helpful I um I think um that's

just encouraging to um to know we are moving in the right direction and also to know about your analysis um for when um buses are late um I don't I know this wasn't part of the presentation and so I understand if you don't have the numbers you said um we it sounds like we are fully staffed in terms of bus drivers um and I just also wanted to ask about bus monitors um how we're doing in that realm um if you have that data thank you mrz um we do have our V our most recent vacancy report data available um we have 142 full-time school bus drivers uh and I do want to emphasize again when I say fully stocked on the prior comment that was with regards to year round routes thank you for any clarification there um and again our love the bus 100 initiative we are actively recruiting drivers and are excited for that uh as we continue to refresh our school bus driver Workforce

we have 142 full-time drivers and 15 substitutes which means that on any given day we can have up to 157 drivers uh we have a total allotment of 225 drivers so we have a lot of work to do uh between our leadership here for Workforce Development and operations as well as our partners in HR uh to continue to get that message out and get qualified drivers behind the wheel and trained um and that's the whole topic unto itself for transportation Safety assistance that is the U technical title for what we often call bus monitors but we are professionalizing and emphasizing as a Transportation safety assistant uh currently we have 46 full-time in addition to that 10 substitutes to give us on any given day up to 56 our allotment is 53 um so we have seven vacancies on the full-time level um again we are continuing to emphasize those two points because we realize when the school bus door opens it is often

the first Contact for a student being on time and having qualified professionals is essential to us providing student service thank you so much I appreciate that um and with the understanding this is year round um but um thank you for all that data thank you Emily Chávez missad um thank you all for the comprehensive presentation um back to school it's really good to see some of the projections and numbers and where we are I have a couple of questions um I'm wondering if we will look at and they might come in the growing together update that's coming later but I wondered if we're going to look at these numbers after the 20-day so is that also um as far as attendance is concerned and those projection numbers is that could we bring those back back if we have a back to school update in August I'm curious to see where we land are you you're asking about en

enrollment numbers yes okay so 10 and 20day numbers usually I mean we will report those out um but day 10 is this year I believe September for the year round schools particular yeah Ian yeah so yeah we we so I've had a couple of conversations with some year round principles about um not closing out their en official enrollment for the year until quite frankly day 10 of traditional given the fact that we've got all the changes in calendars so um I I if we are if we I'm sure that we're tracking where they are on a daily basis in terms of their enrollment so we might be able to report that out but we're uh but I don't think that we're planning to actually close out what their enrollment is for the year until later to provide the for the time that the transition to

um a new calendar might have impacted them and follow-up question then will we have some type of also back to school presentation when our traditional Schools go back as well well I think a lot of the information you've been provided lends itself very well to additional updates as you start the school year so I think that's certainly a possibility if that's what the board would like for staff to do um to really update even some of the stuff you've heard from today especially the data vacancies um you if you want more additional information on where the final transfers land after the school year start what ADM is looking like uh in terms of um your average daily membership in schools that certainly I think those things could happen M some said to that Point knowing our board I um would like to hear from somebody if they don't want to hear those updates right now and um I'll add that to the list of things for us to ask Dr Lewis um

to make sure happens in the future hearing no objections I am feeling like there's consensus for that did you have any further questions Miss Umstead I do um I think I you know I know we're in a in between transition time but it'd be interesting to have when we have those numbers for traditional schools but to also include the year round schools and the specialty schools once we get there just so we can get a real comprehensive view of where the district is um on so many of these different items so don't know when the right timing would be I'll leave that to the administration to figure out but it'd be I wouldn't want to leave this group out since they've already had started school at that point so I want to see that um I think I asked this question before when we talked about uh ncasbo I'm glad to hear about that training is getting started next week as well as the new principal training one clarifying question on that is that for all is that new principal to DPS and new to the role

of a principal for the principal training um I think I I'm not sure if it's first time principls or if it's first time principal in a DPS school um Dr King are you I don't know if you're on and listening are you able to answer that question I am uh it is it is for all uh principes who are new to Duram public schools and frankly any any other principles who have expressed any interest in any of the sessions okay I'm really glad to see that um and I'm wondering we need it for some of our new to the role but in during Public Schools folks and I'm I just want to make sure that as we roll out these new trainings and new programs that they continue if we feel like that's the right direction of the district I think sometimes we see something come in people move or and shift and then the programs go away but I think this one feels like something has really beneficial um as we were having the discipline conversation a

couple weeks ago right like oh we used to do this and we stopped doing this and it would be really helpful so I would love to kind of see how we're rolling you know this out whether it's every year every couple years to make sure that we're contining support new principles who are coming into into DPS to let them know our DPS way of doing things but also to be investing and our school leaders which I think is really critical um and one other last question I had is around the letters training and are we I know that is a thing that everyone is doing and I wanted to know what we I'm glad that we've gotten most of our staff who've completed the training I was wondering if we have some steps around what's next with that so obviously what's next I would suggest a couple of things uh one is we are working to uh identify ways to continue uh making sure that teachers who come into our school district will continue to have access to that training uh as

the state support around that training from a financial perspective um uh begins to go away uh but second the the other piece P of that are are making sure that we now embed what we've learned from letters training um into our instructional program so as we begin to look at uh identification and um acquisition of uh materials and resources making sure those things align uh with what we've learned from letters making sure our principles um and instructional leaders understand uh letter so that they are embedding that work into the ongoing professional development and support of our teachers uh going forward um I I would say that we are um you know actively looking for other opportunities to extend that work letters was for um while it was an extensive number of teachers it it was limited to elementary teachers essentially K5 teachers uh so we're looking at some opportunities to possibly uh bring some uh letters

related training not necessarily letters training because it it is quite expensive uh some some some some training related to that work I say I would say training more around the science of reading if you will um to additional members um of our teaching um Kad I appreciate that answer Dr King I think like the training is one thing but what happens afterwards is really I think where we can see some of the impact being made um and I hope that some of our Middle School teachers and maybe some of our high school teachers also get access to the science of reading um because we know sometimes our students are still struggling with some of those skills once they get to sixth seventh eighth grade and a lot of the programs are not preparing teachers to teach reading in that way so really appreciate that um those are the end of my questions thank you all for all the hard work that's gone into starting this year round schools specialty schools and then we know as the traditional calendar comes up there'll be a lot more hard

work to do so thank you thank you thank you um we know this been a challenging year coming off and so getting ready to start really great um putting us in a position to have a great start of the year with our students is so vital so thank you all thank you all um thank you Miss said Mr tab uh Miss Harrell goof I saw you come off mute did you want to go be in Q no uh I don't need to be in Q thank you thank you Mr tab um yes thanks for all that information um this may not be the appropriate time for this question but since we're talking about back to school um and there's going to be a transition between Mrs Moore and then Dr Lewis coming on is there a plan or any talk about a convocation or beginning School event like we have had in the past or that's something for just was

for Dr Lewis so we we um did a modified version of our summer leaders conference and did not do a convocation due to the transition that was getting ready to happen because that that really probably will need to be his call and how he wants to approach that okay thank you any other questions colleagues thank you all so much for this um robust conversation uh for this presentation and um congratul ations to all the Educators and students who have started school so far um and we look forward to all the great work that you all will do and for what's to come for specialty schools that have been delayed to start and for traditional calendar schools um the next item our agenda is everybody ready to move

on all right it's the Board of Education item and the first item is a it's the RFP for board of education consultant or Services um we have been having a conversation over the last several weeks with individual board members about ideas to establish W the ways that we communicate with each other the ways that we engage with each other and discuss whether or not we would move those items the um those kinds of conversations to a restored practice Circle uh to some facilitated conversation um or mediation to establish ways for us to engage with each other and have tools um to thoroughly work through board Dynamics and conflicts when they arise and so this is now an opportunity for us to have a conversation there is a draft our

we can um if we agree to move forward with such a conversation um and such an organization to support our work uh we could put out an RFP and ask organizations to apply some conversations that have come to mind um are organizations like uh restore Justice Durham um and colleagues had other suggestions that restored um the uh an spaling conflict resolution organization any types of organizations that we may or may not be familiar with um and so I invite us to have a discussion at this time I want to offer everybody an opportunity to speak to this issue will you please share if you are in support of having these conversations and if you would like to direct someone onite staff to put

together our RFP for us to review at our August 22nd meeting and if so what qualities do you want in that RFP anybody want to speak to those questions first Miss Harrell goof um so I I would just start by saying that um I think it's very um courageous for the board to be even asking this question as a governing organization um to uh whether or not we would want to practice something like this um we've been talking uh in community and as a district about the importance of restorative practice practices in our

schools um and so as a board I think that it's really cool that we would model um what that could look like um and be open to what that could feel like how that would be established um acknowledging that um the way that people view restorative practices in this way and you know communicating healthy relationships um looks very different like the words that we use and you know what we what what we connote when we say those words is very very different throughout the community um so part of those conversations and being able to build relationships in this way and using these kind of practices for me is also um a practice of us helping us codify and understand what that means for the district um because if we find a way especially in a governing organization to be able to use tools and resources in

that way for relationship building and for guiding conversations and and um building policy impacting what we do in this work um then it sets the tone for what we're saying we want to see um utilized in our in our buildings with our students and our staff um how we want people to treat our our young people our students in in buildings um and helps us to Define what we think um Resto restoration restorative practice um means so I'm excited to uh move that conversation forward I would love to um be able to ask the staff to P petition some you know petition rfps um from people who have experience and knowledge um in these areas and who also have some experience working with governing bodies um in this way because

it's very it's a very complex thing to try to navigate without support um and so um I think I've answered everything that uh you asked meison that's that's what I would add at this moment you have thank you so much Miss haral goof um Miss carteron um yes I I agree with so much of what Miss heroff said I'll just add that or just build on that by saying that um you know whether we want to talk about it frankly or not it is a governing bodies like boards are in a tricky position of or it's a challenging Dynamic where you're putting five seven nine people together who come from different experiences and backgrounds with different perspectives and communication Styles and leadership styles you're putting them in a room and

asking them to make major decisions that impact thousands of people all with in an environment where we're um restricted by open means laws to um about the extent to which we can engage with each other outside of the public eye and I think that just put it's just a uniquely constricting um situation so we are limited in how we're able to build relationships and our communication um with one another and yet we're these are things that we need um to do this work and to do it really well in service of children and staff so I just I'm excited about the possibility of engaging someone with expertise who can help you know coach and Lead our board um towards really robust communication with one another and deep listening um and understanding one another's perspectives again in the service of our children thank you so

much colleagues anybody else have anything they want to share on this topic miss buer you came off mute yeah I'm um I'm struggling with this topic and um I've been clear with anybody that's asked me about it um I think we are a harmonious board I think we are aligned on um centering Progressive values for students and Durham and I think we need to model actually fiscal responsibility uh to the core right now so I'm um I'm reflecting back on the conflict that we've had and frankly other than the leadership vote I don't see any and so I'm struggling with um with what I think we ought to do which is just Center in the student focused work get behind Dr Lewis as he

leads and just go like I've been here a long time I've worked with people that I agree with well people that I don't agree with well it's about the students and so um you know will I say no if the majority of the board wants to um invest in in a trainer or a facilitator of course not but do I think that it's a distraction rather than than where I where I think our board should actually focus and lean in that's that's where I'm struggling um and so I want to be just like really clear that that I don't see us living in Conflict where we need an outside deider to come tell us how to get along or to facilitate us but if that's the will of the majority of the board I'm I'm happy to participate and support that um I would say if we do put out rfps I want

to make sure we look to um the UNCC School of government we look to North Carolina School boards Association we look to folks that work with elected officials doing Schoolboard um work and if we're going to be um looking at consultants and things like that we kind of keep a critical eye to where their funding comes from and and that kind of thing so that's that's kind of how I feel and where I am on this topic thank you thank you Miss berer um Miss Harrell goof I want to acknowledge that I see your hand but I want to give other folks an opportunity um to speak before we double back Miss chis um yeah I W to um I want to say I like I like this idea um I really liked um when whoever

proposed it um I think it was you ment um but or Miss Rogers um but I like the idea of modeling what our what we are um ideologically rooted in in DPS um restorative practices which is as we've been talking about with these conversations about discipline is not just about when um it's not just about when harm is done it is also a practice for when harm is is done um but it is also a constructive creative um proactive approach um and so I I would like to see us um do an RFP for a um an individual or team um who is has knowledge and experience in restorative practices and who is rooted in community um I would um I I like the

idea of us also modeling that we are Learners and um we this is something we insisted upon in our superintendent search um and um and we have that in our um incoming superintendent um Dr Lewis um and so I think this is a way of us um just continuing to to model that ourselves that we are um we are learning from one another and that we are learning from um someone who would um who would be able to be a coach and a facilitator and a support for us um I do think um like many uh groups who work together um we have um had um conflicts and fractures that have come up and I think this would be a healthy way to address them and um and my and I want to

um just be clear also that this would come out of the board's established budget this would be not this would not be taking money out of another um another pot of you know from somewhere that's supposed to go to somewhere else in the district um the board has a has a professional development budget um that we often don't don't use all of um and so um I think with all those things in consideration um I would love to move forward this with this idea Mr chab Miss Umstead I am I am fine with what with what the group decides on this um I you know I always support anything that will help us do the business of the board even better so whatever you all decide

is fine um I'm happy to let Miss Harrell go go and then I can speak afterwards um okay miss her go um I just wanted to um say that um in my response the way that I view um restorative practice is not um restorative practice is is kind of like a um it creates a certain culture uh a certain culture of care and a certain culture of um of uh of self-care and of communal care um it's not just something that I view as um conflict resolution um and I'm really excited about having the opportunity at this platform to

model what that looks like um to the rest of the community um so and whoever is we do need to take some care if this is how we if we do move forward to do this and who we would contract to to lead it if they're only going to come from the perspective of conflict resolution we would be doing ourselves a disservice um we really need I would like to look at this as an opportunity of of the kind of culture of governance that we're creating and modeling for our students and our schools um and also um because we're there's an expectation that we we we mentioned you know there's an expectation in the district for restorative practice and so it would be wonderful to be able to model that from a governance level and also to be able to interact with Community when they're engaging in these kinds of restorative practices so um that is what I'm most

excited about it I think it would also help us with Community engagement um and it it absolutely would be beneficial for healthy relationship um healthy relationship building and also for um um building a a healthy culture of governance thank you miss her Miss yeah I have a just a clarifying question I was looking at the what was submitted as the draft are we um like uh let's see how I want to start I think things that would help us work better are going to be help us work better as a board will be in the best interest of our students and continuing to Center them in the work we do I think is going to be really important um in what kind of submitted as the draft I do

see around it says Executive coaching service to support the district's current new an emerging leadership team and I was wondering who we saw as that um the leadership team are we thinking about something for the the chair and vice chair for the whole board for the superintendent like I'm curious as um to what we're thinking about for that those are decisions for the board to make together that was just a drive for us to work from um so that's up to the board and up to whatever organization we bring in if we decide to bring in an organization to support this work based on how they do their work you know okay I think so what I'd be um interested in as we developed the RP just a couple like

Logistics of making sure we all were clear on purpose and the out come that we'd want to see um I'd be curious um what the timeline who that we're asking folks that um I would be curious for people who are applying to show the timeline that they would like they would see for their work to be completed and a detailed kind of scope of services or what's going to be included with what they do I think I um believe deeply in in restorative practices and am curious if we want to make that requirement though on our RFP if that limits us or do we um have that as a preference versus a requirement so it's really a question for us as a board um or is there a way to you know leave that as a preference and say that we also be willing to work with um whoever is selected to incorporate those practices would be a question that I'd have um and I'd also want to make sure

the RFP has some just clear cost deliverables and what's part of the cost and the scope of work um so yeah I think what you know what we need to be able to work together and work well as a governance body around how to support our students is going to be vital but those are some of the things when I looked at the draft and was thinking about what I want to see um that feels important for me thank you um that feels helpful um are you leaning towards yes or leaning towards no do you care to share that right now I mean I'm open to do what we think is going to be best I think if we're putting out RFP so those are some of the things that I'd want to see in that RFP so um Miss buer oh I wanted to have a chance to hear from you I just was trying to get in a queue for when there was a moment

okay [Music] um my thoughts are that we build better for our students if we have the tools in working through disagreements and conflicts um I'm not looking for us to get to harmonious I'm not looking for us to get to um to get an agency to try to come in and make sure that we have a unanimous vote every time but um there are some experiences that have um surfaced over the last few months both with um stuff that's happening within the district and with the board that I think that all of us could benefit from ensuring that we have a facilitator to lead us through some of those conversations so that we can get to a better place in which we can make decisions together and sered them better

um I do agree that we should have a set purpose set outcome in Timeline with scope of services I would like us to move through restorative practices as a preference but not limit ourselves to only restorative practice folks showing up um and I do think that we can put we should can and should put put a cap on um how much we are willing to spend on this um those are my thoughts sorry everybody if you can hear my son in the background it is still summer vacation for him Miss buer uh any thoughts you want to share yeah that's helpful and it's been helpful to hear from others about what you um see this um investment as and um I appreciate listening to everyone's concerns um I do worry in the way that

it is written when it says the leadership team or however it's written on the pces sorry I'm toggling back and forth okay no worries that's just a draft and you can assign a couple of board members to work with either member of Staff or attorney to get the Wordsmith of the RFP correct on the August 22nd um consent agenda if we decide we want to move forward with it so all of that all of that just to say that my preference would be if this is working with the board it's it doesn't need to be working with the superintendent um I I think it I think it it would be a very difficult place to put a new superintendent in and it implies that they need coaching along with the board but they're they're never going to be as free to be authentic as a board member will be because they are an employee and they're he you know Dr Lewis is coming in so I I wouldn't

want to send that message to the community that that that coaching is needed coming in from us or with us I I that that concerns me so that's what I'm struggling with as well thank you for sharing um I think that we're in the business of education and so I hope that our community and giving that this is a um college town that we understand that we are continuous Learners um and I would not encourage any of it to be taken as taken as something negative and if there are tools and resources that we are learning if they were beneficial to the way the board and the superintendent interact and govern together that we be open to that um as continuous Learners if that is a process that comes out of um a proposal that comes from a vendor

um but sorry I just I'd like to hear his perspective as well I mean we can have our own but I'm not TI to that I'd like us to consider hearing from vendors that are doing that and I think we welcome welcome his perspective he will be here when this comes back for discussion on the 22nd Miss carteron um I just wanted to add I think all all these perspectives have been really useful to to here and I um I think that the I think that the draft RFP mentioned like I can't remember what the wording is something about leadership team but from my perspective that was intended to mean like we are we as Leaders as board members so um but I hear that that's confusing we could definitely I think Workshop that to make it more clear and um per personally I think I think Miss buer said this but um I would love I know there are folks out there who've worked

with board specifically and governing body specifically and I think that would be really awesome I mean it doesn't have to be a requirement necessarily but it's my preference that whoever we find has some experience with this unique um unique challenge of working on um in the governing body um also I love the idea of finding somebody who you know is flexible with our needs and can maybe work with the whole group sometimes maybe with like on oneon-one some times two by twos like just kind of is um doesn't necessarily have a fixed like you have to do it this way but rather assesses the needs of the group and can help us just again I learn ways to um you know work together as collaboratively as possible and similar to what what Miss car goof said I don't see this at all as like primarily about conflict resolution I think it would be great to have somebody with expertise in

that but for me this is about building for the future and helping us to just um communicate well with each other and work well together and do the work we need to do to to them certific of the district thank you so much Miss Carter auton um board members is there are there is is there motion and are there any willing um parties that want to work on word Smith Smith smithing this um request and with whom would you like to do that can I ask a clarifying question so on the 22nd we be looking to actually bring back the draft RF like bring back the draft RFP for the board to provide feedback on is that correct that's

correct okay um and then I would just suggest that we probably have someone from staff or or Mr Malone our board attorney review it because I know there are some particular aspects of an RFP that we want to make sure are included there um we've got probably got some things to make sure we want to make sure that are a part of that process that we bring to the board yes and so I spoke to that when I said we could work with our attorney or a member of staff that could clean those things up any board members interested Miss said are you interested in that no okay I'd be happy to work on it whatever else might be interested I'd be happy to work on it as well yeah okay thank you oh go ahead yeah didn't respond it's like I'm happy to help I didn't take notes as we were talking today so I don't have a I didn't

um I don't say that I have a clear sense of what everyone said and capture to be able to work on something but um I'm happy to help and support in whichever way possible thank you for that and would you like a member of staff to help with this either someone from professional development learning or someone uh from the cabinet or uh Mr Malone or someone he delegates at the Arington me I think my preference Betina just speaking though it's this board business that we want to work with Mr Malone to do this since it's our board work we know our staff have um plenty of things that working on I think I think I you know would have a copy of a RFP would be helpful as we're working on this process just to make sure that we have the necessary items listed there that's helpful um okay anybody opposed to working with Mr

Malone on this speak now otherwise we will call it consensus and I entertain em motion Happ to make a motion but I'm not clear on exactly the wording that needs to be used right now so maybe we'll go ahead and call on Mr Malo absolutely so that uh we would be looking um for Mr Malone to work with Miss Carter and Miss Harrell go and Miss Umstead to bring back an RFP for um board services with a clear purpose outcome timeline and scope of services um open to restorative practices but not limited to with clear costs and deliverables no that's what we're looking for you all to accomplish

together um and bring back to the board for the August 22nd board meeting in an R Fe and I did take notes just in case you asked me to help so so the motion would be to create an RFP for um board support board Support Services all right I move that we create an RFP for board Support Services to bring to the August 22nd board meeting I second been moved by Miss Carter Aton seconded by Miss Herold G um for Miss

caratan Joy Harrell Goff go Millicent Rogers to work with Mr Malone to create an RFP for board services to bring back to the August 22nd board meeting um we will have a Voice vote if there is no other discussion Miss oh go ahead Millicent Rogers is that who was uming that was me okay Miss Harrell goof um I'm I have I am I have a capacity concern for having the RFP P prepared by the 22nd um is there is it possible that we could make the motion could we amend the motion to have the RFP prepared for um our next board meeting in the month of September colleagues Miss

C well I'm notoriously over ambitious about timeline so maybe that's reasonable but I also wonder if Mr Malone has some like templates that we might be able to build from to make this um and other boards like governing bodies might have kind of some Frameworks that we could work from to make it so that we're not starting from scratch on on this and move more quickly so I don't I don't necessarily have I've been pondering this in in terms of our clients and when they may have done such an RFP but I'm sure that we can find a draft of something um that will be a good starting point um I feel pretty comfortable about that one way or the other so um you know I I mean I guess we could say no later than the first meeting in September and then if we if we can get it pulled off by the

next meeting great if not but you know with the deadline for board materials Etc I mean it it may be a little tight to to get something on the board in at the board agenda you know in effectively 10 days probably from now to have pull together with a weekend in the middle would you all be comfortable with no later than September 12th that's the next work session my apologies okay I'm seeing consensus around that thank you Mr T we're gonna uh so it's been moved by Miss carteron seconded by Miss herro golf to have a RFP for board Support Services no later than to the board for uh review no later than the

September 12th um work session we'll have a Voice vote any other discussion Miss berer hi Miss umed hi uh Miss carteron hi Emily Chávez hi Mr tab I miss Harrell go I and I vote I the motion passes unanimously thank thank you all um colleagues the next item on our agenda is our Collective power and ncsba core training update um you'll notice on the pces um that is posted we are expected to recap our our key takeaways from ocp and core training uh just to give youall a heads up we'll go in the order that we've been voting in and um there have been board

members that have requested reimbursement for the daily expenditures um and so for the public I want to remind everyone that our board was able to go to um Schoolboard Partners our Collective power um convening this July we had uh numerous uh scholarships that allowed us to not have to use taxpayer funding to pay for this uh Retreat um before we left um board members were sent um updated information and I'd like to share that with you all um about our Collective power uh we wanted to take a few minutes to

uh this is co-authored by Jessica and I I'm Sorry Miss Carter Aon and I we wanted to take a few minutes to provide you with some information about school board partners and preparations for this conference Schoolboard partner Works to build capacity of Schoolboard members from across the country with the goal of advancing more Equitable anti-racist school systems that address gaps and student outcomes experiences environments and access over 80% of individuals that school boards partner support are leaders of color many of whom are first elected first generation elected officials um Schoolboard Partners provides training tools and resources through their annual conference our Collective power and their fellowship program um Emily Chávez Miss carteron and myself have participated in part of of the

ocp's uh the Schoolboard Partners um Fellowship uh so the basics of that information was sent to board members in advance of our meeting as well as the mission of ocp which is uh School Board Partners is a national nonprofit that trains supports connects and re-elects diverse school board members across the country to lead with courage competence and impact [Music] um and so per our policy 2123 board members I'm sorry 2123 is looking for the title of the policy I apologize everybody 2123 is board member opportunities for development um board members are encouraged to

participate in school board development activities designed for them and unless approved by the board such training must be provided by the following entities the school system North Carolina School boards Association National School boards Association School of government um or the Department of Public Instruction if a board member wishes to receive training credit or be reimbursed for attending training offered by another entity he or she must obtain approval for the board and funds for participation will be budgeted annually and reimbursement for expenses will be made in accordance with law and applicable War policy so tonight we're seeking approval of perdm expenses because of the scholarships we were afforded for the registration cost and for our um accommodations and so then policy 2130 is following for reimbursement request

for reimbursement of outof country travel including out of County travel I apologize including sufficient documentation approved travel authorization form shall be M submitted to the finance officer no later than 45 days after the expense has incurred the travel expense reimbursement request shall be processed promptly and delivered to the board member as soon as possible questions about the validity of a request for reimbursement should be referred to the chair except that questions about the chair's expenses should be referred to the vice chair so colleagues I'm here um to ask for approval of Schoolboard Partners our Collective power convening so that Schoolboard members can seek reimbursement for their pums and parking and fees that are associated with this travel if they so desire

are are you asking for a motion I am thank you sir I make a motion that we request reimbursement um for any out of pocket expenses for the conference uh in San Antonio Texas second it's been booed by Mr Tab and seconded by by Emily Chávez to um seek reimbursement for our Collective power conference in San Antonio Texas um is there any discussion so this is probably implied in the motion but I'm I'm assuming the motion means other expenses that would otherwise be allowed within the board's policies right expenses that would otherwise be allowed within the board's

policies Miss buire yeah I'm just um my uh my belief about travel is that I um save it for newer board members and I want all the money to go towards newer board members and um because I've been here so long but uh so I haven't I don't I haven't submitted things in a long time let can we remind each other and ourselves what a pum would be in DPS and what is coverable and what is not for instance alcohol is not right like that kind of stuff does anyone have that handy well it's my understanding that that but I haven't done this through um through DPS but a per DM is just simply that a flat rate so it doesn't involve

submitting receipts that would involve like removing alcohol from a receipt because that yes you're that's not covered but a PDM is just a set reimbursement rate for meals while traveling for professional development yeah I understand what a pum is I'm asking what our current policies are and what we're what we've been doing um the last couple of years because again I don't typically do a lot of um travel on the district's dime Miss Board member V I think you're asking questions and I'm not sure who can answer these right now but you want to make sure that for example if alcohol is not allowed it are tips part of it or not part of it ensuring that the PDM you're requesting is not part of a covered meal as a part of the conference those kinds of things big Bingo yeah that that that yep okay and I'm not sure I'm not sure if we have that at the hand and ready but we can we can check it as

board members if I appreciate it that yeah I appreciate yeah and I think that's why I was just thinking that the general motion would be as otherwise allowed within the board's policies and reimbursement rules um so that we did not necessarily have to spell out whatever those are but that the finance department would apply whatever rules are historically applied to those reimbursements it appears that Miss Smith has updated information as of June 20th 2023 um I apologize Miss buer for not having that information all my professional development has been sponsored by outside entities and I have never been given information about about um seeking reimbursement Miss Smith can you [Music] um well it sounds like maybe um mismith

can provide us guidance as we're moving through this process would that be okay as the but do we have consensus around that okay Miss bu Miss said you didn't thumbs up and you look hesitant so I want to give you some opportunity apologize I nodded and so yes that is fine with me it's late sorry I'm just hanging in here okay so right now the current motion is uh providing reimbursement for the conference based on the policies and procedures that are in place for DM public schools and we can vote on that is it

going to be per DM or is it going to be based on the receipts submitted is what we need Clarity around so I my my guess is that your procedures kind of allow people to choose one or the other I could be wrong and so I just think that if you if the motion is to in accordance with the rules that exist then then each person can work with Finance to figure out which rules apply to them I my thought that we didn't have to try to tell I'm sorry Dr G no no problem I say you are correct um under Durham's practices often times if you're traveling within North Carolina it is a standard per Dam but when people travel out of state like to California or Florida where the meals sometimes can be more excessive it is a determination that has to be approved on whether it's going to be on the receipts for those meals that may exceed the North Carolina Pam even though the Pam does like the

30 for lunch and $263 for dinner per

day does that work I'm sorry go ahead sorry again I'm sorry Shar Rogers um but to Mr Malone's point if you do the PM then you don't have to finance wouldn't have to deal with the receipts and you would just get the meals that weren't included or provided with the conference Mr tab thank you chair um woman Rogers in the essence of time can we um just can you and Miss um Smith just work together and get the details of what we should do so that we can keep moving with this um I think it be just a matter of what are we doing pedms or as uh superintendent Moore suggested it may be that there were some meals that were covered during the conference and then some were not so I think in the essence of time if that's all I'm suggesting okay I appreciate that

okay there will be a followup coming out for myself and Miss Smith to board members if we if we approve this convening Miss Travis um that sounds good to me and um I also just want to I know we have to I think we still do we have to still vote on this or we did vote on it yeah we have to vote on it okay um I also wanted to say I wonder if we could push um uh the our learnings um from ocp to the next meeting as well and so after we vote on this I'm happy to make a motion around that absolutely uh Miss berer Miss I'm said did you have a question comment No I um I just would like us to get into practice of maybe doing this before we go so we have a better sense of what we're like preparing for that was just a comment for us as a

board thank you the policy doesn't speak to a particular timeline right now and so we can work through that also um Miss V I don't know why you're calling me but I'm so excited about M's oh it's a vote good yay I'm first um I sorry missad hi Miss Carter hi Miss travez hi Mr T hi Mr her Joy Harrell Goff go hi and i v i it passes unanimously thank you um missad I'm Sorry Miss Travis I'd like to make a motion that we move um item uh 6B our Collective power um

report back to the August 22nd um meeting board meeting second it's been moved by Emily Chávez um seconded by Miss buer to move the report out of our trainings to the August 22nd um board meeting uh Miss berer uh any more discussion Miss buer hi Miss Umstead hi Miss Carter auton Emily Chávez hi Mr tab hi Miss Miss Harrell gol I I vote I and it passes unanimously thanks all and the next item our agenda is close session I'm make a motion that we going to close session for the reasons stated on the agenda second it's been moved and by Millicent Rogers seconded by miss buer

that we go in a close session um miss any other discussion Miss berer hi missad hi Miss carteron hi Miss Chavis hi Mr tab hi Joy Harrell Goff goof I and I vot I we now on CL session thanks all

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we are now back uh we're not in Open Session Miss Moore hi good evening again um I'd like to request the board approval of the Personnel Action Report dated August 8th 2024 thank you is there a motion report think dated August 8 2024 I'm sorry I didn't hear who made the second Emily second it has been moved by Miss Carter ion second dat by Miss Chavez to approve the Personnel report dated August 8th

2024 um we have to have a voice foot because we're virtual um we will go in the same order as before Miss berer has indicated that her camera won't turn on and she can't unmute so we're going to go to miss Umstead hell I miss Carter Aton hi Emily Chávez hi Mr tab hi ter go hi I I um the Personnel report passes unanimously um with one exstension because Miss buer can't unmute um colleagues I will accept a recommendation to for the amendment for Miss mois contract a move that we improve uh inter room Employment contract for inter room superintendent Kathy

Moore second it's technically an agenda to her Consulting contract an addendum I moved that we approve an addendum interm employment contract addendum sorry just addend not a problem it's been moved by Millicent Rogers second day by Joy Harrell Goff go to um extend the amend the contract of Miss cadd Moore as interim superintendent all those in oh I'm sorry missad is there any other discussion Miss Umstead hi Miss carteron hi Miss chz I Mr tab hi Miss heroff I I will I uh it passes

unanimously six with one extension Miss buer we can't turn on her camera um is there any other action colleagues with that we are adjourned good night