Good evening everyone good evening good evening everyone the Durham Public Schools Board of Education work 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 tonight the administration will be presenting information to keep you up to date on our strategic plan the interpreters for tonight are Martha the Romo Giles and Marty Ramirez thank you for taking the time to join us tonight at this time we'll have a moment of.
Silence thank you.
As we come out of Our Moment of Silence I want to extend a very special thank you to Educators for teacher appreciation week and acknowledge the work that they do all year long thank you so much for your service to our students colleagues I welcome agenda review and approval move approval of the agenda second it's been moved by Miss Carter no Miss vadz I'm sorry and seconded by Miss.
Chávez we have to take a roll call vote our colleague Miss buer is joining us online to approve the agenda tonight we'll start with Miss Beyer this is Natalie Beyer and I vote I miss Carter Adon Miss Valladares hi Miss Lewis I Miss Chávez hi Miss Umstead hi and I'm millison and I vote I and so it passes unanimously the next item on our agenda is the Board of Education minutes from April the 11th.
2024 approval of the minutes second has been moved by Miss Vadar seconded by Miss Carter uton to.
Approve the minutes from April 11 2024 miss Beyer this is Natalie Beyer and I vote I Cara auton I miss vadis I miss Lewis I miss Chávez I miss Umstead I and I vote I the minutes have been approved unanimously the next item on our agenda is enal public comment I will take a second and read.
The public comment rules submitted public comments will be read aloud during the public comment period and board members will listen and consider carefully and consider the comments quick review of the rules first please state your name if speaking for an organization please state your name and the name of the organization second speakers are asked to present their comments in 3 minutes minutes when the yellow light comes on you will have one minute left to start winding up your remarks when the red light comes on it will beep which indicates your time is up complaints about named staff students or parents should not be voiced in open session however we are very interested in hearing your concerns with regard to the public education safety of our students or the operation of the school system finally board members will listen carefully and consider the comments but we do not engage in a discussion with speaker our first speaker is Caroline Asher followed by Lauren stin and Gea I'm gonna get this wrong I'm sorry Gea.
Mahajan whenever you're ready Miss Asher my name is Caroline Asher and I'm speaking on behalf of five families with students in kindergarten through second grade Who currently attend EK Po and reside in the Birch Avenue neighborhood we are frustrated by the miscommunication from district and school officials on the DPS hardship transfer policy under the new student reassignment plan the inconsistent application of this policy within the same school and the lack of due process during hardship transfer appeals since January 2023 multiple Birch Avenue families have been told by DPS central office administrators that hardship or Child Care transfers are the pathways to stay at PO for currently enrolled kindergarten through second grade students these conversations include a February 2nd 2023 Zoom call for po parents and caregivers led by Dr Julia pack director of Career and Technical education in October 2023 we met with principal Matia and he recommended this course of action as well we believed what district officials and school staffs shared with us and we made Child Care decisions for after care and.
Younger siblings accordingly however since we submitted our hardship trans transfer requests in March of 2024 we have been notified by DPS central office staff that our currently enrolled post students are not eligible for a hardship transfer because the policy doesn't allow exceptions for program application schools even though the district will be honoring previously approved hardship transfers for students through fifth grade a clear exception to this policy for 15 months Birch Avenue families were consistently told incorrect information which impacted the DPS School enrollment decisions they made starting spring 2023 finally Birch Avenue families have been told that their initial transfer applications will be denied along with their appeals to the superintendent's office this is not a fair process nor is it reasonable decisions in proceedings such as these should not be made before the evidence is evaluated evaluated and reviewed objectively some impacted families who have already had their appeals denied have been notified that PO is over enrolled but we've also been told that Lakewood is is over enrolled.
We are hopeful that we will receive a fair Hearing in front of the board of education but at least two board members have expressed publicly their desire for families to make the enrollment shifts now rather than kicking the can down the road additionally they are adjudicating family appeals on policy changes passed by five of the current board members so to reiterate five families of Birch Avenue students at po are frustrated by the miscommunication from district and school officials on the DPS hardship transfer policy under the new student reassignment plan the inconsistent application of this policy within the same school and the lack of due process during hardship transfer appeals thank you thank.
You hi my name is laurren Artin and I'm a DPS parent you are about to make the most important decision a school board can make choosing our next superintendent that responsibility rests solely with you in our next superintendent we need somebody who's proactive not reactive we need a systems level thinker who understands the value of simple and transparent policies and procedures right now as you heard from Caroline each school is fending for itself putting out fires instead of focusing on the main purpose of schooling which is educating students for the public to have confidence in the outcome of the superintendent search we're asking that the process be as transparent as possible which means One releasing summaries of the feedback from the three Community listening sessions that happened this week two sharing the names of the 43 stakeholder groups that the search form search firm met with and three announcing the names of the finalists before the decisions made finally when considering options from all these different stakeholder groups I.
Ask that you prior prze the voices of those of us in the system DPS students DPS parents and DPS employees thank. You my name is G Mahajan and I'm a parent of two DPS students to rebuild trust with DPS stakeholders primarily parents caregivers and staff I request that you make the final three superintendent candidate names and brief bios public additionally request that you establish an interview panel for the finalists that include current DPS parents Andor caregivers that is publicly accessible or viewable I completed a quick Google search today and found some examples one as recently as Tuesday hosted by Lawrence Public Schools in Massachusetts and they're actually also using Alma so interesting and please remember your job is to offer transparency and accountability on behalf of thousands of Durham residents not to protect the anonymity of three individuals who aren't on DPS payroll thank you thank you our next speakers are Brian Callaway Frederick Raven Jenna.
Crowther I'm Brian Callaway I was I was at the superintendent meetings that yall had this week G was there few other folks in the audience were also there so we're in different groups but some of the talking points are going to be about the same because a lot of people were talking the same way in that those meetings trust is basically been broken by this board with the community in many ways over the last few months parents I've been hearing don't trust DPS to assign their kids to schools at this point workers don't trust that you'll be paying them what you've you've told them that you'd pay them teachers don't trust the district we're leaving at higher numbers than than any other District basically even though our pay is right up there at the top Dae doesn't even trust this District because now they're demanding a seat at the table too so don't even trust the the board that is so there's a number of number of things across the the last few months that.
Have really destroyed trust I'd say but you know it's on display at every meeting too you you've got 70% of this this room is filled with staff and tables sitting behind laptops kind of just doing theater theater work and we the members of the public are kind of relegated to just a couple rows in the back or you know second class participants out here in the hallway packing things out it's rather palpable in that way but given that the importance of the superintendent decision are going to last beyond the 10 years of of of your own time on this board it is very imperative that you make the list of finalists public to to build trust with the public to allow us to at least know that the folks that that are here are are going to be you know something that we can read a newspaper article about where they came from and and know what their qualifications are to some degree but on the the second point the group I was.
In Alma went into detail about their experience in Lawrence Massachusetts and Madison Wisconsin where they have up to nine Community groups that have formed to interview the candidates the finalists on their own they develop their own questions make their own recommendations U so it's the same company let's let's let them do that here in Durham so they can be in concert with your interviews and obviously it's your decision in the end but if you want to rebuild trust in this community those are two very tangible ways to do so so I'd ask that you make actions on both of those as you're determining how the superintendent search will proceed thank you thank.
You good afternoon shair Umstead board members I inum superintendent Moore and staff I come before you now not to make any type of requests I just want to throw out some some wild ideas as I've been thinking of I recently read an article that that talked about North Carolina considering open a new a new cabinet position in an entire new partment Department that deals with things like public housing and it made me actually think about an opportunity that currently exists in DPS right now as we all know the housing in Durham is going up in cost and it's astronomical whether you own a home or you're renting like one way you're getting hit because if you own a home that means your taxes are going up so how do we how do we address this because I always mention to people that the only way that you can address affordable housing is you have to be intentional about investing in the cost to develop housing that has a fixed cost.
And not a variable cost give you an example U Northern High School sits on about 39 acres of land in general you can put about 10 homes on every acre of land and I'm I'm mentioning tiny homes that means there's roughly 390 homes that you have the opportunity to put on the the Northern High School lot and let's say for instance right now that cost would be like 17.5 million on average of $45,000 per unit to be able to build so you're looking at a a cost on average of what you would pay to support that loss that that mortgage of like $145,000 a month now that gives you an average cost of around $500 if you were to rent that out at costs to your staff let's now say on the other end what's the average cost of rent right now in Durham it's probably like 1,300 for one bedroom right so you there's this economy right now that you have to be able to address how can you afford for.
Your staff that works in Durham to be able to live in Durham so in this instance that I gave you you're dealing with a fixed cost that inde definitely or until the the homes are paid off that you're only having to pay $500 a month so what do you do from there you could you could create like a two-year program right which allows for transitional usage only for staff that to have that's interested in purchasing their own home you could add even if you added 20% cost onto that you're still around that 5600 amount now $1,300 is what they're paying in Durham right now that could be a Max you have the scalability to increase that or or decrease that but let's say for instance you still charge,300 but you use that $1,800 that $800 a month difference to be able to go into a pot that could then be used to help these Educators and staff use that kind of kind of like as a down payment assistant program because.
What you've really done is you put these funds in escrow account and allows them to be able to use this money towards a down payment even at a 3.5% rate that allows you up to $548,000 if that's like $199,000 a month so you've helped them be able to secure being able to purchase a home so I just wanted to kind of share that idea thank you all thank you Miss Jenna Crowther Eliza Strickland is following her and Dr Jennifer geich geish I'm sorry geish hi I'm Jenna growther I was not planning on speaking tonight I'm likely as tired of being here as you are tired of seeing me believe it or not I would rather be at home reading the Dinosaur book for the h hundredth time but I'm here hoping that tonight's the night that we have a breakthrough and I'm H I was I believe fairly patient with the growing together their implementation process that lacked transparency accuracy and respect until I picked my daughter up.
From school last week and she said Mom can I tell you something I heard there is a wait list for people who want to stay at po my friend X said he's number one my friend Y is number five what number am I I then tried to explain the chaos we have navigated over the past year in simple and compassionate terms that could be processed by a seven-year-old that she's not actually on a weight list that we are waiting for grown-ups to navigate a process she was quiet for a long time and then said will I know before the end of the school year so I can say goodbye a valid question I was told on March 7th that our application would be denied per policy despite being told for a year that we could stay at our current school it took 60 calendar days and three requests to finally get our first denial so we could begin the appeals process to sit on applications for 43 business days before.
Denying them based on policy is disrespectful and has a direct impact on families and children when will you begin to hold people and yourselves accountable for treating families with respect and acknowledging when harm has been caused we toured Lakewood with Dr Luhan in April the positive things we have heard about the school were on display it was on that tour that we also learned that lakid is over enrolled in large part due to the 81 students who received a dual language carve out as part of the growing together plan the entirety of fifth grade at Lakewood is currently and will continue to be housed in Mobile classrooms and to accommodate the further over enrollment expected Lakewood plans to convert two current specials classrooms into grade level classrooms shifting specials instructions to traveling cart-based so my question is why are we being asked to leave a school that while slightly overcapacity can accommodate additional students and their specials instruct ction to a school that has permanent trailers and why were those 81.
Children who received a carve out more important than other children we teach our kids respect and accountability this is not about change being hard our kids or kids being resilient the buds words we hear consistently when engaging with the growing together team this is about showing the families in your District ones like ours who have gone to bat for DPS more times than I can count and who have defended the actions of this board and given staff the benefit of the doubt theis respect we deserve return phone calls respond to emails provide data and acknowledge when you have messed up and fixed it please be the example we want our kids to see thank.
You thank you Miss stricklin Dr Girish I'm practicing and Kristen Southworth to follow if I have any extra time I'd like to se it to Dr Gish if that's possible our policy allows you to see Tom if you don't speak oh okay my name is Eliza Strickland and I'm the parent of a DPS student who has a disability and I'm also speaking tonight on behalf of the Durham advocates for exceptional children I'm here tonight to highlight the issue of the high rate of suspension for students with disabilities like Miss crowler said I would rather not be here tonight but I don't feel that this problem is getting enough attention and that it's a problem in itself you're going to see a presentation tonight about discipline numbers I encourage you to look at those numbers closely because in order to see the numbers for students with disabilities you're going to need to look all the way at the bottom of the list and all the way in the corner of the.
Charts they go from the first most suspended group to the third fourth fifth sixth and seventh most suspended groups and then you get the second most suspended Group which is students with disabilities so you would have to keep reading in order to see that 15% of students with disabilities got out of school suspension last school year the suspension numbers have gone up for all groups since 2021 to 2022 but the increase for students with disabilities is the largest 4.29 percentage points and yet the current strategic plan priority to be aims to reduce suspensions for black students and Hispanic students the first third fourth and fifth most suspended groups but not for the second most suspended group I can only conclude that that means that we're okay with letting these numbers stay at 15% or continue to grow at the current rate so next year we'd be looking at 19% I would like to see board members asking more questions about how the district plans to reduce exensions specifically for students with.
Disabilities I would like to see the district make students with disabilities a priority on paper and in reality thank you thank you.
My laptop is.
Janky hello my name is Dr Jennifer geish and I am the proud mom of three DPS students twin third graders at Forest View a really great seventh grader at liquid montor school all three of my children have unseen disabilities and are served by 50 fours are IEPs I am also a proud member of the Durham advocates for exceptional children where I co-chair a group on the disproportionate use of suspensions for children with disabilities with elizza Strickland who just spoke I'm here there's clear evidence that North Carolina is leading the way for suspension with disabil leading the way for children with suspensions for children with disabilities North Carolina in general we have no way to normalize those data to see where DPS Falls and the data that you're going to be served up tonight offer no insights into where we fall in that horrible cycle of using and weaponizing suspension against children with disabilities tonight you're going to get a brief dis a brief overview of the discipline data from 22 23 which has.
Been clean since I think June or July so I'm not quite sure why the data you're going to be receiving tonight has not doesn't have any sufficient granularity that I've talked to several board members about that you will need need to move on any sort of policy or targeted approaches to really pinpoint how we want to approach the use of exclusionary practices like suspension as a district I also want to highlight that every single group we have grown in our use of suspension and you can just wipe out the years of covid just look pre-co to postco we've we're growing more so in our use of of of exclusionary practices and no group is move is moving in a worse Direction than students with disabilities if you look at those data it's broken out by sex for all the racial ethnic groups but it's presented as a monolithic group for students with disabilities I think that also is not is is not really allowing you to look accurately across groups while I think it's challenging.
For you to see from the data that you'll be presented tonight students with disabilities likely the most impacted group I also want to bring your attention to a slide you're going to see tonight that shows data on rates of in school suspension and restorative practices Broken Out by students with disabilities I want you to ask really hard questions about what those data are really telling you how are we coding students with disabilities covered under 504s and IEPs as having an in school suspension restorative practices I'm pretty certain that those should be coded as out of school suspensions I'm happy to be proved wrong I've been in dialogue with people in the administration trying to get clarity on that but as I understand implementation of idea and Ada those data need to be coded as OSS out of school suspension which would put the rate of out of school suspension even higher even high thank.
You. Southworth okay good evening again board Kristen Southworth I'm a parent of two students who have received EC Services here in Durham one at Brogdon middle school and one at Easley Elementary so I'm also here this evening to talk about the suspension rates related to students or EC population I'm not going to go over some of the data points that have already been mentioned by others who serve on the Durham advocates for exceptional children however I do encourage you to really think and dig deeper into some of this data so I want to recommend a few places to start one of those is looking at this data based on not just what is an EC student but really connecting and digging into the intersectionality between race gender socioeconomic status and disability as well as the disability categories themselves so looking at what are the different types of disabilities that are categorized in a student's IEP and how that relates to the discipline data that you're going to look at as we all.
Know that the data that we have our EC population is growing at a very fast pace at Brogden ele or brogon middle school I think we're 28% EC students that's a huge population so when you think about 15% of 28 percent of a student or body that is a massive amount of students also what that's not showing you is all the students who aren't identified so this plan I'm so excited to see investment in more restorative practices mental health support but I think it's time to start getting really creative about our proactive approaches so that means how are we meeting our students needs so that we don't end up in having to have restorative practices there's a lot that can be done proactively to prevent issues of students not having their needs met and being disciplined for things that are not in their control or not been met by the school district as part of their IEPs so that doesn't set a very good Trend for that student projection when we're holding them up to.
A standard when we didn't meet our part of the commitment so these are all things that I hope you'll take into consideration when you're looking and asking to dig a little deeper into this data and really see how we can create a plan that is specific I know that many times we say we don't want to call out student groups if we're going to call out any student group it's this one because they need individualized learning plans they probably need to have individual Iz disciplinary policies and thank you colleagues that is one more I'm sorry Matt.
Copc good evening board staff nice to be with you Matt copac der for DSA and parent of two current Club element Club Elementary school students and back to speak with you about the decision whether to move to the new DSA campus or improve the site in place you know we've been in in contact and appreciate y'all's engagement on the issue I think we want to you reiterate the request for additional information on the light items that were shared regarding the the Improvement option that would all allow us to better understand what some of the thinking is around the upfit costs the impervious surface costs the you know the what's detailed in terms of sunk costs you know we're trying to continue to share the information as best we can that that we have and and when we have that all together on the table we feel like it helps the board be able to have you know the most information and make the best informed decision about this issue going forward from our side you.
Know we you know strongly contend that it is possible to do that Improvement have an extraordinary place for our kids and for our Educators to be able to expand enrollment which are some figures we're working on right now to come back and and share with you because we understood and we heard that that is one of those non-negotiables that are really important to the board in the school system and to show that all that can be done for a savings of up to 90 to 70 to 90 million of what is required as the Baseline at risk cost for the new DSA campus which if you know by working together collaboratively on some of these projections would allow y'all to do Club Boulevard Mangum and Morehead Renovations while also having an exceptional place for our children to learn for a DSA that also aligns with Community Values around sustainability around accessibility around resourcefulness and and you know good Financial stewardship that we think can all be achieved with the improved option the one thing that.
We're not going to get is you know a fancy new showpiece and I understand that there's something attractive about that and there's ways that a new campus would serve you know our our community well but we also feel like the existing site with an improve option can meet all of the kind of musts that yall have laid out of what's really important for you for the DSA Community and we want to keep working together to be able to detail and and and make that case as best we can so we hope we can get those more detailed figures you know shared from staff so we'll follow up and we look forward to you know continued engagement on this issue I know that there was a decision made about demo work on the new site that would have to happen regardless what the use will be you know that is as far as we see it not a you know a final determination of the use of that site and so we would.
Like to continue engage we know that there's you know no site plan that's been released yet for the new campus so there's still time but we know time is of the essence and we appreciate your continued engagement thank you very much thank. You colleagues that brings us to the consent items on our agenda move approval of consent items second moved to approve the consent items by Miss vadz seconded by Miss Chávez any discussion hey we'll do a Voice vote Miss Beyer this is Natalie Beyer and I vote I miss Carter Aton hi Miss Vadar hi Miss Lewis Miss shabz I Miss Umstead I I vote.
I consent agenda passes unanimously thanks everybody and then we are the next item on our agenda is the legislative agenda and the conversation that we had with our Durham delegation it's here for final approval.
Move approval of the legislative agenda second it's been moved by Miss Lewis and seconded my Miss Carter uton to approve the 2024 legislative agenda is there any discussion I just wanted to recognize and send all the the the energy that is needed to our legislators the work that they have to do to carry this forward is important work and I'm grateful that they are fully committed to working with us and and hearing what we have to say and definitely sharing some of those learnings in terms of how they're trying to do what we are asking them to do but they do need support so this is an appeal to the community as well we need to support our legislators and we need to make sure that this is this is not just a wish list but it actually gets carried out and that takes that takes involvement and I think I'm just going to leave it at involvement thank you thank you thanks everybody any other comments we'll go to a voice miss Beyer.
This is Natalie Byer I vote I carteron hi Miss V Dar hi Miss Lewis Miss Chávez hi Miss some said hi and I vote I legislative agenda passes unanimously then we have our the next item on our agenda is the lgbtqia pride month Proclamation it's been updated for this year it is in June I do believe that we had some community outreach to have some conversation about the proclamation ahead of June so that schools can prepare to do pride month celebrations post test taking time I assume we're going we appreciate that work and so we're going to read the proclamation Miss Beyer we're going to start with.
You of course you are it just as my screen went away dur Public Schools Board of Education Proclamation recognizing June AS lgbtqia Plus pride month in Durham Public Schools whereas Durham Public Schools Board of Education governing principles State an excellent school system provides an environment that is culturally responsive free from bias and discrimination and commits to ensuring that all stakeholders uphold educational Equity an essential principle of our school system that is integrated into all policies practices operations and processes in order to yield Equitable educational outcomes for all students whereas Durham Public Schools district and Durham County have a diverse lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer and are questioning interex asexual plus lgbtqia plus community and whereas many residents students family members and school Personnel are part of the lgbtq ia+ community and they contribute greatly to the enrichment of our schools and community and whereas although advancements have been made with respect to Equitable treatment of lgbtqia plus persons lgbtqia plus adults youth Children and Families still face discrimination simply for being who they are thus.
Making it important for all districts and all communities to stand up and show support for lgbtqia Plus students staff and families. And whereas on December 8th 2022 the Duran Public School Board of Education unanimous class the LGT pqia Plus in gender support policy and that policy states that schools must be proactive in creating a school culture that respects and values all students and fosters understanding of gender identity and expression with in the school community and whereas many cities and school districts across the United States recognize and celebrate June AS lgbtqia Plus pride month and whereas lgbtqia pride month is typically recognized in June by many cities and school districts across the United States to commemorate The Stonewall riots a series of demonstrations led by black and brown members of the lgbtqia plus community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28th 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in the green gr green witch grenwich sorry not New Yorker are here clearly grenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
In New York City and whereas defining moments in lgbtqia plus history that sparked activism and progress toward Equity were only made possible by black and brown lgbtqi a plus activists fighting for their Liberation as black and brown people their marginalization was furthered by their sexual orientation causing violence discrimination and oppression toward them with respect to income employment housing education political representation access to health care and other services and whereas June has become a symbolic month in the United States in which lgbtqia plus persons and allies come together in various celebrations of Pride and protest to support the community's right to live their lives out loud be who they are and love who they love and whereas on June 6th 2023 the Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for lgbtqia plus people in the United States following a spike in anti- lgbtqia plus legislation this escalation includes more than 500 anti- lgbtqia bills that were introduced in state legislatures in 2023 and more than half of those targeted trans youth this legislation.
Attempts to limit representation of gender diverse and lgbtqia plus people in curriculum in schools access to Medical Care and participation in sports and whereas several anti- lgbtqia+ laws were passed in North Carolina in 2023 including sb49 and HB 574 which further stigmatized lgbtqia plus families and youth and limit representation of lgbtqia plus identities from schools and sports. Teams whereas the Trevor Project found that 86% of transgender and nonbinary youth say that recent debates around anti-tr bills have negatively impacted their mental health and whereas Durham Public Schools Durham Public Schools foundation and Duke University have launched the whole Wellness healing opportunity learning Equity schools campaign to focus on urgent mental health needs of public school communities by creating new ways for the school environment to be a holistic trauma informed and culturally responsive support system for everyone now therefore the dur Public Schools Board of Education that's hereby declared the month of June as lgbtqia pride month in our schools and invites all students to implement development developmentally appropriate inclusive and representative lessons and.
Special activities with all students on lgbtqia lgbtqia a plus families gender diversity and lgbtqia a plus history and furthermore dur Public Schools Board of Education commits to working with LG btq plus students families and community members to build safe and Equitable schools where all students and families are valued for who they are and where diversity race orientation gender culture and ability is celebrated and be it further resolved that the DPS Board of Education encourages administrators to support Educators across grade levels and content areas to acknowledge dis lgbtqia Pride and we it further resolve that the DPS Board of Education calls on all students Educators and community members to observe lgbtqia plus pride month and Advance efforts to support and advocate for lgbtqia plus youth families Educators and community.
Members thank you all for reading this Proclamation into record there motion un move approval of the dur Public Schools Board of Education Proclamation recognizing June AS lgbtqia Plus pride month it has been moved by Miss Umstead is there second second second it by Miss Chávez any discussion board members Miss leis I just had a question for an attorney making sure we're still within the that we've have had to deal with earlier with passing our policy and making amends to that that this Proclamation is this resolution is still in line with where we need to be legislatively that Mak sense too many questions too many words not so many words I'm just not sure I'm following what you're asking when we talk about lgtbq plus some of the wear ass and the things that we're asking for to be resolved I want to make sure that we're still in compliance with General statute.
Is that something we might want legal to review and bring back to I mean I could do that but I I don't see how a proclamation or a position that you may take in this even if it were contrary to the parent Bill of Rights would create an issue for you you would just be taking a position against that but yes in terms of if you changed your policy or something that would be a little bit that was the question as long as we're still within our guidelines and follow we need to follow being the resolution that explains it for me I think so I mean I'll I'll certainly take a look at it I just remember last year when we did this there were some things that was changed in one of the last paragraphs and I did not look to see if that had taken place again wanted to make sure that the that staff had the direction that they needed and what they could or could not.
Do and I just didn't see ahead of time to compare the two and I did not know that legal had reviewed it or not well I I had not reviewed it that I would say but also I mean it's let me just read the last the nail there for a part because that's the part that actually matters real quick.
I don't think it it doesn't cause me any concern on those issues. No any other discussion okay we'll have a Voice vote Miss Byer this is Natalie V and I vote I miss carteron I Miss Vadar about I miss Lewis hi Miss travez hi Miss hi and I vot I the proclamation passes unanimously thanks everybody the next item on our agenda is Operation. Services the next item is the ARP S3 update here are you driving that from up here or am I driving you want me to drive the whole.
Thing I think I can we'll. See okay go ahead and pull up that.
Presentation are you gonna you g to talk about it or you can talk about it is it have the presid presentation it's in the.
Agenda I'm now entering into an area of detail that I have not previously.
Pursued seems late to be asking asking who who puts the agenda who puts the presentation on the.
Screen I just pulled it up off the agenda it's in there yeah I've got the copy off the agenda but I can everyone else see it yeah I mean who puts it over. There there they go okay thank. You so the board did ask for a brief update on the American Recovery plan act funding we're not quite at the end of the quarter where we typically do our comprehensive updates but we did u pull some numbers just to show you where we were and what our timeline for closing out the grant was we're currently on track to to wrap up this year September the 30th and we have so go ahead and move on to slide.
Three right and I'm G to be interrupting Sierra periodically just you go no worries so we skipped our favorite slide the desired outcomes which is to share an update on the American Recovery plan and to share a timeline for our closeout we have what Congress provided the funding and my apologies this was one of those things that I worked with Dr Danner on and he is out and I am catching up on it the first slide talks about the flexibility and the cares act that they used the funds on and that we have gone through the three phrases all right we're at sr3 and the last bit was 109,000 that expires September the 30th million sorry yeah n.7 million and the funding program as of April the 30th has 12% remaining the priorities for PRC 181 are addressing learning loss the supplemental curriculum slide.
Please that's what she's talking from now here we go prz 181 which we're giving a status as of April the 30th was primarily used for addressing learning loss it purchased some supplemental materials and educational software they did some facility repairs and improvements for air quality U staff Improvement Su are learning and it enhanced the cleaning and disinfecting of the. Schools one of the priorities was also supporting the student experiences the students experiencing homelessness we have 22% of those funds remaining.
Have exhausted prc's 185 and 186 which supported students with disabilities and expanding the related services and the program initiatives there for the idea grants and the idea preschool support next slide for our summer career accelerating and math enrichment programs we still have what looks like 99% of this allocation left but that is because summer program have not began we do have a plan in place and our tiess Educators have planned a good program and started encumbering those funds so we are on track to expend those funds over the.
Summer this portion of the grant Still Remains there were some software issues with the cyber bullying and suicide prevention programs yeah let me just take over on 192 and 193 briefly this board may recall that it chose to not pursue the funds associated with the Gaggle program that came down specifically from the state for that purpose since the board chose not to implement Gaggle we must revert those funds to the state we are not allowed to use them for any other purpose. Next.
Slide it looks like we have just over half of the funds remaining in the sr3 portion that supported Career and Technical education School Improvement driver's education and the principal retention supplements next slide. This is a summary of the whole thing yes we are summarizing all of the sra3 funding where it currently stands that we're at almost 13% of our funds remaining but we do have a plan for expending those funds as we close out the school year I'll take the last couple slides if you don't mind sarra so I just want to point out a couple of things here the eser funds are in different buckets and category for which d Pi was required to submit a plan for the use of those funds we cannot change the uses for those funds at this point because that plan has been finalized all final changes have gone in the when you see to the far right the 14 million as the remaining balance I need to tell you that that's not really.
Real money there's there's already expenditures that have come out of that because this was as of April 30th so the the final June 30th close out will happen after June 30th we just we're bringing the board a bit of an update so there are already funds that 14 million has already come down we do anticipate that not not the entire 14 million will be spent by June 30th and next slide please what you see here is we are thinking around 7 million might be left based on what we've projected so far and we have prioritized those areas in terms of where we might spend that 7 million and this is sort of like a a proposal within buckets that already exist in the plan because that's the plan that is approved we do have some needs around curriculum resources and materials you will recall that all of those came off of the proposed budget request so we're going to try to use the last bit of eser dollars to help take care of.
Some of those needs and not not so we have to the funds expire on September 30th they have to be spent by September 30th with one exception and that would be software where you allowed to purchase a license that will go through the year here which is what you see in the second item there the Panorama student s Success software suite which is I think the engine for one of the primary surveys that we do with families in our community so we will get one more year of that out of Sr funds we have included here a projected 2627 million combined to support needs in facilities and operations and maintenance areas again these are projected amounts we're not exactly sure what the 14 million will come down to by June 30th and actually it's it's after June 30th also because of the summer programs that have to be part of that but this is our estimate right now at what we think will be available to open the next school year with and the areas.
That we are prioritizing those funds next slide so again we will complete by June 30th you know this year's close out that will probably go into a little bit into July before we have those final information once we know what our carryover balance is we do have to submit a plan to DPI from a federal programs standpoint for approval of those final items and then we have to encumber it by September 30th and it has to be liquidated by September by December 31st so spent out by December 31st I believe that's it next slide yep any questions thank you thank you so much for this update Miss bid thank you all so much I wanted to thank Miss oo and Dr Danner for working on this update I think a lot of us have been curious about what funds are remaining especially as we come into this budget season with Commissioners I just thought this might be a good opportunity to Talk frankly about our concerns about our facilities about.
The needs that they have to acknowledge the concerns that we have heard about HVAC across the district and hope that we can really identify and Target these 2 million dollar to further stretch those overdue repairs across the district and so I didn't know Miss Moore if you had any comments that you wanted to make because I know that a lot of that has been weighing on you all as as we probably should have asked for double the the operations recurring funds that we have to to keep up with this as these federal funds go away so well I would agree I think I think we did say that it was really a minimum of four million that we needed but just looking at all of the other needs in the budget and really a a decision to prioritize the compensation piece that that and you know trying to be good stewards and good partners in what we ask for dropped that to 1.5 but but I think I've said on more than one.
Occasion you it's you would need to do that three years in a row to really get to where we need to be and by then needs will change as well and I think that's really more about annual maintenance and emergency needs some of the comprehensive work that's needed to do some major Renovations and upgrade in some of our schools will require dollars even beyond that so I in order to get started on that I have asked Fred Davis to give me a report so to speak a a chart of all of the outstanding needs that we know we have in schools and in in some sort of an order in terms of what they're sort of how they would start pecking it off and what the amount of funding might be needed in order to achieve it and and I've asked for sort of a comprehensive list so that I can have a real understanding of what their current operational funds might be able to support and where we might need to.
Either seek additional funds or or or understand where our priority needs are for identifying how we would implement any additional funds that we might have so they are putting that together for me so that I can I can take a look at it and see how much it is I I anticipate that it'll be a goodly amount and that there'll be quite a few schools on that list thank you so much just pigging backing off what Miss buer said and I'm glad that we're having that list almost hesitate to say this because I think when you talk about prioritization without having all the information it can be challenging but I do think thinking about HVAC systems and how can we be prepared to close out the year but also next year as as August comes and we have so many schools that are start starting in July with the year round program how do we make sure those schools and those AGA systems are ready to manage in an increasingly warming climate we know.
That it's getting hotter and hotter so how do we make sure those places are ready to go I know that it's been really challenging for our schools over the last couple days who've been dealing with Haack chall just yeah and I would just say it I'm pretty sure also an email across my desk not addressed to me asking that very same question we head into testing season Miss Chávez Miss. Lewis thank you for this update I just had a question I think it's for Dr Stewart about summer programs how many are srf funded and how many are not so I'm just interested not in a specific number but if you could kind of tell us more or less are we looking at losing a lot of activities that engage our young people over the summer good evening no thank you for the question on March 21st we brought to you guys the summer learning program and if you go back to that particular board presentation you have those various slides with those programs.
But six of those will be supported with Esser dollars those are take two summerbridge summerbridge is the specific program that targets transitional grades kindergarten fifth or no kindergarten 6th and 9th grade High School back on track ignite next hub farm camp and freedom schools an example of one that continues with other funding would be like read to achieve students have participated in that and past that comes through a different state funding po thank you Miss leis Miss valaris thank you for the presentation and sharing us where the updates of where things are with s funding and continuing to uplift our Capital Improvement needs you Miss Moore you talking about getting a report for the prioritizations is that with our current prioritizations of where things are now so I know we had one done a few years it's kind of a deferred maintenance list deferred maintenance list that I think that might be a good term for it and that's for the right here and now like what our immediate.
Defer what we need to do now and if we had the money what order would we go in and and it's both you know if costs were not an issue if we had the funds okay and I know we have a comprehensive operations plan in place or ' contracted we've contracted do an assessment of our facilities yes when will that be done by the end of the summer that that primarily informs like the CIP process and the building program yes let Larry take it since this is last that that is correct and then we will prioritize what that list says and prioritize what order that we need to do it will tie into what Miss Mo has asked Mr Davis to do once we get that list back and then we can see what funding we have as far as moving forward and and in general how much what are our current operation needs the total amount I've been saying a number but I want to make sure it's accurate I.
Would say up with the $10 million oh man I had 900 million and we're talking about like immediate sort of say for immediate I'm sorry say it again for immediate immediate immediate needs about 10 million we think would would put us in a good place and this is outside of regular maintenance outside of the other funds that are used on a yearly basis this is all in addition to that right and you look at when you think about 900 million you're thinking about the 2021 assessment when you look at the money that was tied to that you're probably getting closer to that number that you're talking about to get everything in the district done that's looking at buildings that have far outlived their years and that sort of thing and replacement and versus renovation and major Renovations and that sort of thing this this is this is more targeted to like life cycle well yeah yeah thank you for that.
Distinction I have a comment not a question just gratitude for including the curriculum resources this morning at mck Moore the Governor's advisory on Latino Affairs came to mer Moore and one of the most impactful things was a student showing up a paper and saying you know his progression like where he started he was showing us the charts and he was he was walking down M you know mclass and and you know even showing the the data in terms of like you know where his classes you know where they started where they're going how many kids were reading below this ability of kids to navigate that you know in terms of like to understand that the curriculum is tied to some of those metrics right there there there's ways that that all this feeds into the progress that that our children are making and for them to be able to do that that was super impactful and there was just a lot of awe and appreciation from folks from.
All over the state who came to hear about this and and to see the school at mer more so this is just thank you for including this especially with PRC 181 because this was one of the budget asks that didn't quite make it to that local budget request and kind of held my breath a little bit there but to see it here and and and and I just want to just express some gratitude thank you thank you any any other comments board members well thank you for that presentation the next item on our agenda is still in operation Services planning for the future DPS student enrollment 10-year plan.
Good away Matthew thank you superintendent Moore Madame chair board members in the Durham community it's nice to be with you this evening it's very much the right time to come back to an extension of just the prior conversation topic which was our facility needs our student enrollment and the future of Durham so with that this evening the school planning department here in Durham Public Schools is going to give an overview of how we do our long range forecasting work based on the residential developments that have been reviewed and approved here in the city and county of Durham what are we looking at for enrollment over the years ahead what is the mechanism for managing growth what can we do in North Carolina what can't we do and then some recommendations and asks for help from the board as we move forward with our city and county partners with us this evening is Miss Kristen Brookshire our lead planner in Durham Public Schools as well as members of the Durham City and County Planning.
Department assistant director Bo de brenky as well as the community planning program manager Scott Whitman so we want to thank our city and county partners for joining us tonight this is very much intended to be a a story of best practices and how we're all working in Durham to support our children and families next slide please next slide so at a core level student enrollment and Facilities is related particularly in North Carolina based on House Bill 90 which mandates class sizes particularly for grades kindergarten through third grade talk a little bit about that as far as why we need to think about it both ways as enrollment increases where are our seats the past present and future of enrollment in Durham this is a vital topic particularly as we look into forthcoming conversations with our local Partners again when we're discussing residential development reviews what are the mechanisms for that what are the best practices for that and importantly for this body for this board and for our public and Community What do the.
Implications of decisions that are being made by other Community Partners to that end what are the best practices on intergovernmental collaboration again across not only DPS but the city and the county next slide please so in the update to the 23 to 28 dur Public School strategic plan the board Community input envisioned that we would grow by an additional 4,000 students over the next five years I have good news if we do that we'll be at 100% utilization which is to say all of our seats will be encumbered we have 35,000 seats in the county that would put us right up to the top challenges is that students don't enroll uniformly rather to say we're going to see those increases in different parts of the county and moreover as we look at the long-term development we're going to far surpass our capacity that's one of the main messages that I want to make sure we come back to tonight is that quite simply Mr Davis will run out of seats at.
A school level if we are not managing growth next slide please so the connection here that we want to draw is between the Strategic plan that was just approved the additional 4,000 students that is reflective both of recruiting and retaining students across Durham County recalling again that our enrollment this year is at 31,000 students there are 50 5,000 students in the county so to give you a sense of what we're able to do to recruit students in to support them but also with new students on the way with families that are coming that leads to our 10-year enrollment forecast we share we'll share that number that was developed last summer but will also be coming back to that in the months ahead that will then fold into what was just referenced the facility conditions assessment and our long-term look at given these numbers what will we need to do to make sure that our students our staff and our community are ready to support children that should inform the capital Improvement plan which is again.
Because we do not have Bond bonding Authority in North Carolina we're reliant on the county to supply the funding to support our facilities both the noted deferred maintenance which is in the hundreds of millions of dollars and the new seats that we desperately need both ways unfortunately right now you can see where those two needs Cann at times be in contradiction or vying over the limited resources that we have next slide please next slide there we go so you've heard me talk a lot about utilization again students and seats by classroom by grade level and by the school but what could also be said is that well dur Public Schools must make sure that that ratio is in compliance with the legal statutes we have to be working with our City and County Planning Department Partners on the new homes that are approved in particular when developers are building most of the neighborhoods in one particular area or several specific areas of the county that can saturate that school or that region in.
Addition remembering that the county seats the overall number of seats we have is a byproduct of the capital Improvement funding that we have from the county so that ratio DPS working with the city and county park ERS is essential to us being viable next slide please so over the last 15 years we've been benchmarking our enrollment and doing some hard work on model fits trying to predict what's happened and what's going to happen as a function of precedent on the next slide we talk about annual enrollment projections that's a very microgranular what percentage of our students are coming in next year the long range forecasting is looking at residential developments that have been improved and again looking at our retention capacity over the years tonight we're really focused on the second part the long range forecasting identifying what are we looking at for enrollment in the years ahead next slide please so to give you context the students that were born in Durham County in the year.
2012 often are going to be a product of new residential homes that have been built there's a life cycle to a new construction home families moving in and the students associated with those families in five years those resident live births on the next slide those are the families that become students enrolled in Durham Public Schools so we're always bench and marking the children that are born in Durham and what will it be five years out from there next slide please the main thread that we want to draw in here is not one year not data point but that we have to be looking holistically and comprehensively on as more neighborhoods come online what will that mean for our enrollment not just in kindergarten but K12 next slide so here we've got our updated model again this was shared with the board last summer but giving you a sense that over the next 10 years we're pegging right at 4,800 students increasing in Durham public schools that is important for a couple of reasons number one.
That is not uniformly distributed across the county as you've likely read and as we've talked some about that is mostly in the eastern and Southeastern regions of the county that means that schools like Neil Middle School which are 99% full are going to face major enrollment problems in the foreseeable future and that's something that we know is coming to our doorstep it's just one example what it also means is that we've taken every single neighborhood development working with our partners mapping those developments by neighborhood what types of homes they're building the price points if there's any age restrictions that's called a student generation right that's why we call it an sgr model that gives us the ability to understand 500 homes in this area of the county whether they be town homes or single family how many students will come with those developments if we don't count for the new development we're tracking right between that 31 and 32,000 next slide please okay so what we want to talk now about.
Is the tools that we have at our disposal and those that we don't because we're here in North Carolina next slide please so the three General best practices that we would have would include an adequate public facility ordinance which for our city and county Partners would say before we approve a neighborhood do we have the public facility capacity whether that's traffic Water and Sewer or schools to support the students that are going to come out of that neighborhood unfortunately here in North Carolina that's a very difficult ordinance to get established there's only one county in the state that has an adequate public facility ordinance and that's orange legally there's a whole conversation of whether it's enforcable I would say generally at this point we're not recommending that but there are areas where we can look at we'll come back to that reviewing and amending School boundaries much of this has been informing our work and growing together as we've talked about for example Glenn and Bethesda Elementary Schools there's 600 homes going in.
Across the street from Glenn we need to be ready to support those families and children capping student enrollment at over credit schools that's something that a partner like wake does annually we don't have precedent around that but that is a tool that is in the growth management toolbox again this is just an overview of best practices not recommendations next slide please in addition to that as it relates to increasing your capacity there's really only two ways we can do that building more schools and more seats we leving and levying education impact fees we're actually one of the cases that's cited as far as why education impact fees in North Carolina legally at this point it's questionable whether or not we can do that unfortunately that limits us to to get more seats we have to come back and work through that Capital Improvement plan with the county next slide please so in summation North Carolina has some specific constraints for us to manage growth in the future we understand that there is a missing.
Middle of affordable housing endur we understand that we need more homes for our children and our future workers also because we're in North Carolina we can't Levy impact fees on developers sapes are very hard to establish and very honorous to administer and and capping schools again we have not gone down that road historically in the Durham Community what I do want to name again is the cost of one seat cost of one seat in a school if you look at our recent developments is $100,000 so even a neighborhood that generates 10 students you're talking in the millions and that's just for 10 seats right 4,800 seats is equivalent seat to almost $500 million in capital needs next.
Slide we are doing everything we can with the tools we have and I want to lift that up again the partnership with the city and county planning department and our own internal work so I want to review that briefly with you and then get to the recommendations and next steps next slide please we've gone through five years of adjusting School boundaries to account for growth you recall the days when Creekside Elementary had over 900 children in it the school opened with 10 mobile classrooms that is the absolute Telltale sign that we have not managed growth in Durham we've come through that window after five years now to say as we turn the corner with growing together we are counting for growth in the future when we look at Glenn and Bethesda we're positioning them not only through boundaries but through Renovations we're using the tools that we have our Capital Improvement program notably Murray massenberg is relieving mobile classrooms at seven schools that surround around it so we have deployed.
The tools that we have to date but when you think about the tensions of deferred maintenance costs and additional Capital needs for more seats in the future you can see the tension that the community and board are under next slide again this is a summary point but it just has to be said this is what we're doing not only through growing together but every single day balancing out what does the law allow us to do for enrollment and what are those hard capacities for class size next slide please internally within planning over the last 5 years we've taken huge steps we've inventoried every classroom does it have a sink a bathroom the square footage how many students what is it suitable to support for instruction we've identified over 750 neighborhoods that's using those 35 M hour roadways to make sure that children don't have to pass or cross busy streets in order to get to school we aware of the resources communities have at a neighborhood level internally within growth.
Management we've set up the regions so now we know how many students are in a particular region and also What's the total capacity and when the city and county go to consider development we able to say based on the capacity this is what it will mean for our schools we'll need another elementary school or we'll need another Middle School in addition to that again the boundaries is that other layer along with the region we've accounted for future growth to date but there is more growth on the way we have to say that again and again it's not an end conversation but an ongoing one we've been at the table with the Durham city County Planning Department to update the comprehensive plan regions within Duram public schools are now for consideration within the comprehensive plan which is a testament to the partnership but again currently staff at a DPS and city and county level at our desks pushing it as hard and as far as we can but there's no enforceability.
There's no agreements in place we're trying to bring awareness so that people can make tough decisions but without those agreements codified we're just at times yelling into the wind next slide please so with that some part next steps and recommendations shouldn't say hard that's not the right word but I would say there are some thoughtful next steps and recommendations that go with that next slide please so again on the enrollment increases we can get to that Benchmark that the board has given to us to get to 35,000 students most of it will be supporting our families that are in place we're also this summer giving another update to that 10-year forecast we'll come back as we head into August and September with a fresh look at what it means for the future again excuse me and on goinging conversation not a limited.
One how many water people here thank you for that sincerely thank you and to summarize the prior conversation we are updating our facility conditions we're looking at that we're understanding the implications we're increases enrollment not only will we need new schools but where and to a degree when next slide please. We do need the board and the community's help on this because we do not have concurrency as the State of Florida does or smart growth policies as the state of Maryland does we are very limited in our tools which is to say that well we may not recommend an ordinance that codifies things there are agreements in place that allow this conversation to happen at a community level and a consistent point of awareness without a sto in place we are reliant on staff at this time pushing the issue forward but there is only so far and so hard we can push the conversations and the tension points in the Durham Community we are aware of the need for affordable housing and the.
Influx of employers that will bring employees hopefully is a point of awareness as well we're not recommending that the board pursue development moratoriums when we're out of capacity but we are recommending that there are built-in triggers when we have ongoing conversations with our city and county partners that there is shared understanding across the bodies that as you approve a development you may need to be looking at finding the funding for a school to go with that and so with that I'll I'll wrap it up here for any questions again our partners are here I want to thank their presence and please to answer anything that you may have inqu.
Based thank you for this presentation colleagues any questions or comments I know Miss Beyer has some we'll start with Miss Beyer thank you so much Miss Rogers and thank you Mr Palmer for the data that kind of shows the history of the growth in the community the needs of our facilities and the the ways that the general assembly keeps us from doing what we think would be best practices in our local community and then puts in a K3 class siiz law that really restricts our flexibility with taking care of the families that are right in front of us this year I wondered as a followup whether your numbers include our growth in prek and our plan for two to three classrooms in every elementary school as that's a shared goal of all boards in this community as well thank you Miss Byer for the question indeed the 35,000 student capacity that we have is reflective of the programming of pre spaces that have been allocated to the point where we have.
Dedicated prek space in every DPS Elementary School that does eat into our capacities for example you might consider if we were to offer 60 prek classroom opportunities across Durham which I'll have to confer with Dr Pitman but I do believe that currently we are rejected right at that number for next year that's almost the equivalency of two elementary schools that we've allocated to prek supports so those numbers do add up as we talk about prek and Beyond yes thank you so much and I'm so appreciative of folks from the city and county planning being there and actually welcoming DPS staff to the table in in new ways I'm just wondering like what can we as a board do to make sure that we're advocating for what is needed as next steps is there a reason we're not looking at the Orange County School adequate public facilities ordinance and bringing that to our city and county colleagues as a better practice are we looking at land banking in the future are we codifying that we.
Will do bonds every four years like can you all help us draft something that will bring a positive sustain aable Transit oriented sidewalk oriented cohesive plan from our perspective to share with them as a starting point would that be a next step we would Envision that some recommendations and tenants be brought forth from staff but we and I see superintendent Moore superintendent Moore's comments there as well that one of the main takeaways from tonight is to make sure that the Durham community and the Duram Board of Education as as a central body that we support is aware of our need to bring Enlightenment to these connected threads around enrollment and the need for more seats as well as suitable learning environments as you've heard the concerns with the existing conditions of our facilities we're going to have to chew gum and walk at the same time we're going to have to patch holes while we build New Roads I don't know why that analogy came to mind but it is is to say.
That we're happy to make recommendations along that front superintendent Mo I I would just say I think that there is clearly space after sort of elevating what Mr Palmer has put together elevating the need for the conversations to begin around what Partnerships and agreements could look like whether it's a Sao or an interlocal agreement or other things that where there's acknowledgement recognition of the mutual interest in benefit in planning together for the betterment of the community and ensuring that all DPS schools remain a a viable and a first choice for our families I have been known to joke that and this is illegal I think that we should require developers to give us land when they build more than a 100 homes anywhere yeah I don't think you can do that but something along those lines because it there it's an impact and it is one that and in this community in particular as Mr Palmer has already elevated the needs of our existing schools combined with the potential needs for new development are going.
To be a wonderful stress s on this community for a number of years to come decades quite frankly but I think and I think part of what maybe Mrs Byer was asking is can we start the ball ball rolling on the conversations yeah I really appreciate that framed as a wonderful stressor as well if I'm understanding our history the city County Planning has no way to deny based on capacity of schools I mean even as we have a new regionalized growing together regions there still is no way for them to tap the breaks on new development as as far as school capacity is that correct in in the interest of summarizing my colleague's remarks we do not have an enforceable Clause that would create a development moratorium to say if there isn't capacity at school a then the school doesn't go then the neighborhood doesn't go forward we do not have that enforcable clause in place that is what going to talk about the tools that is what the sapo in Orange County does.
Permit the municipalities in the county to consider there are trade-offs with that too just to be mindful especially when we're dealing with such a housing crisis I don't think that we've recommended us outf directly but there are adjacent legal constructs that we get us very far down the road to ensure that there is shared accountability and awareness for our public facilities through interlocal agreements yeah thank you so much and last question just and this might be for for Mr Malone but are there do we have restrictions on the ability to land bank and to go ahead with with codifying future land needs for future schools particularly in East Durham where we know growth is coming for elementary and middle no there are no restrictions on the board's ability to purchase property for future use you've got as much flexibility as you do funds thank you that was not.
Nice thank you Miss Cara I was wondering how the thank you this is great I appreciate your thoughtfulness and all the planning I was wondering how you are accounting for Charter enrollment are you just assuming continued Charter enrollment as Trends have been or what does that look like yeah so in a 30 second response we are taking the neighborhood planning units locating the developments within those neighborhood planning units again the whole county is mapped across those 750 units we're found we're finding comparable comparison groups so if it's 100 Town Homes being approved we're going to look within that neighborhood to see if there's another housing type like that the number of DPS students is what we're looking at not the number of overall students that go to private Charter and otherwise what it does give us is a durable consistent now again this is backwards looking so it's it's to say that there could be more but it is to suggest our student generation rates if it's 100.
Homes on a per unit level how many of those how many students will be generated out of each of those homes based on type geography School boundary Etc so what we're looking at is really DPS enrollment to your larger question there may be additional students that come with those homes we're not trying to be demographers for the whole County we're really focused on the enrolled student attributes think I understand that I also am just curious I'm new to this idea but like how do student enrollment caps work and maybe with the example of wake.
Okay I was actually in charge of growth and planning for many years caps as they are supposed to be implemented are a shortterm solution where due to overcrowding in a school and a lack of ability to continue to enroll students in a growing area the board takes an action to cap enrollment usually it means that if you're not already living in the neighborhood zone for a school that you will not be able to attend that school now if if you have a one-year-old and you're already living in that neighborhood then you do you are able to attend that school in your neighborhood but anybody who moves into the neighborhood after the effective cap date is not able to enroll in that school and the board designates what has been called an overflow school and it's it's supposed to be a temporary solution while you build or renovate for additional capacity so you really should be taking into account when you cap schools what you have in your Capital plan for.
Building or renovating in the area depending on how quickly growth is happening that's not always the case there are schools in a neighboring District that have been capped for that were capped the year after they opened and remain capped 15 years later though it was not implemented as a short-term solution so it is and and and it is annoying to families who live in the area and I will also say that it is a when faced with the decision of whether to cap or not cap because you are primarily impacting families who have not yet moved into the community you hear very little dissension because they're not there but if you keep a school Capa for too long then you will start hearing about it because families that have moved in are not able to attend the school that's proximate to their home so that's why it's best as a short-term solution and and it does not work unless you have a plan for increasing capacity in the area through Renovations.
Or new schools and it is a burden on Transportation if you are providing transportation for students because you now are sending them to another school that may or may not be proximate because you have to find the school that has space and sometimes a school that has space is not proximate so it it is it's a hairy proposition but it is an option and that's all I'll.
Say thank you for this presentation I am intrigued by the Sappo or sapo or as I'm looking it up Googling it it looks like there are also appos without the school at the front and it looks like Maryland has several which is interesting so and I'm sure you've already done all this research but I'm wondering what a Next Step might be this evening to move toward this maybe there's not one I do see in Baltimore it looks like they put together task force or a suggestion for a for a Next Step to get the ball rolling on this conversation and also have there been conversations with the county thus far my apologies if if you already said that if you see me smiling it's because for five years we've been trying to get to this conversation and it has been pushing the ball up the hill and again I want to lift up our colleagues in planning who are here who have said we want to help but we don't have a lot of history.
Working across the bodies I'll just name that for the room We've made progress there are sapo adjacent constructs that could get us there I think in particular the annual reporting function if you do look at the Orange County sapo there's a task force that has from all of the institutional bodies that the city county and school system level participation and representation at and there's there's intentional transparency on enrollment there's intentional transparency on every school's capacity because we have regions we now have the ability to talk geographically as well developers seem to be saturating certain areas of the county that makes sense right between water sewer and adjacencies to large employers you're going to see a lot of growth going forward in Eastern and Southeastern Durham what it what we can say I think clearly for tonight would be the recommendations that as we go into conversations with the county and ultimately the city that there is some shared Awareness on the reporting level if that's annual if that's we can talk.
About that Cadence of how to be transparent of where we're at with what's been approved thus far and that there is a task force representative body that is bringing together this conversation in a coordinated fashion right now out of side of those in the room that are here we don't have it's difficult to accelerate or Elevate that conversation Beyond DPS I can tap in also there I think it is would be up to us to reach out to the city council our mayor as well as County Commissioners B travez you and I can do that work to begin this conversation because I think it'll be important for those bodies to be aware of what we're struggling with and what we need their support with and so we can have a the governing IES be having that conversation as well as staff be having that conversation as well but that might help you push this ball a little quicker terum said there is I'll use an example from Orange there is a task.
Force for sepo that monitors the annual reporting functions and then there is a technical advisory committee that is on that task force that's really you know heads of departments that have the technical chops to bring it all together so just wanted to share that thank you I yeah let's let's get that conversation going because this is this is really important and it seems like a way very simply to get information that we need in order to make decisions that are thoughtful and responsible for the kids that we are trying to serve and and beyond that with some of your other suggestions here I just want to say that you know there was one here no I've lost it but I do think that if there are ways for those who have the most resources or wealth and move into certain areas and develop in those areas and benefit the most from from that I do think ideally those entities would also support the community resources like the public schools around them.
So that is all for me thanks Miss Umstead thank you Mr Palmer your team for this presentation I a quick question a little bit or it might not be quick so I take that back but just around like history and projections I think that there's I appreciated the answer to your question around we look at DPS enrollment not every child that might be in a school think the history of during public schools that you do have families that move but not everyone chooses DPS and so wondering how that history when you do your 10-year future planning how does the past 10 years also impact what that looks like so the past looking backwards is going to look at again when you're talking about Trend data if and we'll take a town home for example that is in the Glenn boundary actually several hundred have just recently been built there right around the corner on Glen School Road and so to that point when we're looking and mapping forward when that development was proposed we were.
Finding a similar development in the general vicinity of Glenn School preferably its boundary to be able to model out and say okay the 100 Town Homes over here we had 20 students that is a reasonable approximation if there's no other layers sometimes we have developments that are enormous but they're age targeted or age restricted you'll see that over near Brier Creek for example but generally speaking that Trend data of enrollment is allowing us to understand how many are likely to come to the question about additional students the total envelope of possibility there are going to be dynamic implications as we look for the data that will be a new data set starting in July and August of this year and that's one of of the important reasons why this is an ongoing conversation there's what we think is going to happen and we realize the pl the community under our Feats is making their decisions so we're going to continue to update that annually it's not intended to be a Sit onth shelf.
Number but much more and that is one of the important updates that we do with the planning department is to send them updates on student generation rates as we glean new information every year with enrollment. Thank you so. Much the next item on our agenda is academic Services next item on the agenda is an update with to the board on some discipline data I want to start as folks make their way up here for this presentation to just say a couple of things the first part of this presentation is really focused on the the discipline data that we get in a report on an annual basis from DPI it's comprehensive annual student discipline data it is how it's reported back to us on a yearly basis and then the second part of the presentation talks a little bit about the work that is being done around restorative practices in the district I want to acknowledge that there's been a number of emails since the presentation went live with the board expressing a desire for some.
Additional disaggregated data finer level detail more subgroups that sort of thing I do we can certainly get that information together and and dig deeper into this and we can put it together get it to you do it as a separate update so there's an opportunity to discuss but I just wanted to let you know and acknowledge upfront the number of requests that have already come in about further disaggregated data that that is not disaggregated this way in the presentation and is not normally how it comes to us so we have to do the work to disaggregate it further and even some additional data points that it doesn't come to us that way so we have to do the work to to get it that distributed that way but we will get that information and get it to you do another presentation whatever needs to be done but I wanted to say that first because I know those questions will come when we're done so.
Thanks welcome Dr madx Perry thank you thank you good afternoon well good evening now miss Mo thank you for that introduction board members and DPS Community we'll wait for it to get up okay next slide please some time has passed since our last discussion about exclusionary discipline data and the transformative potential restorative practices holds for Duram Public Schools I'd like to begin this presentation by acknowledging what really is the Northstar for developing our plan for supporting schools and that is priority to provide a safe and healthy school environment that supports the whole child this slide highlights two major strategies for achieving priority 2 and that's addressing restorative practices and exclusionary discipline as well as a commitment to 100% implementation of cultural Frameworks within our schools as you can also see mental health and seal are identified strategies within priority 2 there also essential components for creating a districtwide culture and climate that yields improved schooling experiences for our students next slide please though the Crux of this update is to explore the discipline data Trend.
Since the implementation of restorative practices in 2018 2019 I have to paraphrase I'd like to put it in context and frame the discussion I I heard a a quote and as a new Garden it really resonated with me in essence the quote conveys when a flower doesn't Bloom as expected or flourish as expected you don't blame the flower you look at the environment you don't question the quality of the seeds or the nursery you look at how you care for the flour and you may ask is this flour getting enough nutrients from the soil is there enough sunlight am I watering too often am I watering not enough this interpretation is what inspires our team to utilize the three-pronged approach that you see here overall restorative practices rather than punitive measures seal and Mental Health Resources to allow for a tiered system of supporting student needs and behavior management support by having core Behavior expectations related professional learning and a progressive approach to responding to violations of our code of conduct next slide please.
Now that we've set the stage with that context let's take a moment to look at some of the historical data slides that have been share with this board previously look similarly and so we've we've added them to highlight the year 2022 and 2023 this slide is showing the data for in school suspension and restorative Practice Center why that contradiction you might ask when I've said multiple times at this Podium that we do not have in school suspension in Durham Public Schools well the state Reporting System utilizes the term ISS to document time spent outside of the regularly scheduled class schedule and is the only official accounting category for students we use restorative practices centers to to assist inuring Public Schools we utilize restorative practice centers or rpcs and have to use these assignment designation so that we can accurately document where students are receiving their support each time we report on disciplined data we try to make sure that we explain the use of this contradictory term but share in full transparency how we actually.
Have to report the data for dur Public Schools any student who spends time from class without an out of school suspension due to a possible violation of a code of conduct we really share a restorative framework however only our secondary schools are allotted the restorative Practice Center coordinator positions to have a full Center as you take a look at this data you can see our Trends over the the the years and I would note that I don't see that listed here that for 2223 we ended the year with about 7.5% of our students in elementary and secondary schools been assigned or attending visiting a restored Practice Center at least once next slide please this slide shows the disaggregated data for restorative Practice Center assignments and of course you see the in school suspension there but it is really restorative Practice Center assignments you can see that there has been a decrease in the assignments to restorative practice centers since 2018 for every identifiable group we've been collecting data on but you.
Can also see that the years in between following covid as has been noted in a lot of the data Trends there have been increases in time students have been spending out of class next slide please this is the disaggregated data excuse me this isn't disaggregated this is the short-term suspension data since 2018 2019 up till 2022 2023 as you look at this data you can see the trends 2022 2023 was a peak year for us in dur Public Schools and our overall short-term suspension rate was 7.9% and you can see the various breakdown by grade span next slide please and here is the disaggregated data that was talking about as we as we've said 2022 2023 was a peak year for us and I I just have to state that you know we we have been monitoring these Trends and working to figure out how we can impact what seemed to be a turnaround in some of our some of the work that we have been doing and so.
That is why much of the emphasis is on restorative practices and that three-pronged approach that I'll get back to a little bit later but the data speaks for itself Dr m i just s around for a second I just think it's important to note the final data that we get from the state for 2223 actually happens around February or something like just a couple months ago so because there's a period of Correction and review of the day that it happens in the fall the districts have a chance to take a look at that data and review it and make sure that it's correct so the final report actually has not been out that long for 2223 and I'll just save my other comments for later thank you next slide please and this is the slide for long-term suspensions these numbers are representative of students for whom a recommendation for reassignment or long-term suspension was approved however these students did not enroll in any of the Alternative Learning environments available to them in during.
Public schools these environments range from Lake View School to homebound or perhaps even as necessary a virtual option for our 365 day suspensions due to Firearms if those should. Occur last year you can see our number was 93 students who did not opt to participate in the educational opportunities offered to them through during Public Schools after receiving a long-term suspension next slide please. Okay so that's sober in data often in our department we say now what and so our three PR approach is is our way that we'd like to kind of Center our opportunity to support our schools and our our students to building a healthy culture and climate next slide please this slide is our mtss slide it focuses on the tiered approach and I want to keep that in in your minds as you're watching the the presentation because one size does not fit all even though we make recommendations and we talk about all the work that we're doing we recognize that one size does not fit.
All and so from data analysis as well as our shared cultural Frameworks all of our MTS work is around trying to have a tiered approach to supporting our schools four things that you'll see there we make sure that we welcome and affirm students our schools should engage student voice our schools intentionally build community and our schools invite feedback and all of those comprise our mtss framework and the three-pronged approach that you'll see more details on later next slide please. So this is our restorative practices is the foundational cultural framework for our district I just wanted to highlight a few of if you see I have some graphics here that give you an idea of the cultural Frameworks available to our staff and schools in dur Public Schools but we also have current implementation and support I've highlighted a you in reflection activities often we get asked what is the difference between in school suspension and restorative practice centers if a main component of students visiting the restorative Practice Center.
Is a violation of the code of conduct and so reflection activities is priority in restored Practice Center also restorative circles not just restorative circles but restorative circles are key to students attendance in resorted practice centers additionally the individualized conferring with students from their teachers student services there is a schedule there is a restorative practices Center framework that outlines what should be happening for students during the day and the strong component of individualized conferring when teachers and student services staff from the school visit the RPC that is a High leverage activity and partnership that assist with students reflecting on the reasons they have visited the restorative Practice Center as well as receiving some level of accountability for for that reason and of course reintegration planning if there has been some harm or removal from class for an extended period a day or so there is an opportunity for reintegration that seeks to unite the the student back into the class or School community and so those are the highlights of restorative Practice.
Center and that's what makes it different from ISS you're not just going there staring at a wall and being quiet all day there should be lots of things going on for students including finding a way to reflect on the reasons for being there next slide please social emotional learning inal curriculum and Mental Health Resources you'll see that we have five SEAL curriculum vendors in Darren public schools and our current implementation and support highlights include we have anal coach in every school and those coaches hold quarterly seal meetings where they not only get support from District staff members and practitioners they also get to support one another what's working with what can we do differently how's it going for you so that has proven to be very beneficial to to theal coaches and we think it has aided in some of the the the implementation that we're seeing in some schools another point I'd like to highlight deals with our collocated Mental Health Services those continue we have added an additional vendor this.
Year an agency to work with us excuse me and we're excited about our partnership we are the first district in North Carolina to engage in the youth and team Mental Health First Aid initiative all of our nurses I think all the nurses every one of the nurses some it's nurses teachers and even students have been taken a part of that and we're real excited about that but it's just a an example of how we try to have a full well-rounded approach to providing resources on the proactive end of of addressing those numbers we saw in our discipline data next slide please behavior management support well the discipline is all about behavior management and violations of the code of conduct we are excited about a collaborative school-based student services team counselors and school social workers are a PLC they work together and they look very closely at how their roles are similar and where their roles diverge and move into more separate areas we also have progress monitoring of our suspension data we.
Have a tiered approach to assisting schools with reflecting upon that data and coaching as necessary individual staff members teams working in whatever way is necessary to have some aligned professional development and one thing we're really proud of is is as we've been looking at the numbers of students in with IEPs with you know with Section 504 plans who have been suspended from school there are collaborative case studies that occur by- weekly with the exceptional children's department where we talk about students who are showing up perhaps with behavior management concerns plans maybe suspensions maybe time out of classes but also to get the information from our colleagues of how we can better support those students and so those have been happening this year as well in response to that data next slide please so now recommendations our recommendations are straightforward and the first is just to revisit the policy 4301 to create a DPS code of conduct excuse me character conduct and support and that's really important because it begins to.
To start our communication to our family and to our students by putting our values first and that's character it also makes sure that leaders in schools are not constrained that they don't feel like they don't have the U flexibility to engage in restorative justice when there are minor to moderate violations of the code of conduct and it's also an important undertaking for districts who've maintained transformation of their environments and their climate due to restorative practices so I'm really recommending that we revisit that policy moving forward also we recommended High Fidelity to the restorative practices Center framework and the seal implementation rubric we try to be explicit about about the expectations and practices and the supports available to ensure that the pathway to success what we believe is success for students is is free of blind spots and it's not a a a mystery we try to be very explicit with that but continuing to promote High Fidelity is important trauma informed training for all administrators student services team members EC facilitators tators and.
As a selected staff member is a must for everyone's benefit I don't think that that we have gotten the number the really the what we like to call a critical mass yet but we're looking forward to doing that as we move towards everyone having trauma informed training and then one thing that we're excited about is collaborating with our EC directors to include deescalation professional learning for all schools in our collaborative meetings with our colleagues in EC their suggestions and their work with deescalation professional learning had proven fruitful and we wanted to support that and see that expanded as well as an option in conclusion our district has made investments in data analysis and tools to ensure practices align with our core beliefs about the Limitless potential of our students as we continue continue to Monitor and respond to the data on discipline as well as the three-pronged approaches of restorative practices social emotional learning and Mental Health Resources and behavior management support will continue to seek our community's input and cooperation at.
This time I'd like to turn the presentation back to Dr King or doc or Miss Moore I want to stay on this slide for just a minute if and when the board chooses to review and and go through policy 4301 I think it might be important to take a look at some model policies from some other districts to review the types of language and expectations that are set forth in those policies I mean there are and you're you're going to find the gamut right you're going to find probably in the state of North Carolina policy that does not allow suspension in elementary school period for example and and focuses instead on the The Learning the opportunities you know the the restorative peace and then you're going to have other policies that other than legally what you're not allowed to suspend for in elementary school it's anything is possible so I think looking at some model policies and some language is going to be helpful I think that when you backwards map into what mtss is.
Supposed to show us how to do is it's about keeping kids in the classroom tier one is interventions and supports that keep kids in the classroom tier two keeps kids in the classroom tier three keeps kids in the classroom so the question you want to ask is to what extent are our school level staff teachers and administrators implementing tier one two and three prior to an outof class out of school suspension and and if not why I mean there there could be an egregious offense that requires that you take that drastic action but in general do are we well-versed enough in what's mtss tier one two and three from the behavioral point of view which runs right along the academic piece to actually ensure that kids are in the classroom two things that are most close correlated to students being successful in the classroom year after year research Bears it out access to a highquality rigorous grade level content curriculum two attendance being in the room so those need to be if we're.
Prioritizing those two then that goes hand inand with the exclusionary practices and discipline so as you review 4301 looking for those tenants in in those policies those model policies the high Fidel it to the restorative Practice Center framework and theal implementation rubric you may recall a few weeks ago when I presented superintendent's proposed budget the number of staff that we have in Central Services the capacity for that to be monitored diligently from the Central Services level is not fully there so how we build the capacity and the tools and structures for building level administrators to get the data they need the information they need and have the training they need to feel like they can move forward with the work that has to be done in their building is going to be critically important Andor I'm going to also say you may need to increase this staff that are supporting these if you go if you go back to the slides that showed some of theal curriculums and some of the restorative practices curriculums you.
Got five or six things on that slot and schools are able to choose the things that might make the most sense for them but you have three or four people supporting five or six different programs at 57 schools and so to try to Benchmark set practices have high accountability with that number of programs is not an easy thing so I think it's you know you've got your balancing the resources you have that can provide that support and training and accountability with the number of staff that you have and or the ability for a school to choose the program that they think they need they or that they're used to in their Community or that they they may want to implement you may have principles in this District who on their own already don't believe that Elementary children should be suspended and you see that in the data and you may have others that don't have that orientation and you see that in the data so there there is some guidance.
Direction that is to be provided by the board around that and it's done through policy I a couple of other things about the training the trauma informed training the deescalation training this will get me in trouble sometimes the question that I will ask as I hear different kinds of concerns is so so who gets to tell principles what to. Do that answer is a little fuzzy sometimes so deescalation training has been optional froma and form training I'm not sure if it's been optional or offered for everyone or whether not there's capacity there but I I think there are some times when again maybe through policy and expectations and certainly in alignment with your strategic plan goals that there may be some direction that you work with to the superintendent and principles to say these are expectations for everybody and there may be some space for that as we move forward as well and then program evaluation data analysis and timeline I I'll just say that.
Many reports where you are assessing you're doing program evaluation around a resource and implementation of a program or or anything else often comes back to a paragraph the very end of the report that's a summary statement that says the ability to determine the actual impact of the implementation is difficult due to a lack of fidelity of implementation and that's where the support and defining the tights around what has to happen and following up with those become incredibly important and then you will see the data move the 22 23 data with maybe one exception is all up so I think that that's that's something to think about and you have more tools than you had in years past I think you have to look at multiple points of data if the number of students that are engaged in restorative practice centers is going down are your suspension numbers also going down it's not not what you saw here right you saw restorative Practice Center data going down but you saw suspension data going.
Up and then and then you want to take a look at you know recidivism you know a lot of times you'll say that you know you may if you have a hundred suspensions but out of those 100 suspensions there are you know 10 students that account for 90 of them right and so you have to you have to sort of take a look at those numbers as well and and that's I think additional date I don't think that was one of the specific things that was asked in the emails that went around after the presentation went live but I'm just adding it to the list and then I think the the whole the whole piece about culture that was already talked about in terms of how you build an environment and a culture and an expectation in a school with the principal and the leadership and your parents and the community is is going to also be really important and and your teachers are really critical here.
Because in order for kids to stay in the classroom teachers have to feel equipped with as as well as supported around how to engage with students in manner that actually does keep them in the classroom I I also believe strongly that discipline quotes Eric quotes does not happen in the office with the principal if it does the teacher is giving up all their Authority in the classroom because the kids know well I you know if I get sent out something happens over there nothing happens in here and here I just get sent out and so I I think but I also know that we're all humans and at some point you know we're done so so so how do we how do we understand and how do we build the capacity and I think that's one of the the biggest issues we have is we have not you know for you know it's it you know discipline doesn't happen in the counselor's office only either or in the principal's office right that's a start.
In the classroom that's where you want the students to be that's where you want them to stay so you know what is what does that look like and what does that take and I think we really have to you know listen to our teachers there because when when people are at the end of their rope or they're done or they don't know what to do next they are children on the other side of that feeling so I think there is there's room here and I think it I think it is about resources I think it is about training I think it is about policy and I think it is about defining explicitly your tights and your expectations and and I'll just close by saying again I know you want more and we're we're working on the stuff that you've already have asked for so anything else that has sprung up today or that you'd like to make in your comment M about the things that you'd like to see please.
Do board members thid thank you all for this presentation I remember when DPS started restorative practices I was glad to see us take a district-wide approach I remember talking with Dr MinGa about that at the time and so really glad that we're here and recognizing what what we've achieved and what we want to do I think one more thing I would add on to what Miss Moore said around takes training but it also takes changing your practice and how do we coach folks to have different practices so we can train you all day and then what are we going to shift in your classrooms every day what are the different questions that we're asking what are the things we're doing differently every day to create that proactive positive culture and then so therefore students want to be in the school building so when something happens they're quickly wanting to restore and come back to school so I think there's a lot we can do I look forward to doing and I hope we.
Can be strategic about the shifts that we need to make even though we have lower staff capacity so that we're still seeing progress I really like how you reframed the policy around character oh and I've lost support character support and there was one more yeah character conduct character conduct and support the many years ago there was a task force that worked on editing our code of conduct policy and I wonder if that is bringing that task force back adding additional members or putting some more folks together to revisit that and that's something I would love to see us start this fall maybe and that could include which would mean us starting the list of who's on that list now so we can make sure we get people together I know that was a community effort in the past and I think I'd like to see that Community effort come back to that work I also know we use some Esser funding for trauma inform training and I'm this.
Can be a follow question curious to know how many schools were able to participate in that and what the impact we've seen from that work is as well and then my other question was also covered in Miss Moore's comments just around repeat students who might be going back and I think I believe in the fall when we get this presentation we typically have that data in there but I would make just want to make sure we see that when we come back in the fall that's that was all my questions and comments other board members colleagues I know y'all have comments Miss sh okay we'll go around all right thank you for this presentation I I think that mental health supports and addressing our discipline disparities needs to be at the center of our work and so I think that addressing addressing the those disparities that you that you cited and for the integrating restorative practices has to be an a a focal point that all departments have to be invested in.
And that's what I would really like to see I think it'll I think you know I know another issue is like recidivism with some of our students because you can have a certain number of suspensions but then when you look and I know I've seen this data in past years how many students have 10 or more of those suspensions there tends to be a group at each school and often those are students with the U with more trauma and more trauma needs I am when I look at the the data and I've been still citing the last presentation that we saw I think in December 22 but when I look at the data I see bias and it is not to say everybody has bias is what we do with that because you know we live here on Earth and and so how do we address that we have to do that and as a former teacher I've seen many different behaviors and it's it's often very challenging especially as a newer.
Teacher if you have a higher number of students in your classroom for me for various reasons and I'm glad we're going to do the deescalation training and that Miss Moore mentioned making Maybe perhaps making sure that everyone has that it's really important because behavior management we talk about you know behavior management of students is largely about adults also managing their behavior and and if anybody has dealt with a behavioral challenge of a student or a CH or your child sometimes we have to put ourselves in a Timeout everybody knows that or you know something but we have to manage our own reactions and so I I want to say with that too that's why I think it's important that we support the mental health needs and be mindful of the mental health of our staff we have to do that because the reality is we're all people managing these you know different emotions but I also wanted to say going back to trauma yeah the trauma informed training I think that's good I think.
It's I I think I would like to see that woven into everything we do I just think more and more we have to be a trauma in trauma informed District in everything it's not separate from Equity work it's not separate from anything else that we do and kids who experience trauma they don't know how to manage their trauma symptoms unless they have been taught and they or they everybody figures out ways to manage those things but it's not always healthy so I would I sent you a bunch of questions at you know during the well a few what an hour ago or so I that I collected in my brain earlier and also with support from I want to say community members who sent questions but I I do want to see more data in this I want to see you know how I want I would like to see data on restorative practice different restorative practices like how many of those are going on how many I've asked.
This before I think or me mentioned it like how many social workers are leading support groups that kind of thing I know I I spoke to a social worker at one of our schools and she was doing groups that sounded amazing and at what how many schools at how many schools are we offering those groups to students and that was a middle school so you know I want to I I would like to know more about all of this all of this the the seal how our kids responding to it how are we what are the outcomes of what are we seeing from the outcomes of our SEO curriculum and and what are the what are the sort of benchmarks that we're trying to to meet along the way so I just yeah I want I want more of that I I think that for yeah for a number of reasons this is just it's key we're in this litigation with social media companies that are you know that's all about mental health.
It you know we need to support those students and so many of our students have in you know experienced trauma we have lost students other you know surviving students are experiencing a lot of grief there are any any number of things that kids are bringing every day but I think those are sort of My overall comments and I may follow up with something else but that's what I'll say for now thank. You good evening thank you so much for this presentation of course I always appreciate the robust actions that are being taken to help keep our children in school and to change the trajectory of having them out of the school this this work has been developing and even to know that you all have included reorganization with this three- tiered approach is nice to see the way that this is now flowing out thank you Miss Moore for your comments I really shouldn't have anything to say based on what you've already addressed but I will just say a few things.
Representative Hawkins when they were here for our legislative time together our joint meeting he shared that he has an ID U Omnibus Bill based on the fact that North Carina is number one suspension in the country for suspension with students with disabilities and restraints that is very near and dear to me to make sure that we are giving intentional focus of that and you did share some of the ways that our EC department is looking at Dees has has increased deescalation training but I do want to take that a step further with the recommendation I'll tell you that in a second also representative Mory has a bill that she's working on for school suspension for children's rights for prek through third grades and she's going to share that draft with me when she gets that so even it's just this really on time that we tonight pass our own legislative agenda which outlines what we want to do and there is more that we can do to align locally.
With our own requests and work on things in conjunction to what they are doing I would like to propose that we consider leading the way and excluding short-term suspension or out of school suspension for prek to third grade students and as Miss Morris suggested looking at models that could give us a recommendation of what would be the best for our our students you say something okay I'm giving thumbs up thank you and pulling together as chair Umstead shared possibly pulling together task force for the character development and adding to that one of the things that I saw when looking at that that policy there's nothing in there specific in the tiers about restorative practices I know restorative practices came specifically after the initial changes to the policy so make sure we're including that language in there as well for the task force that comes together.
And then the last thing I wanted to share and going back to the omn this bill that representative Hawkins is working on he's talked with our staff on several occasions about Durham piloting an EC seal children's Equity dashboard similar to the current Equity dashboard that we have posted in that there's some of the important points that's been made is that we have a school philosophy of inclusive education it's not necessarily a data point but what is our philosophy about inclusion a preamble to this Equity chart information about specific initiatives or programs at the school that support students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers such as peer helper program school-based Enterprises social emotional learning curricula school data on the following as parents are making choices how many self-contained classrooms how many EC and IIA staff classrooms how many General Educators trained in special education in the building and I can send this to you please don't try to take all the notes how many students have time with general education and special education.
And the data the last schoolwide PD training in various Ed various areas specifically the the escalation student growth is also a key metric discipline and suspensions of students with disabilities and if there is a EC parent survey that could be used to get parent feedback on how we're doing specifically within that department so just appreciate the work that you are doing and want to capture those additional data points I know that I didn't send this ahead of time regarding data around Elementary School suspensions and again it had been I know there are principles that they don't suspend at all elementary school and to miss mois point there are some that do I do want to make sure we're looking at getting that in our policy to have consistency across the board and truly understanding prek through three there's other things that we need to be working on and talking to and working with the families to get addressed thank you.
Sorry I did have one more at the bottom hold on I didn't write it down okay don't worry about. It Dr madx Fair thank you for this presentation. I'm going to own that the space that you're navigating in terms of this work a space that hasn't been charted the federal government is not charting it local municipalities are not charting it when it comes to restorative practices the people who have been charting this for a long time are people who whose voices and whose Commonwealth of knowledge haven't really made it to these spaces and yet in some ways in the educational space restorative practices has come about from the governance of indigenous peoples who have owned this process who who gave us this process Generations historical facts showing tribes doing governance and and everything else around being in relationship being in circle and I just want to take opportunity because one of the things that I I I hold is the complexity of how a school system approaches this work and.
Who are the vetted resources who are the vetted players in this field and unfortunately the vetted players are not the indigenous peoples the peoples who Focus relationship the peoples who are doing this work in communities that have been harmed by oppression and who have had to reckon with historical Injustice and so the people who are getting this this are people who who have the books who publish the books nationally but I want to read something to you and to everyone here because I I have done this before not thoroughly but I do take Liberty to do this and I'm going to get to the point of how it applies to us and the vision that I'd like for us to to see with this and it's a vision I've said before so it's so when it comes to National efforts seeking to address indigenous circles or also organizations that are trying to bring respect accountability collaboration trying to do this work of restorative practices model it's important for us to acknowledge that.
The definition on the international in Institute or restorative practices website says that restora practice are an emerging social science that studies how to strengthen relationships between individuals as well as social connections within communities and then though new to social sciences restorative practices has Deep Roots within indigenous communities throughout the world but nowhere on our website is a description of the actual practices they are discussing and there's a lot of coded language and jargon I would say when comes to defining you know what restorative practices really does in terms of bringing in what indigenous communities have been telling us for a long time so the Native American rights fund talks about conflict resolution and management in communities and it's called peacemaking the actual origin of restorative practices comes from peac making circles and what's interesting is that in the appropriation of this and commodifying it and putting it in books and for education to use they have missed out on that peacemaking aspect which is a big part of the the.
Essence of this and so in the appropriation of the circles of restorative justice led by International Institute of restorative practices circles used to be called peacemaking circles that's in literature Stuart at Al it's a research paper as time went on peacemaking was dropped from the language of circles to allow for a broader use in circles in settings Bey the criminal justice system and soon enough the world Circle itself is dropped in favor of the more generic restorative practices and it it keeps going it says indigenous based Circle work does not recognize the terminology of restorative practices as it's spelled out by these entities whether it's International Institute restorative practices there are a lot of people who look at what is being offered and they're saying it's missing the point and here's where I'm going to go to the local level because when we talk about this work it's about relationship and it's about accountability it's about everyone understanding their connection to the harm that is happening and a child who.
Is learning to model their behavior according to the behavior of adults around them in their homes in the community and in these spaces these children are modeling behavior that they're seeing in adults and we are not Reckoning with that with anything that is that is happening if we do not bring the relationship aspect of what is the relationship between the child and the adults in the school system even the child and the adults in their home the child in the in in in in kind connection to community and so it's important for us to acknowledge that the level of sophistication in some of these manuals sometimes even our our most well dedicated devoted Educators when I've asked them about the resources that they're getting they're saying they're getting the trainings and yet there's there's there's almost like a desire to develop this in a way that only they can do because of where they live inur and there's a history and Durham of racial Injustice and there's a history of ableism and we hear about.
Disability Advocates who talk about this there's a history of disenfranchisement and so for us to do restorative practices it does take for us to decide to empower the kinds of people who understand that historical context which The International Institute restor practices cannot give us they don't have that that's not their purview that's our purview as a school district what are the historical inequities that have happened in this District what are our children communicating to us when they misbehave when there's very little classroom management because there's a lot of intensity in that classroom and we talk about disabilities we talk about all the Advocates that are talking about intersectionality so we have we have to bring that into the space and the way to do it is is is is this and I'm going to read this for ROM if schools want to build loving environments of inclusion with students their families faculty staff and communities we believe that circles support the creation maintenance and development of that kind of environment within that environment when conflict.
Occurs it is not the result of difference but rather a human function of development of people working out what they need to learn about so that they can heal and have wonderful productive lives and so it's about human development and so this is just to say that recently I went to a talk at Duke and it was a trinity distinguished lecture and Professor Charmaine Royal she's a professor of African African-American studies she did a talk on shifting paradigms on genetics and race and and she described it as a journey through an unanticipated career exploring and shaping perspectives practices and policies to advance science and human flourishing and that perspective of flourishing is the perspective that is missing in international instituted resorted practices we have that keyy here in Durham what does it take for our kids to flourish and that is a community conversation and I would even pause it a community circle with a lot of the folks and that is also a circle process where administrators.
Need to sit in circle and look at each other and figure out what are you how do you relate to this work who are you in this space what was your journey in punitive there's a lot of work that needs to happen about Educators reenacting harms that they experience themselves and sometimes missing that the disciplinarian the focus on punition all that is restorative practice all of that needs to come and I think principles need to all sit at the table look at each other in the face you know all administrators need to be in circle themselves there need to be Circle opportunities for administrators to reckon with their own Journeys with punition upbringing discipline everything else and figuring out how are we really focusing on the flourishing of students that are showing up in this data with disparities black youth are not flourishing based on this data and there are conditions in this District that need to address that disparity students with disabilities are not flourishing in this district and we.
Need to reckon with those conversations and it's about relationship and accountability and I think that we need to be open to the folks who are doing this work in the community and you know I think this is evolving so I give I give kudos because you have stayed with this commitment since since we started you have done the best to set it up in the ways that have been set up and right now we do need to have those conversations across the community about practitioners who will come into our schools and be invested in our schools and understand the historical context of what we're dealing with and so I want us to move away from International Institutes of restorative practices and use those resources towards empowering the kinds of people who are addressing trauma Aces who are actually coming in and understanding that they are in relationship with the Educators with the students and I know that Duke is doing this work I know that nccu is doing this work I know that.
The PA actually reached out and they they were talking about restorative practices I mean there's so many groups that are like this is something they care about Durham cares about so we just I think we need to do an invitation and I'm Taking Liberties here but I think I think we need to have board this is us we need to have a conversation a community conversation Jessica that idea that you have about you know forums you know where we pick up a topic this restorative practice conversation I'm getting all these I'm not even going to read all the messages I'm getting and I've been getting throughout and in the article that came out folks have a lot to say I think we need to have a conversation about what is restorative practices mean to Durham not to The International Institute or restorative practices to Durham and I think that they've given us what they've given us thank you we're moving and I think I think we we need to move.
To something that is going to address historical context racial data Aces trauma you know representation the lack of representation that we have in our in in our school district in terms of all the intersectional identities that we have and how are we grappling with discipline exclusionary policies you know and and some of those disparities that are coming about about so this is to commend you on the work that you've done and this presentation that you given us and incorporating throughout the entire District every school has and some of the other initiatives that we have that are all great and now it's kind of like I think it's time for Durham to build its own restorative practice model and you're going to need some help so this is a call to the community Duke nccu I'm pretty sure UNCC anybody UNC knows if there sorted practices are happening there but I know Duke and and nccu at least are leading in those ways and all their Partners including restore Justice Durham and all the.
Different groups that want to talk about about this let's do a convening and I think I'll talk to my board and talk to Jessica about this this model that we I kind of outed it early but she's following this so I'll I'll pass it to Jessica thank you this is I have to just start by saying this feels like one of the nights we don't always agree on this board but this feels like one of the conversations where I'm feeling very grateful to be part of this like amazing group of women here because I'm loving what I'm hearing from all of my colleagues I will try not to say much more but I do have a lot of thoughts about this I I like I I appreciate the presentation and I'm so grateful for all of the data that you've showed us and all of the work that is being done and and as I had emailed and I'll follow up with that I want like more and more of a clearer.
Understanding I think of what we're doing to what extent it's working or we know it's working or it's not working and where we have room for improvement right and I think the public like deserves to see that also but maybe most importantly I want to know that that's something that our Administration has the capacity and is looking at like we want to see all the data broken up into lots of different teeny pieces so we can understand what's happening and how we can address it but it's most important for you all to be able to do that right so I want to yeah I want to be able to trust that that's happening and that you because I hear that it takes us a while to get the data back from the state but we're feeding the state the data right.
And so it should be something that we are able to and I hear I heard a little bit of that in your presentation but I'd love to hear more about like how we are using the data and especially the disaggregated data and the intersectional data like if we want to look at students disabilities well how do what about our black students disabilities and our female black into disabilities like how are we using that to then reflect on what's happening in the schools and work to improve where we need to improve and uplift where we are doing really well I'll stop there for a second just in case you did you want to respond to any of that no I just wanted to say that absolutely you can trust that we are doing that a lot of times we take very care specific care to make sure when you start looking at grade levels and you start looking at multiple areas of intersection you can get identifiable to students and in grade.
Levels and things of that nature so it takes us some time to make those things public in terms of I think your question was about feeding the state the information it is automatically upload you know uploaded and and verified by our schools absolutely but this is the the the way that it is presented back to us thank you and I wanted to I noted this in my email to you all but I just wanted to uplift the fact that we a number of pieces of this as you had noted at the beginning of your presentation are in our strategic plan so like specifically one of our strategies for priority 2 is to analyze disaggregated School level and offense specific disciplinary consequences to strengthen Equitable application of the district so I think that's really important right like what types of what types of offenses are we looking at and that's going to help inform as we are able to see that data that I think will inform the board's work and the.
Task force if we choose to conven one's work on revising our policy which might I say I'm more excited about that than maybe anything that we've done recently I let's see what else is really important today oh the other piece that's in our strategic plan as one of the one of the strategies is for restorative practices and exclusionary discipline to provide all School administrators and Educators annual professional learning and supports for school-based staff around and reducing the use of exclusionary discipline practices so I guess part of the data that I would love to see ALS so that will inform how we are moving forward is who's getting the like to what extent are we providing this training what does that training look like for our staff and looking at who's providing the training I really appreciate my colleague board member viod daus's comments about like who we're partnering with to do that and maybe moving towards a local entity for doing that training but we can't expect to see different.
Outcomes if we're from our Educators if we're not providing them with the resources they need right to be able to have the tools to change what's happening so I just want to see to if we're not providing the training why not do we need to build that into our policy and or is it a resource issue and if so like how do we need to look at where we're allocating our resources related training to we You' mention and the trauma informed training and the deescalation training and just wanted to make sure that we're there's partnership with the EC Department to ensure that that's comprehensive like the the deescalation is a responsive training so what else would the EC Department recommend to just make sure that all staff and schools are being provided with all the training they need to support the unique needs of our children with disabilities so they have what they need to then not be faced with behavioral ISS consequences let's see I think that's.
The bulk of what I will share and I will follow up again with email but I look forward to our next presentation with more data and then working together with a task force to work on these policies so we can provide our students with the support they need to learn and Thrive and not end up in you know out of school and they don't need to be thank you again thank you so much for this presentation it is clear that you're carry a passion for this work and I'm appreciative of that as I know our board is I wonder how much of that passion is trickling down to the people in the schools that are actually administering this work and how we can Revitalize and get them excited about it again you talked about the three-pronged approach has this training for the three-pronged approach been given to restorative practice coordinators Educators throughout the district or or is this a pivot right now for your team so the three you want can we go.
Back to the slide is it possible so I don't speak but the three-prong approach is just to give an overview of how we approach the work and our support so each of those areas are primary areas in which we do support through training and direct coaching or whatever is necessary in a cheed aligned professional learning and all those bases SL four side four yeah so it's it's really just meant to show that that is what we utilize to engage in this work that is what steams still steams us forward in the work in order to impact culture and climate yes I do think just to extend on board member Roger question the extent to which this approach is how we arrange training or modules and messaging and resources then provides that kind of alignment I think that's what you're asking about right okay so and and I'm not sure whether or not that is how we arrange our training and our resources and support it is okay so there the answer is yes.
That's helpful thank you you also mentioned that only secondary schools have RPC coordinator positions allotted to them so on slide six elementary schools show that there are students going to RPC where are they going if they're no coordinators yeah let me let me just take that a little bit I know so I just want to make sure yeah while let's good catch so so rpcs are funded are a funded position in secondary school that's middle and high they are not a funded position by The District in Elementary elementaries are expected to engage in restorative practices with their students but they were not provided a position to do so some schools have carved this position out of their existing allotments and in many cases I believe through Esser funding for the last few years and so that is you see that on the list as positions that are not continuing so I think that is worth revisiting I think that is worth a discussion on an Ask especially if you move on policy that makes.
Adjustments or changes to what you might expect in elementary school but I think it I think if you're if you're going to do all of those things that kind of go hand inand you have to that would be one of the resources that you would apply towards a different orientation around policy thank you and then on slide seven we're talking we're talking about the different data points and we've talked a little bit about this specifically with students with disability but are we measuring intersectionality at all and capturing that data I guess specifically what I would like to know right now of the black male students suspended in 2223 is 13.9 6% do some of those student black male students identify students with disabilities and also show up in that list absolutely absolutely yes okay that's helpful thank you my other question is the seal coach at each school that have the quarterly meetings yes is this in addition to other duties or is this their assigned Duty no it is.
In addition to other duties it absolutely is not a dedicated position not a position but an expectation where the principal works with the staff to identify who that would be and those seal coaches are expected to be resources to students so is there any like is that right theal coach and are they coaching teachers on how to mainly coaching around implementing the SEO curriculum in their schools absolutely okay that's helpful and then you mentioned y'all do progress monitoring quarterly that is great in a future presentation could we get some information about how that monitoring informs pivots at schools so if we see a trend or if you see a trend in some data I don't know say in region in the central region elementary schools are trending to suspend more students how are you using that data to inform whatever work is being done is there a difference in professional development or is the information being included in EV Educators evaluations because that information is also captured in Educator's handbook so of who's doing.
The writeups what types of write ups and who's doing the. Data also I think that it's been acknowledged and I want to continue to make sure that we have acknowledged that the slides that were presented are I appreciate the slides that have been presented It's never enough information for Durham It's never enough data and and so people want more we want more and we would like to use it to inform our next steps and so the sooner we have it the better also the sooner we have information about how we're going to use this information to Pivot for next year would be helpful so that Educators have that training before the seven Elementary year round schools open so the Educators have the information before the secondary year round schools open about how we want to see implementation of professional development for restorative practices happening in the district and then my last question is is there a flowchart say more please a chart in regards to what disciplinary action should be taken if a student at.
Southwest and a student at Holt show up the same day and have the same interactions I I'll use my example throw a chair across the room do they get the same suspension do they walk through the same steps of restorative practices is there a flowchart for educators to use to know how to provide services to those students there is not a flowchart because as we we said one thing we need to address is policy because there are matrices for Elementary School and secondary schools that give administrators the level or range of consequences by which they can provide consequences for violations of the code of conduct and so until we begin to address that then administrators do have the autonomy to work within those ranges so those addressing the policy is a first step before we can even begin to build a flowchart specific to discipline and I you know that would be my answer for that but we do have the matrices within the policy that administrators utilize and there is some.
Variance let me let me throw an additional log on that fire yeah General statute does give broad authority to a principal for suspension for up to 10 days that's up to the principal if you as a district feel like you want to provide greater guidance and expectations around that that's what you do through policy so the matrices if they are not in policy are not are suggestions right right okay there you go yeah that's. It that's helpful I think we've been at this for many years and could have used such a recommendation previously but we look forward to working on fixing that that's all my questions Miss Umstead has something else and Miss Beyer sorry Dr MP I just want to thank you again for the presentation and for some of that work around making shifts and changes around training is that happening also already I know that there's by the time you get to the board level you might have gone through some other interations but are y'all doing.
Some of the work to change trainings based on the trends that you've seen already absolutely just want to make sure we could say that I wanted to narrow the focus of the presentation for this evening knowing full well that we would be bringing more D data back for review so and that happens in the fall we'll get a deeper dive into the all right I do hear some consensus from board members around a task force so we might do some follow-up work with you all and the team to see what capacity may like to get some of that started because I think that feels like an important first well I don't know if it's a first step because there steps gonna happen while we're working on that but it is an important step so thank you thank you thank you Miss Beyer sorry thank you all thank you all so much and I want to thank Dr madx Perry and her team for all the work they put into this and highlighting all the.
Work that is yet to do I want to Echo most of the concern s and and issues that my colleagues have raised there's need for a lot more specific data but I also want to be clear this is a grim report this is a grim report what and the news stories that are saying that we're considering restorative practices in Durham no we implemented this in 2018 July of 2018 we funded this in July of 2018 we changed policy we did this work and to and we we've got work to do we are unified in in trying to figure out best practices and actually do restorative work in Durham Public Schools so folks have asked for data I'd like also data on Lake View specifically how is Lake View going how is it staffed what does it need why are 93 students refusing to go to options that we offer for their students you know what is is does Second Chance Academy still exist you know out of school suspension is a southern.
Phenomenon it is not best practice across the country it is it is it is a a leftover from the worst part of our history so if we're not able to shake this and break this end Durham where will it be broken I we haven't heard as a board long-term suspension appeals and parents have due process rights families students have due process rights so I want to know data on those and where those are and when they're coming to us and and I need our public to know that this board considers every case on discipline on a on transfers on an individual basis in accordance with State Statute and we listen and we care and so I look forward to this being the start of the conversation I'd like to hear more folks from EC at the table in these Solutions and bringing representation on on behalf of some of our most vulnerable students but I'm frustrated and I look for to doing whatever I can as a board member to move this work forward.
Thoughtfully in this District I think we let the pandemic stall us and these students can't wait so thank you for letting me rant a little but we got work to do Dr madx perod don't go anywhere there question there are more my colleagues Miss Chávez Miss Lewis was very brief but I wanted to see with regard to the task force can we make a motion can we get that what do we need to do okay what do we need to do to get it to I will work with staff to talk about what the next steps are I think the chair can convene something like that without having a vote yeah we don't need thank you I just want to say we're also doing the black hand SP student ad I mean family advisory Council that can take up some of that issue also yeah I think we might want to separate in that both of them have overlapping and and concerns but I think some of the tasks of the work.
Might I don't know we could talk about it it could go I could see how there places were overlap but also could see why the policy group need to really think about that language and the policy and there could be a lot of proactive classroom man type of work happing with the other group we could talk more detail about what where the intersections are and where they might also and I just have two quick points one quick question and it may be for the exceptional needs Department if a student with an IEP is suspended and is given an option to go to Alternative is it New Direction New Horizon New Direction are their staff readily available to support them in their IEP needs for that transition I've gotten a lot of several calls when that's happened and parents end up just keeping their kids home because they don't know that that's an option available and who should they reach out to to get those questions answered they can certainly reach out.
To our office if they have questions about new directions there is a coordinator there and there is also a I want to say there's a fulltime there used to be part-time but now there's a full-time EC teacher on staff to support students but the students are not truly receiving instruction while they're there they receive support from the work that they get from their teachers while they're there for a short time okay and that's helpful and then the last thing I know chair I'm said asked about consensus around the task force and I've know I've spoken to different board members and staff about policy looking up the model can we get a thumbs up if you're willing to support our staff looking up a policy for eliminating suspensions for short-term suspension for prek to3 head nods I as some clarification are you looking for that before the task force gets started or would you like that to be something that the task force as they're looking at all of the policy that they I like it.
Before this task force started if we could go into the new school year without having it done without suspending starting the new school year Dr King wait a minute yeah I I I would strongly Advocate that we take a few take a pause and and look at some research around that there there have been lots of districts that have done that my my reading around it is that that has not led to the outcomes that I think we're looking for in many instances so I I think I'm very comfortable with the idea of placing some very strong structures around suspensions of students in grades K through3 but an outright ban of that might not lead to the kinds of outcomes that that we seek and and I don't want to suggest that we would not get to that place at some point but I do think it is something that we would want to be quite thoughtful about for instance I was I was just looking at.
A a research study that I read and one of the things that it noted was that those many of the school systems that simply went directly to a band led to worse outcomes because staff did not know what to do in without suspensions and so I I would strongly recommend that we take a take a beat and do some reading and some planning before we before we go to that place as a district I would like to see how we build the onramp though right so to to your point Dr King you know what does it look like next year to start all right our goal is this our goal is this to build the the supportive structures in place to be able to hold that and then I would say not necessarily waiting for the task force because that may take a little more time but the onboarding ramp of what that looks like and to your point yes you want to bring something in before you take.
Something else out so yeah I agree with that so thank you for that input and then the last thing I said to but I had one more to come up are we gonna have a EC presentation in the next few weeks I can't think that's next month next month okay so I did want to see about getting a commitment around this EC dashboard Equity dashboard so I'll wait till that happens thank you thank you oh miss Vadar oh and Miss Carter I.
Guess task force I think I think this task force needs to include practitioners I really do think that we need to have representation from the different advocacy groups for example some of the Advocates who showed up and and talked about advocacy around disabilities there are so many different groups but when it comes to practitioners it's important that we also include them because they are actually folks who are looking at those best practices they're looking at the research they're doing restorative practices in different spaces one example Dr Jane I don't want to say her last name wrong but if I I should know her name her last name but so she's she's the associate associate director for racial healing and relationship building at the Duke Center for truth and racial healing and transformation which is the Duke trht Center she's a a researcher studies genomics race identity difference and is also affiliated with the social science research institute this sounds more up where we need to be in an in like a a practitioner who.
Actually has done racial healing RX with students and she actually was able to serve the boo science program with racial healing healing circles and I think that there's there's a need to include practitioners from across Durham all the folks who care about restorative circles restorative practice peacemaking circles I think I think we need to we need to think about this task force as folks who are looking at the research best practices folks who are looking at how we can actually build this Beyond just using the template that is provided by a National Organization or their trainings we we need to have our own conversations case studies you know what are some of the best practices we have developed here in Durham and that is work that is going to build upon the work that that that is happening with student Support Services what are some of the ways that student Support Services through the specific scenarios and cases and Dynamics and factors and environment here in Durham are using best.
Practices and and modifying those you know for for our kids I think that that is a legacy that Durham Public Schools owes to students coming in including those who are going to be joining us you know in the next couple of years that we we're going to build this so that task force my recommendation is that it includes practitioners as well as some of the leading Equity Advocates around intersectionality and everything else and and we can have the other question I had is that the slide mentioned a community Circle and I just wanted to know what does it look like now and what do you envision this to look like in the near future for the community Circle aspect which is in one of the in the slide that that was shown to us so in the past the community circles were basically held when there had been some harm or even proactively when when we were invited to do that for we've done that at Eastway and other.
Schools I think Miss buer may have participated in one when traumatic events happen anything to try to get staff families and students to talk about events in the community so it would continue to be that kind of model thank you so much for that and the last thing I'll say it's not a question it's more about Reckoning with the use of resources I don't know the exact number of our contract with International Institute for restored practices but if we're spending couple of tens tens of thousands of dollars like maybe I can't remember what the number is for that contract but some of those funds being able to feed the local efforts you know I we may not have it scaled where we want it but I think social social our social workers in our school system they understand relationship right and some of have had conversations with youth I think that they they could also be brought in I think some of the training some of the ways that we have implemented holistic approach to.
Students that is a part of a circle right to be a part in community and to look at it holistically and I think that those resources that we are using for that for that contract and that we have been using for the last five years that's great we' we've spent that money but you know I'm just wondering ways that that can also sustain the work that is happening with some of our local Partners some of our partners who are looking at Aces and Trauma and so those are just some some considerations and again my suggestion when it comes to resources resource.
Allocation I am wondering I'm feeling a sense of like I want to conven a task force because I want to get lots of different opinions but I'm also feeling a sense of urgency that this is a problem that we need to address soon and so I just want to suggest that maybe we set like a proposed timeline I just know that when we start convening Task forces like things can take a long time and our students can't wait a long time so maybe we could try to set some sort of a timeline by which we hope that this will happen or we plan on this will happen like I have I had realized that we do have school level data online like this published online it's not disaggregated but we have two elementary schools that suspended 10% of their students last year one that suspended over a hundred students or a 100 counts of suspension this is also interesting to think about the students versus the counts and how many of those were suspended multiple.
Times but so I don't know what the appetite is of the board to like set some sort of a timeline for this work and not to rush things but to make sure that things move along and that this is PRI a high priority for us to be working to address the issues I think I I see this a little bit as a both end like the task force is looking at the policy pieces of it but I think what I'm also in administration please correct me if I'm hearing the urgency also around you all to be putting practices in place so I think what I hear is urgency around putting practices in place and having policy that follows it up but I also hear the caution of putting policy in place without having the strategies is also not where we want to be so I think I I see this a little bit as both and we're putting urgency we need to work on our suspension rates we're going to push.
You all to continue to work on that but giving the task force the time to do the research when it comes to policy to do that so I'm wondering is is that feeling okay for you or would you like to see something different yes and I think it is like as school board members we're tasked with setting policy for the district that's the task force advises the policy but we set the policy so just to like kind of frame that as this is our responsibility to be managing that for our district but yes I do think that like things can move forward and the policy can outline some of that work and guidelines for the work so it can start moving but then the policy will outline like training expectations for schools things like that yeah absolutely I think what I've the board is responsible for the policies absolutely but I also seen when the board involves Community we get richer policy so on the racial Equity.
Task force policy we took a year but we did a lot of research and split up into groups this student code of conduct policy was also convened with a task force of practitioners of community members of faith and School leaders level leaders all different types of folks who brought real life experience to the policy work so I think I yes we are tasked with that and it is our responsibility but I I would like to see that be informed by the people who are doing the work every single day and so I think that does take some time to put that group.
Together Miss Chavin so here I'm thinking about it as we have policy and we have practice and we I do think that like the get getting rid of suspension for K through three would be a positive thing and I think about the robust structures that we need in place not actually not only for K through three but if we reduce suspensions overall because then those kids aren't being suspended they're you know out of school suspended they're they're in school or they're in an alternative program but we're catching them in some kind of way so it's about an additive policy as well as a sub ractive policy if you will what we're going to kind of restrict and not have anymore but what we're going to add and that's what a lot of what we're talking about what you're talking about Miss by that is with the restorative practice engagement with local people and making the opportunities to to really oh here it's getting late now I can't yes to but to make it more robust.
So I think that I I love a timeline so I'm all in favor of that I do wonder if we could say we would like to have the task force set by June or something like that like the membership set by June we could discuss you know the categories of people that we want Community Advocates practitioners people who represent different identities as we've done with other things and and then go ahead and start you know getting that together July we take off more or less but I I I would like to see some some movement you know in this that we can Implement next year and I know you all will continue working on the practice realm but this is our work in the policy realm so and they go hand inand anyway so I I would love to have a goal of having the task force constructed more or less by June and and then maybe convening beginning in August or something like that and also there are a lot of policies that we.
Could address I think we could start with the one that Miss Lewis is talking about but there are a number of polic IES and and and I think of like other issues that are coming up for us here bullying is one you know like other things substance use like all these different things that are part of this larger conversation that we need to address so so that would be my suggest my suggestion on the beginnings of a timeline I'm happy to work with staff to bring back a proposal and then that can include a timeline of next steps of when we could put things together thank you I think we've exhausted this conversation I do have one question do do rpc's referrals and or Andor out of school suspension referrals count as absences for students can you repeat it one more time do RPC assignments assignments and out of school suspensions count as absences for students okay that's that's a complicated question you can email me the answer okay I will do that and then.
When also can be emailed when families are contacted to pick up their student early is that a suspension and is it coded as such an Educator's handbook so there's a there's a discipline data manual that addresses all those questions and as a matter of fact that's interesting that you asked about the picking up early there actually is a new designation but when that happens and students are sent home without what they consider a suspension early so all that I can share with you direct from the discipline data manual I look forward to it thank you so.
Much Miss Vadar is we have an agenda item to add yeah yeah less than one one minute when it comes to building this model here in Durham there's been a conversation around adverse childhood experiences and those numbers and and if there's any correlation between our discipline populations that are most impacted by discipline disparities having high Ace scores we we have not done that analysis in the school district I know that Duke Health the Health Care system does that right and so they like there there there's some health screeners where where they might do that some some primary care physicians might include that but when it comes to the educational space the correlation between students with with high a scores and discipline I think we need to study that I think we need that analysis second thing is neurod Divergence as a neurod Divergent person and in community with many other neurod Divergent people there's a recommendation that the task force also include differently you know people who are neurod Divergent intersectional in.
So many different ways and so that was just the request as well for neurod Divergence to be also included in in in any task force or folks who are identify and can speak on that thank you board members we need to modify the agenda yes I would like to make a motion to amend the agenda to add an additional item the superintendent has an update on the budget request that we asked for in our last meetings so maybe superintendent update on the budget I would like to amend the agenda second it's been moved by Miss Umstead seconded by Miss Chávez to add a superintendent budget update to the agenda any discussion we'll have to do a Voice vote Miss Beyer this is Natalie Beyer I vote I miss Carter uton I miss Vadar I miss Lewis Miss Chávez I miss Umstead I and I vote I it passes unanimous M Mo thank you chair I'm said for making that motion and my apologies for not having it formally on the agenda we.
Were working on it as late as yesterday and this morning just to get some questions answered make sure that we had our number straight but as a followup to the and I'm going to apologize to the public as well that's going to hear this for the first time because we are asking for action on this this evening in order to prepare the final request that needs to go to the County Commission by the beginning of next week at the latest they've seen most of it already but the actual final document goes after this tonight so last board meeting the board approved an increase of$ 1.5 million to the proposed budget that would be sent for u local funds to the Board of County Commissioners that was the second action that the board took the action just prior to that that the board took was to approve a $200 supplement per month for EC and ESL teachers staff had brought numbers that the cost of a $200 supplement for EC and.
ESL teachers would be about $950,000 but we did had not included vacancies in that number so when the board approved the 1.5 it was with the understanding that we staff would go back and determine the impact of vacancies on the amount of the per month for EC and ESL teachers and then if there were remaining funds between that amount and the 1.5 million that the board had approved that staff would develop a proposal for the remaining funds to be used in particular with an equity lens for the most vulnerable students in the district and so what I am here tonight is to say that first when we reran the numbers to with vacancies for EC and ESL that the total amount needed to fund a $200 per month supplement for those classroom teachers is around $1.1 million which left $400,000 from the 1.5 that the board approved to increase the budget by to look at options for how to to provide that funding in a manner that supported our most vulnerable students.
In the district and you know there were a number of options that were looked at staff looked at you know using those funds in a number of different ways High need schools areas of vacancies we looked at experience of teachers and and so we are bringing a proposal this evening for that additional 400,000 and it is as follows and have to follow here so in addition to the $200 per month for EC and ESL classroom teachers staff is proposing that we increase the 200 to 350 which is an additional 150 per month for EC specialized program teachers these are the teachers that are in our self-contained programs across the district that's about 127 teachers in prek-12 in the self-contained classrooms and that additional cost is about $200,000 so you are an EC teacher of resource it would be $200 a month if you were an EC teacher in a self-contained program it would be $350 a month we are also asking proposing that the following categories of classified staff because that was another area that.
The board asked us to look at be added to the $200 per month supplement this is 44 staff positions and additional cost of about $90,000 in the following areas our sign language staff deaf heart of hearing staff visually impaired staff the spoken language facilitators when we look at the EC specialized programs there those areas do have high vacancy rates and there those do are high needs of students in those areas that are being served and then for the for the other areas which are classified staff that is direct service to vulnerable students that carry a case load they actually manage a case load so that is that is what staff is proposing to do that total comes up to about $ 1.4 million so I think don't know if the board wants to revise its ask to 1.4 or wants to leave that space based on hiring additional staff in any of those areas as we move forward but I think just just need to be clear which way on.
On which way you want to do it you want to revise the first do you accept the proposal do you want to revise the amount and then I did I did want to say a couple of other things there are some other categories I think it was maybe psychologist speech language pathologist social workers that have a legislative added bonus that happened a couple of years ago in the budget that I think it is $200 or $250 a month and the board had also asked specifically about EC facilitators as part of the discussion at the last meeting the board may recall that EC facilitators have been provided a $7,000 bonus as that's paid in two parts twice a year as a as a part of their compensation so this evening in asking for approval of how the proposal is for for the 1.5 million which is actually 1.4 I I think I'd like to go ahead and ask that the board also approve continuing the $7,000 EC facilitator.
Bonus happy to answer questions board members Miss Chavis I I was going to make a motion I'd like to make a motion to accept this proposal for the increase to EC self-contained program teachers and the four categories listed here of staff I and sure sign language de heart of hearing visually impaired and spoken language and modify the request to 26 sry 27.4 million as well as continue the EC facilitators $7,000 local supplement bonus local. Bonus. Second it's been moved by Miss Chávez and seconded by Miss is to approve the request of 27.4 million budget request to the board accounting commission to cover $350 supplement for EC self-contained classroom teachers the 44 positions for sound language de heart of hearing visually impaired spoken language and the $7,000 supplement for I'm sorry bonus for EC Educators facilitators facilitators I'm sorry facilitators yes facilitators any discussion yes Miss I would just like to ask a question about the bonus and supplement those are different what is the money for the EC facilitators.
What pot is that being paid out of is that like yeah that is out of it is out of local funding okay I think it's it it may have come from multiple pots but it's Tech it's all local funds it's all local funds okay and I would love to know how much of local funds were you going to spend on that I'm not opposed I'm just curious how much of our local funds we going there how many EC facilitators do we have is it nine maybe one vacancy right now more than that I can't remember and then my other question would be sorry this also might be for you Dr say but when we say bonus instead of supplement what is the difference can you sh well when the board discussed the bonus for EC facilitators they discussed first of all a twice a year the Cadence for when it would be provided I think there was some language around the employee being in a good standing I think those were those were some.
Distinctions for a bonus and the what we're talking about with the supplement would be an add to their their local supplement and it would be paid on a monthly basis and Dr Lin may have a. Word there are about 27 EC facilitators okay that are included in that pool that's the number of EC fac facilitators just for your projection and how many positions that's is that the current that's the number of that's about the number of position full vacancies and current people in the roles yep I would have to verify vacancies but you're you're right you're right there at that number Miss carteron thanks for this I'm excited about this and I've started to prompted by colleagues do some research on like what evidence there is for supplementing pay of hard to staff positions and it looks like the not surprisingly the higher the supplement the more effective it is for recruitment retention so I'm excited about raising that supplement to 350 per month and also another thing that emerged in the.
Research was that it's important to clearly communicate and be like which makes sense we don't let people know that there's the supplement exists and it doesn't work for recruitment retention so right just thinking about that as we move forward to make sure that potential staff and current staff know that these exist so that's all I would like to make just sort of one additional comment and I and I you know that that fiscally responsible part of me has to say this it is important to note that this goes in as a part of a proposed budget request right and in the event that the Commissioners don't fully fund the request in the event that the legislature increases their raises for classified staff or teachers during the short session which I keep hearing they might it is an election year then then all of us has an impact so the final reconciliation of the budget and all of the list of things that we want to do happens after we get the landscape.
Of where everything is and I and I I just feel like it's important to say because given some of the messaging and history of the last few months it's important that folks know that it that this budget reconciliation doesn't happen until like September October and that's when we'll know what we can actually do absent no other discussion we can turn to our roll call it Miss buer this is Natalie Beyer I vote I miss carteron hi Miss Vadar hi Miss Lewis hi Miss Chávez hi Miss Umstead I I vote I the motion passes unanimously thank.
You I would move that we go into close session for the reason stated on the agenda second it's been moved by Miss Hemstead and seconded by Miss fadus to go on the close session miss Beyer any disc is Natalie buyer I vot I miss carteron I miss Vadar I miss Lewis hi Miss Travis hi Miss I we're now in close session I vote I and we're now in close.
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Superintendent more we're back in Open Session hello again like to ask the board approve the Personnel Action Report shared and closed I move approval of the personel Action Report dated May 9th 2024 second it's been moved by Miss unstead to approve the Personnel report for May 9th 2024 and seconded by Miss Chávez any discussion all in favor say I I I all oppose is 60 thank you with that we're adjourned.