Board of Commissioners · Regular Meeting · May 28, 2024

acknowledgement as we convene for the Durham County Commissioner meeting it's crucial to recognize the painful truth of History we stand on the stolen ancestral lands of the Kataba Eno okichi shakori and Tuscarora peoples whose deep connection to this land predates our arrival we acknowledge with humility the unjust displacement and violence that occurred leading to the dispossession of indigenous peoples from their Homeland their resilience in the face of such adversity is a testament to their strength and spirit may we humbly honor the ancestors and Elders of these nations both past and present by committing ourselves to fostering understanding healing and justice for all who inhabit this land let us walk forward together with Open Hearts acknowledging the past and embracing a future Guided by compassion respect and unity as a courtesy to others please turn off all your cell phones and electronic devices during the meeting and I'll ask for a point of personal

privilege to just say that I am two weeks postpartum so I will be stepping in and out here and there because in addition to being a commissioner I am also a dairy farm that will need to go in the back so please excuse me from time to time um and I'll leave you in the capable hands of Vice chair Burns then and now I'll ask for the Pledge of Allegiance from commissioner Carter I will now ask if there's any adjustments to the agenda seeing none I will pass it to our Clerk miss Monica for announcements good evening everyone I will read the announcements published in

m. m. at jc3 designs which is located at 4715

m. m. m. with the flag raising at 12:00 noon please visit

3 billion in the North Carolina treasury unclaimed property fund you can claim cash part of the NC cash program which helps reunite owners with unclaimed property unclaimed property consist of bank accounts wages utility deposits Insurance uh policy proceeds stocks

com and enter your name or business name to see if you have unclaimed cash today and lastly the Durham County public information office has produced my Durham a guide to Durham County for kids this is a booklet that gives children in Durham County a comprehensive resource to teach young readers about how Durham County government works and the important Services designed to support a community where everyone can live grow and Thrive you can download your copy in English or Spanish and there are links um available or you can pick up a copy at the Durham County Library locations and at the public information office that concludes the announcements published in tonight's agenda thank you clerk Wallace are there any announcements from members of the board okay seeing none just want to

reiterate again if there is a seat available next to you because we've had more people come in if you want to just raise your hand again so folks know they can find a place to sit down if they'd like let's give folks a moment to settle in now we have two meeting minutes to be approved are May 6th 2024 work session and our May 13th regular session so move they moved by commissioner howon seconded by commissioner Carter all in favor say I I any opposed minutes are approved unanimously 5 to Zer and now to our ceremonial items with the first being a resolution for Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2024 that I will read the Durham Board of County Commissioners resol resolution Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2024 whereas Asian-American Pacific Islander heritage month has been celebrated nationally since 1992 to

recognize the contributions Rich history and diversity that Asian-American Pacific Islanders bring to our communities and whereas North Carolina has been home to members of the Asian-American Pacific Islander Community since the mid 19th century when the first Chinese immigrants began to to settle in our state and whereas over 20,000 Asian-American Pacific Islanders call Durham County their home and whereas throughout history Asian-American Pacific Islanders have faced adversity and used their strength and resilience to become leaders and Trail Blazers in our nation including but not limited to our vice president kamla Harris and whereas the efforts and contributions of Asian-American Pacific Islanders can be seen in every aspect of society including education history politics Healthcare economics and science playing a pivotal role in The History of the United States and whereas the state of North Carolina governor Roy

Cooper and Durham County are proud to commemorate may as Asian-American Pacific Islander heritage month and to recognize the contributions of Asian-American Pacific Islanders to diversity leadership and empowerment throughout our nation's history now therefore I chair Allam and on behalf of the Durham County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim the month of May 2024 as Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in Durham County North Carolina and call upon all citizens to observe and celebrate the AI community and to mark this month with appropriate observances undering endless possibilities of asian-americans everywhere this the 28th day of May 2024 and we're joined by Dr Brent Lewis Mike thank you that's better good

evening thank you Commissioners on behalf of the office of Equitable well-being for the resolution for Asian-American Pacific Islander heritage month for May 2024 and I'll stay right here because I have another resolution that you're about to read thank you and now I'll pass it to commissioner Jacobs for the Jewish American Heritage Month resolution Durham Board of County Commissioners resolution Jewish American Heritage Month 2024 whereas Jewish American heritage month is a time to honor the significant religious cultural political and economic contributions Jewish Americans have made to our state nation and Durham County and where since 2006 May has nationally been considered Jewish American heritage month and all citizens are invited to celebrate the vibrant and varied American Jewish

experience and whereas Jewish Americans represent communities across the globe in their diverse racial and linguistic makeup and whereas Jewish communities have existed in North Carolina since the 1600s and whereas Jewish North Carolinians have been participants and leaders in the front lines of fights for women's suffrage racial and gender justice and social movement supporting diverse North Carolinians and whereas the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust teaches us that combating prejudice in different and systemic bias can create a stronger more tolerant society and North Carolina's Jewish communities continue to work with members of all faiths and backgrounds so that never again shall any people suffer the evils of

discrimination and racial or religious hatred now therefore I chair Nida Allam and on behalf of the Durham County Board Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim the month of May 2024 as Jewish American Heritage Month in Durham County North Carolina and call upon all citizens to observe and celebrate the successes of Jewish Americans and to mark this month with appropriate observances honoring endless possibilities of Jewish Americans everywhere this the 28th day of May 2024 thank you Chris Jacobs go ahead again I'll just be quick again on that office of Equitable wellbeing we thank you for these resolutions and please follow us on our website please follow the postings that we put that scroll across um the screens for Deco and the programming that is

coming from Equitable well-being it is impacting our communities it is impacting our staff I received an email from a colleague today just about um Jewish American Heritage Month in particular and how it brought her uh to tears the the resolution and the work that's happening um within the space and how impactful it was and so I'm thankful to have the engagement and support from our board um about the resolutions but also the engagement from Equitable well-being and you seeing us and what we're doing thank you do Dr Lewis for continuously bringing these resolutions and not just these resolutions but actually putting actions and projects into place uh for us across Durham County I highly encourage everyone to go and check out the website because Dr lewiis is relatively newish to uh the county I feel like it's been six tomorrow will make one year actually so to see all the things that

they've accomplished in this one year and if you have other ideas and projects I know you'll be very interested to hear and collaborate with the community anyone else have comments commissioner Jacobs I just wanted to Echo everything that you said and just to thank you for creating a culture and a community in Durham County that celebrates everyone thank you thank you that that brings us to our consent agenda we have five 1 2 three four five items on the consent agenda there any items that anyone would like to pull okay then I will entertain a motion for approval so move Madam chair second he moved by Vice chair Burn seconded by commissioner Jacobs all in favor say I I any opposed consent agenda is approved unanimously 5 to zero I I did see some old people come in and I see you kind of pointing there are

two in the front row up here and then two that are right behind it just for clarification and then there I see some people waving they they have their hands up there also two more in the front row so and now that brings us to I think what everyone here is really for which is going to be our public hearing uh and my computer just crashed our public hearing for the 20242 budget let me go and the board is request to conduct a public hearing to receive citizen input on the FY 2425 County manager's recommended budget to be able to hear from all interested citizens um the Commissioners will have a time limit of one and a half minutes each uh for their comments and I will call your name um up so as you get called up I'll call two to three names at a time and folks will walk up to this side of the wall um where clerk Wallace is and you'll be

gov okay I will did you have comment by sh yeah only one so thank you chair Allam for this opportunity for personal point of personal privilege but it's really not mine I think I speak for myself as well as my board members um one we recognize that it is a privilege for

people to tell you about their problems and we sit in that I would also like to throw out there that we recognize how hard it is to ask somebody for help because each one of us has had to ask somebody for help um so as a resident as well as a leader in this community I've watched public hearings at other board meeting at other bodies and we've seen people been shushed we've seen people be told not to clap we've seen people be regulated to only stumping their fingers let me make it very clear that is not how this body operates we don't police people's protest so by all means we look forward to hearing from you all tonight and we thank you for taking part in this process thank you so we have about 58 people signed up to speak and I believe we'll first start with Mr Doren Langley who is joining us

virtually Deen you can can you hear me yes all right good evening thank you for this opportunity to speak this evening and I come to you as I do every year around a very sensitive subject which is boys and young men of color I would first like to start my three minutes by holding a moment of silence for all the young men who've been shot shot at killed or either incarcerated over the past few weeks as a result of our systems ineffectively being responsive to their needs in our community I come before you this evening to request $225,000 to support the Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation where we deliver essential career exploration and development programming for boys and young men of color here in Durham uh this demographic is disproportionately affected by low academic proficiency inadequate College and Career Readiness High suspension and Dropout rates limited access to life sustaining careers and elevated involvement both in

gun violence and delinquency our program is designed to directly tackle these disparities by offering skill focused mentoring academic enrichment and leadership development your investment will enable us to expand our reach enhance our resources and build the necessary capacity for long-term program sustainability by participating in our program these young men will gain the skills resources and support needed for academic achievement and Career Success they will improve their socio economic prospects and grow into positive contributing members of our community our members on average graduate college earning $69,000 per year which is above the average for graduating college students your funding will not only change individual lives but also positively impact the broader Durham Community we deeply appreciate your consideration and hope that you will make this investment thank you thank you Mr Langley and now I'll

call up three names so if you just line up and take turns so Brandon Mitchell Ivonne Coleman Emily Khan okay good evening my name is Brandon Mitchell 505 that Burton Court good evening Madam chair I am Brandon Mitchell I'm a retired EMS Chief here from Durham and also retired uh Director of Business operations and Social Services I've had the opportunity to work under three of the current sitting Commissioners during my 30 30-year tenure I began my emergency medical career at Durham County Hospital Corporation as most of my colleagues did in 1998 when Durham Regional was leased out by Duke all Durham County hospital employees became County employees and at the strike of midnight we lost our pensions it was not until 20 2013 that

Chief Kirkwood and myself were able to negotiate an agreement between the State Retirement System in Durham County that we were able to purchase our time back from the hospital the employees had to pay for that my six years cost me $164,000 but the wrong was made right during my time with Durham County I managed HR for both EMS and Social Services a significant selling point for employee recruitment was employer paid healthcare insurance both during employment in retirement and a supplement when reaching age 65 throughout my service I worked alongside many dedicated men and women in EMS law enforcement cjrc Social Services health department and Emergency Management just to name a few I think of lifelong friends like paramedic M Gundrum who is struggling to walk due to the physical toll of this job can I plan for three minutes I won't be three minutes but his pride in fighting his medical conditions forced him into a

medical retirement now the physical therapy cost will exceed livable cost with the new changes that you're proposing in the health insurance we spent years walking Outdoors which we can no longer do um this past month you presented a proclamation for mental health it is important to remember that the First Responders retired their memories experiences do not retire we have lost First Responders healthcare workers to drug abuse and suicide after they left the profession child welfare workers who become deeply connected to the to the children they help often face immense emotional pain when there is tragedy these feelings do not retire I was hoping to present some concrete numbers for you tonight but my public information request submitted on the 11th has not been answered people who know me Mr Mitchell I know I'm sorry we just with the amount of people we have signed up we got to be fair to everyone giving them one and a half minutes if you want to share your comment to us in written format I know we received an email from you yeah you

re the rest of it is it's based on that and just asking you to make right of this um and then I'll make sure that the clerk has that copy so we can include your full comments in the minutes as well thank you very much thank [Applause] you good afternoon I'm Ivon Coleman and I want to say thank you to the manager for putting together a budget that is yet challenging and we understand some of those challenges thank you to the Commissioners especially our chair for allowing all of us to be able to speak very briefly I serve in two roles tonight I am on the cultural Advisory Board as Durham County representative where I have the chair the the privilege of being chair and I'm Vice chair of the Durham County Stadium Authority on behalf of the cultural Community I just want to say thank you for continuing to support our fabulous Library our

wonderful Museum of Life and Science um the Museum of of Durham history and the many things that you are supporting and the most recent Co release support for individual artists and you know we're working on a plan and thank you for supporting the public art program that I know that many citizens have seen lastly as chair of the stadium Authority I urge you to minimize the cuts that you will need to make as you find more money to pay these teachers and we understand that we understand that but we're asking you as you as you move forward with what you must do and we understand what you must do that you take into consideration those Revenue generating programs and just like any house if you don't take care take care of the foundation everything will crumble and general Services is a foundation as is our teachers of foundation so thank you one last thing since I have a minute thank you commissioner Burns thank you commissioner Harton for your Serv thank you very very [Music]

[Applause] much hello my name is Emily Khan I've lived in Durham for 16 years I'm a social worker and a mom to two girls at CC Spalding Elementary we chose to send our girls to the neighborhood public school because we wanted to show up for our community and all the kids assigned to CC Spalding Elementary we also wanted to take part in the rich history that CC Spalding represents in Durham I thought naively that if we showed up and invested in the school the community would have our back by maintaining a strong system that's not what we've discovered the state has continually gutted the education budget which we know puts a lot of pressure at the local level and the pressure has been building for years we have buildings that have long been ignored my children perform in an auditorium with water damaged walls in as best as tiles we have staff that are underpaid and overworked at at CC Spalding we had 75 per of our teachers and staff leave two years ago and we fear another Exodus

services are already cut to the core our school lost our school has at least 20 children experiencing homelessness this year and next year we only have one part-time social worker at the school without a fully funded budget for next year these problems will only grow in the school system there is no more belt tightening to do we need to commit as a community to support one of our most precious resources we have our children all of our children I'm here tonight to urge and plead with you to fully fund the board of education's budget budget request of $27 million we we must step up as a community and put our resources where we will see the biggest return on investment our children thank you thank you next next we'll have Chancellor McFalls Nicole node I think it's n n o d nod and and Quinton heeden or

headen thank you my name is uh Chancellor mcfs I work with uh the Durham County Office of the sheriff um I've been working here for eight years now and I've been in the detention Services during my time we've come across numerous um what we'd call makeshift weapons readily known as Shanks we're asking for a certain amount of funds in order to get personal protective equipment um we have 122 um serving with us right now in the Detention Center I consider each and every one of those my brothers and sisters I would like to be able to continue that and hopefully that number will increase um the these Shanks that we are discovering now are not the ones that put you in a hospital for five 10 days these are ones that end your life so I'm asking for your help so

that we can receive the funds in order to help our people and better serve the community thank [Applause] you good evening I am Nicole lock I am also a detention officer at dur County Sheriff's Office just to piggyback on my partner our facility is run by women have nothing against the men but we do have majority of women as officers and no matter what the situation is we running head first because we want to make sure our detainees are able to go home alive when they leave unfortunately as he said the weapons are in the facility we don't think about our safety first we think about theirs the protective gear will help us leave that facility every night alive or even possibly if we do

get hurt to do excuse me to be able to heal and return normally and to continue working and serve our community so we are asking for your help the only thing I want to leave with you is God God forbid you say no to this are you able to approach any one of our family members and say I'm sorry for your loss when you had an opportunity to change that thank [Applause] you good evening my name is Quinton hen I am an instructional assistant from Riverside high school I have served Durham for 10 years and I want to continue a lot longer I am here on behalf of my students who ask me to speak up for

them my students say that we need all the help we can get and that is why we are here today we need your help we need you to fully fund our public schools that way we can fix all of the issues that are in our schools to make our education system better it is a pure investment that if you do fund our schools the best investment that you get is a better future for Durham our kids need better our staff members deserve better we are overworked underpaid and in most times and especially in my case in the classified staff position we are very much [Applause] underappreciated I come to you with my heart pouring out and asking you and pleading with you to please save our school system help our students let's build Durham to be the best that it possibly can be fully fund Durham public schools and make this place better than

what it has [Music] [Applause] been thank you next we have Chrystal Moore Earl Williams and Paige McCulla and while they walk up if there is anyone who would like to sit I'll just keep reiterating if you want to raise your hand for if you have an empty seat near you for anyone who would like to sit thank you my name is Crystal Moore I live on Biven Road in what is technically Hillsboro but it's technically Dr County um until March of this year I worked at Durham Public Schools I now work for the county I moved to the county because you all pay more funnily enough um I was

going to come up here and talk about the per pup spending but I think what I'm really going to talk about is the fact that I worked at Durham public schools for nine years and the highest amount of money I made per month was $2,800 the cost of living in Durham for rent is $2,500 for a comparable two-bedroom to my house the schools have the classroom I was in I had to lice all down my classroom every day because it is covered in mold every day I taught EC the vulner most vulnerable kids in our district when we're talking about education the best thing you can do in a community is fund education everything comes from education you want better jobs you want less people on County Aid give them an education and a step up [Applause] up oh boy My Name is Earl Williams um

I've been teaching for over 25 years um 20 last 20 years with andur Public Schools you're probably wondering why I'm up here speaking with I'm so close to retirement um this budget that they're about ready to pass it's um it's historic in a lot of ways especially for me because I'm a self-contained teach teacher and for many years I've watched teacher after teacher after teacher leave the program um I watched them because they weren't getting enough money they were overworked I don't know I was finally able to convince we were finally able to convince the board that we needed to pay special needs separate setting teachers a different salary than everybody else y so at this point I was like this is the very first time that I've actually seen an opportunity that this may actually happen you know I may be retiring but you're going to lose so many teachers um like I said year after year I've watched teachers leave I've you know I've been mentoring teachers and I just watch them this one guy like I told the one of the uh board members and left because he can make more money um handling baggage at the RDU

other teachers left because they don't have the support the IAS we don't have substitutes we don't have you know we need our IAS to be paid more than regular IAS I can't do my job job without my assistance that's right and they need to be paid and this is one time that I see there's an actual chance for this to happen so I urge you to pass this budget thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you my name is Paige Malla and I've lived in Durham for 42 years and I've been part of People's Alliance for all 42 years I urge the board of County Commissioners to support the school board's full request for funding we are operating in a Statewide environment intent on destroying public education one starvation budget at a

time most of us in this room have fought and will continue to fight the privatizers who cater only to the wealthy but in the meantime we have kids to transport feed keep safe and educate this request is for needs not wants and they cannot be prioritized one above the other we need our children to learn in diverse inclusive and welcoming envi environments modeled by adults who have the support of the community and wages that align to the other public employees in our community and in neighboring districts we need our children to practice settling differences peacefully we need our children to have interpreters IAS EC teachers and ESL teachers and other supports to be successful our children need Safe Transportation and healthy

buildings the DPS budget is a budget of needs not wants we cannot cure what ails our state on our own but we can lead by example we can offer a vision of what is fair and good for children we can offer a sound basic education for our kids while we res work to restore public education to its rightful place at the center of our democracy do the courageous thing and uh okay the DPS request thank you [Music] [Applause] I'm actually going to call five names up at a time um so Patrick n n please correct me when if I'm

mispronouncing your names an rebeck Tara Holloway Cynthia Williams and Elizabeth McCoy good evening my name is Patrick n I'm a retired DPS teacher I uh retired before covid hit and my last in uh Riverside and Jordan High School were wonderful I I worked in an EC Department that worked as a one unit we called parents every day to keep them posted we were happy schools were great

kids loved it and now the present is not like that at all I uh I was happy to work in the years that were good but but last year was probably the worst school year I can remember and it doesn't have to be that way the board of education has put together a nice budget that will solve a whole bunch of the problems that we had last year and uh I know that the County Commissioners have a tight budget of their own but this is critical that that the School Board gets their fulles because we don't want another year like last year was thank [Music] [Applause]

you hello my name's Ann rebeck I live on Old Sugar Road on behalf of the People's Alliance I'm here to underscore the request for full funding for the Durham Public Schools as someone who has made these statements for well over a decade I applaud the school board's ambitious request for funding needed to get us closer to Equitable pay and recognition of the DPS staff and Educators I'm sure you are aware that most of the money requested will be solely for staff salaries and supplements because of St continued shorts Falls of dollars for public education as a United Durham we need to find a way to keep our Public Schools equipped for excellence sorry I lost my train of thought hold on and my phone is not functioning there we go um I recognize that this kind of support and the increase of taxes is not sustainable PA would welcome an

opportunity to partner on any and all efforts towards tax Justice and creative ways to rec to generate more Revenue there is so much wealth here in Durham more comes in every day a wealth that should be shared in support of our children thank [Applause] you good good evening everyone my name is Tara Holloway I work for the office of the sheriff of D County Detention Services I have been employed with detention Services going on 28 years I'm here tonight to ask that we receive the funding for protective vest for our officers we need this equipment while we are keeping the community's family safe inside and so that we can go home safely to our families I understand why it's important to keep deputies and City police officers on the street safe with

vests now now if we can make sure that it's just important to keep us the officers in detention when the same dangerous detainees that the officers arrest and render to the jail with one detention officer staff being surrounded by 48 detainees is not just as important to keep safe we are finding more makeshift Shanks than any other time in the history of the Detention Facility detainees are making Shanks with the pencils we provide them to brushes sporks torn bed sheets any items they can find they're making these items mostly to protect themselves from other defendants in the facility but the what ifs are the big concern we have just imagine you know if it was one of us one of your family members we want to go home to our children and family safely too the climate is changing and the detainees in our facility have nothing to lose we work in fear of the unknown every day praying nothing happens please consider detention services for funding

for protective vest detention Services need them thank [Applause] you good evening Commissioners my name is Cynthia Williams I'm a Durham resident I'm also the co-chair of the Coalition for affordable housing and Transit here in Durham uh tonight on behalf of the Coalition I'm here to underline the pressing need for the following budget requests expansion of the lowincome homeowners relief program program to provide grant for the entire property tax bill of all extremely lowincome residents of Durham that being those at 30% or less Ami currently the pro the program is only for 60 and over second the Coalition urges the provision of additional capacity for the county assessor who I see is here tonight including staff and resources to assess larger more complex commercial

developments in Durham this is crucial for ensuring more accurate assessments of luxury apartment buildings RTP labs and research spaces which are currently under [Applause] assessed it's been mentioned here prior in a prior session that revenues are going down or projected to go down for the city we have commercial opportunity here we have opportunity to regain tax money from developers that are putting in large luxury buildings and complexes so that we can not put the tax burden on our residents and that we can help pay for what all of these citizens want and need to be able to stay here in Durham so on behalf of the Coalition we ask you to please please please consider our request uh we are not looking to cause any difficulties in your budgeting

however these are things that we feel are much needed for our Durham residents thank [Applause] you good evening everyone first I'm going to start off by saying knowledge is power so please fully fund dur Public Schools this year yeah I was going to next I got you I'm I was going to state that next I just want to start that off but my name is Elizabeth McCoy a resident of north of night Andale North Carolina who travels daily on the Highway 35 to 40 minutes to fully service and serve my students here in dur Public Schools the school this school year I served as instructional assistant of the year for dur Public Schools as instructional assistant of the year I was greeted with much responsibility I work with two classes going above and beyond working hard and serving my school I deserve better we deserve better dur Public Schools deserves better the lowest pay for instructional assistance is

50 you can make more money elsewhere like Target or Amazon think about that guys that's deep right there I'm standing before you today asking the city of Durham and the county of Commissioners to be righteous and give us what we're asking for we need a change and it happens tonight I pray that God puts on your hearts to approve our budget demands this is my fifth year of inur public schools and I'm calling for Action I'm holding you guys responsible we need a big change in our salaries and we all deserve better we all deserve to live a happy life and enjoy the fruits of our labor and enjoy the fruits of our labor the time is now and respectfully please cut our checks and give us the money that we ask for we really need it we deserve better we deserve better one more thing one more thing y'all I can't it can't change overnight but it starts somewhere let's let it let's make it start here have a good [Applause]

night all right I will go with the next five I have Andre Rivero Amanda go Meg goodand Sky drill Haley Davidson and Dennis Garrett I did six come on hey is every every doing hi my name is Andre Rivero I am a parent of 3 DPS students and also a homeowner here in Durham so I have a stake in whe How my schools are being stacked and also I would be the one footing the bill if you were to approve a lot of these measures so background I'm I'm Puerto Rican um my kids here they speak Spanish at home and I have

been really grateful for a lot of the Spanish immersion programs that are offered at Southwest Elementary for example where my where my son goes uh I also have a foster daughter right and she goes to Burton where she has a speech pathologist she's had a rough life she's been in care for two over four years of life and she's got a lot of catching up to do and hopefully we'll help her with that her speech of pathologist has been a huge part of that so now we can understand understand what she's saying which helps a lot um I have loved having my kids in these Public Schools but in this past year I feel more like a Survivor than a parent all right I have had my kids in my neighborhood we were all at the beginning of the year walking to school together that is until the EC staff that was servicing one of my neighbors left and so her anxiety she started having breakdowns in class so her mom pulled her out of school she's now going to a private school right and then one of the other uh students that was on my street she was in first grade she was being taught entirely by a substitute cuz her teacher had quit for a higher paying job and then when the sub just lost it in the middle of a class couldn't take it

anymore and then just went off on these students she pulled her out of go she's not going to a public not going to a private school and I just I I am lucky that my kids are still being served well but I don't know if that's going to stand up next year right I don't know if my kids teachers will still be present or they're going to quit one Wednesday in the middle of the school year cuz they can't take it cuz they can't pay their bills so I am seeing the cracks form and it's not acceptable right my my foster daughter's PE speech pathologist quit one month ago right so her progress in being able to speak has stopped right so this child might not speak English next year because the EC stuff is not being funded right I understand that the state is sabotaging public education so let me say as a homeowner as a taxpayer if they won't pay for it we will

right we've already spoken at the school board we just need you to follow through on that take the funds fund our Public Schools thank you [Applause] hi I'm Ananda go 2317 Cook Road um as a DPS graduate a DPS Uncle a 10-year DPS employee educator I urge you to fully fund the boe's budget request why do I teach Public School in Durham uh Miss Flores the instructional assistant enriching my academics at Parkwood Elementary while the Lead Teacher taught to the middle of an overcrowded classroom um my bus driver Miss Hamilton setting bully straight right quick so I felt safe arriving for a day of learning at Lowe's Grove Middle uh Mr Johnson fresh off a shiny

new nccu masters of arts and teaching degree giving me Project based learning all the Project based learning I could handle as a Jordan Falcon um these high quality Educators they found their way Durham and I've wanted to do the same but it gets harder and harder um we you know rising cost of living administrative bumbles diminishing staff without fully funding the current request inspiring hardworking highquality educators are going to move to neighboring counties where they have Master's pay EC supplement uh competitive pay for classified workers um I and so many others that believe in Durham are willing to move with y'all to raise taxes so that we can pay for the future that Durham's children's deserve please make the right choice thank

you hello everybody uh I'm Sky deal I live at 5804 tattersol Drive was that the next one yes okay good I just wanted to check um I'm an ESL teacher English as a second language teacher at Northern High School it's the uh my seventh year doing that all in Durham public schools all at Northern and absolutely love what I do I love the community and the diversity and the amazing students that we have so at Northern we have over 233 ESL students right now and we have three ESL teachers so that's a case load of over 77 per person um which I can tell you is a lot and we have regular content classes in addition to checking in with the students and supporting teachers and modifying assignments meetings paperwork um giving new students tours working with schedules we do it all um and our students do not just speak Spanish we have over 10 different languages and um that's just this year alone so some of

them are Vietnamese fary erdu poshto Kanda Swahili Arabic housea otomi and French and we've had other ones in the past that's just for this year so we do a lot and it is hard to retain Quality quality and qualified staff in these positions when I was still a beginning teacher my department the rest of them um left for higher paying jobs um one retired early and did something different the other one went to a different state that paid more so I became department chair by default and I just encourage you to give the most amount of funding to this to help retain these positions because these are high needs uh special needs students that require that extra care and the more that we don't fund these they're going to be the ones that this hits the most severely and the most overtime so I really love the community and I hope that you're able to give that funding to them as well as all the classified workers so EC and El supplements are important but all the classified workers

that help them as well so thank you so much thank you m d [Applause] good evening I am Meg goodan and I'm proud to say I'm a retire e of Durham Public Schools I also raised three amazing daughters objectively who went through dur Public Schools as well I um am very vested obviously in the public schools and a homeowner I'm ready for the taxes you need to put for for us fully um I'm also privileged to supervise UNCC student teachers who are so enthusiastic so talented and committing to Durham Public Schools we cannot afford to lose them or this incredible staff that is already here in Durham public schools and I know over the years County Commissioners have always worned my heart because you have been champions for public schools and this is no time to turn around and not fully support the public

schools what one of my daughters was a teacher for a while she's tried out some other careers but she says you know Mom when I go to interviews I should just say I was a teacher because then they'll give me the job because she knows like all of you how incredibly hard this job is how dedicated you have to be to face all the disparities in the school and commit to every day coming in and getting paid that barely covers the basic needs of life um our our devoted Educators and support staff are the only answer to Stronger schools stronger students in our community and I know that you all are willing to stand up and fight the status quo and support these schools um fully and I will too thank [Applause] you oh miss David there you go just just just for everybody not before they start it's a lot of height differences so

y'all start with Miss Davidson then please move it up and down cuz we miss some of it and I don't want to miss all the good meat so all right thank you very aware of my height my name is Haley Davidson I grew up next door in meban and began my teaching career in New York City where I earned my Masters in Education while I was teaching full-time I'm now finishing my third year of teaching at Brogden Middle where I moved back to North Carolina specifically to teach in Durham because I believe in your mission for our students I'm speaking tonight to explain why it is critical for you to fully fund the board of education's budget request and how this request directly impacts my students every every single day this year I've held two separate part-time jobs outside of my contract hours I currently walk dogs every day after work in the first half of the year I delivered groceries for people as well while this on its own is hard for most people to hear from me it's the hardest for my students having them ask me if I'm going to their game after school or their band concert or other events and having to say no I have to go to my

second job and watching their faces drop has been some of my saddest moments this year with them they know their teachers aren't paid enough after a big science project I have students thinking me because they know I paid for my materials out of my pocket after a synthetic frog dissection they knew I bought the tools that were in their hands myself we just finished a bottle rocket launch activity they asked me specifically if I bought those materials myself they know what's happening children that should just be enjoying these activities are wildly aware of the situation their teachers are in fully funding this budget is absolutely critical and impacts our children at every corner my master's program is what showed me the magic that happens when kids get to explore science instead of being told science there's been a long-term sub in my team's other position the entire year he has held it down and I appreciate him so thoroughly however my kids deserve a fully qualified teacher just as me and I deserve that within my co-workers as well please fund this budget thank you

thank you Miss goodan [Applause] okay so my name is Dennis Garett I live in Angie Avenue I run the program called love and respect and I do want to support the teachers I want to say that I want to support the I want to support the sheriff and the and the the Detention officers however I stand before you I want to talk about this gun violence and this crime I want to talk about this intervention and crime prevention like we got the resources right here in our city and in our town that we can do something different like you're talking about the school system them kids ain't coming to school because they ain't getting the proper education so they out there in the streets terrorizing our streets you know I work hand in hand with the sheriff if the sheriff need me like to do an intervention if the if the commissioner commissioner Burns and commissioner Howton I want to say thank you uh Wendy I want to say thank y'all for when when when there's crime going on in the streets see I don't want to get that

phone call in the middle of the night we do that intervention and prevention We Can't Stop all the crime cuz we ain't getting the right funding We Can't Stop all the crime because them kids ain't getting no no no intervention in their mindset we got to CH change their way of thinking so they can change their way of living so I can't give you everything that I want to give you but I stand before you because you guys know my work you guys know who I am those that sit before me that we voted on and I'll continue to vote for you I wish that some of y'all could stay I promise you because I know what you have done in the streets however what I'm standing here before is is the so that we can come together and collaborate with all the resources everybody that got something to do will stop the violence or intervention we need to come together Under One Roof like everybody you know that's that's involved with Stop the Violence instead of supporting their own agency let's like be like a wheel and a spoke every spoke deserved a part of that will we need everybody the teachers the Detention officers the sheriff the Commissioners we need everybody to come together and at at some point say look

man stop and then show them that we ain't just saying let's stop so I ain't got a lot to say I'm going continue cuz he gave me the thumbs up I'm going to continue my my my whatever this is I'm going continue it on the piece of paper I'm going to send the emails out I sent emails to everybody please read them and then get back with me and let me know what you're willing to do to help me help y'all in this city amen like I've been on Angie Avenue I've been on angre Avenue since 2002 so y'all can look at the board and see what I do thank for let me share thank you for all your do Mr Garrett okay Daniel km Micah Hunter Twi meire if I said it wrong I my name is n Machina Naisha so I please correct me when you get to the uh microphone uh Gina asone Angela Ebron and last but not least

4 million to slow the bleeding in our Public Schools Riverside like many schools and uh Riverside like many schools is particularly worried about vacancies and our EC and ESL departments we started this year already down two positions and those were never filled since then eight EC staff have left mid year and many of those positions remain vacant we anticipate at least three more of our EC staff leaving at the end of this year the the

instability this instability severely impacts the quality of Education we can provide to our most vulnerable students overall not just an EC and ESL but more broadly I'm tired of seeing my co-workers burn out and leave I've seen colleagues who love Durham and want to teach in our Durham community go to other counties where they get Master's pay or incentive pay I've seen colleagues who were passionate about teaching and making a difference in our students Liv Liv walk away because they could no longer manage the financial strain and burnout the constant turnover creates a challenging environment for both staff and students every time a teacher leaves it disrupts a continuity of Education destabilizes students learning environments and places additional strain on the remaining staff who have to take on extra responsibilities we cannot wait for the state to come save us that's not going to happen soon enough Durham can do better to ensure that we are feeling these gaps left by the state budget Durham schools need Durham's help and so

much of Durham is willing to help thank you very much thank you Mr Camp was it m was I okay okay good evening my name is Micah Hunter tweet Meyer 2009 Carolina Avenue and this is my 16th year teaching science at Riverside High School and I'm also on the Durham association of Educators board I'm speaking tonight to urge you to fully fund DPSS budget request funding the total requested amount in particular providing the supplement for EC and ESL staff will be steps towards ensuring our schools attract and retain such essential staff EC and ESL staff enable my students to reach their academic potential I cannot do my job without them Riverside just like my colleague said

started out with two EC vacancies which we haven't filled yet and we have eight staff that have left midye and we're expecting three more to leave by the end of the year that's over half our EC staff we know it takes courage to raise taxes and it's not fair for the general assembly to gut public education funding and ask for local governments to pick up the slack we know it's part of the plan to dismantle public education but we also know at this moment Durham must do the right thing and full the fund fund the full education budget as an educator in the in a classroom with hardly any air conditioning leaky faucets not enough desks for my 35 Plus students in every class um and a scarcity of support professionals to support my students and and as a resident who is willing to pay increased taxes fully fund our schools for our students and for the future of

Durham thank [Applause] you good evening my name is Gina Arnon I'm a Durham public school's parent I have two children at Lakewood Elementary W I'm here also to urge you to fully fund the board of education's budget request um I arranged to get off work early today um to join the the March and the rally and uh before this hearing and this hearing I'm here um with my kids because this is of critical importance there's nothing more important in our community right now um we need this budget request to be fully funded in order to hold on to our Educators and to attract additional

Educators who are similarly fantastic at our school we have high quality skilled committed and caring staff who serve our children however they cannot be expected to do this work if they are not taking care of we must consider their well-being this means Fair compensation including correcting and restoring classified staff's October pay raises in increasing certified staff's uh County supplement funding EC and E and ESL monthly supplements uh restoring Master's pay other school districts already do these things and we have lost high quality DPS staff members to those other districts and we will continue to lose staff and have difficulty attracting new staff if this is not rectified staff turnover profoundly

hurts Schools staff members are beloved members of a school community and when they leave the loss is felt staff members need to build new working relationships over and over children lose critical relationships with trusted adults my family doesn't live close so after my partner and me the people who spend the most time with my kids by far are the school staff members um not just their current teachers but also n I'm sorry it it it went off of like 30 seconds so if you could just wrap up real y I'll wrap up and not just our current teachers but also previous teachers and other staff members from instructional assistants secretaries custodial staff cafeteria workers and everyone else so the relationships matter we are a community thank you thank

[Applause] you good evening um I'm Angela Ebron and I live in creedmore I teach at forth few Elementary I teach EC pre and I'm going to keep my mask on there's a a bug going around in my classroom um I never expected to get up here and speak before you tonight um but I'm more uh I've never been more sure that our students and our staff and co-workers they need our help um in my EC prek classroom we we we have never had enough IAS while we worked to fill the vacancy for months my class had one IIA and students with various abilities and needs and none of them were potty trained as more students transferred in we would finish each day absolutely exhausted and we we did not have the time to collaborate and manage an Ever Changing roster when we finally received our second IIA for the classroom the budget cuts happened and even more students joined our class maintaining

our case load when both members of my team were struggling with wondering how they were going to pay their bills after a combined loss of over 1K and not being properly paid for their unspeaking train and not being properly paid for their combined work experience of over 15 years was hard not knowing how they were going to provide for their families but being told to be here for their kids um hurt many of Durham staff have kids in Durham and not knowing what would happen going forward was stressful we should be moving forward into next year with less fear and belief that the county will be behind their entire staff and pay everyone a living wage it is absolutely crucial that you fund DPS full budget request so that my prek students and every other student all the way through 12th grade has the schools and Staffing they deserve if you don't this generation of students will lose the education they deserve and our entire Community will be worse off my students are depending on you thank you for your time thank you

Miss [Applause] e good evening Commissioners good evening everybody um my name is Cassandra cob I am an instructional assistant at Spring Valley Elementary School I started my career with Duran public schools January 6th 1981 so needless to say I've been doing this a long time I'm not just here to talk about the instructional assistance however classified staff is on my mind tonight and I'm going to tell you why because I just want to give you a view of my day for 7 and a half to8 hours a day you say we go to school and we educate your children that is what we're supposed to be doing but let me give you a snapshot of what it really looks like for 7 and 1/2 hours a day when during Public Schools doesn't have enough nurses for us to have a full-time nurse when your babies get hurt and injured

I'm a nurse too for 7 and a half hours a day when our school has over 600 children and we have one full-time counselor and one part-time counselor our kids come to school with baggage so guess what when they need somebody to talk to or to cry to guess what I am I'm a counselor to too when our kids come to school and they got really messed up issues our kids have seen some horrible things parents killed in front of them I can only name so many more and they just need somebody's lap to sit in and somebody to just let them cry or to rock them I do that too oh yeah and then I am still expected to follow the curriculum and educate these children have my small groups because everybody's not on the same level so when that other teacher teacher is up there teaching full group I'm teaching small group to the ones that need that little extra attention but guess what I have 19 other of those little jodies in the classroom too that still need that from me in the last 10 years that I've been with during Public

Schools I haven't only worked two jobs I've worked two and a half jobs oh yeah my second part-time job is tutoring in the afternoons for those kids in my school who still haven't gotten everything they need during the day so to say that classified staff is overworked underpaid underappreciate that's just the beginning of the iceberg because we are so much more because we are so short staff this year I can't tell you how many times we've been pulled away from that 19 classro of kindergarten children to go upstairs and sub for fourth grade teachers because the fourth grade teachers are leaving quicker than you can change your hairstyle in a month thank you God so I'm subbing for fourth grade I'm subbing for fifth grade we've had some instructional assistance to sub in the P for as a PE teacher now I don't know how many of you that are doing that um have degrees in PE but guess what we make it work thank you Miss KK you thank

5 million one of the B one of the big biggest issues we face is the constant need to train new employees because many leaves to low

lead due to low pay we are constantly having to train new employees which makes everyone's jobs harder this problem is not unique to cafeterias but affects every Department in schools straining the entire system the Rises we received in October gave us a much needed sense of appreciation and financial relief to cassify staff and DPS no one was getting rich often of those phrases they were simply a long overdue acknowledgement of the hard work we do each and every day Public School staff include ceter workers are among the lowest paid employees in the County and this disparity must be addressed to retain staff and maintain stability for our students although I live in pron County I am committed to supporting the school in my community I will gladly P higher taxes to support schools in my county and my family members in Durham

feel the same investing in our Public Schools is critical because they Arison and the next gener generation are the most important institution we have as Society the cost not investing in our public school is far greater please consider raising taxes to ensure our schools and specifically resource in our staff and fairly comp compensation the future of our children depends on it thank you for your time and your [Applause] consideration good evening my name is Amina Walker I'm the secretary at Lakewood Elementary School I'm a resident of Durham and have been here for 43 years homeowner and am a proud member of the Dae I'm speaking to urge you to fully fund the school board's budget request

and here's why as the front desk office secretary I am personally affected by the fact that my teammate in the front office who is The Interpreter for our our school will no longer be there we so that we have a high population of Spanish speaking people she's gone um that when you remove her position this becomes a problem because of the number of people who speak Spanish and shees doesn't just assist the parents but the students and the other um care providers at the school secondly my position is being reduced from 10 months to eight months I don't know how you do that but anyway financially it doesn't work it makes it hard for me because I still have my same bills and five grandchildren to assist therefore I implore you Este team members of the accounting commission to recognize the importance of fully funding the school board's request and make it right make the right decision

thank you [Applause] hi uh my name is Stephanie MSA um I've been teaching in DPS for three years um I'm speaking to urge you to fully fund the boe's budget I teach at Durham performance Learning Center where we serve some of the most atrisk students across the district in the three years I have been there we have lost 20% of our positions um uh due to funding losses fully funding this request will ensure that my position in my school will be able to continue to exist schools across the district are in crisis from position cuts fully funding this budget will allow schools to keep and fill much needed positions our staff needs this budget increase which means our students need it which means the district needs it we cannot afford to wait for the state to address this crisis you must fully fund this budget

[Applause] my name is lesie I am a secretary at Club Boulevard Elementary and I'm asking you to finally fully fund the board of education's budget request on any given day the data manager and I share the job of nurse our nurse is amazing but unfortunately she's only there two days a week um sometimes one day if she's had you know people have things going on um we are also the interpreters the volunteer coordinators the transportation coordinators uh and many more things and all of this is very overwhelming and unsurprisingly we do not receive any additional compensation for our work now next year they are cutting the secretary position for our school um so they expect the date sorry the data manager is leaving because she refuses to do two jobs for one salary very understandable and so the expected

treasure and the community coordinator to fill in for the secretary and data manager plus all our additional duties and who knows what else and all this is going to happen while managing the growing together changes new Administration and of course they will receive no additional compensation they will just they are just expected to do this um next year our school will also lose funding for the gene of students so the gene of students mostly serves EC students and neurode Divergent students she talks to students where when they are sent out of class when they need a break when they are having a meltdown Miss s is already bu overloaded she's constantly busy she barely has time for bathroom breaks and I don't think I've ever ever seen her take a lunch break the kids love her and they're always looking for her and they definitely notice when she's not there so I cannot imagine what would happen uh with her students if she's not there because she's not going to be there next year all of this is beyond ridiculous so

next year students are supposed to make doe with no secretary no data manager no nurse or barely a nurse no of students thank you okay thanks [Music] [Applause] um next we have Josephine Cobb Nikia s right last name is hard to read it's w a t km Watson Watson okay I can't read sorry Nik Watson Anna Benfield Elizabeth Cranford and Jen painter uh Madam chair why they making their way to the microphone point of personal privilege I did want to take the time to acknowledge that we do have some school board members that were here uh when they were going through their financial crisis I'm proud to say that all five of my board members did go to at least one if not two if not three of

those public hearings so I do want to um at least take the time to acknowledge um uh School Board member javanna Lewis because they were doing the superintendent search but made the time to come here um and it is not her first time uh I do see patina Umstead I don't remember you ever coming but I also acknowledge you too thank y'all [Applause] my name is Anna Benfield and I'm a Durham resident and a homeowner at 837 Berwin Avenue I'm a DPS occupational therapist and parent um and I'm a classified staff worker and I took a $600 per month pay cut in March and many of my colleagues lost even more DPS employee morale is at an all-time low some of my colleagues have already left and as of June 7th DPS

will have zero remaining special education nurses a survey of 500 classified workers this spring showed that 50% of us aren't sure whether we're coming back next year and that decision depends on our pay DPS is on the precipice of a Mass staff Exodus that will deepen an already dire Staffing crisis and when staff leave students suffer as an occupational therapist I work daily with students with disabilities providing legally mandated services so they can access their education if dedicated staff like us are pushed out I wonder will the district be able to hire anyone to fill our shoes or will classrooms become even more understaffed and IEPs go out of compliance back in February the district said they couldn't make payroll but now it's different Commissioners you hold the people's checkbook and it's time to listen to your people the Board of Ed has brought to you a budget of what our

4 million DPS budget doing less is not an option [Applause] hello my name is n Bailey Watson right now I'm serving as a um uh manager and training for food nutrition um I work at L's Grove Middle School one of the hardest middle schools that they probably know people that been in there and everything um I'm just coming here just to let y'all guys know that we need the help and the support that we can get to get a better school for us as cafeteria workers the bus drivers the

custodians we're the first people that they see in the morning they don't see the teachers right away they see us we give them their first meal as the lady say sometimes we're the counselor sometimes I have to give them hugs where I have to hear girl you know last night um they was fighting and mdle and I got to say you know it's not the time in the place then I have a student um I have many students like yo you know he got shot like what you doing being out there like that but what I come here today is to let y'all know that we need to be fully funded um I want to say at the beginning of the year when um my paycheck was cut um I had two children that was pregnant um I have one child she lost a baby we woke up in the middle of the night and the baby didn't have no heartbeat so now she has another baby cuz she has

twins and now I have to look at it and say what can I offer her I can't give her a whole lot because I have a I don't have a whole lot to give but I have to be there to work I can't work two three jobs cuz I have to be there to support her and that's all I got to say goodbye [Applause] good evening my name is Elizabeth Cranford and I live in Durham on Nation Avenue and I have been a homeowner and taxpayer here for 17 years now I work as an environmental educator in the community and I'm also the mother of a second grader at Lakewood Elementary I'm here tonight to urge you to fully fund the board of education's budget request and to build on the things that others have said tonight I want to point out to you as someone who has a master's de degree in education I

know the dedication and hard work required to earn a master's degree especially while you're working a full-time job and the children of Durham deserve Educators with that determination and grit and we need to help them make that happen we have to properly compensate folks for the their degrees and let others know that we value them continuing their education as educators without this part of the DPS budget we're going to lose more amazing teachers to wake and other local school districts I know that this proposal has a high cost but it will pay off in the long term I'm willing to pay higher taxes to fund this high quality education that all of our children deserve we can't wait for the state legislature to step up and fund education like they should so we have to make things happen here in Durham so thank you for your time and please choose to fully find our public [Music] [Applause]

schools good evening I'm Jen painter and I'm an ESL teacher at Jordan High School and a Dae member I'm speaking in support of full funding of the DPS budget request this is my 23rd year in the classroom and my 21st year in DPS I went to another County for two years but I know where I belong so I came right back I've been at my current school since 2006 I think my longevity at my school has been to the benefit of my students and my colleagues I know that I have benefited greatly from mentorship by Educators whose entire careers have been in DPS this kind of deep investment in a school and school system leads to a positive feedback loop in which the school benefits from the deep experience and institutional knowledge of Veteran Educators and newer educators are

incentivized to stay and become rooted in a school because they feel supported and valued I know many Educators who want to invest in Durham they want to be in Durham Public Schools we have to show our investment in them by passing a budget which funds crucial items like Master's pay and classified [Applause] raises we got a little out of order with that group of five so I just want to make sure did Josephine Cobb come up to speak she did okay I got that I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss that one okay the next five are k Doyle Christie CLM Lily Gman and Kristen Southworth and as they come up um just

another point if you there's lots of seats that are open now so I know I see folks sitting on the ground and stuff but feel free to come grab a seat it's a lot more comfortable than our floors it was Kendall Doyle Christy Clem Lily Gelman and Kristen Southworth hi my name is Kendall Doyle and I am a I've been a Durham resident for 11 years um a homeowner for nine and I am a Durham parent DPS parent of three children who receive services at Durham or Morehead I am not just a DPS parent I'm a very difficult DPS parent um as our principal and administration would attest to and

I I expect a lot from our schools not just for my children but for all children I'm a big believer that there's no such thing as other people's children and we need to show up for all of our kids I I'm also I see that both from like a core belief of like my values but also recognizing that the world is a better place our community is a better place when we are all taken care of the world is a safer place when our all of our kids are getting what they need um anyway all to say I I'm at our school a lot I have children who receive speech therapy and additional occupational therapy and I see these Educators and community members show up for these kids and fight for these kids and think creatively for these kids and be held back by the resources that you

all are making available um this system is broken we all know that this is intentionally underfunded through the state and right now that doesn't matter they're not going to fund us but you can and we have an opportunity right now to be a model for the rest of the state and we can say sure this is what schools look like when they're underfunded they fail we lose Educators but this is what Durham looks like when we do fund our schools as a taxpayer I will say there's as a parent there's nothing more important than my children as a taxpayer I am happily I would be happily pay more to support all of our students thank [Applause] [Music] you hello I'm Christy clim wake resident um this my eighth year as a DPS physical therapist I'm here speaking on behalf of

OTS pts nurses and sign language interpreters who all work with some of the most vulnerable students in the district um also speaking for other classified staff staff who are impacted by the pay crisis we're asking you to fully fund the school's budget request fully funding this request is the first step in slowing the rate at which DPS employees are leaving the district nurses OTS pts sign language interpreters are classified positions that require Advanced degrees Andor National certifications and licensers um DPS has always paid less than nearby districts and private sectors but we can no longer afford to stay help the district pay these licensed professionals what we would make in other counties and in private sector some of the surrounding counties are able to pay an additional supplement for Relevant Advanced degrees or doctorates um DPS already pays their speech therapists who are the most closely um aligned with OTS and PTs they pay for U doctoral degrees some surrounding counties pay these

classified positions a supplement that makes them similar to certified pay of speech therapist and psychologists but DPS has not been able to do that in the past because we haven't had enough of a budget to give you an example of some pay impact that has happened I now make $975 less a month than I did in October if I went to Wake County I could make up to $1,250 more per month with my doctorate if I was a speech therapist in DPS I could make up to $1,200 more dollars per month with my doctorate last year before we got this classified pay raise this past year year I made about 177,000 less a year than a DPS speech therapist that had the same degree a doctorate that I had if I look at my eight years in the district and estimate without looking at all the salary schedules from years past I estimate I would have made more than $100,000 if I'd been a speech therapist I work with the same students they have

the same IEPs but yet these licensed professionals are not being compensated what we should thank you for your time fully fund the budget [Music] [Applause] hi uh my name is Lily Gman I live at 3301 Shannon Road number 16a um I am for the last year I've been working as a literacy interventionist at Bethesda Elementary School working primarily with students K through in K grades K through 2 um though I'm training to work with K through five uh myself and my counterpart worked with about um 80 students uh we we each worked on a part-time basis I have another job at an education nonprofit that effectively subsidizes this job um because this this job paid me $15 an hour my other job pays me $35 an hour um I but I love working with the kids at

DPS I'm very committed to them we we were told on May 10th suddenly and unceremoniously that um we would be well we were told the week before that we would be ending early um for the year uh earlier than it had uh ended the previous year um something about um the grant that funds us not um you know being able to to continue but um or running out of money or something but but the the point is the these students need so much more than um we can give them right now um we're all drinking out of a fire hose um I was struck by this uh get a copy of my Durham uh booklet that gives children and Durham a comprehensive resource to teach young readers about how Durham County government works and I was thinking I I don't know how many of my second graders would be able to read something like that um and I they need to be able to read it they and they we didn't stop because they can they all can read now a lot of them still struggle with very basic site words and I've seen the

progress that they've made with me and it's been deeply meaningful and to have it suddenly halted has has been a huge bummer um and I hope that I can continue to work with these kids I don't know if I can come back next year or not I would like to thank [Applause] you good evening Commissioners my name is Kristen Southworth and I am a Community member a Durham native born and raised DPS alumni and a parent of two DP PS students at brogon middle school and Easley Elementary tonight I am here not just as a parent but representing the Durham advocates for exceptional children for those of you who may not be familiar with this group we a parent-led group working in collaboration with Educators and community members to support and improve the educational experiences and outcomes of DPS students with disabilities and their families this

4 million while I'm sure you have heard from many Educators school advocates community members about the importance of this funding I want to specifically speak to the impacts this funding has on our students with disabilities over the last year DPS has struggled to be able to recruit retain and maintain our EC teachers and staff with the recent vacances ranging between 80 and 100 vacancies of EC staff alone that is thousands of students of unmet needs that is burnt out teachers who are having to cover classrooms that is an inability to meet the guidelines required by our federal government to even evaluate students for Disabilities and when they are not

evaluated their needs are not met and therefore become a struggle in every classroom thank [Applause] you and a reminder if you're not able to finish your comments you can email them as well so that we can get the full comments uh to our Clerk's email the next uh couple are going to be Ariana Johnson whisk Ali cuffy Al Cy Aaron Bing bingaman Lauren uh Lauren benan banan banan Dabney Hopkins agnesa mccort Sophia bayas and Elizabeth Jones hey Ariana Johnson whk Jordan High School Dae I live in Graham because I

can't afford to live in dur um however I'm speaking tonight and I thought about my drive that's 45 minutes or an hour long what I wanted to talk about tonight and what keeps sticking with me is that 27 million is a historic ask when 97 million would be less than 10% of Durham's budget and I'm frustrated by that when I think about everything that we do here for the school and for constituents that vote for you as a previous history teacher I don't have much fa in politicians doing things beyond their own personal interest but the word that I focus on here is that this is a bureaucratic term that this is a request it is not a request it is a demand there are 230,000 voters who will be holding you accountable for this demand we are taking notes of public officials and meetings we are looking through meeting minutes people will be voted out or voted in and I will go to people's houses based on on how people make their

decisions going so with that being said it would behoove you it would be in your best interest everyone in this room who is an elected official to vote and to support this not request but this embarrassingly historic demand of 27 [Applause] million good evening my name is Aon bingaman and I teach seventh grade ELA at Brockton Middle School I also would like to request there is a parent Ali who is not presently here um that they be moved to the end of the lineup thank you so as I said I teach seventh grade ELA at Brockton Middle School this year I witnessed the turmoil of watching four of my grade level colleagues leave their positions at various points through the year two of those colleagues were also English teachers which left me to do the job of three English teacher as a first year educator for only $43,000 a year

4 million anything less will directly impact the compensation of my colleagues ultimately affecting the quality of Education our students receive we cannot wait for State intervention action is needed now to provide job security for my colleagues and a high quality education for my students thank you for your consideration the well-being of DPS employees students and families is riding on your decision [Applause] [Music]

[Applause] W good evening my name is Lauren Benet and I'm here as a DPS parent and Durham County voter to urge you to fully fund the Boe budget as proposed it's a miracle that Durham public schools are as successful as they are given the challenges that they face parents know that they are behind that miracle and y'all know that too you ran on public education you were elected by public education voters um and DPS is clearly a priority for Durham County constituents and it's in crisis it is shameful that some of our hardworking education professionals need county Support to meet basic needs for their families because their paychecks don't cut it maybe we'll save County dollars elsewhere if DPS staff doesn't have to use your eviction prevention program or food stamps maybe down the road we'll save money avoiding court cases if we fund what is needed to Pro to provide legally required special needs services and the maintenance of playground equipment and and our buildings that are leaking some of our classrooms are better suited for growing mold than

5 million budget for building repairs and Renovations realistic when you have 55 physical schools many of which need urgent repairs and Renovations now we are in a staff turnover crisis now we are in an infrastructure crisis now we need fully funded public schools now and our schools simply cannot withstand the blow of an underfunded budget DPS Stak ERS respect and rely on DPS staff and we are losing them at an alarming rate just because it's an increase doesn't make it enough saying it's better than our neighbors doesn't make it enough this is an extraordinary ask because there is an extraordinary need please meet it and quickly my daughter wanted to speak tonight but she's in second grade she wrote this really lovely speech that I can't read because I'm not a second grade teacher um but it boils down to her being worried about things like the musical not happing yet her school next year or the electricity going off at her school because her

second grade classroom was at 90 plus degrees temperature for over 30 days with the HVAC uh shut down and nobody came to repair it um so our kids are definitely affected and aware of what are going on they're suffering the consequences thank [Applause] [Music] you if you'd like to share your daughter's notes with the clerk that can also be submitted into our uh minutes for the meeting I don't know if she heard me uh Aaron maam I was saying if you wanted to also share a picture or forward that to the clerk we can also include that in the minutes of the meeting i' be glad to yeah and I'll send a picture of her 10-month old sister too because I'm worried about what DPS will look like when she's in kindergarten good evening my name is Dabney Hopkins and I live at 1700 sprun Avenue in Durham uh I'm currently representing uh speaking tonight for myself and the Durham People's Alliance

Education team I've lived in Durham over 55 years uh I'm currently retired uh I have long paid both City and County taxes and I'm well aware and understand completely about the role of property taxes and the reluctance to raise the rate but I stand before you ready to pay increased taxes we need to fully fund the Durham Public School school system they are uh this is an essential request for our community and for our students and our children in Durham County uh I currently volunteer in the Durham public schools and I have been very alarmed at the turnover rate and also the continuing of underfunded underappreciated overworked staff from top to bottom so I ask you tonight please fully fund the Durham Public Schools [Applause]

good evening Commissioners and fellow community members my name is aashka mccort I am a Durham resident a proud mom of two uh kids in the Durham Public School System a Dae Ally and a member of the Durham People's Alliance education action team um in my role uh on the action team I bring 20 years of training in public health and expertise in in the primary prevention of violence to advocate for the implementation of comprehensive restorative just uh restorative practices programming within DPS research shows that schools that have implemented restorative practices have experienced reductions in disciplinary actions improved attendance rates enhanced overall School climate which in turn turn correlates to reductions in interpersonal violence and enhance child well-being currently our approach to addressing conflict and discipline in DPS is exclusionary and impacts children

negatively with many young children experiencing harms to varying degrees including forms of identity discrimination negative encounters with law enforcement and direct physical violence these harms are just some examples that contribute to an unsafe environment that is not conducive to learning most especially for children of color who are disproportionately impacted while my focus tonight has been on finding ways to grow restorative communities within DPS I'm here to advocate for for this board to fully fund boe's uh request we are aware of the financial challenges that DPS has faced this past year um but without covering the basic needs in public school systems that we've all heard about tonight like paying teachers and staff like maintaining building and technological needs I I realize that this cultural shift that I'm asking for is just um uh thank you sorry I just want to end

with one sentence um it require it's a stretch so what I'm I'm urging you to do is to fully fund boe's um fiscal request to fund DPS thank you [Applause] good evening Commissioners my name is Elizabeth Jones at 1609 Maryland Avenue I'm a Durham County homeowner a DPS parent and a DPS teacher I'm speaking to urge you to fully fund the boe's budget request we know that this board has prided itself on fully funding prior DPS budget request and I'm grateful for that support however I also am grateful to the board of education for this historic budget request that in contrast with prior request actually refle reflects the true cost of providing Durham children the education they deserve let's be clear a

$13 million increase isn't going to cut it there is no wiggle room in this budget many of our classified staff don't make a living wage we're losing certified and classified staff to other districts and other jobs where they can get paid more more I know families whose children haven't been taught by a certified teacher for 2 years our buildings are crumbling my son's school has molded and was without a functioning HVAC for over a month in 90 Dee weather I teach elementary ESL and our case loads have grown to over 70 students per teacher this year I also acknowledge that the county shouldn't be in the position to provide this level funding during a challenging budget year but here we are should the state legislature step up to meet its constitutional duty to provide an adequate education for all children absolutely but we all know that that is not happening tonight Commissioners no one is coming to save us this is our community our children our future I urge you to find a way to fully fund the board of education's

budget request thank [Applause] you um good evening my name is Sophia bessus and I live in Durham I'm also from Durham I attended EK Po and Forest View elementaries before switching to private school in fifth grade uh I am planning for my three and five-year-old children to graduate from DPS and tonight I am urging you to fully fund the boe's request as a DPS parent and a Dae Ally I say fight the plan to dismantle public education as a public health Prof professional I say fund education today not the consequences of a shortfall tomorrow hearing that we are coming out of a uh pandemic when we have learned the transformative power of Clean Air um and there are non-functioning AG

facts and a number of schools should be unacceptable uh as a homeowner I say raise my taxes as a community member I say let let this budget reflect the values you've heard from so many of us tonight and I'm ready to support your decision thank [Applause] you did we have Lauren banan banan did they speak did it okay sorry just want to double check okay next we have Nicholas Graber Grace Kia Parish Haim Catherine Goldstein John Hodes Coppel Brian Schneiderman Lee borley and Matt copac good evening my name is Nicholas gig Grace and I reside at 829 Clarendon Street so DPS made a major budget error

9 million short and leaving classified staff holding the bag again two our EC students and English language Learners will be harmed because the recommendation does not fund the EC andell supplement and learning conditions will remain unacceptable because the manager's budget does not include additional Capital funding thankfully you have the power to adjust the proposed budget before you vote in

June ask any parent or grandparent is it worth an extra hundred bucks in taxes to make sure your kid has the supports they need at school is it worth 200 you'll get the same answer pretty much every time oh that sounds hard I hate taxes but yeah I love my kid and if that's what it takes I'll make it work in Durham we care deeply about our children we can make this work another option is borrowing a modest amount from fund balance this year and trying to make things right by developing a longer range plan moving forward DPS exhausted fund balance this year to address this crisis it only is fair that the county would do the same thank [Applause] you my name is Katherine Goldstein and as a homeowner taxpayer entrepreneur and DPS parent of three I am begging you to raise my taxes uh in our five years in DPS my son

has had five of his teachers and IAS leave his school uh and spent most of second grade without a teacher we are currently without a superintendent we are facing a crisis of trust with our teachers and staff as a result of this year's pay debacle and financial mismanagement our confusing and poorly executed redistricting process has broken trust with parents and our enrollment numbers continue to drop despite the population explosion in Durham County people don't want to move here and do business here if our public schools are in crisis but despite all of these challenges I believe that as a community we can come together and write this ship it won't be easy but it starts right here tonight with you all our County Commissioners we need to set up our future superintendent for success and instill confidence that Durham is committed to put our Public School dist to is committed to our Public School

District I'm I'm here to or urge you to approve the the boe's full request for funding for next year this is the bluest county in North Carolina we have voted for many of you due to your stated commitment to our Public Schools when the state tries to undermine and defund public education we must fight back with our own funding we must be the progressive Visionaries this County needs needs and deserves thank you [Applause] hi I'm John Hodes Cel a former DPS parent and current DPS grandparent less than two years ago you authorized a 423 million Bond vote the Durham Public Schools promise to voters would fund a new Durham School of the Arts the new Murray massenberg Elementary School and desperately needed renovations to six Title One eligible elementary schools they told you and the voters that 120

million would be needed to move DSA and that building a new DSA campus would be far less costly than a stellar Improvement to the current campus now just 18 months since the bond passed the cost to new to move DSA has ballooned to over $250 million making it the most expensive local project ever in Durham County DPS proposes to sweep funding away from four of those elementary schools to build a fancy campus in North Durham all while ignoring students teachers parents and the community and so far refusing to share information related to costs seeking to rescue the funding for elementary schools and to make the current campus a model learning environment we've been working with Engineers Architects and planners with well over 100 Years of combined experience doing just these kinds of projects and we know that improving DSA can be done for far less than moving DSA

allowing at least two more Bond approved Elementary School renovations to be completed this would not just be a DSA renovation it involves new construction and would have brand new space for exceptional children's education dance chorus piano guitar science and math the concept would save at least 50 million and up to $80 million over moving DSA our ask is simple please send a strong signal that since the county must come up with funding to solve DPS is fiscal crisis over staff pay that the county expects DPS not to create another fiscal crisis over funding buildings which will Cascade for years through your budget thank [Applause] you hello my name is Lee bardley I'm here to talk about funding for DPS I believe DPS has current plans for expending the 2022 Bond funds are

7 Million by renovating DSA a group of professionals experienced in the construction and renovation of large public buildings volunteered with Durham for DSA they estimate we would save 52 to $85 million by renovating it is a waste to spend money that you don't have to spend wasting public funds is wrong especially because this new school will literally be at the expense of on the backs of younger and more marginalized students at the elementary schools that will have to wait for their Renovations and while we are wa waiting for that next Bond their schools will need Band-Aid repairs their needs will become more severe and their renovation costs

will rise I have always thought the Boe should have taxing Authority but the state disagrees and it is on you the County Commissioners you will have to explain to the voters why our taxes should be imp increased to pay for actually necessary staff pay increases yes Dae and when the next Bond is scheduled why it should be passed if the Boe chooses to waste funds our youngest most vulnerable children will suffer and your job is going to be a lot harder let's do right by our kids and make it easier to raise the funds that DPS needs and deserves thank you good evening my name is Brian Schneiderman I'm a parent of one second Brian sorry um clerk Wallace yes um can we reset thank you thought I was going to get extra time my name is Brian Schneiderman and I'm a parent of two children at Morehead monu we love the school school we love the staff we love the teachers we love the families the

building not so much as you've heard we are underfunded in the schools we're underfunded for the buildings as we've heard tonight there are many people taxpayers including myself that we support the Dae and funding teachers however we're about to make a decision for funding a building DSA for spending $250 million for decision that was made 18 months ago and the cost of balloon that could mean that schools like my children and other kids will not get their building renovated the only way to do that will be to go back to the well back to ask taxpayers again to put up more money simply because we won't pause and reassess and recalculate the cost and compare new construction versus Renovations let's just take a moment

we're seeing that when we make rash decisions when we don't have all the information we are in danger of making fiscally poor decisions so as a taxpayer I support you raising my taxes for funding teachers I don't support raising taxes for poor decisions about buildings thank you [Applause] good evening Commissioners and staff my name is Matt copac representing the more than 600 signatories of dford DSA and I'm also a Club Boulevard Elementary parent of a third and a fifth grader at Club our HVAC system and plumbing are constantly breaking and we have mold issues our babies our teachers our staff have to deal with this every day I believe that our schools deserve significant public investment I support boe's full budget request and I stand in solidarity with the elementary school parents and workers here this evening I do not believe that

we can simply point fingers at the state and county and say that underfunding is the sole source of our problems I believe we also need to spend our do dollars wisely like improving DSA downtown instead of spending at least $256 million on a new building we can have an excellent state-of-the-art downtown DSA that preserves the mission of the school expands enrollment and saves at least $50 million for other needs like our elementary schools easy right yet DPS is holding firm regardless of the cost and regardless of stakeholder sentiment and there's a concerning lack of transparency in the process I believe we've lost our way when we believe when we think that $50 to 80 million doesn't matter when we think Community engagement doesn't matter and when we believe transparency doesn't matter I'll bet it matters to the other folks who spoke here this evening and I'll bet it matters to all of you we urge you the county commission to help bring accountability and demand the DPS do an Apples to Apples comparison between

moving DSA or improving DSA downtown and funding elementary schools before spending any more on new DSA Durham deserves this due consideration thank you so much thank [Applause] you did Kia Parish H speak had leave she had to leave okay thank you Allison SW Katie McConnell Eleanor Weston Maya Jackson and then Ali cffi and that's the last of the people that I have so if all of you want to come line up okay good evening I'm Alison swame it's my

4 million all of it this is urgently needed I'm sick of seeing my co-workers leave and that is why I've dedicated my life this year to building our Union should the state be funding our schools yes of course and they aren't right now and our schools cannot wait and frankly the best shot we have to flip the balance of power Statewide is by building more and more strong local public school unions who can push their local electives to lead bravely just like we're doing here in Durham the Board of Education made a bold historic budget ask because thousands of us and our co-workers chose hope we came together we organize and guess who's watching fory Edgecomb chadam wake Guilford bunam Rowan County they're all

4 million the board's going to have to choose don't make them choose Thank you [Music] [Applause] hi um I am next right Katie mcgd okay I didn't want to overstep or over speak um

my name is Katie mcconell and I teach and live in Durham by choice and not by chance for now um I was not planning on speaking tonight until two armed guards wanted everyone who entered this room a room that only has 13 assigned seats I wish our schools were fully funded so I could feel this safe every day when I'm at work I wish our schools were fully funded so Northern High School could provide the state-of-the-art security facilities and the staff that they promised my daughter Mia and this community I wish our schools were fully funded so my children could participate in all the extracurricular activities that they want to but because as a single mother and a teacher in Durham I can't afford to supplement their limited extracurricular budgets I have to tell my children you can only pick two that doesn't feel good to tell your children they can only pick two I wish our schools were fully funded so as a teacher and a single mom in this County I could be a homeowner in

Durham what a dream that would be to be a teacher a single mother and a homeowner in Durham ladies gentlemen commissioner people the guys in this room I don't know who votes but I do know this that you hold the power to change the education journeys of my children here tonight you will fully fund their schools to provide my daughters Mia and El the teachers that they need to be successful you hold the power to change the lives of my colleagues and myself please pass this historic budget every day I tell my children in my first grade classroom you can be the change prove me right be the change [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hi good evening um my name is Maya Jackson I am a fourth generation dite I

live on Hill Street I'm a product of DPS so one part as a parent I'm here in solidarity and I pray that you are able to see the um increase and not decrease in your budget I'm also here to speak about increasing early childhood education because it's a community based du and someone who runs a community based maternal Health Organization we have been feeling an impact before covid uh before roow was over flipped and the demand is increasing as someone who has been fired because they were A lactating parent who's been discriminated against while pregnant I am still seeing these issues and challenges that our families are dealing with every day in Durham and as we work alongside your systems within government the referrals are increasing but the funding is not and so I really think that a lot of the conversations that that we're having now are very intersection um with each other because if we want to make an investment in our children into the school systems we have to make an investment in parents and that's one of the biggest things that I feel like Durham is lacking right now is the lack of investments into the overall

health and well-being of the parents the mental health and the support that they need so as a demand as someone saying uh said before I would like to request that we increase the budget for early childhood education I would also like to say that there should be a line item for maternal Health particular for our black and brown birthing people in this community many of them that are coming here for services cannot access Services because they don't have health insurance because they can't fit into some of the Social Services Program because they make too much but it doesn't mean that they don't need help so to put a number in it because I'm going to again highlight the work that we've done over the past years with each other we need at least $500,000 to be able to do this work to be able to make sure that we can provide the wraparound services with duela Services maternal mental uh health lactation because now we have uh physicians at the wick office at Lincoln referring their clients to us so now we're having to take on the capacity of Institutions that are no longer working so I'm asking for this request I'm asking for this increase because now our families are going to need access to

child care and many of these families have to go back to work between four two to four weeks postpartum thank You' that is not enough time to heal so I thank you guys for your time and again sending solidarity to everyone and I pray that we can increase the budget and not decrease [Applause] um hello everyone my name is Ali I have a student at Lakewood Elementary currently um and I guess like from for just keep it simple um the demand just to fully fund the school board budget request um what we have seen and I mean the main focus is always the kids and so just not having just the teachers not being able to kind of provide just that I could you could say um just their morale being low it kind of affects the kids morale CU they're there to kind of guide our kids um they're the main piece

we need to make sure the ones that's my kids with these people most of the day I need to make sure those people mental health is where it needs to be so and the the budget is a big piece uh when the debacle happened um some teachers had to kind of find new ways to kind of pro just proceed with a day-to-day life because they have you know just things to think about of how their life outside of school is going to be taken care of um and this is a piece that could really help um I know my kid um his teacher had to kind of think about what she needed to do to make sure that she's still in the best position to assist the kid is and having this weight on her shoulders her and her husband at the time right um it put a tobacco for them so um again fully funding the budget request is like the main thing I would think uh for all of us for the kids because we want the kids to be able to be guided

properly um and I'm going keep it simple I'm there I kind of rushed here so um I'm glad you guys had air [Applause] [Music] and then did we have Eleanor Weston okay I think they may have left um that concludes everyone who has signed up for public comment I want to thank everyone for taking the time and coming out to our meeting tonight and sharing your comments uh I know this board hears all of you and is going to be taking it into deep reflection as we continue to have our budget work sessions uh our next one is Thursday correct and it's in the Chambers um if you want to there's no public comments during that period but you can see the different discussions and presentations we'll be having from the Departments as we talk through all the different areas of the budget um and you're free to join us and listen into those as well I do want to take a short moment of personal privilege as well commissioner Burns

recognize um Miss jaavan Lewis and batina mad but also we have our interim superintendent cadd Moore is here recognize her as well um and also just congratulating Dae as well for reaching majority membership for [Applause] their and I know we all look forward to a very hearty discussion as we work on this budget and know that all of us care about our students and we're working really hard to try to figure out all the services and programs that we need to fund for Durham County thank you all again for joining us tonight [Applause] that brings us to the next item which is our board and commission appointments that I will ask attorney Massie to review the ballots think okay moment ma'am

[Music] yeah I need to get a you know the taboo buzzer I need to just have one of those and just start buzzing it on my yeah and also when people are like clapping over and they they clap over it for

[Music] yes Madam chair I have uh counted the ballots and can announce the following Decisions by the board appointment to the bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission Anthony reevy to the community child protection and child fatality prevention team Elizabeth conrat to the dangerous dog appeal board Nicodemus montz and to the memorial stadium Authority Charles EPS thank you attorney Massie and congratulations to everyone who was selected for these appointments and for folks who who weren't selected this time please continue to look at the different boards and commissions that we have vacancies for there's a lot of different opportunities for you to be able to serve and we would love to have everyone's support in helping us lead

11 A3 do I hear a motion to move in close session so moved second moved by Vice chair Burn seconded by commissioner Jacobs all in favor say I I any opposed okay we are moved into closed session thank you everyone for joining us for this meeting

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