their comments to the board of education and must refrain from personal attacks, insults directed to board members, individual board members, staff or members of the public. All commenters are asked as asked uh to remember that children are often attending these meetings and to keep their comments substantive and civil. Please remain at the podium during your time, your speaking time. Any materials that you wish to hand share with the board may be placed on that table behind our board attorney either before or after your comments. During public comments, you may speak up to three minutes. Please note that the microphones are adjustable and that the green light will illuminate at the podium indicating that your three minutes have begun, followed by an audible tone and a yellow light when there are 30 seconds remaining and then a red light um when your time has expired. And when your time is expired, the next speaker will be called to the podium. We are requesting that all speakers respect the time and speak no more than 3 minutes. The speakers list will be um displayed on the screen and this is the agenda that we will go forth and if you will state your name when you arrive at the podium. So we will begin with our first student speakers that are off agenda. So is Olive Craft in Yes. Welcome Good evening. >> Uh, good evening schoolboard members. My name is Olive Craft and I'm a rising junior at ENLO. I feel lucky to have a seat at Enllo and appreciate the extracurricular opportunities and academic rigor that is offered there. I am here today to speak about the new exam exemption policy that has just been rolled out. In this policy, students in high school may be exempt from a teacher made exam when they meet certain criteria, have a grade of 90 or above with less than three absences, or have have a grade of 80 or above with one or less absences. There are some absences that are not counted towards these numbers. Student athletes who play a sport affiliated with the school have an exception for all of their travel days and competitions. I'm a member of Triangle Rowing Club. I've been rowing with them since seventh grade. Triangle Rowing Club is based out of Lake Wheeler in Raleigh. We have 120 athletes and most of them are Wake County students. Rowing with TRC has been a fantastic experience that has helped me grow as an athlete and a student, balancing both loads. Rowing has allowed me to travel to cities for competitions that I would have otherwise not have visited. It has also exposed me to college recruiting and I'm currently in that process. In recent years, athletes from our team have gone on to row at Columbia, Smith, UNCC Chapel Hill, University of Washington, and many more. Clearly, our athletic careers are interwoven with our academic ones. Our sport has at minimum two travel days per semester required. This count does not include elite competitions such as national championships and head of the Charles regata, which is in Boston, and it is the largest riata in the world. Because our school system does not offer rowing, the new exam exemption policy is inequitable for rowing athletes and other athletes that are not affiliated with the school. I am asking the school board to consider excusing absences for athlete travel, not only for those associated with school, but the but sports that are not offered by Wake County. Thank you. >> Thank you. And Dr. Hill is going to meet with you um before you leave. Dr. Hill is our chief academic officer and will speak to you regarding this policy. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. We'll start with our next student speaker. >> Good evening. >> Hello. My name is Kishan Verie and I'm a rising senior at Enllo High School. I have one question today because myself and peers at my school and other schools in the county have been getting mixed messages about the final exam exemption policy. So my question is today pretty simple is which final exam exemption policy are we actually going to be following when school starts next week because right now there are two different versions going around and they're saying completely different things. Holly Springs High School on their website said that both excused and unexcused absences count towards our limit. So, three absences per semester if you have an A, like Olive stated, and one if you have a B. The only thing that doesn't count are school activities like a school sport, two college visits per year, and required testing. Furthermore, Green Level High School on their website looks like the same similar uh policy, but they're telling students that there's a waiver process so that if they have a couple excused absences, that won't count towards your final exam exemptions. the the difference in the policy in that uh unexcused and excused absences count towards um your final exam exemptions uh at Holly Springs that they say that that is districtwide but then um green levels policy says that there is the possibility that you can be excused if uh you have um extenduating circumstances and so my point is this matters to me because I'm a competitive rower I also triangle rowing club as all of devastated. And if Enllo had a rowing team, I'd be the first to sign up, but they don't. So, my competitions are not sanctioned by the school as traveling for an Enlo football or basketball game would be. Also, I have been looking forward to the senior year final exam exemption policy since I was a freshman. Uh, it has driven me to do well throughout all three years so far in my high school uh career, I guess I would say. And um I didn't have to write one final exam last year. I got all A's um taking six AP courses and while balancing rowing. So I also picked my course load last year for this upcoming year based on the final exam policy we had last year. And with this new policy I am looking at taking six AP exams, four IB exams as well as eight teacher made finals because I will miss CL um I will miss classes due to rowing as explained. So now there is no incentive to be at school for a lot of students. not just myself because I'm going to miss days um for row. So I ask that you please uh include events like uh rowing uh in the policy for this upcoming year and have it somewhat like we had last year. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. And Dr. Hill is going to meet with both of our student speakers at this time. So if you'll follow Dr. Hill and she will address those concerns for you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, and as we turn to our off agenda, I do want to note, and I apologize for not lifting this up, that due to the amount of speakers that we have, we're going to take about an hour of public comment. Um, that's about 20 speakers. And then we will go to the last latter part of our agenda where there's additional public comments and proceed in that route. So, if you do not get to go within the first hour, you'll go towards the latter hour. Once we get done with our uh cons consent agenda items and action items, we'll return to public comment. So, I wanted to preference that before we got to our our first um non- studentent on agenda speaker. So, Christine uh in the building, Christine Jordan. All right. Uh we'll turn to our off agenda with uh Renee Seagull. Hello. So, I've been coming to schoolboard meetings for a while. I took a break. That was fun. Um but over the years, I've noticed that sometimes people don't use the words, specifically culture warriors don't use words the way that oh, I would say regular people do. Some of you might all recall when a gentleman stood up here and brandished the book Worm Loves Worm, a very wholesome children's picture book, and he called it filth and mental rape because the worms loved each other. I don't know, it didn't make sense. But I'm noticing the same thing happening again right now. So, I thought I would provide some translation services. We know that there's been a kind of national kurfuffle created because there may or may not be a teacher in our school system that's either non-binary or trans. I don't even actually know. But I heard I've been seeing people talk about, oh, wow, that's that there's instruction on gender and sexuality. When what they really mean is a trans or non-binary teacher exists. They're not providing lessons on gender or sexuality. To the best of my understanding, they're providing the curriculum required by this county and the state, but apparently the mere existence of a human being is now to be considered a lesson. And then I've heard people talk about transparency and parental notification, and that one was a real stumper for me until I realized kind of to my horror that what that means is a newly imagined right to be provided with a description of the teacher's genitalia. I'm not sure if that's every teacher. Are teachers supposed to fill out a form describing what they keep in their pants or are we only treating some teachers that way based on the way that they dress? Not sure. Then there are the religious and conscientious exemptions um that mean parents are demanding the right to have their children not meet people that the parents themselves don't like. Now, this one is an argument we've seen deployed countless times in our history against black students and teachers, against LGBT uh LGBTQIA people, against non-Christians, against disabled people. It's been wrong every time it's been deployed. And it's been like it's it's just wrong. And finally, I see people saying how unfair it is to expect children to address their teachers by a title that the parents don't agree the teacher is entitled to. Now, anybody who's ever called Elizabeth Lizzy or Katherine Kate or Jonathan John knows that that's just pure nonsense. You call people what they ask to be called. That's not a headscratcher. But okay, you can always just have your ch child call the teacher teacher. I'm going to end with the words of the great Oscar Hammerstein written almost 80 years ago. He said, and I will not be singing, thank God, I will be paraphrasing. You've got to be taught to hate and fear. You've got to be taught from year to year. It's got to be drummed in your little ear. You've got to be taught to be afraid. You've got to be taught before it's too late, before you are six or seven or eight to hate all the people your relatives hate. You've got to be carefully taught. >> Thank you. We will turn to our next speaker. >> Joseph Deon Those objecting to placing a transgender teacher with preK to five children have been accused of spewing hate and discrimination. Now, I resent that because every time I have addressed the transgender issue in schools has been to warn of a huge medical scandal that is causing grave harm. I wish those who identify as trans would understand that my desire is for their physical and mental well-being. To love is to will the good of others. Former head of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Louisville, Alan Josephson said that you affirm the child, you love that child, but you don't affirm a harmful idea. This has nothing to do with discrimination or not accepting people who are different. Puberty blockers have adverse effects on growth such as bone density and neurological development, not to mention reproductive capacity that cannot be made up fully later on. Cross- sex hormones result in infertility, cardiovascular problems, and cancer risks. Long-term studies show increased all-c cause mortality. On the psychiatric side, many papers have claimed that medical gender transition reduces suicidal ideiation. But these studies are deeply flawed because they are short-term, plagued by conounding variables and huge loss to followup and rely on voluntary selfassessments, not clinical verification. To the contrary, long-term studies show increased psychiatric problems and suicide. Socially transitioning children and adolescents in schools psychologically condition the great majority to proceed on to medical transition to become lifelong patients. Whereas the strong majority would outgrow gender confusion if left alone. Schools provide material cooperation with the above sighted harms whenever a child or adolescent is socially transitioned or otherwise encouraged to consider transition by everything from the gender identity story books for real little kids to now having a teacher model and normalize that for children. Thank you. Right, we'll turn to our next speaker. Felicia Moore. All right. Uh we'll turn to Elene Allen or Al sorry on the Yes, we'll turn to Janet uh Peterson. Hi, Janet Peterson. I'm a retired kindergarten through 2 grade teacher from right here in Wake County. I'm also with the Pavement Education Project. The board of education elections are nonpartisan. There were no D's or Rs when your names appeared on the ballot. However, when we come to this meeting or we watch a meeting, some board members habitually remind us of their political preferences, often blaming the legislature for the lack of funds, condemning legislation meant to ensure safety, protect children, secure parental rights, and improve the quality of education. Today, it was good to hear the school board working hard on making cuts needed to balance the budget. I heard one member say something along the lines of this. The closer the cuts get to the classroom, the less she wanted to support it, and that's how it should be. On another subject, parents at Middle Creek Elementary were shocked about a significant change that affects every child at that school. They were not part of any real conversation as would be expected if there was a partnership between parents and school personnel as required in state statute 115 C76.20 and the parents bill of rights. Parents are telling us that their kids come home upset, confused, and uncomfortable about something that is happening at school. Parents shouldn't have to find out after the fact and piece together what happened at school. To be clear, this is not a about attacking any teacher personally. Most educators show up and work to teach their students without making any big deal or public spectacle. We agree teachers deserve respect. But when a teacher's obvious lifestyle choices impact the school environment, violate family, religious, and personal beliefs, then parents should have advanced notice and the option to opt out. This is about transparency. When parents express concern, they are not villains. They aren't hating on the teacher. They're loving, protecting, and concerned about children's well-being. The hiring of a visibly transgender instructor for this elementary school appears to be an intentional move. The principal completed her doctorate dissertation on equity focused school improvement in Wake County schools. It appears she will be changing the role of principal from managing a school to actively shaping culture, challenging traditional practices, and promoting ideas about equity, inclusion, and gender. Is this something we will be seeing more of? and Wake County elementary schools. Parents should not have to wonder whether a school's priorities are driven by >> That is your time. Thank you. We will now turn to the next speaker. Uh Caitlyn Daly. All right. Uh Marshia P. Johnson. Colette Emmerich. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Miss Oh, yes. Sorry, I called your name. I guess you didn't hear me. >> I'm sorry. >> Gotcha. Well, welcome. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, in the fairy tale, The Emperor's New Clothes, um, a con man convinces the king that he has made some magnificent, uh, clothing, uh, that is invisible to those that are incompetent or foolish. The subjects see the king, the naked king, parading down the town, but no one speaks out of fear of ridicule and social punishment. The coerced subjects conform under pressure and perpetuate a collective lie. Now imagine a modern version of that tail in our schools. Instead of clothing, the subject is biological sex and the issue is compelled speech. In the scenario, students and teachers and parents are expected to asent that a person's biological sex is changed and to use gender affirming pronouns that may conflict with logic and conscience. The goal may be respect, and that's important. But respect should not require people to surrender their conscience or affirm something they believe is untrue. There are four serious issues I'd like to share. First, that compelled speech violates the First Amendment and is de as declared by the Supreme Court. Coerced speech puts public schools in serious legal jeopardy. Second, compelled speech erodess conscience. When children learn that they must say what the authorities demand rather than what they honestly believe, conformity replaces conviction and makes children easily manipulated. Education should uh build and develop moral courage, not teach children to fear speaking honestly or to leave them defenseless against manipulation. The third uh concern is compelled speech can divide a community. Instead of allowing people to disagree respectfully, it turns language into a test of social acceptance and stirs up distrust. And fourth, uh, compelled speech undermines critical thinking. Students must be allowed to ask questions, examine evidence, disagree without being branded disrespectful. Biological understanding must not be reframed as hate speech. When honest discussion is discouraged, distortion and errors gain traction. >> Thank you. All right, we will turn to Colette Emmeish. >> Bless you. It's hot in here. Good evening. I have been a Wake County public school mom since 2001. If you count all the years my kids have attended public school in this district, it's 35. I've watched dozens of teachers and principles leave North Carolina for the taxes and pay rate Texas offered them. I've watched busing change the demographics, scores, and focus of our school. I've watched science class get cut in favor of social and emotional class. I've watched No Child Left Behind morph into a no fail and no discipline policy. I've watched teacher support and parental confidence plunge down the toilet. My son loves the military. Today, he's a proud soldier in the special forces. At 7 years old, he obsessed over minute Russian tank details and the evolution of guns. I bought him several books on the topic because he couldn't find books about guns in the elementary school library. That makes a lot of sense. Why would he? That is my responsibility as a parent. There are lots of families that have their own point of view on the subject. It is their prerogative to teach their children the values they hold true, and I have nothing but respect for that. It is the greatest experience of American freedom. But I've watched books about gender and sexual identity be put on the shelves of elementary school libraries. And now the hire of a non-binary music teacher in our school who chooses to identify as a woman when teaching. I'm watching the teachers fight to express themselves freely in a classroom over parents' rights to express their concerns. Many are fearful to send their children to school and to let their voice be heard because of extremist retaliation on either side. I am frankly terrified to be standing here right now. [snorts] My daughter's chair coaches are all over the spectrum of gender identity and sexual orientation. They are gifted teachers with endless patients and I am so grateful that they dedicate themselves to the success of young athletes. They live full, free, and fabulous lives. [sighs and gasps] I love them like family. They are role models both professionally and of self-expression with respect for the widely varying values, the families they serve [snorts] [gasps] and the highly impressionistic minds of the children they coach. I wish I could say the same for Wake County Wake County public schools. Oh, you have school choice. What choice? Leave the school the teachers and friends that have been important part of my children's lives. Get a long get on a long charter waiting list. Take my vouchers and hope they cover private tuition. Request requests to ch to transfer to our traditional assignments have been flatly denied. Conversation and solution seeking has been stonewalled by the principal. So my choice seems to be homeschool. When I unenroll my children, it's not because I'm a stupid narrow-minded conservative bigot that hates the music teacher. When I unenroll, it's because our children are confused. They're asking questions about advanced human topics before they even know. >> That is your time. We'll turn to the next speaker, Elizabeth Huitt. Is Elizabeth in the room? >> My name is Liz Hwitt. I'd like to start my comment with an apology for its necessity. There are existential issues around education and quite frankly, I wish I had the ability to focus on them. I've often heard the term parental rights thrown around by organizations and individuals who have been supporting a gender dress code. And I often wonder where were these organizations and individuals when the board proposed to cut $18 million from the budget? Why were they not fighting for parents rights of a fully funded school? With a $17 million budget shortfall, delayed raises for staff, and new proposed cuts. Why are people so worried about a sexbased dress code? Who does this distraction benefit? But as this continues to be an issue, I will advocate for what's important, students. 3.3% of US youth are transgender, according to the Williams Institute. And as mentioned in my last comment, research shows 40% of trans youth report at least one suicide attempt, with one factor of this rate being students not feeling school belonging. While parents might assume their student is not transgender, they have a three in 100 chance that they are, and if so, a very real chance of losing them. This is why it's important to work to keep trans educators. According to Dr. Pausner in her dissertation, the importance of mirrors, understanding the impact of outquer teachers and administrators on LGBTQ plus students on page 119. Findings from this research show how impactful it is for queer students to have access to queer educators. They give students a sense of normaly, feeling seen, and understanding. Pausner also detailed that some students in the research had thoughts about suicide, but having access to queer educators offered them hope for a positive future. I'm a proud NC public school product. I'm also transgender. While I'm grateful to many teachers, I grew up without any trans role models. I was raised in the idealized environment for proponents of a sex-based dress code. I had a nuclear family. I went to church every Sunday and I never met a trans adult. I first learned about transgender people, ironically, because of the 2016 NC bathroom bands in my junior year of high school. This finally gave me the language and framework to understand my emotions, why I was miserable, why I would self harm, and why I'd wanted to kill myself since I started puberty. But then I noticed I'd never seen a trans adult, especially not in any position of professionalism. This made me believe I wasn't wanted and that I had to choose to stay closeted and miserable, to have a good life. I tried this for years before realizing it would lead to my early death. Now, I've been transitioning for about 2 years, and I'm surrounded by loving friends and family, and I'm so grateful I survived. But I don't want other young trans people to go through the pain I did. The lives of our trans students are at stake if we move to rob them from ever being able to see themselves. It is an embarrassment that while our schools continue to be underfunded and plundered by billionaires for tax breaks and edtech profits, I have to spend time advocating not to discriminate against teachers based on identity, if they want to be called Mr. or Mrs. and if that aligns with what's in their pants. I hope in the near future people on all sides of the issue get to drop this deadly culture war time waste and accept their neighbors so we can advocate for what matters and that the vitriol that's been directed at trans educators will instead be spent protecting public education for the working class. that corporations and billionaires want to steal from us. Thank you for your time. [applause] I'll turn our next speaker, Susan Book. [clears throat] And followed by Miss Book, Aaron Driver will be our next speaker. >> Yeah, that print's too small for us to read back there. Gotcha. >> Hello, I'm Susan Book. I'm a parent advocate. I debated with myself whether it was wise to stand and speak today. I've been on the front lines of things like culture wars before. But I believe that standing up for others is important. I believe in standing in solidarity with those who merely wish to exist in peace is important to our community. What gets me every time these conversations come up is that they steal from us the time and energy to get real work done. Today I see that you know you might be looking at contracts for special education transportation. This needs to weigh heavy on all our board and staff. I get called yearly by community members and even reporters about getting disabled children back and forth to school in a timely and safe manner. I once was asked how long this issue has existed. And as my own son enters his junior year, I could say as long as we've all been part of Wake County Public Schools. What parents want is clear. We want competence. We don't want services after the fact to make up for mistakes. We It's generally the only recourse we actually get, by the way. We just want the confidence that kids with disabilities will get to school on time and home on time and safely. That shouldn't be too much to ask. So today, so today, I'm actually not asking. I'm demanding we do better. This is just the tip of the iceberg of special education issues. We need to think systematically and beyond the individual. Do our attendance policies or exam exemptions actually help quell anxiety? Can we make our schools a more welcoming place for neurode divergent students? And how do we do that? It can't all be done in an IEP. So I ask you to be smart. look at the issues and protect all our most vulnerable whether they be a teacher or a student. Thank you, [applause] >> Aaron Driver. My name is Aaron Driver. I have three small children at Middle Creek Elementary and I'm with Middle Creek Parental Rights. Uh for years uh people questioned certain institutional orthodoxies or people who question them uh were intimidated into believing that disagreement itself is a defect of character. We got all kinds of new speak vocab for policing descent uh not to answer the argument but to morally classify the person making it. Misgendering, dead naming, cisormativity, heteronormative bigotry, transphobic. It worked pretty well around 2016 and it worked really well in 2020. But it shelf life is expired. Ordinary Americans are remembering something basic that we can and should just say things like, "I don't subscribe to gender theory. I'm a Christian and a faithful believer in Jesus Christ and in fact I claim religious exemption from it for myself and for my family. I reject critical theory, postmodern progressivism, and especially in elementary education. Oh, and I don't subscribe to Paulo Freay's pedagogy of the oppressed either. So, some of you might be wondering why this heteronormative bgeoa patriarchal dad actor is talking about 1960s communist literature. Well, uh, it's because a lot of us have now read our new principal, Sarah Stevens UNCC dissertation, uh, where she talks about disrupting systems and upending institutional power. But what happens when your ideology becomes the one in power? When parents beliefs becomes the one becomes the ones you think need disrupting, who's abusing institutional power then? And what exactly needed disrupting at Middle Creek? Was it the reading, the writing, or the math? First week of school, Steven surprised parents by placing their 5-year-olds in the custody of a trans teacher, perhaps testing a DEI hiring loophole under Senate Bill 227, now session law 202620. And if the objective was to purge the school of what its leadership considers unorthodoxy, then this controversy has become the acid test. Dissenting families will either acquies or leave. Problem solved. Parents shouldn't have to pass an ideological test to participate in public education. Oh, here's what our detractors are telling us. By the way, you don't support school hiring a trans teacher. Maybe public school isn't for you or your family. Maybe homeschool. Maybe private school. That's right. Maybe pay taxes into the school system and then pay again to escape from it. Point is, parents, not administrators, not academics, not social justice activists, remain the primary moral authority in the lives of their children. And I'm not surrendering the formation of my children to people who think my family, our traditions and moral convictions are something they're obligated to disrupt. God entrusted their upbringing to us, not over educated administrators with latestage luxury beliefs. And that's not hatred. That's fatherhood. All right. [applause] Excuse me. Our next All right. I I'm I'm trying not to use the gavl. I I'll I'll m we'll maintain decorum. I don't need assistance. I got this. But we'll maintain the quorum and if it gets out, I have no problem using the gavl or using one of these deputies to do what they need to do. So, we will proceed as listed. The next speaker is uh Ashley Reynolds. If Ashley Reynolds is not in the building, we will move to Gotcha. I'll just call them out since we're having difficulty seeing it on the screen. I apologize. Um, Britney. Uh, yes. Thank you. Good evening. Hello. My name is Bernie Prochnell. I am a licensed clinical social worker and runner of the community. I'm representing 588 Wake County residents who signed a petition for the Wake County School Board to open school tracks for public use and recreation. Wake County residents value access to public parks and recreation. Right now, most of our tracks sit locked and empty every evening and every weekend. While residents who want a safe, flat, wellit, well-lit place to walk, run or have nowhere to go. This is a solvable problem and the state has already given the school board permission and the tools to solve it. In 2015, the General Assembly amended North Carolina General Statute 115C section 524 specifically to let local boards of education open outdoor school property, including tracks, to the public for recreation. The law says boards may make that property available subject to whatever terms and conditions the board deems appropriate as long as it's not interfering with school use. And critically, the same statute grants the board full liability immunity for injuries related to that public use. This isn't a gray area. The legislature wrote this amendment for this exact purpose. Lawmakers pointed specifically to school tracks and walking trails as the use case they intended to protect. There's no need to build a new policy from scratch or take on a new liability risk to make this happen. The authority is already in your hands and so is the flexibility. You get to decide which hours, which schools, what signage, and what restrictions make sense. Speak on behalf of the community. Here are some comments from the petition that I received. One member said, "As a Wake County taxpayer, I love it when I hit the track early and see neighbors walking and running. It strengthens the feel of the community and reminds us good ways our tax dollars get put to use." Another member, as a former cross country and track athlete and current member of the half marathon marathon running community, looking to have tracks that are easily accessible for training purposes matters. And a high school student said, "As a high school track athlete looking for a quick, convenient place for a workout during weekends and offseason, this would be a massive benefit as well as an obvious bonus for the community. I'm not asking you to open every field or every building. I'm asking for a simple, lowcost, high impact way to let our community walk and run safely on the tracks we've already built and already maintained. Thank you for your time. >> And before you depart, Mr. Bernett, uh, Mrs. Superintendent of Facilities will meet with you regarding that matter. So, I'll make sure you are connected with him. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, we'll turn to our next speaker. Um, Amanda Cohen. I'm just going to read the names. That's I Many folks have shared that they can't see it. So, I apologize for that. So, I'll just read the name and if I mispronounce your name, please forgive me. Um, Lick Hicks Anderson, Lucy Hicks Anderson, excuse me. I don't have my glasses. Um, Becky Lou Hobbs. Miss Lou Hobs, I see you in the building. So, good evening. Hi, I'm Becky Lou Hobbs and I'm here tonight regarding the situation involving the music teacher at Middle Creek Elementary School. I want to be very clear, this is not about attacking an individual teacher. It's about the responsibility of the school system to protect students, respect parents, follow North Carolina law, and maintain appropriate boundaries in the classroom. First, I've spoken to several parents regarding the situation. These children are being told to address a male teacher as female. This is compelled speech and raises legitimate concerns. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld compelled speech violates the First Amendment. By allowing this teacher and administration to compel speech, Wake County Schools is placing itself at significant legal risk and potentially exposing taxpayers to the cost of that litigation. Second, this situation forces the introduction of gender identity in issues into an elementary classroom. North Carolina law is very clear that gender identity, sexual activity, and sexuality shall not be provided to students in kindergarten through fourth grade. But that restriction applies regardless of whether that information comes from school personnel or a third party. So my question for the board is straightforward. What exactly are these students being told? And does this really comply with North Carolina law? Third, parents have raised concerns that and have requested alternatives for their children. To date, those concerns appear to have been ignored and dismissed by the administration. North Carolina statute requires accommodations to be made when a student's religious beliefs are affected. The law also requires an alternative activity or assignment aligned with the standard course of study. Our elementary schools should be places where children learn reading, writing, math, music, science, and history. They are not to be places where they're expected to navigate adult topics of sex and gender. I'll repeat that. Adult topics, sex and gender, not for children. I'm asking this board to listen to the parents, review what has occurred in the school, ensure compliance with North Carolina law, and provide reasonable alternatives to families who object. Put the needs of the children and the rights of the families first. >> So, we'll turn to our next speaker, Christy Willis. Not hearing or seeing anyone get up, so we'll go to Bobby Vincent. All right. Uh, Shirley Johnson. >> Good evening. My name is Shirley Johnson. I'm a Kerry resident and I'm very concerned about what's going on with our school system. Um, I've heard a lot of talk tonight about the gender issue. Um, I am a former executive director for a child advocacy center. I am a certified child forensic in interviewer and I understand the grooming nature behind this conversation and the detriment that it is to our children. I also see the detriment that it is to the education of our children. We still have middle schoolers who are struggling from the co fiasco. What are we doing? My question to the board is what are your plans? We have schools opening next week here tonight. We spent an exorbitant amount of time about your your transgender teacher, but no conversation has resulted from what are we doing to have systems in place that don't make teachers and students flee the public education system. We hear a lot about school choice and the problem with school choice, but we're not giving parents a choice because we have kids who are graduating 8th grade and high school and they can't read. They will not be able to compete on the global market that we're in. and and it's at the peril of this transition between social and cultural awareness and development. Values and rights should be taught by the family. And I find it very disparaging that we have people, especially in the education system. I have seen countless uh articles and news articles over the summer of teachers molesting and sexually abusing and assaulting children. One was a a assistant principal and her husband was a teacher in that same building. And all of these things are happening under your watch. Our kids are not being educated. They're they're not soaring the way they should. They're not thriving the way they should. And instead of partnering with parents to get the education on track, instead we're we're we're pushing back and we're fighting them on value issues that should be taught by them and not the school system. You should not be indoctrinating. Your role is to educate. Reading, writing, and arithmetic. We have kids who don't know where the Panama Canal is located. The answer's in the question, but they don't even know that. They don't know geography. They're not being taught science. I am interested in knowing what the board's position is in terms of how are you going to bridge the gap, especially for our middle school students who are still flailing from COVID and our high school students who can't even read a declarative sentence. What is your plan to educate and not indoctrinate in this education system? Thank you. All right. Our next speaker, Katrina Day. >> I'm here to thank the Wake County School Board for protecting teachers and staff by standing up to bigots, anti-education bigots who want women out of education and society. I appreciate it as a Wake County Schools graduate, a parent, and soon grandparent. I won't ask for a round of applause because this is a business meeting. I offer three modest proposals to protect my grandchildren from these bigots. They protect your children. One, offer a homeschooling curriculum for free. It helps keeps the bigots away from my grandchildren. It provides opportunity for our frailst students. It lets our adults educate themselves. And by golly, we know we need it tonight. Two, name the bigots. Tell us what they cost in money, time, and stress. Three, protect the students. Keep bigots off our campuses. Relocate the children of bigots if needed. Expel the children of bigots if needed. Or maybe Jonathan Swift's proposal applies to bigots, too. >> All right. So, we will go to our next speaker, Margaret Bilo. >> Hello everyone. Long time no see. Um, thank you for giving me the chance to speak tonight. Um, as you said, I'm Margaret Billy and I live in District 2. I am here tonight because a local politician is making a teacher's perceived gender identity into a public problem right before her election. Let's call it what it is. a campaign strategy and a teacher's life is what she's using to build it. I don't know that teacher's gender identity. I don't need to. It isn't my business and it sure isn't the politicians. What I do know is she found herself a story and now she's got her coverage, her elections coming up and a teacher's name is being dragged through both. And this doesn't stay contained to one teacher. It reaches the whole school community, every classroom, every child. So, I'm asking you tonight to stay firm on this. Don't let outside political pressure decide how you treat the people who work in your schools. Students are watching and all of them are watching, not just the kids caught up directly in this. Our LGBTQ plus students are watching and they're learning something about whether this district will actually protect them or abandon them the second it's useful to somebody's campaign. Children with disabilities are watching, too. And honestly, they already know what it feels like to be treated like a problem instead of a person. When kids watch an adult get treated as disposable for someone's political gain, they learn something from that and it sticks. Um, children need to be seen as themselves and they need to see themselves represented in their teachers and their communities. They need to know that who they are isn't going to become someone's talking point or someone's campaign ad. That matters right now in this moment with an elected official making an example out of a teacher just for existing. It matters for every child in the building, whether they're the one being talked about or not, because it shows them all what respect actually looks like. And representation can be a lot simpler than people make it sound. Sometimes it's just having a way to communicate. That's a way to be included in your own class. For anyone who doesn't know him, my son Ali is non-verbal and uses a wheelchair. From his first day in Wake County Public Schools, he had a communication method that worked for him. It lets him string words together, ask for things, ask questions, sit in his classroom, and actually be a part of it like everyone else. Then his new teacher decided she didn't want to use it anymore. Not because his IEP team said so, but because she preferred it that way. So, starting from day one in this district, he lost that. And so did the kids sitting near him who might have learned something from watching him communicate. Ali came into a countywide special education program, the kind kids get sent to from all over the county because of the level of care it's supposed to provide. That program was already short staffed, already stretched thin just the school year before Ali got that. A politician went after a special education teacher in that same program in his school. Not a trans teacher, a teacher who used an inclusive set of flashcards. The very next school year, Ali rolled into an understaffed program. And that's the environment where a teacher decided his communication device just wasn't worth the trouble. Ali doesn't go to public school anymore. We now know that his immune system is compromised and it's too dangerous. He's not here tonight to tell you that himself and he doesn't get the months that he missed back. >> Thank you. Uh our next speaker is Gina Karuchi. >> Sorry if I mispronounced your last name. You >> It's okay. It's Karuchi. >> It's my first time. Um do I just >> Sure. You can begin. Okay. Whenever you're ready. >> Good evening, members of the board. My name is Gina Kuchi and I am here tonight as a parent and as someone who believes that our public schools have a fundamental responsibility above all else to educate and protect children. I want to talk about something I believe deserves serious attention. The rights of students when it comes to compelled speech and compelled beliefs and the boundaries between education and personal ideology. Our children should be able to attend school without being pressured to adopt a particular belief or worldview. Teachers have an important role in the classroom, but that role is to educate students, not to use their position of authority to influence students personal beliefs. I also want to address the issue of transgender teachers. I believe every teacher should be evaluated based on their qualifications, professionalism, ability to teach, and their treatment of students, not simply on their gender identity. At the same time, no teacher, regardless of their identity, should pressure students to accept personal beliefs or participate in compelled speech that conflicts with their own convictions. This is not about disrespecting anyone. It is about maintaining appropriate boundaries in our public schools and making sure that students rights and educational needs come first. Parents should be able to trust that schools will provide an environment where children can learn, ask questions, and develop their own beliefs without fear of being pressured or punished for respectfully expressing a different viewpoint. I am asking this board to protect viewpoint neutrality, respect parental rights, and ensure that every student is treated with dignity regardless of their personal beliefs. Our children deserve an education that teaches them how to think, not what to think. Thank you for your time. >> All right, our next speaker is Kelly Willingham, followed by Wayne Willyham. Good evening, Chair Swanson and members of the board. My name is Kelly Wilhelm. I am a graduate of Wake County Public Schools. My four children graduated from Wake County Public Schools and I currently have four grandchildren in Wake County Public Schools. Um, I currently serve as president of the Raleigh Apex NAACP. And I'm here tonight because when a member of our community is being targeted or publicly buil vilified, we have a responsibility to speak up. Tonight I'm speaking in support of an educator, a young teacher who was in her first job out of college teaching music to elementary school children. She chose education. She chose to serve children. She chose to bring the arts, creativity, and learning to the classroom. And instead of finding encouragement, she has become the target of political attacks because of how she wants to show up in the world. Let me be clear. No teacher should be targeted, harassed, or publicly vilified because of their gender identity. As the NAACP, we believe in equal protection, dignity, and fairness for every member of our community. We also believe that our schools should be places where children can learn and educators can do their jobs without being turned into political targets, especially not by a state rep whose election is coming up, who's been challenged by Wind Decker. And I want to put this in very personal terms. One of those grandchildren that I spoke about is a special needs, my special needs granddaughter. She is in the first grade at one of your Wake County um public schools and her her and her her and her friends in her classroom right now do not have a full-time teacher. They have two substitutes and they have floaters um who come uh who come in and out. She's been in school for three weeks and she is learning to adapt um like she does. She is so cute and so smart and she and her friends deserve a full-time teacher. But until a qualified one submits an application, we don't have it. So when I see someone who has done everything our parents and grandparents tell us to do, work hard, go to school, graduate, get a good job, and she made the decision to enter one of the most demanding and one of the most important professions we have. I don't see someone we should be trying to drive away. The NAACP will continue to stand against discrimination and intimidation in all of its forms. We should be more concerned about um less concerned about compel compelled speech and more compelled to do what's right and to see who the humanity in everyone. And I believe we should be a community that says to every qualified educator who wants to serve our children, you belong here. Your work matters and we will not allow you to be bullied out of the classroom. Thank you for your time and all you do to keep children safe and keep them educated. Thank [applause] you. Our next speaker is Wayne Wilhelm. >> Good evening, Chair Swanson and board members. My name is Reverend Wayne Wilham. I serve as the first vice president Raleigh Apex NAACP and also a faith tri chair for the North Carolina poor people's campaign. I'm here this evening to stand with support and advocate for an elementary school teacher who has become the target of political attacks because of the way they choose to identify. At the center of this issue is a simple principle. Every teacher deserves to be treated with dignity, respect, and fairness. All teachers should be able to come to school focused on educating and caring for their students without being subjected to harassment, intimidation, or public attacks because of their identity. As a faith leader, I believe our response should be grounded in compassion. Across all faith traditions, we are recogniz we we are called to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every person. We may not always understand another person's experience. We may not agree on every issue, but we are still called to treat one another with kindness, humility, and respect. Elementary school teachers have a very important responsibility. They create classrooms where children not only learn reading, writing, ma, mathematics, and music and arts, but this is where they also learn how to treat other people. And if we expect our children to practice kindness, respect differences, and stand up for others when they are treated bad and called names, then the adults around them have to model that same value. Faith communities need to be the voices of peace and inclusion when public conversation becomes hostile and hateful. Behind every political attack is a real person, a teacher, a colleague, a neighbor, a parent, or a member of our community. And our moral conscience should challenge us to speak against bullying and harassment and stand beside people who feel isolated or targeted. Our schools should be places where educators can teach and teach and children can learn without fear. We should judge teachers by the quality of their work, their commitment to their students, and the care they show their school community, not by whether they make someone else feel uncomfortable. Maybe instead of attacking and demeaning how teachers show up, maybe we could advocate for higher pay for our teachers so they don't have to show up tired after having to work a second shift job the night before. Maybe instead of attacking teachers, we should attack policies and legislation that are taking funding away from our public schools. Maybe instead of spending our time being concerned about what teachers are wearing, maybe we could be concerned that every child has food or breakfast for lunch. Thank you for your time this evening and all you do to ensure children in Wake County are safe, educated, and accepted. >> Our next speaker is Richard Bridges, followed by Dr. Kimberly Mctarian. [clears throat] I'm here tonight to ask for three things. an update to policy 4309 to include written notification about all disciplinary actions taken against children to their parents to ask you to adopt a policy that notifies parents when their children have been involved in bullying events and to clearly define what constitutes an inschool suspension. I can tell you from firsthand experiences your schools will not notify parents about certain disciplinary actions. For example, I had to lobby this government body for nine months just to get my son's completed disciplinary action report. I can show you in writing where a student threw my son's lunch on the ground. When my son reported it to a teacher, the teacher called him a liar. Do you think that that school notified us about that event? I can show you in writing where my daughter had a book thrown against her head. Do you think the school told us about that event? When I called Fukquay Middle School and asked them about what steps they're going to take to help my daughter out, they told me they're not allowed to tell me, but they assured me my daughter was safe. I can show you three separate inschool suspensions where the school did not notify me about the events. I've asked you and all of your staff to prove to me that you notified me about those events. I still haven't got an answer about that. Beyond that, I've asked multiple employees what constitutes an inschool suspension. Every single one of them gave me a different answer. The most egregious was a week before one of your work sessions, an employee gave me a long explanation for what constitutes an inschool suspension only to tell you something completely different. I can give you the recordings of both of those events. You have the power to stop what happened to my son from happening to another kid and you're not doing anything about it. These are policies I have been advocating for more than a year and I had yet to see you talk about it until today. Please do something. And at the last minute, for more than a year and a half, I told you about how I can't get your school to answer basic questions. I can't get your employees to answer things in writing. I told you about how I told my a principal about a teacher. The teacher, the principal told me my principal or my teacher would never do that. I told you about how I read an email from one employee to another employee only for them to call me a liar. Now, I want you to think about the special meeting you called about special education cuts. Think about how they stood up here and said, "Our principles would never do that." Think about how you you and you all asked the same questions. Think about how you, you, and you repeated the same question only for them to completely avoid it and not give you an answer. Think about how you read an email to them. Think about how you read an email to them. And their response was basically, "It's not my fault you didn't understand that email, but I do regret the wording. When are you going to change things?" >> Thank you, Mr. Brides. Um, our final speaker, um, Dr. Kimberly McTarion. Dr. Mcarion. Good evening, board members. Dr. Kimberly McTarion. Um, thank you for giving us this opportunity. I am here in regards to Wake County Public School students, primarily African-American children who have been in this system for well over a hundred years. However, in the school systems, however, we've been existing here on this shore for 400 years. And some of the things that I'm hearing out this country is celebrating 250 years of still the hardships that we are uh facing in the communities of education and what it looks like when it returns to southeast Raleigh. We have to address that. Why? Because I am a living descendant of what they call Lincolnville. Now, you may not know what Lincolnville is, but Lincolnville is a Freman's village, one of the 13 in the city of Raleigh, stolen by the state. And it actually would have sat on the Lenovo Center. It also would have sat at North Carolina State University's Carter Finley Stadium. And then they told us that we had to sell our church for $1 to build a state prison for $1. So we own land. We're not poor. So when you look at your budget and say we can't afford special ed, perhaps we shouldn't have never been in special ed. Should we should have been much more wealthier. We should have been here. Kerry, Morrisville, and not um creating a pipeline to your five alternative schools like Mary Phillips, River Oaks, Long View, where 90% of our children are in alternative programs and can barely make it out. We should have been having a beltline way or your toll way to UNCC Chapel Hill, Duke, and to your pharmaceutical industries. We're not represented there because we can't get it right here. So, I'm calling on you to make a change and let's have a real conversation. Let's look at the numbers. Let's go back and look at the legacy of our African-American children and where they came from so that they can bear up pride. That's right. Dignity and respect. So, we don't have to beg to be at someone's table with DEI cuz they've already been diverse. We should be already included and we should already have equity by now. I'm asking for a stronger conversation because it is needed and to do so from year to year is disrespectful and it's unfair to our children to go through the motions of what you call education when they're really being indoctrinated. And each year you marched them you marched them into graduation by passing the very person in the colonial Sir Walter Raleigh who brought them over here in slavery. That's right. He was a pirate and a gang member. And every year when they graduate, they have to walk past him as if he is to be honored. Every year you you march them into Reynolds Coliseum who was a slave owner out of Virginia and he was able to transfer his money right here and build a plantation in North Carolina, Ed Winston Salem. So I want you all if you are educated, let it make sense to our children. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And thank you for that meeting coming up. >> Thank you. All right. So, that concludes public comments. Uh, at this point, I will entertain a meeting, an agenda. Got to get my words. It's the heat. I will entertain a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. Vice Chair Hershey. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Is there a second? It's been seconded by board member Rice. Any discussion on the said motion? Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor of the adoption of the consent agenda, let it be known by the sign of I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. I have a seven an 81 in my 81 well we are so it's the consent is that a no miss coughfield >> so I have a 72 Miss Allen all right uh we'll turn to our first finance item out of action and that will be we'll welcome Mr. Neater, as you all are in out exiting the room, I'd ask you just to be a little bit more quiet so we can continue with our agenda. It is a little difficult to hear. So, um, good afternoon, Mr. Neer. Thank you, Chair Swanson, and good evening to you and members of the board. The board has been working through adjustments to align the board's proposed 2026 2027 operating budget with the final state budget and local funding needs associated with that. One of those adjustments is a $5 million increase in the amount of fund balance that would be invested in balancing the proposed budget. The board's proposed budget invests $18.5 million of fund balance to balance the budget. And with the increase of an additional $5 million, a total of $23.5 million of fund balance will be used. The $23.5 million investment of fund balance in the proposed budget with adjustments is more than the threshold that is set forth in board policy 8101. Board policy 8101 directs the board to not use more than 50% of its unassigned fund balance um to balance a future year's budget. And the unassigned fund balance as of June 30, 2025 is $37 million. The investment of 23.5 million would represent 63% of that available amount. As a result, staff is requesting the board wave policy 8101 so the board can move forward in considering approval of the board's proposed budget using an additional $5 million of fund balance. Staff has reviewed this and we are comfortable in recommending this to the board at this time. Waivers to this policy have been made for the same purpose in the past and I now ask the board's consideration of approval and waving board policy 8101 for this purpose. >> Thank you. I'll turn to budget chair heard for your motion. >> Thank you. Chair Swanson, is the mic working tonight? >> I think so. Is yours is the light on? >> The lights on, but I'm not hearing anything. >> Just give it one second. I think there may be some There it is. Is it >> I got a little bit. How's that? Anything? >> All right. I'll just use my >> Well, we'll just give it a second, Mr. Heerty, so they can get it going. I don't want us to. >> Although the folks in the room may be able to hear, the folks online may not. So, we'll give it a moment. Test test >> Miss Clark is do we have an >> with apologies to Mr. Hershey. Um, Mr. Chair, uh, at this point to begin any discussion on the debate, I would move that we wave policy 8101. We did have some discussion of this in the work session. Um, and I'm comfortable advancing that motion at this time. >> All right. So, we have a motion by board member Heerty, second. >> We have a second by Miss Edmonds. Any discussion on this matter? Hearing or seeing none. All those in favor of waving board policy 8101, let it be known by the sign of I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. The eyes have it. This motion has passed. All right. Okay. And next, the board has been working through the adjustments as I shared a minute ago to align the board's proposed budget to the final state budget local funding needs. These reconciliation adjustments were discussed in the board's work session two weeks ago on August 4th and again today in your finance committee meeting. Towards the end of finance committee meeting today, staff was directed to remove one line item from that list of options um being considered. And the light arm that was requested to be removed from the list was a reduction of $3.22 per student in funding to be distributed to schools for their operational needs. This line item has been removed from the list of options of the overall list of adjustments and that revised list is now included in your board materials and assembly as backup to this action item. And now that that line item has been removed, that list of reconciliation options totals $17.6 million, which is the amount of adjustments that are required to reconcile the board's proposed budget to what is required by the final state budget. Um, and at this point, consideration of approval of these adjustments is requested. staff is available to answer questions. >> All right, I'll turn to our budget finance chair for a motion. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I would at this time move the adoption of the amended budget uh presented on assembly. Everyone should have a copy of it there that um represents $17.6 $6 million in adjustments um as discussed and debated in our work session. All >> right. So, there is a motion on the floor to approve the 2627 operated budget reconciliation adjustment that was discussed and uploaded into assembly. Is there a second? >> A second. >> It's a second by Dr. Job. Discussion. We'll start with board chair Heaggerty. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, we we have we've spent weeks talking about this situation, how we got here, and knowing that it's coming. Um, a few things to highlight. We talk about needing to repurpose $17.6 million out of the budget that the school board adopted earlier this year. Um, it is important to note that not all of that $17.6 billion represents cuts. There were significant savings that uh we were able to realize um in areas where more pro new projections based on other changes in the state budget or changes in school enrollment helped us reduce the amount that we believed would be necessary for county charter schools, for example, by about $2 million. where state aotments for important programs like children with disabilities and at risk services came in higher than estimated um saving us $4.7 million. So out of the total, we were able to achieve almost even a little more than half of the amount that we needed by looking at ways that we could recategorize funds, by reassessing needs, um, and by dipping into our fund balance for those one-time expenses that, uh, we saw arose out of the general assembly's one-time time um budget bonuses for staff. So, of the 17.6, it seemed like we generally had consensus for about $15 million. Of that 17.6, which I will tell you, looking at all of these programs, I think was quite an accomplishment. But finding that additional 2.4 4 million was very difficult. Um, as noted in our work session, each board member was able to discuss viewpoints and express their opinions and their preferences. Not everyone's top choice or preference won out, including my own. Um, but it's important that we have a balanced budget. it is crucial that we achieve um a majority behind a budget that this board can support. So, I respect the opinions of those of you on the board who prioritized other items and I think there were some very principled arguments for some of the other scenarios that were suggested and I do not think anyone favoring one of those other scenarios in any way does not support public education. I think we saw different roads to the same end. So I want to thank you for that productive discussion. At this time though in order to achieve a majority of board members behind one proposal we have the proposal ahead of us which Mr. Neater has shared on the screen which you have in assembly which looked at the options for cuts and removed any further cuts to the uh per student aotments for the schools which generally were the funds that go to schools and classroom teachers to pay for those supplies. those costs, which are often the costs made up for by our individual teachers that out of their own pocket are trying to supplement the um you know, supplement the education of our children. And so, you know, for those of you that really championed that cause in particular, you may want to speak to it and maybe really describe, you know, why that was so important. For my part, I think we have um a balanced budget. This should take us through the end of this fiscal year. We know that, as our staff has identified, there are additional looming challenges out there on the horizon, both with threats to county revenue and its availability next year, and with additional costs that we expect to face next year with the opening of a new high school, with increased costs for Medicaid, increased costs for benefits, increased um, you know, recurring costs that we might see for uh compliance with IDA plans and um where we've been able to use surplus funding that's been generated from the rental of our facilities to help offset operating costs coming in and looking at how we'll replace that one-time revenue. So, um I present this budget and urge its adoption. Again, I respect the viewpoints of everyone who has offered counter proposals, but I hope that we can come together and pass a balanced budget in compliance with state law and on schedule to make sure that we can adequately fund the bonuses and the raises that our teachers and our staff are entitled to get under um the new state budget. Thank you. >> Any other discussion? Dr. Joe, >> um, I want to thank you for the work. Is mine working? Okay. >> You might, you might need to see if Miss Gordon's is working. >> No, I think it is, right? >> We can't hear you. >> Okay. Well, is that one working? >> It is. >> All right. Okay. Um, so I want to thank you for this work and um and for what Mr. Hagerty said. Um I want to mention something um briefly that there was a also suggestion of increasing the supplement for our veteran teachers and I really wish that we had been able to do that. um I wasn't willing to do that with um cuts to classroom um a lot or per pupil aotments on the table because I felt that in the end teachers would end up spending more out of their pockets than they would get in our than they would get if we increased the supplement. But I do want to say that we very much want to look to what we can do for our veteran teachers um in the upcoming budgets. Um and that hopefully next time we'll be able to talk about the state budget um in a much more timely manner. So that way we will you know not have to have um this kind of last minute reconciliation. But um I want to say that we're you know we are really trying to look for ways that this affects the classroom um the least and that's and no matter who is sitting on this board that is what they wanted um and it didn't matter you know what party what leaning what you know their goals are anything everybody spoke as as what would affect the classroom the least and that's we're trying we're really trying to keep our eye on that ball and I I think that's worth mentioning. >> Thank you. Um, Miss Coughfield, >> thank you. Um, first I wanted to say thank you to staff because I know this is no easy task and I know how big we are and how many numbers we have and I know that you you and your staff do quite a bit. Um, I do recognize that we have savings based on reflecting from prior years. Um, we have supports that kind of add some funds back in from the state. We're reassessing our needs and we're also use utilizing our fund balance. Um, but we only see the final options that are put in front of us. And I just really struggle in the budget and in the past where we have found other resources which I did appreciate that we could not conserve in our spending and costs in other areas over reaching out into our classroom needs and benefits for our teachers not meeting medical benefits but meeting like the supplements that we talked about in our work session today or finance. Um, I'm just never okay with pulling away from classroom needs. Um, so it's not something that I can support and I hope that and I know that staff will continue to look at that, but I hope that in budgets going forward that is not an option that we bring back to the table. I do not think that restart and classroom supplies should really ever be part of this process. I know it's not easy. I'm not stating that anybody wanted to. Um, but I do feel like it was kind of pigeoned into just this list and what are we going to do? It's either this option or that option. Um, so I can't support it because I cannot support anything that affects our classrooms and that's it. >> All right. Uh, Miss Atmos and then Miss Rice. >> Thank you. Um, and thank you Mr. orinterator and uh to your department for all the hard work. Um a couple things. So we reduced our central office by I believe it's 48% in 2024 that budget cycle I believe. Um openings, froze positions, what have you. It was significant. Um, and that, you know, people always think there's all this money to save in central services, but what that does is it does impact our schools directly because response times slow down, capacity gets bogged down and stalled and our um, principles and educators, you know, um, support is reduced when we don't have an organization of this size needs this division, this leadership to support the work that we do in our classrooms and in our schools. Um, so I challenge us when we say that there's other places that we could cut. I want to know what those are. Um, because I don't see any bloat in our budgets. As far as I just it it occurred to me after today's discussion that our exercise today was largely the result of a state budget that was developed in secret behind closed doors. Not only was it very very late, but it was not hashed out in committee public where the public could watch the the debate where our staff could watch and be signaled of these bonuses of these raises. The bonuses are great. The raises are great. Those are all good things. But we were not able to adequately prepare for the numbers that came in I think on July 2nd ahead of July 4th weekend and passed through committee within like 48 hours because of that. That's the exercise that we landed in today. The numbers came in higher again. The raises are great. the bonuses are great, but we did not budget for them at all because we had no clue and we were just going on guessing and going on prior budget year estimates. Um, and so that's a problem and that's something that the public can address in November in the November elections electing leaders that will adopt a budget on time as we are statutoily required to do. So are our commissioner friends. So are our municipal governments. You know, we don't have the luxury of doing it when we feel like it, nor do we have the luxury of doing it in behind closed doors out of the public eye. Um and not involving people that it's going to impact. So um it was important for me to acknowledge that and um that is that really is what led to the exercise we had today. Thank you >> uh Miss Rice and then Miss Gordon. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chair Swanson. Um, Mr. Neer, I just want to ask just um a few questions just for public knowledge here in the board setting versus the um the work session setting. One, I want to say thank you to Miss Kimy who does an amazing job with answering questions through emails and everything that we might send. Um, and as well as Mr. Matillo when it concerns our um HR and months of employments and things of that nature and to yourself to Mr. neater. But the thing that I wanted to um ask if you'll just give a bit of understanding for public um to understand the when we talk about the substitutes um based on prior year was the substitutes being reduced to this because it's money from prior year that wasn't necessarily always used because we didn't have the teachers necessarily going in the classrooms to do it. I'm just just so that people can understand when we talk about our substitutes, especially when we just had speakers share today that their children don't have substitutes and we don't have actual teachers. I'm just trying to make sure I'm understanding where that's coming from too. >> Okay. Certainly, Miss Rice. Yes, there is a line item in the proposed um reconciliation adjustments to um decrease the budget, not decrease substitutes, but decrease the budget for substitutes based upon prior year spending. So when the staff develops and works with the superintendent in proposing a budget, that's done in the fall in the winter into the very early spring. And then the board receives that budget usually in late March or early April. And the board then in turn has to develop and have a proposed budget in turn to get to the county commissioners by miday at the latest. So usually you do that at your first May meeting. So when we're estimating budgetary needs, we don't have complete actual year expenditures. As we then advanced into the summer and developed these options for reconciliation, we saw what the actual expenditures for substitutes were. And as Miss Kimy explained during your finance committee meeting, this past year was the first year we had in place, I guess the way I could uh term it were regular substitutes >> and no longer a permanent building level substitute. That was eliminated. So it was a transition year. And as we assess the final expenditures for substitutes for the 2526 year and we had that information after the year closed, but in preparation for uh generating options for the board to consider, we saw that we could reduce the amount budgeted by $2 million and still we anticipate we'll be able to cover all required expenditures for substitute teachers for the 2627 year without any reduction in service. >> Thank you um for that explanation. And the last thing that's very important to me that I need you to share one more time for us in the public eye because district 4 has the most restart schools in the district. Um, and because of that and we see there's a reduction in restart funds to help us make sure that we understand as you shared with us earlier today, it's not that we're taking away anything. This is what was left over. Can you share that for public? >> Certainly, Miss Rice. Yes, there is another um adjustment option as you just referred to, Miss Rice, and it was a $500,000 reduction, not a reduction of funds that restart schools are allotted at the beginning of the year. They will continue to receive all the resources that they normally receive as well as all the flexibility that restart schools receive that our other schools do not have. This $500,000 reduction comes out of a pot of funds. There are additional funds beyond the normal funds allotted to restart schools or any schools for that matter that are available to our area superintendent to all lot to the schools during the year for any possible needs above and beyond normal funding. As we looked at the amount of those funds that were provided to schools throughout the year last year by the area superintendent, we saw that not all those funds were pushed out to the restart schools. And it was based upon that that staff offered up this adjustment of $500,000. And again, it's not removing anything that is being allotted to restart schools at the beginning of the year and it is based upon unspent unallocated funds from the prior year. >> Thank you. And chair Swanson, my last statement basically is um thank you for sharing that again and being repetitive for it. I appreciate it. Um but my last statement is now while I'm all I really have a major problem with um the things that we have to cut. Um I know that you guys have done your due diligence. Uh we've asked time and time again. I do have some of the same sentiments as Miss Koffield, but however, I am understanding um that you guys have looked and see what you really could do and really could not do. And I do appreciate that. Um I'm just like um Dr. Job, I am hoping that we can uh shift that p that 1% piece to our veteran teachers, which is important to me that we pay staff every opportunity we get to provide them funding and to make sure that um there are still the supplies of the 500k that was necessary for the students. Um, outside of that, I don't like the budget because we want more money, but uh, I do want to make sure that we balance our budget and vote on a budget whether I agree or disagree with it. We This is the best that we can do at the moment. Thank you, >> Miss Gordon, and then Dr. Ing. >> Thank you. Um, first I want to say to Mr. Neer and Miss Kinsey, thank you so much for the presentation today. Um, but I did want to address um a few a few things regarding the budget. Um, especially when it comes to the misinformation that has been given to the public um whether it's by the media or whether it's by other people. Um you know it has been said um it has been said that it was it was the board who has decided who wanted to take away the 1% supplement pay. That is not true. Um North Carolina has also been um compared to other states and if I'm not mistaken North Carolina has been the only state that has waited this long to put out a budget. So there is no comparison there. that that is the reason why we're in the position we're in now. Um, and I just want to provide a little bit of like perspective when you're sitting in this seat. Um it is very glaring to see that when it comes down to it, when we're talking about the teacher supplement, um we even had a discussion that that I brought to the table the last the last time we talked about this budget a couple of weeks ago around supporting our veteran teachers because our the state budget is giving our early career educators more of a boost while our veteran teachers are not seeing that. Um, and so we've had a lot of discussion and I I appreciate the board um for for having that discussion. Um, but when it boils down to it, when the board is faced with having to decide between a $19 less less than around $20 difference, that is absolutely insane that we are having to get down to $20 to decide, okay, what what are we what are we going to cut? And that is a result of this state budget that we have been given to make sure that we are operating, that we are still providing the level of success that we provide for our students, that we are still supporting our educators where they need to be supported. And so I wanted to put that out there and I wanted to encourage the public who who is listening. Please make sure that you're doing your research and you're listening into these these streamed meetings where we have these conversations, these tough conversations where all nine of us are having to make some really tough decisions and not rely on social media and the media um that often spin a different story about what it means to make this decision in this seat. Thank you, >> Dr. Thank you uh Mr. Nether. Um uh want to go back to the uh topic of restart. Um you had mentioned that there was um leftover 400,000 uh in the restart funds. Um and now we are reducing it by 500,000. Therefore we have a negative 100,000 um in in the restart fund pool. U is that correct? >> That is my understanding. Yes. Um and we had discussed this before because this is a you know a second cut um that uh we are looking at and and it has been mentioned that if there was a way to put money back into that fund, we will make a concerted effort to do so. Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. All right. Um I know I'm, you know, I I'm familiar with a lot of budgets and I'm familiar with like, you know, church budgets where, you know, you have line items in there that, you know, if you don't spend it, you lose it. And I just feel like our area superintendents have been very wise in in using this the funds in a way to make sure that there was um enough to go get through the year. And I feel like um our air superintendent in a way kind of you know the the the rug's been pulled under them for doing a good job of managing that pool of money. Um so I'm you know I'm I'm kind of you know um disturbed by that by by that whole aspect of it. Um but I certainly you know the will of the board is the majority so I I certainly understand that. Thank you. So yes, sure, Miss Edmonds. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to clarify, um when Dr. Ing says a negative,000 for the restart pool, that doesn't mean that that budget is in the red. It means that we we have made a decision or a proposal in work set or yeah in in our committee meeting that the pool is going down by a 100,000 but it's not in the in the red. It's not a negative. >> That is correct. >> I just want to be sure that the language >> Yes, your statement is correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. So, I think everyone has added their voice. Mr. Vice, did you have any remarks? I'll take 10 seconds and just say that uh thank you for the work you did and um if people think that this is bad, just wait till next year. >> Thank you. >> Well, you took my remarks that I would normally prepare. But I'll just say that again I I echo the words and thank you and it's to you uh Miss Meter, Miss Kimy, uh Miss Posey, um and and Dr. Mutillo for the work that you all do for you know looking at numbers and ensuring that we're doing the least impact which all of this is going to impact uh our staff whether it's in the classroom at the central office level it's going to impact it's tough um and you know restart is something that's near and dear in the past two budget cycles I fought to keep the restart at the same you know where it is and I I was torn about that but I also understand we have to pass a budget that's balanced that's our our as Miss Edmund said is our statutory duty So, I'm not going to prolong this because we have another action item and I'm sure you want to have a seat at some point, Mr. Neater. So, all those in favor of the motion to adopt this budget reconciliation process, uh, let it be known by the sign of I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> I have a 72. Again, the motion passes. We are good. Uh, we will now turn to the salary schedule for the 2026 2027 academic school year. Thank you, Chair Swanson. Staff is requesting approval of the 2026 27 salary schedules. These salary schedules include all the state legislated compensation changes, including a 3% salary increase for our principles, a 3% increase for non-certified staff, and an average increase of 8% for our certified staff. the compensation changes, even though they're going into place in the middle, not the middle, but several months into the year, are effective on July 1st, and retroactive payments will be made to our employees, making them whole going back to July 1st. Um, staffing, our staff is requesting approval of these schedules tonight. If approved tonight, salary changes will be made in our September payroll and also in the September payroll. We target making those retroactive payment amounts such that our employees will effectively be paid at these new rates uh as of July 1st. And with that, turn it back. We'll be glad to answer any questions. And we're considering the board's consideration of approval. >> Thank you, Mr. Neer. Is there a motion to approve the 2026 2027 salary schedules? Mr. Budget Chair Hagerty. >> Thank you, Chair Swanson. I move that we adopt the the new newly proposed salary schedules. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> It's been seconded by board member Rice. Any discussion on the matter on the motion before us? >> Only that. Again, I appreciate everyone's hard work on this. you know, we do have, you know, a lot of areas where uh we need more support from the state. Here though, we do have updated salaries. We do have these bonuses. They have been approved and by expediting this, we can get those funds into our employees pockets as soon as possible. So, um I urge everyone's support. Board member Rice, >> I just wanted to say um I am thankful too. Same sentiments as um Mr. Hagerty, but I just want to say, you know, keep the money coming. Don't slow down right here. I need the state to keep it coming. >> Any other comments? All right. Hearing seeing none, all those in favor of the motion before it be known by the sign of I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. The eyes have it. It's a 90 vote. Uh thank you, Mr. Neer, and to Dr. Mutilo and again to uh Miss Kimy. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Neer. And there will be more budget discussions same time, same place in the budget committee for the rest of the duration of the year as we talk about and prepare for next year. Um I know budgets are often tough, so I was trying to add a little light in the mood. I guess I did not do a good job. So I'll stick to my day job as being the chair. Uh we will now turn to our uh comments. uh board member and superintendent comments and we will turn to Dr. Robinson who is not Dr. Taylor to provide comments. Good evening Dr. Robinson. >> Good evening Chair Swanson, Vice Chair Hershey, members of the board and members of our community. On behalf of Dr. Taylor, I want to take a few moments tonight to share a couple of comments. Next week, our traditional calendar schools will welcome nearly 118,000 students back for the uh 2627 school year. As you are aware, thousands of our students and employees are already hard at work and I am pleased to share that we have had a strong start at our year round in modified calendar schools. We have also celebrated an important milestone with the opening of Hilltop Needorn Road Elementary, our newest school, which has already welcomed its first students. And next week, we will bring a very special homecoming for the Swift Creek Elementary community. After spending the past two years in a temporary facilities, students and faculty will finally return home to a completely renovated school building. These moments remind us of something important. Opening schools doesn't happen on the first day of school. It begins months earlier. Throughout this summer, thousands of employees have been working, often behind the scenes, to make sure our buildings, our classrooms, our buses, cafeteria, technology, and support systems are ready. To every employee who contributed to that effort, we thank you. As we begin this school year, one of the most important areas of focus is priority two of our strategic plan, student disposition and well-being, and specifically goal for attendance, which calls for 95% of our students to be in school for at least 95% of their days in membership. That goal reflects a simple but powerful reality. Students cannot fully benefit from the opportunities we provide if they are not in school. Every day matters. Every day a student is present is another opportunity to learn, build relationships, feel connected, and move closer to achieving their full potential. But attendance is about more than simply asking students to show up. We have a responsibility to give students a reason to want to come back every single day. Students come to school when they know they matter. When they feel known, valued, supported, and challenged. They come when there is an adult who believes in them. A teacher who inspires them, a friend who is looking for them, and a school community where they know they belong. That is why improving attendance will take all of us. We are strengthening school-based attendance teams. We are deepening our outreach and partnerships with families. And we are launching a district-wide attendance task force to better understand and remove the barriers that keep students from being in school. Because ultimately, attendance is not just about counting the students who walk through our doors. It's about making sure what happens after they walk through those doors makes them want to return tomorrow. That is the promise and the opportunity of Wake County Public Schools. A place where every student can discover their potential, pursue their possibilities, and achieve more than they have imagined for themselves. To our employees who make that possible every day, and to our families who entrust us with their children, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your partnership. And to our entire WCPSS community, I wish you a safe, successful, and rewarding 2026 2027 school year. Let's make every day matter. As we prepare to welcome students back, it is also fitting that we recognize some of the extraordinary leaders who make our schools places where students and employees can thrive. Today, we announce the finalist for our 2026 principal of the year and assistant principal of the year. What makes this recognition particularly meaningful is that these leaders were selected by their fellow principles, the colleagues who understand firsthand the responsibility, the complexity and privilege of leading a school. Our principal of the year finalists are Leslie D. Blake, Green Magnet Elementary, Eddie Harden Jr., Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School. Brian Pitman, Apex Friendship High, Dr. Shell Smith, Wake Forest Magnet Elementary, and Dr. Roxan Sykes, Dillard Drive, Magnet Elementary. And our assistant principal of the year finalists are Odessa Anderson, East Garner Elementary. Dr. Michael Clingscale, Athens Drive High School. Katrina Fefeifer Nightell Elementary, Brandon Thomas, Wake Forest Magnet Elementary, and Xavier Wallace Mcgru, South Garner High. Our finalists will now move into the next phase of the selection process, including portfolio submission, school observations, and interviews. We look forward to announcing our 2026 principal of the year and assistant principal of the year on October the 1st. I also want to congratulate all this year's semi-finalists who were recognized last week. Their selection speaks to the tremendous depth of leadership we have throughout our district. We often talk about the importance of having a great teacher in every classroom. Equally important is having great leadership in every school. Leaders who set the vision, leaders who build the culture, leaders who support their people and never lose sight of why we are here. So to all the finalists and semi- finalists, congratulations and thank you for leading. And to every principal and assistant principal preparing to welcome students through your doors next week, thank you for your leadership you provide every single day. And here's to an extraordinary 2026 2027 school year. Thank you, chair, for allowing me to provide comments on behalf of Superintendent Taylor. >> Of course. Thank you. And hopefully uh you you gave us a great little lesson. So hopefully Dr. Taylor can bring that passion the same way that you did. I'm teasing. I'm teasing, but it was great. Thank you. Uh we'll start with Miss Caulfield and just work our way around the table. >> Thank you. Good evening. Um many of our year round have started and I hope that they are transitioning into a great school year beginning and traditional is getting well underway. As we get back to school, I wanted to remind everybody around our school zones to slow down, including our new high school drivers as traffic patterns change. when our schools are in session. So, please be patient when entering these areas near carpole and bus entries that are around our schools. It is also a good time to refresh on some conversations around the dinner table about school safety, emergency plans, healthy academic habits, and also to see what you would do or consider helping if you see any kind of b I'm can't spit my words out right now. um what you would do if you saw some bullying or who you could reach out to if you needed support. Keep those conversations going and open communication. It's great support for our students and our families. I'm a firm believer in keeping our children busy which keeps them on track. Keeping them busy with healthy, good activities also adds to students wellness, attendance, and feeling engaged and included in our community. encourage your student to take advantage of the many clubs and activities that we have available in our schools. And also, if there is not a club, I encourage you to speak to your student on how they can start one. They could reach out to their counselor to find out who to contact in their school to get support and see if they could not get one started. It could be very rewarding to know that you started something and to know that you other students may also want to participate. Plus, it's great leadership skills. I wanted to wish everybody a good 2627 school year ahead for our students, our families, and our teachers and staff. I want to also encourage our voters to listen to last week's joint meeting between the board of commissioners and board of education. There was a lot of information shared about CNS and our program and our partnership with Zero Waste. I think it's a wonderful program to recognize conserving ways to serve more people. I still have some questions about the surplus with the school properties, but Wake County commissioners and staff were proposing the building affordable housing on our campuses using um surplus land, I think, if I'm saying that title correctly, in a joint effort with municipalities and Wake County in our area. They are building off of Foundation Drive at Heritage High School. And I look forward to learning more details. I didn't even know that we had that property back there. So looking forward to hearing more about that. But like I said, it's worth listening to the meeting to hear about the potential plans on that. We also talked about angel funds and how community can make contributions to help our children with meals. They discussed the bond that will be on your ballots in November. So it's worth listening to. And I'm going to hold off on announcing our next board advisory. Um hopefully it'll be on September 28th, but stay tuned for that. We're still trying to finalize those plans. And that's my board comments for tonight. >> Thank you. And I just want to add another. You talked about the school zone, but we also got to remind folks to be careful about those bus arms as well when they see those. So be mindful of that as well. Dr. Ing, >> thank you. Um, good evening. Um, first I want to express my appreciation to Mr. Nether, um, Miss Kenzie, Miss Posey, and the rest of the finance department for helping guide us on the board in our discussion on reconciling our budget. I know it's not easy to answer all those questions and and I know you have a great responsibility in in trying to balance all the competing priorities that we have. I voted no to the budget u not because I don't support the superintendent's recommendations um for the most part. In fact, I applaud Dr. Taylor's efforts to make those difficult decisions. However, I do take issue with cuts that affect or restart schools selectively. Specifically, these are additional cuts to that fund. Um, the restart funds are designed to get help get a leg up to our students in those schools um that have the most needs. WCPSS always espouses the idea of equity. How is the reduction of restart funds considered equitable? So, just as I do not support cutting funding for special education, I do not support further reducing our restore funds because this is the right thing to do. This week, I will be making some visits to some of the schools in district three. I will start with a visit with Principal Sanchez at Durant Road Elementary School tomorrow uh to see for myself the repairs that have been made. I was encouraged to hear the um that the um uh buildings were done uh ahead of schedule. Um but more importantly, I was encouraged to hear the bonds that were built between the teachers at Durant and those at Abbottz Creek. Um the teachers at Abbottz Creek welcomed the Durant Elementary teachers to their first day of school by decorating their classrooms and providing them with some muchneeded snacks and refreshments. And in return, when they knew that they were moving back to Durant, the teachers on their last day on on that campus, they redecorated the classrooms and refilled their stores of refreshments to show their gratitude for letting them use their classrooms. I want to thank Principal Crane at Abbottz Creek Elementary School for opening up the school in our hour of need and for Principal Sanchez for her leadership in navigating through this difficult situation that she was put in. I look forward to visiting many other schools in District 3, especially as our traditional calendar schools will be resuming classes next week. We plan to have our first board advisory council meeting next month on September 14th once our uh traditional calendar schools kind of get settled in. More details about the meeting will be announced at our next board meeting. Thanks, >> M. Gordon. >> Thank you. Good evening. Um, I want to start by congratulating our district 2 leaders who have been recognized as semi- finalist and finalist for principal and assistant principal of the year. District 2 is clearly on fire. We have three principal semi-finalists. Um, Sarah Simmons over at Banks Road Elementary, Dr. Ralph Chu at Creech Road Elementary, and Keith Basin at South Garner High School. And then we have two assistant principal uh semi-finalists, Odessa Anderson from East Garner Elementary and Xavier Wallace Mccrew um at South Garner High School. And the exciting news is that two of our district 2 leaders have been selected as finalists. Congratulations to assistant principal Wallace and assistant principal Anderson. Um congratulations to all of these incredible leaders. These recognitions are a reflection of not only um their individual leadership but of the students, staff, and families who make these schools such places. District 2 is fortunate to have such strong leaders serving our community. I also want to share how pleased I am with the progress of Creech Road Elementary. The school is currently on schedule with repairs and occupancy. I want to thank the Creek Road families, staff, New Atlantic Contracting, and even our students for their flexibility and for moving with such urgency and efficiency to make these improvements happen. This has been a tremendous community effort and I appreciate everyone who has worked to get Creech Road ready for our students. Um, I I spoke earlier about the difficult budget decision that we made today. Um, and I just want to be clear that this was not an easy decision. All three of the things that we were faced with um, ultimately cutting affect me personally in some way. I know what it feels like to be an educator trying to figure out which bills I simply cannot pay that month because I didn't make enough. So, I understand what that 1% supplement means to our educators or any supplement for that matter. Um, that reduction in per pupil funding affects my own family and many other students who attend our schools. And when we talk about reducing funding for restart schools, I have a personal connection there. My own children attended restart schools and I know staff, students, and families who currently attend them today. But I remain committed to keeping the main thing the main thing. our students. Reducing per pupil allotments ultimately affects all students. As Dr. Joe pointed out, protecting the 1% supplement rather than reducing the per pupil aotment for supplies will likely mean that many teachers, because I did it, will simply use that additional $19 and some change to help fund their classrooms. And that is the reality we are facing. Our students and educators deserve better than choosing between a small supplement for teachers and basic supplies for students. These are not choices any school board should have to make. And I will continue to advocate for the resources our students and educators deserve. I also want to note I was unable to make the joint meeting with the county commissioners last week as I was moving my now freshman onto c uh onto campus but I have watched the recording and I want to thank all of our county leaders and the rest of my colleagues for the rich conversation especially regarding housing. And lastly it is board advisory council time. I want to remind everyone about the importance of our board advisory councils. These councils are one of the ways we create a direct connection between our schools, families, communities, and the board. They give community members an opportunity to share what they are seeing, experiencing, and hoping for in their schools and district. And most importantly, anyone can attend these meetings. You do not have to be a member of the council to participate in the conversation. I encourage families, educators, students, and community members to take advantage of this opportunity to stay connected and make your voice heard. Our schools are strongest when the community is at the table, and I look forward to seeing you at our next BAC meeting that will be announced very soon. Thank you. >> Just make sure it's before October 15th per policy. [laughter] Dr. Job. >> All right. Um, on a somber note, my heart goes out to the Felton Grove High School community at the loss of their teacher and basketball coach, Jeremy Dillard. Coach Dillard's dedication to supporting students both on the court and in the classroom left an undeni undeniable mark on their school community and in times of loss, the grief we feel reflects the deep impact and care she brought to Felton Grove. Um, on the other end of the emotional spectrum, I want to congratulate Green Level High School Band, which has been recognized as a program of distinction by the North Carolina Band Masters Association. Thank you especially to the band leader, Brian Meyers, and all of his musicians for working so diligently and representing Wake County. As we welcome back all of the students on traditional calendar, I know that there are so many worries going through parents right now. If you've been listening to this meeting, you know we just had to make up the $17 million shortfall created in part by the state's extremely late budget release. And this isn't opinion, it's fact. Um, just as an aside, I'm never going to stop reminding Wake County that multiple courts, educational experts, and just those of us looking with our own two eyes have seen very clearly that our state legislature is not funding schools the way they need to. And if that makes me political, well, so be it. So, you may be wondering, because this is what I'm wondering as I start my child into fourth grade, how your child's classroom may change by this shortfall on top of the everyday worries we face when we hand our most precious over to the school every year. I'm worried about whether my child will like her teacher. Will she make new friends? Will she be bullied? Will she struggle? Is she going to find a passion? There are two ways I know of how to mitigate these worries as much as we possibly can. Stay informed and stay involved. There's so much disinformation, as Miss Gordon talked about, running rampant about our schools and our districts on social media and elsewhere. But much of it is so easily dispelled with just a little research. Everything this board does is public record. The budget itself was out since I think like March if I remember correctly. It's been months. Um, we record all of our meetings. Watch today's meeting about how we decided what should be done to make up the shortfall. read through the board decisions to see how we spent COVID relief funds. It's all there right from the WCPSS website and YouTube. So, and the other thing we can do to build is to build our school communities. We can get involved, build friendships with other parents, and lend a voice in how funds are spent by joining your school's PTA. There's really no easier way to help decide what kind of school your child attends. Consider becoming a member of your school's improvement plan committee. attend my board advisory committee meetings or become your school's BAC rep so you can be heard about things like the upcoming AI policy. Volunteer in your kids' classes. Um, all of these things show because the evidence is clear, the more you're involved in your kids's education, the less you have to worry about whether she will succeed. Thank you. >> Board member Rice, hit us with some wellness. >> You're ready. I know. That's right. I think I got it together tonight. Thank you, chair. I want to say thank you to Southeast Raleigh Fellowship for Christian Athletes. Oh, I'm going to stay calm. For the invitation to join them in prayer. Before 700 a.m., there were more than 100 students gathered inside their gym to pray and offer encouraging words to their peers. It was an empowering experience and most importantly, it was led by our youth. It was an amazing experience. You got to go sometimes. 6:45 in the morning. Y'all need to get there. I also want to um invite our community to the upcoming teen talk tour. It's a youthled listening session that creates space for young people to speak directly with elected officials and decision makers throughout our county. I hope my colleagues will attend when um we enter your district. I'll send you an invitation. Um the goal is simple but important. Listen to youth before making decisions about youth. The next Teen Talk Tour will be held Thursday, August 27th at 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. at the New Hope Collaborative located at 1725 New Hope Road in Raleigh. For additional information, just visit tshaarights.org. District 4, please mark your calendars for our next District 4 board advisory council meeting on Monday, October 19th. Don't you deny me, Mr. Swanson. at 6:35 p.m. at 6:30 p.m. at Wake Early College of Health Sciences. I look forward to continuing a great opportunity for students, family, staff, and community members to be informed, engaged, and heard, um, our very own Dr. Bailey does an amazing job of leading um, our BAC. And finally, as our traditional calendar schools prepare to begin on Monday, I want to leave our students and staff with two of the eight dimensions of wellness to consider as we begin a successful school year. We're going to talk about intellectual wellness, and since we just talked about Southeast Raleigh's Fellowship for Student Athletes, we're going to talk about spiritual wellness. Intellectual wellness reminds us to enter the year ready to learn, ask questions, remain curious, and grow. Students, you do not have to know everything on the first day. Give yourself permission to learn. Make mistakes. Um, and do not worry to know everything that you have to do and try again. I apologize. Give yourself permission to learn, make mistakes, and try again. staff continue creating spaces where students feel safe enough to ask questions, think critically, discover new possibilities, and recognize what they are capable of achieving. Spiritual wellness encourages us to remain grounded in our values, purpose, and what gives our lives meaning. Um, take time to pause, reflect, and reconnect with your why. Whether through prayer, meditation, quiet reflection, or other practice meaningful um meaningful to you. Make space for what keeps you centered, encouraged, and hopeful. As we begin this school year, keep learning, stay grounded, take care of yourself, everybody, and remember that wellness is part of our success. So, you can have a positive and productive day. Chair, >> thank you, Miss Evans. >> Thank you. Um, I'm, you know, I feel like we've been welcoming uh kids back for several weeks now, which we have several meetings. So, but it's still the beginning of the school season even though we've had obviously our year- round friends and track fours have started. Um, but I do want to give a shout out to our traditional calendar schools and say, you know, happy starter school next week. Um, absolute congratulations to Dr. Sykes at Dillard Drive Elementary and Dr. Clink sales clink scales at um Athens Drive High School for um landing on this uh finalist list today. That was some fun breaking news to see while we were in meeting. Um I cannot wait. Congratulations to Swift Creek. I cannot wait to get over there. I have not been yet. Um so to my area superintendent and my dear principal over there, I'm anxiously waiting my invitation. cannot wait to visit. And then lastly, our BAC um district 5 BAC is also being planned for Monday, September 28th. Um location uh is still in the works, but the meeting should be at 5:30 p.m. and we'll get it posted uh publicly as soon as it's available. Thank you, >> Mr. Hagerty. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um not much to to say tonight. It's been a long day and I know that we have a busy closed session. I do uh want to thank everybody for all their participation in our budget process and as I've said in our budget and finance meeting, this debate and this discussion isn't over and we will need to dedicate time between now and the end of the year to look at the challenges ahead and what we might need to do to get ahead of those challenges. And one of the things that I hope that we can do here in Wake County is really take a look at one of the issues that the board members identified, which is some of the inequity in our teacher compensation, particularly the the diminished value that our veteran legisl our veteran educators seem to get from the state. While the increases in salary are all very much appreciated um and especially so for those beginning teachers, the lack of continued support for our teachers once they hit a certain level of experience and expertise is is really just just very problematic. And I would like us to see as we look to how we support our teachers where we provide bonuses for M's pay, for national board certification, um where we have a local supplement, are there ways that we can use that local money to help reward those th those veteran experienced teachers for their continued commitment um and how we might be able to structure that. Finally, you did hear some speakers tonight come out and talk about attendance and the final exam exemption policy. And I was excited to hear Chief of Staff Robinson's discussion about absenteeism because we know that students learn when they're in school. And we know that absenteeism is one of the biggest factors in determining student success. Um, what I'd like to just suggest is that as we consider changing policies with the intent of, you know, measuring their impact on absenteeism, such as the exam exemption policy, that maybe some of these other activities that we're talking about, the task forces, the student feedback, some of the research, maybe we postpone any changes to the exam exemption policy until some of this additional work has taken place and we get some of that additional feedback. Um, but again, I'm really excited to hear about the work and the initiative. I really support it and I think it will mean good things for our students. So, thank you for that. >> So, I glad you brought that up and I'm neglected to read an email from Dr. Hill, but they've already taken care of those exemptions to calm the ease of students. So, there will be something going out, but Dr. Dr. Hill and her team is on it uh to ensure that everything is taken care of. That's what >> see that's that's that's again evidence of the incredible staff that we have to anticipate and uh have a plan for response before it was even brought up at the board. Thank you. >> Of course, Vice Chair Hershey. >> Thank you, Chair Swanson. Uh let me start by announcing our first BAC meeting of the year. It will be Monday, September 28th from 6:00 to 7:30 at Brotten High School. We're going to be discussing the AI policy and technology use in schools. So, I expect that to be the most well attended BAC I have ever had. Um, want to respond to a couple things from public comment. Be quick this evening. Uh, one, I'm looking forward from staff to an update on the special education advisory committee. We were informed that that was going to be happening. Um, I've heard different things about it. I think it's important that we get some information about that. I have been asked about that by other parents, not just in response to a comment tonight about special education. Um the families um the community members looking to to use uh tracks. I think that's something that we can bring to the facilities committee meeting to talk about our joint use agreements, the pros and cons to track use. Um, I want to be as open and and you know allow the community to do as much as possible. We but we do take into consideration how quickly a track wears wears down. The cost of replacing that is not inexpensive. So, I'd like to have a full conversation about that and so we can make some decisions and see if there are some places that make sense that we are not currently um allowing the community to use the track at. Um, and lastly, I know the chair just addressed the uh student the final exam exemption policy, but I do want to speak for um students that maybe aren't um A students, straight A students or uh B students and and some of us in high school were not that. I was one of them. I I understand that this is an incentive to have students in school and yet there's no incentive for a student who might be working really hard and just might not be an A or B student right now and they may grow into that in the future as a a lifelong learner, but there's no incentive for all of our students. So, it feels like there's an inequity to this final exam exemption policy that I'm seeing and I want to make sure those people rep represented it and um I do want to give a shout out to all the students in Wake County who are on a crew team. I wish we could do every single sport. So, I'm glad that that's going to be taken care of. I was on the crew team in high school myself for one season and so I have a lot of respect for um people who participate there and I will conclude my comments with that. >> All right, I will bring this home so we can get to close session. But I will start by thanking the Wake County Board of Commissioners for their proclamation recognizing 2026. I'm just going to read it verbatim as the 50th anniversary of the Wake County Public School System. Uh, Vice Chair Hershey and I had the pleasure of uh, attending that meeting to accept the resolution. Um, where it states, "Whereas the Wake County Board of Commissioners recognizes the importance of strong public schools to growth, prosperity, and quality of life of our community. And whereas on July 1st, 1976, approximately 20,000 students from Raleigh City Schools and 30 thou 33,000 from Wake County schools came together to form the Wake County Public School System, a unified district serving approximately 53,000 students. Whereas during the first during the past five decades, WCPSS has grown from approximately 53,000 students to more than 161,000 students across 203 schools. And whereas the merger was a bold act of local leadership that advanced and that advanced school integration and educational equity in North Carolina and reflected the belief that investing in every child strengthens the future of our entire entire community. And whereas the Wake County Public School System has been vital in Wake County's extraordinary growth and success and partnership between the Wake County government and the Wake County Public School System continues to support students, families, educators, and the broader community. And whereas the 50th anniversary offers an opportunity to honor people and honor the people who built and strengthened the Wake County public school system celebrating shared progress and inspire the community to help write the next chapter of public education in Wake County. And now for it therefore be it resolved that the Wake County Board of Commissioners does hereby proclaim 2026 as the 50th anniversary of the Wake County Public School Systems and urges residents in our community and across uh and residents of our community and communities across the country to honor the people and history of Wake County of WCPSS and deepen their commitment for public education. adopted on the 17th day of August. Signed, Donald Mile, chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners. So, I wanted to lift that up and Miss Allen, I will get this to you for the official to put into our official archives. Um, I did have board member comments, but due to the to the length of time, I am going to defer mine, but just lifting this up. And with that, uh, we will go back into close session. And so I will So attorney Malone, do I need a motion to go back into close session? >> I think since this is the official board meeting, I would go ahead and get a regular motion to go on. It can just be as noted on the >> I was going to go that route, but I just wanted to make sure it was good to go. So I will entertain a motion to return back to close session for all the reasons stated on the agenda. >> So moved. >> There is a motion as there is second. >> It's been seconded by Miss Rice. All those in favor, let it be known by the sign of I. >> I. >> Opposed. Good evening everyone and we are going into close session.