Board of Education – April 29, 2016 BOE Regular Meeting Highlights from April 28, 2016

The Durham Public Schools Board of Education met at 6:33 p.m. on Thursday, April 28, 2016, and considered an agenda that included the following highlights:

Board Chair Heidi Carter extended a warm welcome to everyone present and to all the television viewers. She promised that the meeting would be rich in information that would support and enhance the vision statement of Durham Public Schools. The standing committees of the Board presented information and reports that keep the public informed on what the district is doing to ensure that the vision of success for every child is realized. Celebrations: Be Our Guest –Spring Valley Elementary, Easley Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary, Parkwood Elementary, Shepard Middle School, The Performance Learning Center and Early College.

Herald Sun/ DPS Student of the Month – April – Samantha Armistead, Jordan High School

Employee of the Month – DPS is proud to honor Tim Velegol from Riverside High School

Governor’s School – Thirty–seven Durham Public School students have been selected to attend the 2016 session of the Governor’s School of .

Science Fair Winners – All winners were recognized and asked to walk the carpet.

Jordan High School Rocketry Team – Physics teacher Dr. Jeffrey LaCrosse and his team; Emma Jaynes, Samantha Armistead; Judy Chang; Ryan Hill and Evan Perry is one of only 19 teams in the county to be invited to Washington, DC, to participate in the national NASA student launch competition. While in DC they met the President and First Lady.

Battle of the Books – Pearsontown Elementary School, Rogers-Herr Middle School and The School for Creative Studies were celebrated for their wins.

Student Advisory Council – Members were recognized and asked to walk the red carpet.

Spelling Bee – Bettie Closs and her sister, Hannah Closs were recognized for their accomplishments. Agenda:

The agenda was approved with addition of a resolution, removal of 2016 Bond Referendum and the placement of the Mentor Program update.

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Consent Agenda:

There were no items on consent. General Public Comment:

There were three people who signed up for Public Comment Reports of the Board: Resolution in Support of Boys and Young Men

WHEREAS, the Durham Public School Board recognizes that supremacy, anti-Black racism, and economic inequality deeply affect the lives and educational success of our Black students; and

WHEREAS, the Board believes that democratically governed, fully funded, and inclusive public schools are essential institutions for confronting social inequity and that public schools can and must allocate resources to combat the disparities created by the existence of inequity in our economy and society; and

WHEREAS, historically, Black students are below district averages on graduation rates, ACT scores, and other measures of achievement and proficiency; and

WHEREAS, Black boys and young men exceed district averages for suspensions, expulsions, absences and dropouts; and

WHEREAS, the Board is committed to providing a high quality education for all students, recognizes that the educational underachievement of Black boys and young men is of concern, and has as our goal that young Black men who matriculate through Durham Public Schools exit equipped for success and full lives; and

WHEREAS, we believe Black boys and young men, like all young people, deserve well-resourced schools and district personnel who are trained and supported in their work to recognize differences in learning styles and strengths and to adapt teaching methods and activities to promote rigor inclusion, cultural competency, and high expectations; and

WHEREAS, the Board believes that the high stakes, standardized tests currently imposed by the state of North Carolina are ineffective means for assessing the actual proficiency and educational needs of all students, especially those of Black boys, young men, students of color, and students from low-income families; and

WHEREAS, the Durham Public School Board will critically explore, adopt and implement initiatives targeted to accurately measure and improve the educational outcomes for Black boys and young men in pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade; and

WHEREAS, we will develop evidence-based initiatives, maintain data and regularly monitor and report the academic progress, on reducing suspension data and the disproportional proportion number of Black boys and young men in the exceptional children’s program; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Durham Public Schools Board of Education, as a collective body will determine and address the causes of, and solutions to, the underachievement of Black boys both within and beyond our classrooms and schools and directs the Superintendent to develop and present to the

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Board recommendations on how the Board may support the implementation of a plan for addressing the aforementioned initiatives and goals.

This the 28th day of April, 2016

The Resolution in Support of Black Boys and Your Men was approved by a unanimous vote with revisions.

Resolution on Increasing Per Pupil Funding and Fully funding Public Schools in North Carolina

WHEREAS, the North Carolina Constitution includes an obligation to provide a sound, basic education to all school aged children in our state, acknowledging that talent and ingenuity can be found among all our children; and

WHEREAS, public education is the cornerstone for our democracy and economic future; and

WHEREAS, state and federal elected politicians have attacked public education and public school teachers instead of attacking poverty among our public school children; and

WHEREAS, inflation-adjusted per pupil spending is still below pre-recession levels; and

WHEREAS, when adjusted for inflation, North Carolina's average teacher salary has actually dropped more than 13 percent since 1999, according to the National Center for Education Statistics; and

WHEREAS, in terms of per pupil spending, an NEA National Education Association report ranks North Carolina 46th in the United States in 2014-15, spending $8,632 per student, compared to $8,620 per student in 2013-14; and

WHEREAS, in 2008, North Carolina teacher salaries ranked 25th in the nation but had fallen to 46th in the nation in 2014-15; and

WHEREAS, that despite research showing cost–effectiveness of Pre-K services, the NC General Assembly has cut funding and reduced the number of state-funded pre-kindergarten seats by 5,400 since 2008 resulting in continued waiting lists; and

WHEREAS, approximately 60 percent the majority of public education funding comes from the State, while the remainder is funded by local and the federal governments; and

WHEREAS, as the state has abandoned its commitment to fully fund our public schools, many local government leaders have shouldered more of the burden by increasing property taxes or by local districts cutting important programs and staff;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That the Durham Public Schools Board of Education

Calls for the N.C. General Assembly to fully fund public education in Local Education Agencies to reflect growth and student needs; and

Calls upon the General Assembly to reinstate K-12 enrollment growth (ADM average daily membership funding) as part of the continuation budget; and

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Calls upon the legislators of both parties to reject the trend toward shifting education spending to local counties; and

Calls upon the General Assembly to raise additional state revenue in an equitable fashion in order to avoid regressive tax shifts to counties; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:

The Durham Board of Education urges the Durham Board of County Commissioners to ratify a similar resolution and advocate within the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners to increase per pupil funding in North Carolina and fully fund North Carolina public schools and advocate within their Association to make full funding a top priority in their Association’s Legislative Goals.

This the 28th day of April, 2016.

The Resolution on Increasing Per Pupil Funding and Fully Funding Public Schools in North Carolina was approved unanimously with changes.

Reports of the Work Sessions:

Academic and Student Support Services Work Session

• Revision of Policy 3405-Students at Risk of Academic Failure - Approved • Board Policy 3227 – Academics Standards and Promotions for Grades K-8 – Approved with changes • Board Policy 4000 – Equal Opportunity for All Students - Approved

Operational Services and Policy Work Session

Update on Proposed 2016 Bond Referendum

This item was removed from the agenda Reports of the Superintendent:

• 2016-2017 Budget Update – Approved with changes

All policies can be viewed on our website at www.dpsnc.net. Superintendent’s Updates:

Dr. Bert L’Homme shared the following:

Madam chair, board members, I want to start off tonight’s meeting with some good news. This month, I was notified that the Trustees of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust have approved a restricted grant to support a partnership between North Carolina Central University and Durham Public Schools to establish a college preparatory middle school on the NCCU campus.

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This grant, for $625,000, lays the foundation for us to work with our partners at NCCU to create Eagle Academy. Eagle Academy will draw students from the area surrounding NCCU, primarily from Eastway and Y.E. Smith, and also attract future first-generation college students from other neighborhoods, to bring to middle school students the same kind of partnership that we have been able to provide for high school students at Josephine Dobbs Clement Early College.

This is only the start; given our budget situation, we need more help to get Eagle Academy off the ground. Outside funders are more inclined to support new, well-defined initiatives than ongoing operational funding for a school district, so we will continue to apply for grants to fund this partnership. NCCU is very excited about the potential for Eagle Academy, and so am I.

Board members, I’d also like to talk a bit about the resolution you discussed at last month’s meeting, and I know that you have been working on it since then. I should have said something at the time, but I didn’t want to intrude in the conversation at the table and sometimes it feels presumptuous to weigh in on a policy discussion, which is the board’s purview.

But I want you to know that I support the resolution in spirit and intent. When Dr. Bullock spoke at public comment last month, her analogy was powerful: we cannot support all of the fish in the pond if we ignore the problems in the water.

When we look at reading proficiency in grades three through eight, only 29.7 percent are proficient. African-American females are doing just ten points better at 39.1 percent.

The numbers are virtually the same for our Hispanic males, at only 29.8 percent, with females at 35.9 percent.

When considering graduation rates, 73.6 percent of our African-American males and 65.2 percent of our Hispanic males graduate on time. For female students, 85.6 percent of African-American and 78.6 percent of Hispanic students graduate on time.

I understand that one of the hazards of bringing up other subgroups’ academic performance, when you are considering a resolution on behalf of African-American males specifically, is that it can sound like we’re just holding up our hands, ignoring the problem that has been put before us, by simply saying, “All lives matter.” But that is not what I am saying today.

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What I am saying is that African-American boys and young men in Durham need their advocates. They need US to advocate for THEM. And the fact that achievement gaps are even more severe, by some measures, for other subgroups hardly relieves us of our obligation. We need to see African-American boys and young men for who they are, and what they need, and we need to accept and correct the ways in which we have failed them.

Durham Public Schools is a majority-minority school district. For largely unfounded or regrettable reasons, many white and affluent families leave us for charters and private schools, or move to other counties. That leaves in Durham Public Schools both those families who are intentional about being part of our diverse community and have faith and optimism in the power of public education, and also those families who have been left behind or worked against for much of their lives.

Our teachers, principals, school communities, and district leadership need to be leaders for all of them. Any general improvements we make in our school system will positively affect student performance for everyone, black, white or Latino; male or female.

But a resolution for addressing African-American males ensures that we will pay specific attention here where it is needed—that we will work to accelerate performance even faster, to close the gap and address what has been left undone. For that reason, members of the Board, I support such a resolution.

Personnel Report Announcement:

The Personnel Reports dated April 28, 2016 passed unanimously. Next Regular Board Meeting:

The next regular monthly meeting of the Durham Public Schools Board of Education is set to be held Thursday, May 26, 2016, at 6:30 p.m., in Room 307, 511 Cleveland Street, Durham, NC, 27701.

To view all approved DPS Board of Education Meeting Minutes, please visit our website at www.dpsnc.net.

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