all right we are back in Open Session you ask Miss Bradford I move that we add to the agenda um one new item under old business a Personnel item second it any discussion I I would just not thank you V I'd like to um add it after the cons item okay well I said old so you want to put it after old no she wants to information after the Personnel report oh okay sure okay that was an amendment to that so moving or adding a Personnel item after the Personnel report um any further discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed passes 7 to zero moving to the Personnel report I will entertain a motion to approve the Personnel report show motion do I hear a second second second all right all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed that passes 7 to zero moving on to the Personnel item Miss I defer to my colleague chair I make a motion that we enter into contract agreement with superintendent Dr burs second second any discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I any oppos that passes 720 [Applause] [Laughter] welcome you told me we're on the clock the shot clock thank you all right continuing on um I just asked our attorneys to brief us quickly on open meetings law just so that we all are on the same page um so if you could already oh I'm ready oh he's ready to sign okay can we take a five minute recess two- minute recess two minute two minute recess okay yes uh do I need to make a motion for that yes you can do it I can do it h we're taking a two-minute recess that's e e e e e e all right okay we are back Dr bres will join us in a moment um but I have asked our attorneys and did is the attorney over there he was going to do it okay I guess we have to wait I'm sorry be transparent is this open meetings M just kind of a brief just so we're all on the same page NOP he's coming oh yeah depended there he is oh yeah more interim all right Mr Blanchard could you tell us about open meetings law open meetings law just a brief um summary about the simultaneous all all of what we as a board are doing as far as open actually Brian's probably better to talk to you about that I think he he was passing the bck to you um he needs the mic or a mic I'll speak um I wanted just to remind the board that as an elected board there are certain requirements we need to follow I think we do a fine job here and in keeping what needs to be an open session Open Session topics versus closed session topics I would remind the board and it echoes an email I recently sent that simultaneous texting or emails by more than four members the majority constitutes a board uh meeting and that could open the door to scrutiny and and and and public purveyance I guess say so I would remind the board that when we are texting when we are emailing um to be cognizant of that open meetings law again I referenced that email I sent I sent you the the statute it pertained to um to make sure that we follow the law correctly and if anyone has any questions nor would I are happy to speak on it um it's the contemporaneous aspect of it that causes a problem if you're like a a text an email for example an email chain is not going to be a public meeting most of the time because there's a delay it's not simultaneous it's not a substitute for talking like like we're doing right now and you know there are like a a a text could fall into that though if you're literally send them right back and forth to each other you know if you're communicating in real time I guess is the way I'd say it that seems to be the dividing line in the statute I think um that's what's you know what's the concern so we have to make sure that it's fine to communicate by email fine to communicate by text and by the way texts the department of cultural resources tells us that they are a short-term record so there's no real requirement for us to keep them for a long period of time after their utilities gone but um you know those things if you're having a contemporaneous conversation with them it could constitute a meeting thank you very much um continuing on contracts and purchase orders Miss Sutton at our last board meeting there was a conversation around um the contracts that we brought forward a report showing contracts between 100,000 and 300,000 as you recall um board policy 6420 requires all contracts um 300,000 and above to come to the board for approval um that same policy shows that um um a report should come to the board that provides information for contracts between 100,000 and 300,000 for informational purposes in case the board has a question they have the opportunity to ask a question since those are still large contracts um so I'm providing that information kind of an update of what the two different reports are that you receive periodically from me um and then in addition um I was asked to provide more details on the report and so you do have a revised report there that has more information than the original report that I showed last month so I'm hoping that's helpful but I'll be glad to answer any questions or if there's any additional information you'd like to see going forward on the report I'll be glad to add that okay Dr meric these were actually already approved already part of the these were not new expenditures these were not unexpected costs right so thank that makes all the difference but thank you for the extra column okay all right moving forward we have stop arm for buses um this was brought to our attention by uh Miss barnhard thank you madam chair I think I spoke to this a few months ago um referencing to some legisl changes that has happened recently um we now have the opportunity to potentially earn the school system some funding as well as keep our school bus rider safer and so the change in legislation would require um County ordinance so we have to work with our sheriff's department and our County Commissioners as well as the school board before we're able to pursue a company to do it but essentially what this allows is um there is an opportunity for for for us to partner with an organization I I know of two personally in North Carolina there may be more um that do this but basically to install cameras and stoplight arms on the arms of school buses so in the event that somebody runs a school bus arm with which Mr Anderson please correct me if I'm wrong we're looking at a hundred issues of this a day a day 100 a day um happens so uh what the company would do would look at the camera that take that takes a picture of a car that potentially ran the stop arm of the school bus and they would verify and say we believe this to be an actual issue an encounter and send it to the Sheriff's Department the sheriff could send a citation and we would split the cost so Revenue would come back into the school system as well as pay for um the company that to partner with it and so The Upfront cost Well I this is kind of speaking into going into semantics of with the agreements of companies but they would provide the cameras and things for our buses which would also help and the ongoing maintenance as um as some of us heard in the capital issue so I would I would just like for this to be an open discussion on the board if we want to um direct the superintendent to continue to move in the agreement and getting that County ordinance with collaboration from our County Commissioners and sheriffs so that we have the opportunity to potentially earn some more another funding Revenue source for the school district and that's about it m Bradford and then Dr n for the purpose of discussion I would just go ahead and move that we do direct the superintendent to do this um Miss Barnhart and I had an opportunity to be at the bus depot the southern one um a couple weeks ago and we got to talk to the guys in maintenance and I'm just totally in favor of this besides it's a little bit of Revenue um it'll give us back something that we lose from the red light cameras going away that income and um and I just think it's an awesome opportunity to to stop people blowing past our school buses Dr so that was a motion two two two things about that uh number one I totally am in favor of this and even if we broke even to keep our students safer is should be number one on all of our lists and so I'm I'm delighted that there's a way to do that and hey if we get some money fantastic AB the second thing is is if this is in the information section of our agenda are we allowed to vote on it I'm pretty sure that that's not the case right you're right thank you uh Mr Perry yes the being a money maker doesn't concern me what concerns me is is is the only thing going to be citations I mean I want if they're doing this this dangerous for our students so I want there to be more repercussions other than just paying a fine I mean maybe the first time they get a warning but I mean no no this shouldn't be a money maker for us this should we should stop people from the public should know that they're being photographed and if they do this do this they're going to get in some serious hot water um Miss Justice and then miss okay uh the Public's finding out right now we got a camera on us uh this is a really important point that the public needs to know because if you look at your insurance guess what one of the biggest makers of points for your insurance cost to increase is passing a school bus so if that's known in this County that's going to make a big difference so yeah this is a great idea safety-wise and if it gets out in public you think the red light cameras are unpopular just wait until this happens it'll slow people down stop people that's what the point it's stopping them so yeah I think it's a great idea thank and and I just want to speak too we've we as a school district have taken initiatives to collaborate within the community because this was an issue um first coming on to the board one of the questions that I had was how many accidents do school buses get into and I'm pleased to say over the last couple years we've seen less and less accidents and part of that is helping to make sure the community is informed about what the expectation is being around school buses and so we have our partners at the County as well as do the LA the first few weeks of school we all have common messaging you'll see it on WWA Y and wct as well to say this is the expectation and just help remind people because you when you are as a a parent and you are sending your kid off in a school but you are very cognizant but maybe you're not as cognizant if your if your child has aged out of the school system and so really just making it imperative not only to keep our kids safe but just to remind people about the expectation and rules I think there could potentially be um some variability as far as what it looks like if it's multiple citations that's outside my scope to speak on today but it's definitely something I'm interested in looking into because the reality is we do not want our children to be a victim of a crime if they get run over God forbid um or hit by a car and so this is an opportunity for us to take some action and so I I agree with my colleague to the right as saying this is information but if it's the consensus of the board to say is this a direction we want to be able to move forward because this has to be a collaborative process this is not a standalone decision by the school districts so um Mr willo hasn't had a chance in then M I was just going to say why don't we go ahead and I'll make a motion that we move this to uh new business so that we can vote out so mending the agenda and I'll second it take okay okay any further discussion this is to move this to new business you said yes should I say under a under a or under B go a we've already discussed it okay so under a um all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed that passes 7 to Z um see and now moving forward we have summer school and that was Dr Barnes um I just wanted to ask uh Dr Hamilton to give us a little bit of an update on our current plans for summer school I know that that's a question you guys have been asking about already so Robin you can just give them the brief update we talked about right we're going to plan to proceed just basically like we did last year is going to be the very same process that we had for students for um credit recovery retaking and also the r to achieve camp for um grades two and three same as last year and credit recovery for high school also the board had talked about is there a way to sort of work with a collaborative partner to incentivize The Presence at summer school and that'll give us several months to work on that as well just can't come out of obviously School funds that would be a a partnership agreement with someone else all right thank you moving forward to call to audience so this um was brought forward by a board member we the oh was it oh I'm sorry did I say after oh okay stop arm on the stop arm I make a motion to direct the superintendent to move forward with a County ordinance so that we can pursue the stop arm violation school buses all right any further discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed passes 7 to zero now moving on to um the call to audience this was brought forward by a board member um because of a request from a Community member um regarding a the February 2024 um call to audience um I would like to give that member that board member an opportunity to say what he would like to say so Dr Merrick as a board we already have a trust deficit with the public we have you know as our lawyer pointed out uh in a previous meeting this public does not have a First Amendment right to speak to our board per se except that the state law does mandate that we have a call to audience and once we have a call to audience then the First Amendment right does kick in um I know that we have policies around what can be said and what needs to be done first but I think if you look through the state and federal policies you'll see that our cult to audience members have a right to speak their mind we know they speak about everything um some some things seem to be very pertinent other things seem to be as far removed as possible but one thing that we cannot do is to try to shut down our audience members and I take it that the full board failed I don't want to put it on any one person but when we interrupt someone during their call to audience that's a huge breach of what we owe our public and I would like to offer even if I do not agree with what was spoken I believe as a board we owe an apology to Mr or Reverend Dante Murphy for being interrupted I think that would be the honorable thing for our board to do and also for us to remember that we cannot interrupt our community members when they come to speak to us okay um with that um I would just like to comment that um as it pertains to that particular event um there was a question from from one board member that was asked in the very beginning of uh Reverend Murphy's um two minutes um that question was discussed and then he was given his full two minutes no time was taken from him um he was given his full two minutes so I don't believe his his rights were violated in that in because he had his full two minutes that was restored to him Miss Justice I don't always he agree with people that come up and speak call the audience but as you said once it we allow it it is a First Amendment right it was good how we went back and gave him his full two minutes but the point is that it happened and he was it was an embarrassment for us more than anything and for those of you that know the history of Reverend Murphy know that this has happened to him before during a very turbulent time in our history so of all people to have that happen to again was very telling to the community uh Dr Mer's right we have got to do better we have got to make ourselves respected it's going to take work because it's been a long process but I think by apologizing to him as a board that would go a long way to showing that we're resetting the standards and following through with them it of all people seriously that was very sad and shocking that everybody got to witness a repeat not the same reason but a repeat of a past wrong that is still going to be falling back on us for many reasons in the future we don't we we need to do better okay um we have reached our time for that I would just like the comment uh Miss bford um I followed Robert sches border I made a procedural question of you the chair I did not speak or interrupt I asked a procedural question to see if policy had been followed to see if rules have been followed I would have liked to have heard the attorney you know give an opinion at the time but it didn't happen and um yeah that's all I'm going to say all right we're going to continue on we have the presidential mandate Mr I have a order he made a motion to issue it I didn't hear a motion true I think you well I didn't hear a motion my hand was up while oh my apologies did not I did not see I I move that as a board we give a formal apology to Reverend Murphy uh for for any interrupting even though he got us two minutes it was it was shameful to him it was embarrassing for us and it's it's our way of saying we want to do better okay is there a second second okay I we're kind of at time for this so miss boy will you please call the role Miss Mason no Miss Barnhart no Miss Bradford no Miss Justice yes Dr Merrick yep Mr Perry no and Mr will no okay that motion fails um now continuing on to the presidential mandate um so this has been on our calendars this has been on not on our calendars this has been on our radar for certain um and I know that this is this is definitely a Hot Topic um I would like to turn it over to um the superintendent point of order Madam chair where is this on our agenda sorry this is presidential mandate this is new business ah thank you very much yep thank you madam chair you have lots of handouts to go along with this so just bear with me um this has obviously been a very tumultuous time over the last several months we have received several things from uh the Office of the President and the office of civil rights that I believe bear conversation from the board uh obviously my goal is to protect the educational environment and the safety of children and to make sure that we don't have politics entering BR into the day-to-day work of students in classrooms however I'm going to pass out to initially start um the letter we received from the Department of Civil Rights uh Valentine's Day and I think you guys have seen a copy of this already but I'm providing it for you today oh yeah on the other side of that we've also received guidance from the association of school administrators from the North Carolina School Board Association from president Mo not president um superintendent of this uh North Carolina Mo green all of which give somewhat similar guidance in how schools should respond to this executive order or the order from the office of civil rights there are also concerns regarding funding issues and things that are are literally changing daily uh my request was to bring this to the board because I think this Bears a response from the board because it's going to impact how I direct our work over the next several months part of the concern is I've talked with several superintendents across the state so let me I'm going to have to broaden this conversation just a little bit I'm sorry for the time we receive approximately and I'm going to say 20% is that correct Ashley from the federal government is it's a little less this year um but if you include Child Nutrition that's probably closer okay so without be that as it may what we receive is obviously funding streams from three different sources we get local support from our County Commissioners we get State funding and we get Federal funding this office or the letter we received from the office of civil rights clearly states that our federal funding is tied to compliance with this Mission now our federal funding comes in a lot of different ways most of it is tied up in two different areas one is idea and the other is what's called title funding Title One title two title three and title four those big bucket items are mandated through Congress and it does take what's called an act of Congress to change that however there are other Federal funding streams that have been affected I've talked to several superintendant within the state of North Carolina who have had Federal funding removed this month so I want to talk to you about as a superintendent what is the not interim anymore what is the pragmatic situation that we're in right now and that is my concern about about the employment of approximately 350 School Employees that are paid federally now that does includ Child Nutrition which is comes actually through a Federal grant through the oh come on Ashley what's it called we receive USDA us and that turns all of that Child Nutrition money into Federal money once we receive that I am not wanting to minimize the concern but I'm also not wanting to ignore a potential impact to students families and staff there are two specific areas that I think bear immediate sort of concern in regards to this office of civil rights letter and that in involves our strategic plan and some of our work with what I've brought to you to pass out after which is embedded in here which is the uh curriculum item which is the uh my life versus uh Stepping Stones uh curriculum so I wanted to bring this to the board because if we're going to be moving forward as as the great eight as we say you know um unified together I can't make this decision without your input because the Strategic plan is basically your road map for how we do our work so that sort of opens it up I think it's the devil's obviously in the details it's not uncommon for we've been on the Strategic plan for for 3 years it's not uncommon to come back and review your strategic plan and look for ways to consolidate update what we've talked about is um when we did our budget listening session over the last several months almost every single request that folks have had about funding has come in either one two or three and that is academics safety and the way our employees are interacted with four five and six are um are are are sort of about what we do as a group right our culture our community things like that so the board has a couple of choices to make and I want to give I'll stop talking and give you guys a chance but I think the couple ways that you could do is you could allow myself to work with um the cabinet and bring you back some revisions and ideas about the Strategic plan where we can all sit down together in a work session and do that work together either way but I you think first you need to decide if we're going to respond to this letter yes or no how do we do that and what's the proper response pattern for me to bring the staff to that probably should be enough to get you started thank you Dr Barnes um this is probably where I have a set of three related motions one would be um and I'm just going to briefly describe them at this point rather than actually making the motions first being to actually do that work removing EDI from the Strategic plan and we can talk about replacing uh EDI with another you know possible uh strategic goal I don't think a lot of us have at least I haven't been on I don't exactly know how you how you revise the Strategic plan but however we do it I think we need to vote on today that we will remove EDI uh from that plan the second motion is for us to go through our policies all of our policies uh and that will include uh Mr Mr worldmore Miss Justice and I going through all them dat anything that has because besides the EDI executive order there's also another executive order regarding gender and gender identity uh that we that could come to haunt us so and we could lose funding over so the other so getting those out of our policies and and taking vote today for us to charge the policy committee to begin the process of doing that uh and then the third uh is to instruct Dr Barnes to go ahead uh to uh uh in front of all the other policies procedures curriculum all the other things that in our school system that have either the Dei or the agenda identity uh faked into them and I'm I'm guessing this could take a while but I think it's important because we've been issued a February 28th deadline on some of this stuff that we need to at least take a vote today to say hey we have decided we're going in this direction of course we have lots of work to do before we completely eradicated but we took a vote today before February 28th and and so we're on board federal government because as much as I will tell you everybody here that I I would like us as a school district to wean ourselves off of federal funding I've said this a zillion times we string attached I wish we didn't have it but we can't afford to just immediately cut ourselves off of it I mean this is has to be something that we would do over several years I mean I don't want to lose 350 teachers I I don't think the community I don't think Dr America Miss Justice wants to lose 350 teachers I don't think we can risk it we don't want to go through this debacco again like we did last year when we're out $20 million and we had a deficit so we need to take the action here today so that's where I stand on this stuff I think uh if you'd like me to make the official motions one by one to vote on them I guess we can but I'm not sure exactly what the best procedure is so when it comes down to losing our federal funding you're absolutely right Mr Perry none of us want to do that I think what we need uh is good legal advice because a a lot of what is in quote unquote Dei policy is embedded in our our state laws embedded in our our title six um that exists and an executive order cannot take that away so we need good legal advice about what things uh would those executive orders actually pertain to and which ones they wouldn't um you know we saw when President Biden tried to change Title Nine and then Court cases came up and it was partially struck down and then you know eventually fully struck down the same thing is going to happen with a lot of these executive orders there some of them are clearly unconstitutional but we can't risk it in the meantime I do agree that we should uh take a look at our strategic plan I like Dr Burnes thank you for your recommendations I like the idea of especially for time constraints you've got some great ideas we've talked about them bring them to the board so we can look at them um as far as uh Running Scared I think we need to be a little careful if we I would support a motion that says before February 28th we are going to do everything possible to make sure we follow the law I would I would second that and vote for that but that doesn't not mean we're going to strike down things that are in our curriculum things that are part of our core values because of an executive order that might be dropped down from federal court tomorrow miss Justice well actually very good thank you that's what I was going to say I think we need some legal advice here I have read this five or six times it's so vague and nebulous um and the funding does come from Congress uh and they're the only ones that can take it back and on top of that those large districts that are actually losing funds right now those aren't tied to what Congress decides these are separate pot of funding correct correct so federally funded grants that are separate from Ida entitles so right now I mean assuming listening to The Legal Information they're going to give us a lot of this is political posturing for lack of a better word and I think everybody in here knows this let's be honest our number one commitment is to educating our kids diversity equity and inclusion can be mixed up those words can cover half a dozen different uh I guess you can say groups of people and then the words themselves can be interpreted in different ways the word or the term Dei has been turned into a political code word for politics please guys let's focus on the kids let's do what we need to do if we have to change some wording in the uh strategic plan it's supposed to be looked at anyway there's some other things that's going to be coming up today and we need to always put what kids need first what the families need first and I can honestly say here in this District the the families are getting they're very pleased with what we're doing we need to keep doing it and we don't need any huge major changes right now because of political posing but I would like to hear from the lawyers as far as what they have discovered about what kind of I guess you could say actual ability that this document has to possibly change what we're doing right now um I'm I'm I'm happy to speak on that chair Mason um Mr Blanchard and I represent the Board of Education and when we look at the issue of Dei we try to look at it from the perspective of what is best for the district um with that said there's a lot of different legal entities chiming in right now you have the School Board Association sent some guidance today on changing policy we're I've I've been to a couple virtual conferences about the same topics you have Mo green the department of uh instruction superintendent chime in as well Mr Blanchard and I want to serve the board and and and in doing that I think we should adopt a strategy to ensure we do not lose a red scent from the federal government at this point how we go about that there is no legal Treatise I can pick up and tell you that road map you're going to have to figure it out as a board with advice from all these these different entities from Mr Blanchard and I to try to eliminate politics from this Dei topic is impossible that the board is going to have to deal with internally in Open Session I can't help you with that either we can only suggest these are Pathways to not losing funding Dr Barnes hit the nail on the head you're talking to a lot of districts out there there are districts that will will be used by our federal government as examples and they will lose funding I'm not sure we want to be that board but that is again something for the seven of you to discuss in Open session so as far as what legal advice can I give right now I can only offer you these various road maps which way you pick to drive the bus it's going to be up to the seven on the board I hope that answers your question Miss Justice um um Miss Bradford um I would agree thank you for that um Mr gromy and I appreciate the superintendent's remarks and I appreciate my colleague Mr Perry's remarks the North Carolina School Board Association gave us what six pages today and it says right here we encourage individual school systems need to modify to comply um it and it references the dear colleague letter but if a non-conservative group like the north Gina School Board Association is going to give us these recommendations for six pages of policy changes that we need to make I am echoing what I've heard we do not need to do anything anything that would endanger I think the number you said the other day Dr barns was 368 employees re receiving Federal funding we cannot risk that and those school districts that have lost funding clawing that back is going to be very challenging I do not want to be in a position to lose funding and then have to go after trying to claw it back and find something else to support those positions while we do it I am just AB absolutely not in favor of that so I would be more than willing to hear Mr Perry make his motions and I'm going to vote favorably on them to get us started and starting with the Strategic plan Miss Bernhard thank you madam chair I um I appreciate all my colleagu speaking on this I think a a very Swift uh motion that encompasses what my colleague to the right has said is just to um make steps to be in compliance with the dear colleague letter make it that being in reference to policy strategic plan and operating procedures I think this is um Common Sense coming from the president inherently it's political because he was elected into political office um much as I had spoken to my colleague before about Title 9 changes the the weaponization of Title 9 which has gone through the courts and was deemed under the gender identity was not um agree upon it was actually one of the things when I came on as policy chair that to go through the process it kept being held up the implementation piece kept being held up because because it was so controversial so I can understand um both ways but I want to I want to point out here our board has taken steps to focus on opportunity for our students and we're going to continue to do that when we're talking about teaching strategies and Scaffolding and early intervention those are the things we are going to continue to do so that we can provide a sound basic education um when the discussion from and and I know we have some new colleagues now but talking about EDI the issue was always with how do we measure outcome are we in it to measure certain outcome demographics or are we focusing on the input and the intentionality of what we're doing in the district and so um with and I'll say it as a motion I I direct the superintendent to be in compliance and taking steps in both the Strategic plan policy and any procedural updates so that we're in compliance with this letter um I'm happy to do that but that doesn't take away from providing opportunities it's understanding that we are bound by laws and whether we like them or not agree with them or not and I've had many discussions with people on the things that they like or don't like from different administrations that come through however our job is to educate kids and that's what we're going to continue to do and as a board we're going to continue to provide opportunities we just before this meeting we had a capital meeting talking about the facility needs and the maintenance needs that we're going to continue to come together to advocate for and so I do not want to lose funding whether or not we fully agree of the implementation changes that need to be done that's going to be hammered out together and that's I think something that we need to be moving forward with was that a motion or no I make a motion to direct the superintendent to start being in compliance of the legal guidelines from the dear colleague letter do I hear a second okay uh Mr will deore you have something you wanted to say well um I'm going to be very candid with some of my colleagues um you know this is a very interesting uh time we are in you know we've seen it before we'll probably see it again um you know I've had one of my colleagues go on national TV and be interviewed and say how important it is to keep funding but then we come back and we say oh but this 350 people I mean bottom line 368 people at the end of the day I agree we need to keep the funding I mean I'm not running and I'm I'm this this is disappointed in my colleague that said we're running scared we're not Running Scared we're taking care of people bottom line you know that's insulting to me I don't know about anybody else that's insulting to me that we're running scared because we we've heard of counties that have actually lost funding people have lost their jobs we you know you know I was we were here on the the board last year when people lost their jobs so to say well you're running scared I'm not willing to risk somebody's job to say well I'm going to show them I mean it's about people it's about the teachers that are in the classrooms day in and day out doing what they need to do for the students um so we're talking about a huge chunk of folks I think that the wise thing to do is to uh comply with what he's put in front of us um and I haven't had a chance to speak so I'm going to do so um and I'm just basically going to to uh Echo what my colleague has said we can't lose more people we've lost enough um we've been working so hard over this past several months to really repair and to fix the the the climate of our district to lose that many people would absolutely damage it um and I'm unwilling to allow that to happen for myself um I can't I I can't with good content support anything like that um Dr Merck thank you madam chair um there's a lot of false Flags in the arguments that have been set forth the last several um Dr Barnes the 368 uh faculty positions there are certain things that we might lose funding on but this all or none concept that we would suddenly lose all of this all at once we don't lose all of that funding all at once because of a single uh instance in our strategic plan for instance right we might get docked for this or that but we don't lose everything all at once we have Ida idea we have title one we have a lot of things that are guaranteed by Congress and we don't lose that because of something else so um a couple of things that and again like I said earlier this is evolving sort of every day when I go home I check to see what's new um the money that was given for the title funding in Ida had already done its path through and pass through and gone to the states so the question of whether or not the funding for this school year can be affected right now the best answer I can get is no because it's already sort of committed I think the question is what happens July by one you know we've just seen something come up with uh the state of Maine in the last week so as this is evolving do I think that the money is going to get affected tomorrow no but July 1 is a is a different question if you're asking me could can Congress make a different decision between now and July yes but my understanding of the law and you guys may jump in is that title funding and idea were mandated by Congress I'm going to let the attorney speak to that very briefly um and Dr m m Justice raised a good point in as you pointed out um Dr bares losing funding is the end of a train not the beginning it doesn't happen right up front you have to go through a long administrative process but yeah I think we actually have some good news in the guidance that we got from the School Board Association that Miss Bradford um pointed out there's some there's a common theme from what the School Board Association saying um and what uh secretary green says and what we're hearing in other places and that's that the Administration has taken the position in this dear colleague letter the title six um to comply with it your policies have to be race agnostic that's it you know title six is the one that covers national origin race we all know Title Nine covers sex so they're kind of a different set of of um things but their position you know we're making a lot of noise about the unremarkable idea that um policies that classify groups based on race or national origin have the effect of denying equal access that's it's not controversial for any of us the language that people we use sometimes is controversial about it but we really are trying to pull in the same direction on this how we get there there may be some squawking about that about exactly what needs to be done but we're going to be all right on this stuff we will get to the right spot and the Schoolboard Association helped us out a whole lot by pointing out some of the policies that they believe and I think we'll have a consensus on that they believe we're going to need to address first I don't think we need to race out and do anything other than as Mr Perry said start the look at and we do need to do that um we do need to do that Miss Justice uh and thank you for that that's what that's what I'm saying uh we need to take our don't worry about the 28 hate to say that but that's not going to happen as the governor of Maine said you know see you in court that's crazy that's just the way the law is set up we have a constitution for reason and separation of powers and we have support in other areas so and I think you're saying to me fear driven behavior is not a smart way to do things um we need to be very thoughtful about this and take our time we do have our time we need to talk about it in policy we need to let the superintendent do his job we need to listen to our legal advice and honestly I did not get that document from the Schoolboard Association I'm I'm excited about looking through it but these are the professional we need to be listening to right now there's no reason we're going to meet next week there is no reason that we can't wait until next week to make some of these decisions thank you some of these decisions instead of doing it today and this is what I was saying earlier in the meeting today please let's not rush the Judgment make the wrong decision have the community upset at us again when there's no reason to there is absolutely no reason we can't wait a week and um if we move forward now here we go again it's going to be political let's be educational let's take at least a week's time and do the right thing by our schools Miss Bradford um I would offer an amendment to my colleague's motion to do what she has directed but I would like to move to amend to go ahead and deal with the Strategic plan now because I think think if I'm looking at school districts those who have the Strategic plan which is your it's kind of like your road map of what you're going to do if if we've made that effort to go ahead and say well obviously based on this information we can't keep keep it the way we have it now go ahead and and and deal with that now and then leave the direction for all the other stuff to come through the superintendent's office um I think that would be more common sense um I'm not acting any fear at all other than I fear for the employees their their paychecks 368 of them um and there will be examples of school boards made and we just don't want to be that school board um so there was an amendment to the motion to um add correct me if I'm wrong to add the Strategic plan as the first priority of the superintendent is that correct is that a correct summary of your Amendment as a priority for change or actually no I was my motion my Amendment would be to deal with the Strategic plan now uh if we've got six pillars now take it down to five and then move on um okay so your motion your amendment is to deal with the Strategic plan now today yes not today or is there a time okay well if if the dear colleague letter says you have until this day on Friday today is Tuesday so I would just soon deal with that now and um we don't have to figure out what to replace it with but just pull it down and um and then we show good intent and we should be fine to go through the procedure of doing it but I think we should pull it down now point of point of order Madam um well was an amendment do I hear a second I don't know if I'm following I'm second thank you what was your point of order sir point of order our policies state that we cannot vote on something that's going to affect policy or budgetary concerns without first having it in a publicly produced published uh agenda so we would be out of of of uh we would be working against our policies sorry uh if we voted on something like this right now because it absolutely affects policy and it is not published and the public would have no way of knowing and speaking to it um so there was a point of order um having this posted on the agenda it it is publicly posted on the agenda um and as it pertains to the the the deadline I take the deadline seriously and so for us to delay any vote on it I believe would be not wise um and so I am going to say that the point of order is not well taken Mr Perry time motion it's important to say this is what we're going to do when it comes to policy we're going to stay we're going to eliminate all EI gender identity from our policies we not we're still going to have to go through the proc of BR individual policies FR of the policy are going to be able to say well wait a minute here you know uh you might want to watch it on this one because are some other laws we're still going to have to go to that process but it important to take that vote today one all three of those vot so I support far okay uh Miss Barnhart thank you madam chair I think today what we're discussing is whether or not we want to move forward to be in compliance so there is a list of policy changes I know some some different colleagues have brought policies to the attention to have the discussion so policy will be in charge of going through and coming through and having that discussion so that we can still provide that quality education that we do here in New hanor County schools and are incompliance at the same time so this is this is not um going about anything and to say to update the Strategic plan well one of the pillars was literally titled what this is um targeting so it definitely needs to have a revamping um I I like Dr barnes's idea come together to say we we already discussed of having a work session so let's come together to have some of that really good content that he can kind of combined together of his ideas individually to say this is the new vision that he thinks would be in compliance and still be responsive to the needs in our district and I think it's a good thing for us to be able to come together to have those intentional longer conversations so that we can have the opportunity to provide more feedback but there there is a deadline that is for this Friday and moving forward from this meeting I think it's important to say are we going to vote to take steps to be in compliance with this or not I mean and that's what it comes down to my takeaway from this conversation is understanding that there are changes and I will I will give this example whenever we were implementing the parents Bill of Rights there at different schools there were different um medical fairs dental vision things like that and we um as board members at those of us who were on at the time were receiving feedback to say we we we were totally not allowed to do this anymore we can't do this anymore and there was a halt in implementations of some practices that we had done because we had to change some procedures prior to being able to continually do it and so there's there are going to be some changes that we have to say we need to stop think about this potentially change some procedures it's those still happen is my understanding that those still happen we still have vision screening and dental and all that thing but there was a period of time that we paused it to make sure that we were in compliance with the law which is our job to uphold as elected members of the school board so I just I want to point that out there because this is not all of a sudden we've made all these Chang changes to policies and procedures this is just saying yes we are going to be making steps to make it happen just like when we were rolling out the parents Bill of Rights implementation we had a website we had the process we had the procedures of saying this is the updated steps to show people this is what we're doing so I see this as a similar process that's going to have to go through the school system I'm in favor of being in compliance with this letter and I with that I think we reached our time that chair point of order for that um I wanted to did we reach our time have we mhm um I did want to make sure that um because everybody else has spoken twice that we just going to call question okay so are we okay so we've all had the opportunity those who wanted to speak twice have had that opportunity and we have reached time there is an amendment on the table to address the strategic plan so we're going to vote on the amendment and then we will vote on the original motion M chair just to be clear that is to add to what the other motion is not to take away at all correct all right Miss buy will you please call in query can you please repeat so the amendment Miss Bradford will you restate your amendment to address the Strategic plan yes I don't remember what was exactly so um it was a strategic plan yeah it was yes to go ahead and modify the Strategic plan now by pulling down one of the six pillars um that is directly addressed by the OCR letter the de callic letter okay so that is the amendment the amendment is to address a strategic plan now by pulling down what needs to be pulled down related to the OCR letter direct to the super all the rest of it well Amendment first Miss will you call the role Miss Mas yes Miss barnhard yes Miss Bradford yes Miss Justice no Dr Merrick no Mr Perry no and Mr wildor yes okay that passes 5 to Z that's the amendment 5 to2 I'm sorry I it's getting late for me um now we have the original motion which is to direct direct the superintendent to comply with the OCR letter polici and procedures yes here you go go ahead yes um as a repeat is to direct the superintendent to be in compliance with the letter as it direct as it relates to the Strategic plan policy and procedures right um we we've reached our time on discussion yes ma'am was there a date for the superintendent to do it by or is this in general General to start now to start now so this is basically to start now that's it right there's no date okay yeah U miss you call the mo Miss Mason yes Miss Barnhart yes Miss Bradford yes Miss Justice no Dr Merrick no Mr Perry hi and Mr wildor hi that passes 5-2 could I have a last um Dr Barnes has asked for an opportunity to say something actually I'm sorry if you're gonna are were you going to go to number two that you had yeah Mr to revise those by law point of order mam chair isn't it true that we all have to receive his motions and what he's speaking about here before the meeting we did I never received any of this he sent he sent an email out to all of us well so are we going to blame Our IT department for this tragic shift to Microsoft because I did not get order Madam chair I'm not there is a motion second we have about 10 minutes left of conversation regarding the curriculum item I want to make sure that we give enough time for that um and so I am going to call the question second then okay um takes a 52 to takes a 52 uh Mr we call the rooll Miss Mason yes Miss BR Miss barnhard yes Miss Bradford yes Miss Justice no Dr Merrick I cannot vote for something I've never seen Mr Perry and Mr willor yes okay if that passes 5 to two um and that was just calling the question now we are going to vote on the motion um that Mr Perry made with which is to immediately begin addressing any and all policies to ensure compliance with the OCR letter is that correct correct summary okay okay so we have we have already called the the question point of order over rdes that correct Miss Justice okay gender had nothing to do with the letter that was sent to us concerning he he provided clarification I incorrect In My summary that was me okay um gender gender is not part of the instructions that was sent to us from the White House we discussion is done so we are going to vote on Mr Perry's motion uh Miss buy will you call the Miss Mason yes Miss Barnhart yes Miss Bradford yes Miss Justice no Dr Merrick absolutely not Mr Perry and Mr will all right that passes 5 to2 continuing on the uh curriculum item is that where you wanted to go sir that's sure sure wanted to pass out a little bit and this since I'm giving this to you guys tonight this may take a little time to process but what I wanted to provide for you folks is a little bit of an information about the other and I know that this may have been miscommunicated uh earlier um my intention of asking for the family life curriculum be brought up for discussion here was at my directive because I believe that there are some overlap to this to some of the same directors we've been given by President so I'm not um I'm not saying you necessarily have to vote on this tonight but I wanted you to have the same information that I have um so I've passed out for you just an overview of the law in the state what the requirements are a little bit of a difference between our two curriculums which are my life and stepping stones and then I'm passing out to you now an update about the number of students that have taken um part in the curriculum so this is another thing that the board I believe needs to explore and give guidance on is what is the appropriate response for our staff here I'm certainly not advocating or recommending that we uh make violent issues or decisions about something but I think this also Bears a little Reflection from the board as well [Music] um I'm noticing Dr Barnes in the Family Life Education topics covered section check marks of what's in grade five six seven and 8 and I see that some of these are going to have hot button issues because they may be uh in uh conflict with uh the OC letter or some of the executive orders the ones that are highlighted are ones that are in not sort of in both curriculums and those are the ones that I consider things to look at and and from speaking with uh family life Educators uh it seems clear that it would be very easy to drop certain lessons a total of four not four for each child one for sixth grade two for seventh grade and one for eighth grade that would bring us into compliance that would allow us to continue teaching peer-reviewed scientifically accurate medically accessible sexual education for our children that would help them without removing all of Stepping Stones it's just I can't help but see it as a political move by either members of this board or of this District that we would get rid of the entire program we do not assess the intent of others that's fair enough it is very premature to think that we would have to get rid of an entire program because of one or two lessons that need to be removed and so I heard that we were actually talking about only giving parents and children an option for for my life abstinence only not peer-reviewed not medically accurate we we have to we have to keep stepping stones in place and so that's I my point of inquiry is is my life not medically accurate accurate or peer reviewed medically incomplete I pardon I will take that word back we do not teach enough in my life about child's I'd like to know the for would you repeat your question please is is a my life medically inaccurate information that we're teaching to our children think it's I said incomplete I I did ad end I just I just want to hear that and we have cameras rolling as well so I just thank you thank you okay wow we have lots of hands um I'm going to go with Mr wior because he very rarely speaks so there you go go guy get to talk sometimes I've talked to actually U some folks in the upper echelons of of these these different programs and um defending both of the programs and I think it is very important that parents have a choice M I'm wondering if there is not another option besides I'll be honest CU I used to teach in the county and and when uh Stepping Stones began it didn't have the i w say his name my colleague over there the ventions some of the ones that he's brought up but I'm wondering is there are other uh options uh out there in the world that probably do both and you know I'm not trying to be Mr compromised but there's probably something there that is not an option space program but does not address some of the things that are now U against the executive order I'm wondering if we shouldn't uh ask our superintendent ask his staff to uh do some research and see if we can find a a program that will not only suffice what my colleague over there said but also um be in compliance I me I'm sure I'm sure there's a compromise out there uh Mr Perry a thank you um I want to agree with Dr Merck to a certain extent um there was been some people especially online saying that we were trying to get rid of um this complete uh you know anything to do with contraceptives or anything like that and just to that's not my intent at all here there are some certain aspects of this that I think need to go from my understanding uh a lot of these might have been brought in around 2021 when uh uh Miss krael was in charge of the title 9 committee that is what I have heard from from Mr Bradford from M Bradford um the so I believe that we can you know we can get rid of some of the say the gender roles and identity inclusion some of the ones uh um as long as this remains an opt-in program I think we can get some of U some of the aspects out of of that this curriculum and still keep the curriculum so miss Justice okay I'm confused these have been handed out there is nothing on here about stepping stones in fact there wasn't even an introduction to what this discussion is about was just because so much has been online and people are having a voice mainly families you can see there statistic Stepping Stones is a lot more popular than family life and that's parent choice here we have the parent Bill of Rights and we're totally ignoring it and I'm not even sure what this discussion is about are we supposed to be voting on something are we supposed to be making decisions what kind of information are we being given and again this dear colleague letter says absolutely nothing about gender so I am very confused our Direction seems to be just to I don't know upset the public is that what we're trying to do these are wonderful programs and parents have a choice um my grandson's just recently last couple years took the Family Life programs and I'm nothing but happy I choose stepping stones but parents want to choose family life that's fine if they want to out out so why are we I'm I want to know what this discussion is actually about are we supposed to vote and decide to get rid of one or the other or if you want to change some I see nothing and the dear calling letter was specifically about race I see nothing nothing about race in here and why are we attacking gender this is a real real world this is one of the things we're getting in the letters from the parents this is a real world experience we know a heck of a lot more now scientifically than we did 50 years ago or 100 years ago and Society is accepting a the huge variety of humanity that we have we're not all fit into one thing so I am confused as to why this dear colleague letter has anything to do with these classes that's that's what I'm concerned about why are we doing this what are we doing so as it pertains to that question um on on the agenda it says that we've received new legislative guidance from the federal government our current Middle School Family Life options may not be in compliance with the latest guidance from the federal government we feel it is safest and most responsible to move forward with the my life curriculum as the opt-in program for parents and students in grades 6 through 8 until we receive more clarity or additional legislation from the federal government um there's a lot of things flying out in The Ether um and just to provide some clarity looking at the the the comparison of the two because that's in the in the document that Dr Barnes gave us there is a comparison between the two it's very small print but there is a comparison between the two um and I looked over this previously just to kind of see where we're at um there's a lot of thought that my life is abstinence only and that you know but uh Stepping Stones also covers abstinence uh things that are covered by my life that are pretty important child birth and pregnancy consequences of teen pregnancy media influence physical changes sex trafficking we want to protect our kids we want them to be informed they need to know both of those curriculum teach no both yes both of those curriculum teach that sexual abuse and sexual harassment we absolutely need our kids to hear that both of those curriculum teach it um and so and uh STI also both are taught and so I think it's important that we recognize that yes some people may choose stepping stones but there are some of some of that information is also covered and some of that pertinent information is also covered in my life um and so I don't think that this is a we're getting rid of this forever I think this is a we need to look at what we have and make sure that we are in compliance Dr Barnes and I may have have said that wrong when I put it into the agenda I think none of us sitting around this table right here are the experts in this curriculum to start with I think what you guys have is a wealth of choices well a limited number of choices in front of you either you guys vote to not teach it at all which is an Abrupt shift you vote to not do anything about it at all which I personally I think is ill advised at this time with what again information changing every day I would recommend that you let the attorneys sit down with a group of Educators who are skilled in this curriculum and ensure that what we're teaching matches what we think the letter intends and then we can make a recommendation to Pivot at that point M Bradford um the superintendent just confused me because I'm looking at the agenda under curriculum item on my laptop which is up there above there where it says recommendation says we've received new legislation it's just what uh chair Mason just read and it it's making the recommendation that they feel it's the safest and most responsible to move forward with my life curriculum as an opt-in program for parents of students in grade 6 through 8 until we receive more clarity which basically parallels what you just said and it says it necessitates we review um policies 1310 402 and 3540 by the policy committee so I would make a motion now to adopt this recommendation from the staff our climate survey talked at Great length about how the fact that we often did not not vote to uphold the recommendation of the staff and so I've been paying very close attention to that since the climate survey and so that would be my motion to adopt the recommendation which parallels what he said it just says it in a different way I think sir am I right okay we have a motion on the table is there a second I'll second okay um we are we have five minutes left in the meeting um and so we're kind of we need to I will make a motion to extend for five more five extra minutes putting us at 605 do I have a second all right all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed that passes 5 to two um correct yeah okay um all right uh we have such limited time I need your remarks to be kept super brief has everybody spoken um Miss Barnhart has not spoken do you would you like the opportunity to speak thank you madam chair um I think if I'm understanding the motion and directive this is a a temporary pause so that we give our staff time to dive in with the attorneys and have ensure that the curriculum is in compliance and if that is the intent of the motion then I agree because I think the feedback and guidance needs to be given there does seem to make make some changes maybe it's to this curriculum maybe it's as my colleague said to choose a different one to allow for um a comprehensive sexual education as well as a primarily based in absence education option because both of these options are opt in and so am I understanding that correctly the intent behind the motion is to allow our time our to give ourself time to potentially MO make those changes I'm saying follow the recommendation that's up there on that board or on your computer which does say until we receive more clarity additional legislation from the federal government so yes who's this is Staff recommendation yeah just to uphold the staff recommendation is my it was my motion and Mr second okay so again I guess that I guess that's where my um discussion points lie is is that the intent after this meeting to get more people together to provide that feedback potentially of what that looks like because the end res in my opinion the end result is not at resolve I I don't have the uh you know I'm not going to say page two and Page Six need to go and not this I'm not at that point as a board member right now to do that so I'm I'm just curious if that's the integr okay we have 7 minutes total Dr Merck I move to amend my colleague's motion to uh be in line with what Dr Barnes has said that rather than stopping now that we continue as such and uh allow the superintendent and staff to come up with recommendations it's a motion to amend what she said a second okay uh Miss Justice Mr okay I'm not even sure what just happened except Dr Burns Barnes had a very good suggestion that I think most of us are agreeing with um the only wording I'm concerned first of all none of this is going to be coming up until they have to make decisions about next year and in that time he's going to be able to have that completed before that happens so to just go with one or the other right now doesn't really matter just stay the way we are at the moment let them do their research which is what his second was and then we can go forward and make a decision from the information they bring to us uh right now to even say just go with one there's no reason to just leave it be the way it is I believe that's what you're saying I think that's what Dr Barnes is saying if he could clarify that so we can go ahead and then have a decision to make for next year uh Mr woodor uh two quick things uh one is just to my colleague down there said you know that you didn't think gender had to do with it ncsba said very clearly the two areas to look into to our diversity in equity and policies that reference gender identity that just a point of reference uh but the other thing is I'm concerned and I would like to if we could ask Dr Barnes this we probably have students right now that are in in the classroom with the teacher and in in stepping stones and tomorrow all of a sudden that teacher is going to be like oh I don't know what to do with here because you're not here so that's my biggest concern I mean I think maybe the idea of saying as Dr Barnes has said and I can't make a motion on a motion but um but you know basically we will not teach the ones that are highlighted we can teach everything else right now until we have more clarity to me that makes more sense then all of a sudden the principal having to say well I don't know what we're doing with these kids because they're in stepping stones and Stepping Stones just got you know you know there's no more anym um Dr I'm getting lost in which motion is which I think within a week I can definitely sit down with our attorneys and some folks from the PE curriculum who are skilled in this and specifically address the the parts of the lessons that are concerns that we think May overlap thank you and then it's it's sort of like we're running through the woods folks if you look right at your feet you're going to run into a tree you look too far ahead you're going to drip over your feet let's give ourselves a little bit of Running Room to adapt as we go but I do think that if we're we're up pushing up against that February 28th deadline I think there are some things we want to make sure we address as soon as we can but I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bath water and again that's my language up there so if I was not clear enough that is my fault that I I sort of pushed everybody over the edge of this and that's not what my intent was to do I just want to make sure we're making pragmatic safe decisions for our students and our staff okay so there is an amendment on the table to um retain Stepping Stones um and allow for staff to make the needed adjustments is that correct with Dr Barnes and legal with Dr Barnes and legal um if there's no further discussion uh Miss will you call the role Miss Mason yeah yes Miss barnhard yeah Miss Bradford no Miss Justice yes Dr Merrick yes Mr Perry yes and Mr wbore hi okay that passes 6 to one so back to the original motion um Miss boy call the rooll please original motion is oh lord it's been a minute the original motion was to um abide by the recommendation listed Miss Mason yes Miss Barnhart the recommendation listed up there amended that was amend we just right they amended the oh Lord have mercy well this doesn't have a time stamp on it so we could still go with the recommendation given the week or so for Dr meel and no all right I'm trying to figure out how we we just table no why we I think the other and you might want to check with our uh attorney but I think that his motion after supersedes the motion was on the table because they're in Conflict so so we do not vote on the original motion is that correct gentlemen just sort of lost track do that says they they are in Conflict so does that negate her original motion Madam chair yes ma'am I would move that we uh post I can't remember my right terminology but we move this till next Tuesday because that'll be a week exactly a week um we just move this vote till next Tuesday all right so that's a that's a motion to move this to next week second okay all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed that passes 7 to Z um committee reports I have one but work without all right um I will I didn't get my last upset bet oh sir you got less than a minute no worries and I think this needs to be clearly stated and I want to be very clear about this statement thanks the changing of the Strategic plan the changing of policies does not change what I believe about maintaining the inherent Dignity of staff and students and I don't want anyone who doesn't believe in those things the safety of children and dignity of people to be here in this District anyway so that's our regardless of what we do dignity is still foremost in my mind of what's important for children thank you all right I will entertain a motion to adjourn do I hear a second all those in favor signify by saying I I we are that passes 7 Z we are adjourned for