Board of Education Meeting

I'm going to get started. I don't think that should interfere uh as long as the board is here. And tonight we do have se eight eight out of the nine board me board members present tonight. Uh so good evening. It is Tuesday, February the 3. Uh little after 5:30. We're going to call the regular board meeting of the Wake County Board of Education to to order. I want to welcome those of you all who are watching at home. Also, for those of you all who may be listening by phone, if you would like to watch the meeting via live stream, please visit wcpss.net. Once you're on the homepage, you can access the live stream by clicking on the meeting link in the popup window or on the district calendar. And we're glad that you all are joining us tonight. Um, we do have a quorum as indicated. So, at this point, Dr. Ing, since you have the flag, would you be willing to lead us in the pledge?

Sure. All right. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America of the United States of America and to the republic to the republic for which it stands for one nation nation under God under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you for that Dr. Ingen and everyone. Um before we approve tonight's board meeting agenda, I would uh like to entertain a motion to request the waving of board policy 2310 uh which simply states that uh as it relates to public comment given the fact that the state of emergency and we are virtu uh not hold public comment once this policy is waved. So is there a motion to wave? There is a motion by me to wave

policy. Chair Swanson.

So, it's a motion by Vice Chair Hershey to raise policy 2310. Is there a second?

Second.

Second from Mr. Heaggerty. Uh, we will do a roll call vote. Uh, we'll start with Miss Coughfield.

I.

Uh, Miss Gordon.

Dr. Ing. I.

Miss Edmonds. Miss Edmonds.

Hi.

Uh, Vice Chair Hershey.

I,

Mr. Hegerty.

Dr. Job,

I.

I'm also in the affirmative so that the policy. The motion passes. 8 Z. Now, I will entertain a motion to approve tonight's meeting agenda.

Sheriff Swanson, make a motion to approve the meeting agenda. There's a motion in the virtual table on the virtual table to uh uh approve tonight's meeting agenda and it's been properly seconded by Miss Edmonds. All in favor of the motion. We will also do this by roll call vote starting with Miss Cfield.

I uh Miss Gordon.

I.

Dr. Inc. I uh Miss Edmonds.

Hi,

Vice Chair Hershey.

uh Mr. Heerty

Dr. Job

I

and also in the affirmative. So tonight's meeting agenda passes uh 8 to zero. Um, just want to inform those that are watching virtually that our public comment will resume at our next board meeting which is on February the 17th. Um, our meeting agenda has been approved. Is

there a motion on the table to approve our consent agenda item?

Chair.

Yes, sir.

I make a motion to approve the consent agenda. There is a motion on the table to approve tonight's consent agenda. Uh, is there a second?

Second.

Second by Mr. Hegy. Any discussion on the motion that's on the virtual table? Hearing none, I will go for a roll call vote. Um, we'll start with Dr. Job. I

Mr. Heard

I

Sher Hershey

Miss Evans

Dr. Ing uh Miss Gordon

and Miss Cfield

So the consent agenda items passes uh 8 to zero. All right. So that brings us to our first uh information, sorry, our first action item um which will be coming to us from the technology department. Chief uh Bola or Mr. Hope. Good evening. Me share my screen here. There we go. Can everybody hear?

Yes.

Good evening. I'm Eric Ho, information

security officer.

Hi, I'm Megan Mau. I'm a director of digital tools and engagement in tech services. Nice to see everyone.

And tonight, kind of been a long time coming. Uh, thank you for giving us the chance to kind of say something, but Megan and I really want to begin this by saying we heard you, right? So, we've listened to the concerns from every corner of the district from parents, teachers, administrators, board members, and even multiple students themselves have reached out to us. In fact, I just spoke with a new concerned parent yesterday. So, this is in direct response of kind of issues that have come up um on the filter that we kind of chose during COVID um and some issues that uh we needed to take care of. So, basically, what did we hear? Uh, we heard a lot, but the top three were inconsistent content filtering. So, we heard really kind of a filter frustration. Here's a system that might block their biology documentary, but fail to catch gaming mirrors or inappropriate recorded gameplay. This inconsistency didn't just hinders teaching, it creates gaps in the digital safety net we promised our families. Number two, YouTube. This one is huge. Um, parents and educators both raised alarms about the YouTube rabbit hole. Take a student. He starts with physics demo, right? The YouTube algorithm. after he's on the the video that his teacher gave him pushes them towards

shorts, distracting things to the edge. All kinds of things pop up along the bottom as recommendations and soon they're down this rabbit hole of distraction. And if you really want to think about it, forget that single student. Imagine a teacher in a classroom with these distractions going on at the same time. The interesting thing was we kind of saw these across the board. These weren't just your typical students maybe uh with attention, you know, they kind of have attention issues or something like that. Wasn't that it was all students, even those who don't struggle when they got a Chromebook in their hand, they would go down that YouTube kind of rabbit hole. Third was visibility into kind of what was going on, right? Uh we could see where a student went, but we wouldn't really know why. So, we couldn't tell the difference between a student researching their novel or a s a student trying to get around the filter so that they can harass another student on social media. We just saw that both students went to Google. So we we started back um we talked to multiple large school districts and a lot of academic and school staff to get input into what we needed. Right. Uh number one kind of these first two fell together that was student safety and compliance and instructional access and flexibility when we changed our focus to let's have a filter up and blocking the bad things and this got flipped over to let's only allow what teachers need for instruction and kind of we when we went at it that

way that was kind of a whole game changer. So, we started really tight um and backed up and and those those two focus areas uh kind of really came into into focus. What we learned is um hang on, where am I? No, that's where I am. So, accuracy um what we learned, right? So the accuracy improved significantly. Currently students will for example share websites with a bunch of links on it. And those links will be things that go around the filter or things that they think might go around the filter. And if it's Google, we can't just block that single Google site. Um, we can do that now with the new filter. Um, eliminating digital distractions. This is kind of huge. The new filter much more effectively keeps distractions at bay. So, if you think of YouTube now, it's just a video. So, the what the teacher has, student clicks on it, and it comes up. Nothing along the bottom, nothing on the right, no shorts, you know, for different things, what to see next. It's just a single restricted video the teacher chose. What we can also do kind of to help this along the way is we can also approve channels. So we can have a school um not worry about what might or might not be approved. They could have their own school channel. Everything that a teacher puts in that channel would be approved for, you know, that middle school, if you will. This aligns with our previous work regarding the cell phones. It protects the

integrity of the instructional day and ensures our digital tools remain focused on the task at hand. And finally, it really strengthened visibility. Our visibility into the activity is huge. We can see now what's going on and teachers are actually able to look into issues on their own. um they don't have to call tech all the time and the logs actually have the context needed to be helpful. Megan,

thanks Eric. So now that we've talked about what we've heard from the community and what we've learned through our evaluation, um I will talk briefly about what comes next. Our next step is to implement this solution districtwide to directly address the concerns Eric just outlined. Inconsistent filtering, limited visibility, and digital distractions that interfere with instruction. I also want to be very clear, this is certainly not a set it and forget it system. Instruction still matters. Teaching and learning remain at the center of every decision we will make with this tool. We will continue to monitor and adjust filtering rules based on the instructional needs. If content required for teaching and learning is blocked, there is a clear and responsive process to review and address that quickly. And also I would like to close this slide by reading the statement that you see here. We listened. We validated the concerns and we took action, reinforcing the commitment to student safety and instructional access. The timeline on the next slide shows us how we plan to carry that commitment forward pending board approval.

We are currently in the pilot phase. The pilot has allowed us to test the content filter in real classrooms, identify issues, and gather feedback from schools. If this proposal is approved, our next step would be district-wide implementation. We would begin by enabling the new content filter starting February 13th using a phased approach rather than enabling it for everyone at once. And that phase roll out is very intentional. This allows us to reduce disruption, closely, monitor impact, and respond quickly if issues are identified. With this plan, all schools and departments would be fully active by April 1st. Following the full implementation, we would move into a post-deployment optimization phase. This means we will continue to fine-tune the different filtering rules, respond to instructional needs, and improve the experience for staff and students. And this is not a one-time change. It's an ongoing process focused on continuous improvement as needs evolve. Based on what we've shared this evening, we are requesting the board's approval to move forward with the purchase and districtwide implementation of this content filtering solution. And Eric and I are happy to answer any questions.

Great. Thank you so much for this presentation. Uh, is there a motion to approve um the Howard Industry Inc. DBA uh technology solutions contract?

Uh, Mr. Vice Chair Hershey.

Uh, motion motion.

Oh, yeah. Motion to approve. I have comments after, but motion to approve the contract.

It's a motion on the floor by Mr. Vice

Chair Hershey. has been seconded like

seconded by uh Mr. Heaggerty uh vice chair for your comments.

I just want to say thank you to staff for going through this process. I want to thank also the community for you know giving us feedback. You oftent times I I tell my constituents all the time like I don't know what's going on maybe in your school unless you tell me. So the fact that they the community really gave us feedback and students gave us feedback and staff I just thank you to everybody. This is how good effective governance works and government works and appreciate staff for being so proactive and um or responding to this and and coming up with a plan and not in a long runway but a condensed plan and uh just thank you.

Thank you. Uh Miss Hagerty, did you have comments? I saw you're off mute.

Thank you, V. Thank you, Chair Swanson. Absolutely. I want to echo Mr. Hershey's remarks. You know, um Mr. Ho and his team, they really do work with parents and constituents. Uh I've had several calls over the years with questions from parents about the filters, about different ways either their children or their children's classmates have worked to sort of um circumvent the system. And all of these have been taken very very seriously. And I know that before we were kind of limited by the tools that we had. So to kind of really aggressively go out find um a solution like this I think is very responsive and I I really appreciate them bringing it to us tonight. I wholeheartedly endorse um the the expenditure.

Great. Thank you. Are there any other board member comments? All right. Well, I echo uh the sentiments of my colleagues and looking forward to, you know, a way of of us ensuring that digital safety is taking

place um on the online space and so grateful for you all and the work that you're doing and continuing to doing to pull this to make this happen for our students, staff and families. So, thank you. Um we will do a roll call vote and I will start with uh Miss Coughfield. I

um Miss Gordon.

Hi,

Dr. Hi.

Uh Miss Edmonds,

I vice Hershey.

Mr. Heaggerty.

Dr. Joe,

I'm also voting in the affirmative. So, the contract passes uh 8 to zero. Thank you so much. And now we will turn to our information items. Uh first one on the agenda is our superintendent comments. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh I hope that you guys can hear me. Am I coming through?

Yes.

All right. Thank you. Uh to start, I want to thank our students, families, and staff uh for understanding as we've navigated recent weather disruptions. Uh, I know this stretch has been challenging with changes to schedules, learning formats, and and even this meeting that we're having to endure. And so I appreciate the flexibility of our community uh and what they've shown uh to work with us during this period. Please know that all of our weather decisions are guided by a simple principle and that is safety comes first. Uh we always prefer to keep schools open and have board meetings in person. Uh we never make closure or decisions um those decisions lightly. Uh every call we make is grounded in expert guidance and a commitment to protecting our students, families, and staff. Uh this is our duty and one we take very seriously. So again, thank you for the patience and the cooperation and here's to warmer days ahead. We certainly hope.

Uh with that uh I want to say congratulations to the 54 Wake County magnet schools that were honored last week with national merit awards by magnet schools of America. Uh once again our magnet program stand out uh as national models. Uh the highest uh honor is top school of excellence given this year to just 24 schools nationwide. Now of those five are right here from Wake County and I believe that's an extraordinary achievement. Uh those top schools of excellence are Bro Magnet High School, Milbrook Magnet Elementary, Smith Magnet Elementary, Wake Early College of Health and Sciences, and Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy. In addition, 18 Wake County Magnet schools were named schools of excellence, and 31 schools earned schools of distinction honors. schools are elevated uh evaluated on their high academic standards, innovative curriculum, and the consistent delivery of high quality educational experiences for students and families. Uh these awards reflect the intentional work of our magnet schools uh due to um due to um due to engage students through specialized themes and innovative instruction. For more than four decades, and we've heard this tonight, uh Wake County's magnet schools have expanded opportunity, uh supported diverse learning environments, and help students discover their strengths. And so, I'm proud of the students, the staff, and school leaders at each of these campuses, as well as the magnet office uh team that supports uh their work in the schools. And so, again, we want to share with everybody that a full list of award recipients is available on our website uh and our Facebook page. So, I do encourage our community to take a look and help celebrate these wonderful schools. I also wanted to acknowledge that February is Black History Month, uh an opportunity to honor and celebrate African-Americans for their contributions to our nation. Our schools have received guidance and age appropriate resources to support

learning that promotes historical knowledge, critical thinking, and respectful dialogue. Uh, this work reflects our commitment to helping students engage thoughtfully with complex history while building empathy and mutual understanding. Uh, I'd also like to invite board members in the community to join us for our district's third annual Black History Month celebration. Uh, the event will be held Thursday, February 26 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at East Garner Magnet Middle School. This year's theme, Dare to Dream, inspiring the future, upholding the legacy uh connects meaningful meaningfully to our district's 50th anniversary to highlights how students and educators are carrying this legacy forward. The evening will feature a variety of performances including spoken word, music, dance, and visual arts. And for those unable to attend, obviously a video recap will be shared at our first board meeting in March. And so we look forward to coming together as a community to celebrate excellence, honor history, and uplift the promise of what lies ahead. Uh finally, I'd like to give an open invitation for our community to attend a community engagement and listening session uh for the Ligan Magnet Middle School renovation project. The engagement event will be um we held in January produced wonderful turnout from alumni, staff, parents, and community members. and we received a wide range of thoughtful and insightful input about uh the project. So, we want to give the community ample opportunities to make their voice heard and we'll be holding another session that I'm sure will be just as successful. Um um the session will be held on February the 9th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Ligan Magnet Middle School auditorium. And so at the meeting, I will provide an overview of the projects as I did before and the status and next steps followed by a period for the public to give input on their priorities for the school's renovation. So working together with our community, I know this project will create a proud and strong continuation

of the JW JW Ligan uh legacy. So with that, Mr. Chair, I'll yield back uh to the chair.

Thank you, Superintendent Taylor, for those remarks. And now we'll turn to board member comments. So, uh, we will start in district 8 with Dr. Joe.

Okay. Um, I first want to take a moment to honor the memory of Apex Friendship High School math teacher, Miss Kimberly Kendrick, who sadly passed away on January 31st. She is wellliked at the school and will be deeply missed. On the other end of the emotion spectrum, I want to congratulate District 8's midyear graduates. I had the opportunity to attend the Apex Friendship mid-year graduation on January 22nd and I want to thank them for hosting me. One thing that struck me during the graduation was the great number of students who took advantage of the dual enrollment with Wake Tech and were able to graduate well on their way to having general educa education credits completed for college or even an associates degree. UNCC Chapel Hill now costs nearly $26,000 a year for instate students and outofstate schools are reaching close to six figures a year in some cases. So this partnership with Wake Tech is such a valuable resource and I'm really glad we're able to provide it together. I want to thank our Wake County teachers for designing remote learning lessons for the last couple of weeks during our weather events and I want to thank parents for ensuring that those lessons were completed. This is one of those times when we are reminded just how big the district is and I know it can be really frustrating when it looks like your neighborhood's roads are clear to hear that schools are closed. I just ask our entire community to keep in mind two things. While having such a big district can be an inconvenience in these rare weather events, we get a lot of benefit from it as well. This Black History Month, it's especially appropriate to remember that Wake County became a district 50 years ago this year, joining

Raleigh City and Wake Systems in a bold commitment to community prosperity. In 1976, Raleigh City Schools was a largely minority district made of inner city schools and the um and we wanted to make sure and the citizens of Wake County wanted to make sure that we um had the same resources spread across the entire entirety of the county. and it is we still see the excellent results of that decision today. The second thing I want to keep in mind is that um we just do not have the funding to have plows and salt and everything on um hand for when these rare weather events occur. And so we just ask for your patience and we appreciate um everything that the kids did especially in order to get back into the classroom ready to go tomorrow. My first board advisory committee meeting will be uh Monday, February 9th at 6:30 p.m. at Holly Grove Elementary. I want to especially thank Principal Klein and the Holly Grove PTA for helping us pivot and hosting us and I look forward to seeing everybody there.

Great. Thank you Dr. Joe. We'll circle over to other side of the district with Miss Cfield or jump rather. Sorry.

Good evening everyone. Um I will keep it kind of short. I don't um have a lot of news to report. I and I don't want to repeat um what Dr. Taylor has explained about um the snow and the delays and all of the things that it has upset in our schedule, but I think it has also hopefully given us some time to be with our family while we were in our homes um and be able to catch up on some things that were important at home. Um, I wanted to congratulate some of our graduates that um, although some of them had to be postponed for their graduations, I wanted to congratulate them on a a job well done. And I'm

reminded that um, these students that are graduating right now are still our students that were closed down um, during COVID. So, they have had to overcome quite a bit um, to get to their graduation years. So, I wanted to recognize that and wish them well. Um, they've done well. they they they've reached their graduation and congratulations to you. We did have to cancel our board advisory committee again due to weather which is odd because in North Carolina we don't normally have this type of weather or it comes very rare. So here we are cancelling it once again and I just wanted to let everybody know that our next board advisory is going to be March 9th and I hope that we do not have any snow on March 9th and we will be able to continue with that. Um, so stay tuned for the details. I believe that it'll still be at Zebulun School, but we are confirming with that and I'll have more details to follow. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Miss Cfield. And we might have to take that up with the groundhog who saw his shadow recently, so you might

I think mother nature forgot the memo. We're in the south.

Very true. Yeah. Right. Uh, Miss Gordon.

Good evening everyone. Um, I too would like to recognize the hard work of our staff and leaders who have worked hard on surveying uh the campuses and roads as we um as a result of our lovely North Carolina weather. Um, also thank you to the teachers and families who have remained patient and have helped students navigate remote learning. I will say this is very reminiscent of COVID learning. Um, if you saw where I was, you would not believe me. Thank goodness for filters. Um, uh, I wanted to say tonight I want to take a moment to honor the history and, uh, present and the future of Wake County Public Schools. As we recognize the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, I am

reminded, sorry I'm receiving updates. Um, I am reminded of how deeply that history lives right here in our community. We see it in places like Lian Middle School, a powerful reminder of the legacy, resilience, and brilliance of black educators, students, and families in Wake County and beyond. We see it in East Garner Middle School in district 2 where two of the original buildings from the Rosenwald school uh schools remain standing, markers of a time when communities built what they were denied and created pathways to opportunity through education. And we see it in the story of Fugquway Verina High School whose integration reminds us of the courage it took and still takes to pursue equity for every student. These places are not just buildings. They are living reminders of both our progress and our ongoing responsibility. I also want to extend a heartfelt congratulations to the seniors who celebrated their midyear graduation at Willow Springs High School. I'm sorry that I could not make it. I was out of town for work. Um, your hard work, persistence, and dedication have brought you to this milestone, and I cannot wait to see the impact you will make as you take your next steps. Congratulations as well to East Garner Middle School, Haj Road Elementary School, and Smith Magnet Elementary School for receiving the magnet schools of America merit award of excellence. This recognition is a testim test testament to your instructional leadership, creativity, and commitment to providing joyful student centered learning experiences. And finally, this week we celebrate National School Counselor Week. To our counselors across the district, thank you. Thank you for being social emotional learning powerhouses. Thank you for creating equitable and inclusive

environments where every student feels seen and supported. Thank you for connecting families to community resources, for always being a safe space, and for modeling the highest ethical standards. Thank you for using data to drive meaningful interventions, for preparing students for life after graduation, and for being true teammates to every educator in your building. Your work is transformational and we see you. As we honor our past and celebrate the achievements of today, may we continue moving forward with intention, always student centered, community focused, and educator driven. And don't forget, District 2 board advisory committee meeting is Wednesday, February 18th at 6:00 p.m. at South Lakes Elementary. And make sure to send your board member representative the reason why you love your school this love month. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Gordon. Dr. Inc.,

thank you. Um um I'll try to keep this short. Um the I really appreciate um everybody all the um teachers, parents and students for understanding um all that's been going on because of the weather and especially for our teachers who had to pivot so many times kind of back and forth with regards to um the plans for uh educating our children. Um and also for our parents uh many of my the people that I work with in healthcare um and in all the essential workers they they had to go into work just like me um even during during the snow and the ice and so I can certainly understand the difficulty of um of having um not having child care um when they still have to go into work. So, I really um want to just honor those people who um have to have to do the hard the hard thing um during

this time, this last couple of weeks. Um and um I wanted to uh give a shout out to the schools in district three who uh also um were awarded um uh distinctions or excellence merit awards of excellence uh uh for uh East Milbrook Magnet Middle School and um the merit award of distinction for North Wake College and Career Academy, Fox Road Elementary and West Milbrook Magnet Middle. Um, so they all are welldeserved honors and um uh and I appreciate all that they do. And finally, um I will be honored to attend the um the midyear graduation at Heritage um high school this Friday. Um I um uh am looking forward to hearing all the stories of all the uh graduates. Um I know they always try to make it person really personal there and you know it's a very intimate um setting. So uh I really am looking forward to um uh celebrating with all the uh the parents and the teachers and the uh all the whole community there. So that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you Dr. Ing. Uh Miss Edmonds.

Thank you. Um, I too I lifted up the uh mid-year high school graduations um graduates at the previous board meeting, but I will say that I was able to make it to Athens Drive and Middle Creek midy years. They were both on the same night, but luckily an hour apart, so I made it to both. And um it was interesting to me that the you know, so many of the staff um thanked me for being there and thank me for coming. And you know, I just have to say um in in this role, I mean, that is just one of the easiest things in the world to do is to show up to celebrate our students in whatever space that is. So, that was that was great. I also um joined Dr. Taylor and a legend within our school district um Dr. Ken Branch at

um Centennial Magnet Middle School last week. we celebrated their 25th anniversary and it was a great program and a and a great evening and I got the opportunity last week with school choice week and I got the opportunity to lift up the wonderful choices that we have here in Wake County, not just our magnet schools but Centennial was certainly you know part of that um robust network of choice that we have here in our district. Um, I want to also acknowledge the staff that um has worked so hard over these weather events and we the board members got a lot of emails um from frustrated families and I get it. I mean, I don't disagree that it is very disruptive. Um, and even though board members don't vote um, whether or not to open or delay or or go have a remote learning day or whatever, I do want to be very clear that I fully fully support um, Dr. Taylor and his team who have to make these extremely difficult choices. They're not easy. They don't take them lightly. I know there's a lot of deliberation and a lot of very thoughtful um you know input that they look at and data that they look at and they just try to do the best they can to keep our kids safe and I I agree that that's paramount. Um and lastly, my BAC did get scheduled. Um so we will meet also on Monday, March 9th at 5:30 p.m. at Holly Springs Elementary. Thank you, Chair. Uh, Mr. Hagerty.

Thank you, Chair Swanson. Well, I had some comments about school counselor week, but I don't think I could have made them as well as Miss Gordon, so I will just echo what she has said. I do want to go back to a couple of the other topics that we spoke about tonight. If you've been listening through our work session, you heard us

talking about funding for highquality magnet programs. As you heard us talking about technology in the classroom and its costs, even if you haven't been following tonight, you know, we've been hearing from people around the community about transportation and whole neighborhoods losing their bus routes. We've heard about the difficulty funding our career and technical education, our vocational education uh positions right now. And if you've paid attention to any of our budget meetings, you know that we're looking at what will be a really a really serious situation. All of this comes back to, as we've talked about, state funding. And so, you know, I would like to encourage anyone out there who supports public education to support legislative budgets that allow us to offer competitive wages to teachers, to bus drivers, child nutrition workers, our maintenance and operations staff, all of those individuals who work hard to make our schools function, operate, and take care of our kids. If you're looking for something that you can do, I wanted to bring to your attention a rally for school funding that'll be held this Saturday. Uh this is Saturday, February the 7th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. over in uh the far corner of my district, Green Level Church Road and Carpenter Carpenter Fire Station Road. Uh you can join teachers, students, PTA leaders, parents, and others as they all identify the needs in our schools and ask legislative leaders to come to some consensus around funding these important priorities. If you're interested, I hope you'll attend. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hagerty. Vice Chair Hershey.

Thank you, Chair Swanson. Um I will be very quick. I just want to congratulate all the midyear graduates at Sanderson

High School. It is always a pleasure to be at the high school and I love um you know the the the best part about the midyear graduations is all the kids get a little something said about them uh which is fantastic and it's everyone gets to clap. You don't have to wait and it's uh really a joy. It fills the heart. Um it's needed these days for sure with everything we're facing when it comes to uh attacks on public education. Um, so just real congratulations to all those students and the families that helped get them there and the the teachers that helped uh, you know, that educated them and h it was really just a joy and I'm so glad that all my colleagues make it out to to these events. I mean, it is it's one of the best things we do as as Miss Edmond said. And that will conclude my board comments for today.

Thank you, Vice Chair. And so I will start by also congratulating the the midy years. I hate that uh Green Hopes was cancelled due to the weather, but I enjoyed um Apex High School and congratulations to to those students and the student and the school community um for making it a true community event um and for pivoting for the weather. And then I also enjoyed um attending Harry High's midyear uh with Commissioner Stallings. Um and I have to say that all of them are very special and I I love to see how the principles put their own spin onto things and so um uh Carrie Hyde, Principal Bryant, uh allowed for myself, Dr. Chavis and to and for Commissioner Stallings to actually shake the hands of the students with him um as they were uh receiving their diplomas which was a a great way of thanking the students and congratulating them and wishing them well on their uh uh next journey. Um I also want to echo what

Miss Gordon said about black celebrating Black History Month. This is the 100th anniversary uh that Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who's known as the godfather of Black History Month, started this as Negro Week back in uh uh 1926, which was the week of uh both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas's birthdays. That was the week that he chose. And uh that celebration went on until 1986 when Congress enacted legislation to make it uh Black History Month to honor that the 50th anniversary. And so here we are 100 years later. um uh celebrating Black History Month and just knowing that and I I've said this last year and I'll continue to say this that black history is American history and American history is black history. And so we cannot conflate the two because they have both shaped the country and pushed the country uh to be much better than what it is. And I would be remiss if if if I didn't recognize that 3 days ago, February 1, was the 66th anniversary of the historic sitin that took place on the campus of ENT with four young uh freshmen in conjunction with the Bennett Bells um who co-conspired with them to plan this, but the Aggies seem to move just a little bit more quickly and neglected the women, which is a a way that I'm grateful that the Bennett Bells are telling the correct story because that planning and preparation took place on their campus. Um, which um, so yes, I I'll stick to my script. Um, but four freshman uh, Jabrel Kazan, formerly known as Eel Blair, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeel, and David Richmond um, challenged systemic racism by sitting down so others now can stand up. And so, uh, I will be wearing this lapel that honors the ANT4 all month because this is, uh, one of the stories and it's for Aggies is a holiday that we celebrate

and it's a great way to kicking this off. But those 19-year-old freshmen changed the world that led to the formation of Snick and others. And so to our young folks that are out here, you know, there is no age for you uh there's no age requirement for you to do the impossible. um whether that is you know challenging policies that we are align that we're passing that may not agree with you know speaking up and speaking out around that but also uh using your your voices to enact change and so um looking forward to participating in that uh ceremony that will be taking place at at um East Garner Magnet Middle School. And so, um, I had a couple other things, but I do also want to just thank, you know, um, before I entertain a motion to go to close session, I just want to, you know, thank the staff, um, uh, in particular, Miss Miss Miss Allen and, uh, others who really worked to pull off this virtual setting. I know it was not an ideal, um, pivot. Um, and I I think former Chair Heaggerty, I I don't think you had to deal with all the snow when you were chair, so I don't know to blame you or the uh the uh groundhog, but hopefully I know this is not an ideal, but I'm grateful to, you know, the staff who who worked up until the last minute to pull this this off and making sure that it it ran as effectively and as smoothly as it could in the virtual setting. And so thank you for for those and also to our communications team for um you know sharing with the public some of the roads that that uh some of our schools rather um that may not necessarily be in our our backyard but showing the public how uh some of the conditions are and why these decisions that the superintendent makes. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of folks believe that the board closes school, but the only thing that we are responsible for is changing calendars, not closing schools. So, that's a a duty that I

don't want and uh and go from there. So, thank you for all of the work that's that's gone into this and to our teachers who are, you know, maneuvering through the remote learning spaces. Um, it's funny. I had a conversation with a couple of legislators over the weekend who were talking about how great remote learning days are so they don't have to necessarily, you know, have to adjust with their schedule plans or um, you know, taking uh, work days are necessary, you know. So, you know, grateful that we we we are able to, you know, use this these tools uh not as a replacement for teaching and learning because nothing can replace that, but grateful that the students do not have to make up, you know, the days last week and only one this week and so um just grateful for all of the work that goes into that. So, with that being said, I will entertain a motion to go into close session to discuss confidential items that relates to uh attorney client privilege. I'm sorry. I'm trying to find the the language. So, attorney Malone, if it's not the legit language that we normally use, please

I have it, Chair Swanson, if you need it.

Thank you. Yes. I I will make the motion to move to close session to consider confidential personal information protected under GS143-318.11 A6 and 115 C-319 to consult with the board of education attorney and preserve client attorney client privilege as provided in GS143- 318.1183.

Perfect. There is a motion by Vice Chair Hershey. Is there a second? I will second and also remind the chair that we had several virtual meetings for quite some time earlier in my board of education career, but his point is well taken, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. So, the motion has been moved and properly seconded by um Mr. Hagerty. Any discussion?

Hearing none, all in favor? We'll do a roll call vote. Uh we will start with Vice Chair Hershey. Swanson, I have one question before you do that.

Yes, sir.

U Mr. Hershey, did you also get the uh legal pieces that were added? Did you slide all the way down and get all of the attorney client privilege items? I didn't hear them

to consult with the board at uh

the ones that were named. Did he name them all?

Yeah. Who's the current litigation? Jessica Ryan and Nathaniel Ryan on behalf of Did you say all of that, Mr. Hershey? Or

I was I was going to ask that question in close session if I'm supposed to read names that we're going to discuss about in close session. I wasn't sure about that.

You you are or what you have historically done is just say as noted on the agenda. And I think if you say as noted and as otherwise noted on the agenda, I think you're good. Okay. As otherwise noted on the agenda.

So there is a amendment to Vice Chair Hershey's uh motion. Mr. Hegger, are you still seconding the motion? All right. So it's still seconded by Mr. Heaggerty. Um thank you Miss Allen for correcting that for us. Um Vice Chair Hershey, your vote on returning.

All right. Miss Edmonds

I.

Mr. Hagerty.

Miss Gordon. I

Dr. Ing

I

Dr. Joe

Miss Cfield

I'm also voting I uh we are adjourned and we are moving into close session board members there should be a link