On Sunday, I hosted a D9 Connection Meeting. I appreciate the feedback and concerns expressed. On Thursday, I attended the Wake County Indian Education Program (WCIEP) Virtual Public Hearing and Open House. It was informative meeting with special guests from the Parent Committee, Tribal Leaders, and WCPSS staff. Lawrence Kee, a Cary High School junior, did a fantastic job performing the Opening Honor Song. To view the presentation, visit this link. On Saturday, I will be closing out the week at Green Hope Elementary School's Beautification Day.
As a Board, we had one meeting on Wednesday, April 14th: Facilities Committee.
At the Wednesday, April 14th Facilities Committee:
- Jack McAleer, Director, Project Controls; shared a positive update to the 2021 Executive Summary: $10 million is being restored by Wake County to WCPSS. Five million dollars in FY22 and five million dollars in FY23. The restored funds will be returned back to the SNAP line item as that was where it was taken from when Wake County reduced funding in FY20. To access the 2021 Executive Summary, click here.
- Betty Parker, Senior Director, Real Estate Services; provided three possible names for the E-52, a new elementary school in Southwest Holly Springs: Rex Road Elementary, Careys Creek Elementary, and Southwest Holly Springs Elementary. Staff recommends Rex Road Elementary and the Committee informally agreed. To view supporting documents, visit this link.
- Jim Martin, Chair of the Facilities Committee, lead the committee in a group brainstorming activity. Each individual Board member took time to list ideas under four categories: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. Then the committee broke into two groups and discussed each member's ideas. Afterwards, the committee came back together as a whole to review overall themes and ideas. Some of the ideas mentioned were: working on sustainability for existing schools (gardens, outdoor learning spaces, etc.), the feasibility of using some of the COVID-related funds to improve HVAC systems and air quality in our schools, improving districtwide coordination of individuals and businesses willing to donate goods and/or services for school needs, seeking more input from the community, and more.
- Douglas Congdon, Program Executive, Facilities Design and Construction, shared the three month forecast for Facilities. To access the presentation, click here.
- Tuesday, April 20th, at 1 pm: Finance Committee. To view the agenda, click here. The main item on the agenda is the 2021-22 proposed budget.
- Tuesday April 20th at 3:00 pm: Work Session. The agenda can be accessed at this link. Please note there are several issues on the agenda: a draft 2021-22 single-track year-round calendar, an update on the 2021-22 Virtual Academy planning, and initial planning for the 2022-23 school enrollment plan.
- Tuesday, April 20th at 5:30 pm: Board Meeting. You can access the agenda here. Please note this agenda is full of items: Budget Public Hearing*, changing the May 5th remote learning day to May 13, 2021, presenting Virtual Academy specifics for 2021-22 for Board approval (Per current staff recommendation, please be aware several schools-Mount Vernon Middle School, River Oaks Middle School, SCORE Academy, Connections Academy, Wake Young Women's Academy, Wake Young Men’s Academy, North Wake College and Career Academy, Wake STEM Early College High School, Vernon Malone High School, Wake Early College of Health and Sciences, Mary Phillips High School, Longview High School, Crossroads FLEX High School, and Bridges Program-will NOT have a VA option and extended content regional programs and occupational course of study programs will NOT have a VA option either.)