On Wednesday, I visited Davis Drive Elementary. It was fantastic to see students creating a wide variety of artwork, students bucket drumming, and students choosing different activities such as building, fine motor activities, and more. I enjoyed learning about what they were exploring and helping with carpool. On Thursday, I hosted the District 9 Board Advisory Council Meeting. Please see below for more details. On Friday, I attended the first IMProv Show in almost two years at Cary High School. What a fun night. The Jorts, Placeholders, Biohazards, and Big Boats and Little Lads were hysterical! Well done students.
This week as a Board, we had four meetings: Finance Committee, Work Session, Board Meeting and Safety and Security Committee.
At the Tuesday, November 16th Finance Committee Meeting:
- Dr. Muttillo, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Mr. Neter, Chief Business Officer; presented Staff Compensation Recommendations and Updates. Staff recommended three additional bonuses for staff. Each bonus would be in the amount of $1,250. The target payment dates would be January 2022, May 2022, and November 2022. This would bring the total amount of the four bonuses to $5000. (The Board previously approved a bonus for $1,250 to be included in staff's paychecks this month.) I did ask about staff not eligible for the bonuses such as teachers working 20%. District staff will be looking at those numbers to see if there are options to provide bonuses to those staff members. I also asked staff to clarify if the Federal COVID-related funds could be used to increase staff pay. Additionally, staff recommended raising the sub daily rates. The noncertified sub rate would increase from $80 to $104/day. The certified sub rate would increase from $103 to $130/day. Staff also shared some initial information from the newly-released State budget. They also confirmed that they will be bringing additional recommendations to our December 7th meeting to address salary compression for noncertified staff, possibly raising the minimum starting pay rate for noncertified staff to $15/hour, and options to increase Instructional Assistant and Bus Driver pay rates even higher. To access the presentation, use this link.
To watch the November 16th Finance Committee Meeting, click here.
At the Tuesday, November 16th Work Session:
- Dr. Lane, Senior Director of Magnet and Curriculum Enhancement; Tasha Haynes-Cardenas, Senior Administrator; Magnet Schools Recruitment and Grants Development; Tamani Anderson-Powell, Director of Magnet Marketing and Recruitment; presented information about the schools and possible themes that are candidates for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) Grant 2022-2027. Use this link to view the presentation.
- Glenn Carrozza, Assistant Superintendent for School Choice, Planning and Assignment, presented Draft Two of the Student Assignment Plan for 2022-23. To access the presentation, click here. Please remember there will be a public hearing on November 30th at 5:30 pm about the proposed assignment plan.
Use this link to watch the November 16th Work Session.
At the Tuesday, November 16th Board Meeting:
- The agenda was amended to move two items from consent to action: Revisions to Superintendent Moore's contract and Waiver of Board Policy 7503: Teleworking.
- Superintendent Moore provided an update about items discussed earlier today: compensation recommendations to be voted on, additional pay recommendations coming to the Board on December 7th, the proposed schools and themes for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program, and Draft Two of the Student Assignment Plan.
- David Neter, Chief Business Officer, presented three additional Employee Retention and Recognition Bonuses for Board approval. The Board approved the bonuses 9-0. The recommendation is for three bonuses; each in the amount of $1,250. The proposed timing of the bonuses is January 2022, May 2022, and November 2022. Payment of these bonuses is contingent upon NC DPI approval of use of Federal ESSER Funds for this purpose. Employment dates of record to be eligible for these bonuses will be established upon final NC DPI approval and final confirmation of payment dates. Benefit earning employees are eligible with part-time employees in this category receiving prorated bonuses. District staff is checking on the staff working at a percentage below the benefit-earning threshold and will present more information at a future meeting. I had asked about these staff members and voiced my concern about them missing out on the bonuses.
- David Neter presented the recommendation to raise the substitute teacher daily pay rate: noncertified substitute teacher daily pay rate would increase from $80 to $104 and certified substitute teacher daily pay rate would increase from $103 to $130. The Board approved the increase in the sub daily pay rate 9-0.
- Paul Koh, Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services, presented the Memorandum of Agreement with MAKO Medical Laboratories for Board approval. The Board approved the MOA 8-1. WCPSS will not pay MAKO for any services. The State has a contract with MAKO to provide COVID Testing in schools. The testing in our schools would be voluntary and would require parental/legal guardian consent even if the student is 18 years old. It will begin in the one school with a cluster and a few additional schools to be identified by staff. I did receive clarification that if the pool test returns positive, then families can choose to have the follow-up test performed by another provider. Staff COVID testing will be voluntary at this time since the Federal mandate is currently on hold until the Court determines if it can move forward. To access the MOA, click here.
- Marlo Gaddis, Chief Technology Officer, presented revised Board Policy 3225: Technology Responsible Use for Board approval. The Board approved the policy (first reading) 9-0. To read the policy, use this link.
- Mark Strickland, Chief Facilities and Operations Officer, presented four policies for Board approval. The Board approved each of the four policies (first reading) 9-0. The four policies are: Board Policy 6307: Bus Fleet Management, Board Policy 6315: Drivers, Board Policy 6305: Safety and Student Transportation Services, and Board Policy 6310: Organization of Student Transportation Services. I did ask about a grammatical change to Policy 6305 Section D, Number 3. Staff will edit that sentence.
- Dr. Muttillo, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, presented a request for the Board to waive Board Policy 7503: Telework to allow for two telework teacher workdays during the remainder of the 2021-22 school year. Principals and Central Services Supervisors will determine which employees are eligible to telework and which two teacher workdays will be the telework days. The Board approved this waiver 9-0. I expressed my appreciation for staff bringing this recommendation and that I think this shows our staff respect. I also shared that I hope this will be considered in the future for additional teacher workdays.
- Keith Sutton, Board Chair, presented revisions to Superintendent Moore's contract. The revisions extend Superintendent Moore's contract from June 30, 2024 to June 30, 2025. The Board approved the extension 8-1. I did not support the extension due to multiple concerns. WCPSS is falling behind other districts when it comes to pay of certain groups of employees, the delay of returning to in-person instruction and the impact of that delay on our students, the difficulty at times to receive information requested to be able to make Board decisions, and more. The contract can be viewed here and the revisions can be accessed at this link.
Click here to watch the November 16th Board Meeting.
At the Wednesday, November 17th Safety and Security Committee Meeting:
- The Board went to closed session to discuss specific concerns related to the School Safety Advocacy Council's Study.
- In open session, Curtis Lavarello, Executive Director, School Safety Advocacy Council; and Sean Burke, President, School Safety Advocacy Council, provided an overview of findings from the School Safety Advocacy Council’s Study. Staff will continue to review the recommendations and bring back the recommended priorities to the Board. There is an executive summary available to learn more about the study and the recommendations. Use this link to access the Executive Summary.
To watch the November 17th Safety and Security Committee Meeting, click here.
At the November 18th District 9 BAC Meeting:
- I provided a brief Board update, the minutes from our September 22nd BAC Meeting were approved, and Mr. Carrozza, Assistant Superintendent for School Choice, Planning, and Assignment; presented information about the impact of the proposed assignment plan on District 9.
- A huge thank you to Marlo Gaddis, Chief Technology Officer, for setting up the registration, sending out Google Meet links, and providing tech support.
- Thank you to Tom Huffstetler, Director, Office of Translation and Interpretation Services; for translating the presentation to Spanish to increase accessibility.
- The next District 9 BAC Meeting will be on February 9th at 6 pm.
Next week as a Board, we have the following meeting (Please remember this meeting will be streamed live on the WCPSS YouTube Channel):
- Monday, November 22 at 3 pm- Student Achievement Committee. To view the agenda, use this link. The items on the agenda are Special Education Services and AIG.
If you are interested in attending the Student Achievement Committee Meeting, there is no sign-up form required. You can report to the Board Room at the start time.
I will be hosting another D9 Connection Meeting this Sunday at 4 pm. This is an informal meeting for me to listen to you. If you live in D9, have a student in a D9 school, or work in a D9 school, please join us using this Google Meet Link.
If you have any questions or comments, please email me at kcarter3@wcpss.net.