Board Watch 8.1.2022
Happy August, Board Watchers! We hope students, teachers and all RPS staff have enjoyed their summers with their families. You’ve got 27 more days of poolside fun, lazy pajama days, or whatever else summer break looks like to you - because school reopening is just around the corner. Our elected leadership met last night to discuss their reopening plan - and other matters - which we cover below:
Staffing Update
Choice-Based Professional Development
Council of Great City Schools
Fox Delay
Arthur Ashe Conflict
Staffing Update
The district’s reopening plan was dominated by talk of staffing. And looking at the job vacancies, it’s easy to see why. Here’s a few key takeaways:
Some schools, like River City Middle School, and some programs, like Food Service, have excessive job vacancies. In some instances, the board points to school culture as a potential hiring deterrent.
The board is excited about the many (many!) university partnerships available to “grow our own” teacher workforce. These partnerships allow for instructional assistants (IAs) and long term substitutes to earn their full teacher licensure.
Ms White is wary of provisional licenses, and wonders if parents can opt their students out of provisional teachers’ classrooms.
Mr Young believes the district’s mask policy is a deterrent to staff employment. Admin assures him that there will be updates to the districts covid policies going into the fall session, but that they will be informed by current local health conditions and recommendations.
Pay, it seems, has been a winning strategy. Bus driver vacancies are way down, and other staff cite their appreciation for increased pay and bonuses. Notably: many custodial workers spoke in public comment requesting their own reforms, which also suggested a pay increase for their often-overlooked efforts.
Teacher retention and exit surveys are a consistent refrain: What are we doing to keep qualified teachers from leaving the district? Beth Almore, a district teacher, spoke well to this: “I appreciate the energy that brings us to need a teacher retention taskforce - but in my view, the collective bargaining team is the teacher retention taskforce.”
For further reading: here’s a great breakdown by Cameron Thompson, of CBS6, explaining other staffing efforts.
Choice-Based Professional Development
The Administration introduced this year’s professional development plan, designed by a group of teachers paid for their additional work as Academic Architects, established a choice-based system that puts teachers in their own PD driver seat:
Per the reopening document, so-called Choice Tracks are offered both synchronously and asynchronously, and “have been designed to provide instructional staff the opportunity to engage in deeper learning on a topic of their choice.”
Autumn Nabors, Interim Director of Academics, used teacher feedback and testing data to determine which areas to offer professional development resources.
Jonathan Young celebrates this method, citing prior teacher dissatisfaction with PD and suggesting teachers far prefer PD under Kamras’ leadership.
On the other hand, the Board Chair cited her disapproval of the district’s plan. Without a teacher survey, she feels staff did not have an adequate voice in their professional development expectations. You can see that message, and the superintendent’s response, below:
I cannot (and will not) speak to best practices regarding professional development - but what this does illustrate is an ongoing blurring of professional boundaries when it comes to authority over the school district. Dr Harris-Muhammed shares that she cannot tell the superintendent how to do his job, despite sounding an awful lot like telling him that he needs to incorporate a teacher survey into future iterations of PD programs.
Council of Great City Schools
In early June, the 8 of the 9 board members engaged in a governance training retreat with a nationwide organization, the Council of Great City Schools. Though this was an open meeting, and must adhere to relevant laws, our elected leaders have still not uploaded meeting minutes or presentation documents. (See this past discussion for more info and available resources.)
Still, we got a glimpse into how this training was received, and whether or not members favored continued training with this organization.
Jonathan Young bristled at the advice of CGCS. The 4th district rep interpreted some hostility in the Council’s guidance, which he felt suggested he should “sit down and shut up.” It sounded like he felt the council intentionally downplayed his elected authority.
Vice Chair Gibson, who did not attend the retreat, objected to the embarrassing news headlines it produced. She cites all matters - especially the board’s power over the budget - as directly relating to student achievement. She believes the CGCS criticisms are disparaging, and suggests “dysfunctional” accusations of the majority Black, majority female board are motivated by sexism and racism.
The rest of the board spoke favorably of the retreat. They found it worthwhile and encouraging to interact with their colleagues in a respectful way. A majority of the board agreed to continue their contract with CGCS, who agreed to work individually with willing members, as-needed.
Fox Delay
Last meeting, we learned that the RPS construction team had received 6 promising bids for Fox reconstruction. The team has spent the last month vetting these proposals - obtained via emergency procurement - and presented their favored contract to the board last night.
Under ordinary procurement circumstances, a contract of this size would need board approval. But district policy says this emergency contract falls under the superintendent’s purview, not the boards:
…Emergency contracts shall have the division superintendent’s approval. Proper documentation detailing the reason for the emergency contract shall accompany a request for the contract. Such documentation shall be approved by the chief operating officer. The School Board chairperson and the School Board shall be immediately notified of an emergency purchase in as much detail as is practical or possible…
This information was provided in a thorough presentation on Board Docs, including heartbreaking photos of the interior of the second floor auditorium.
Nevertheless, Vice-Chair, 3rd District Rep Kenya Gibson, objected to the contract because it (and the other 5 submissions) had not been submitted for board review.
The Chair agreed, suggesting additional delay is inevitable if the board does not get this information.
It did not appear that the contract information was requested after the July 18 meeting, or ahead of last night's discussion. It is also unclear if Rep White had relayed the community (and RPS construction staff’s) concerns about continued structural decay after a roof eave collapsed last month following a lengthy fire investigation.
For the sake of Fox’s remaining fragile frame: we hope the School Board can better patrol themselves (understanding the limits of their authority), the Administration can better anticipate the exhaustive informational needs of their Board, and the building is spared further damage during this self-inflicted delay.
Arthur Ashe Conflict
It’s been a minute since we’ve heard much about the City Council V. School Board dispute over the Arthur Ashe Jr Athletic Center. (Get caught up here.) Discussions have grown tense over the last couple of months. When legal action became more likely, the Board began sharing their updates in executive (“closed”) session.
But not last night. Last night, we learned that the board’s attorney, Ms. Jonnell Lilly, has a conflict of interest in this case. The firm she works with (Harrell & Chambliss LLP) also represents City Council, and therefore cannot provide unbiased counsel.
Which means our school district is without legal counsel to see them through a dispute over property valued at $8-10M.
The board chair was especially tight-lipped, but - at the direction of her board colleagues - agreed to seek out a pro bono lawyer that could advise them on this matter.
In the meantime: until the Board says otherwise, the superintendent will continue to pay for utilities and upkeep on a building we’re not sure RPS owns, and not sure the city will reimburse RPS for. Quite a pickle to be in for a district suffering from decades of underfunding.
THINGS WE’RE WATCHING:
LULAC’s Proposed Commission on the Status of Lation Students in RPS. The proposal, and supportive public comment, was quite compelling. There are some great minds behind this effort and we can’t wait to see where this project goes!
Cell Phone Ban. Jonathan Young is committed to finding board consensus to restrict students’ cell phone use in schools. Here’s his initial proposal.
George Wythe facade ballot results and floor plan reveal!
School Safety and Security Update - Safety Inspections and Standard Operation Procedures are due to the board.
Crossing our fingers and toes for an update ensuring the district has adequate legal representation re:AAJAC.
Before we close out: If you’re ALSO in back-to-school mode, you may be looking for afterschool care for your elementary students this fall. Registration is now open for both YMCA ($82-95/wk), and Parks and Rec ($120/year) programs. Unfortunately, the district is running out of federal pandemic funding used last year to offer these programs free-of-charge, so caregivers must pay for these services out of pocket. Schools partnering with each program are:
YMCA: Barack Obama, Cardinal, E.D. Redd, Ginter Park, Holton, J.B. Fisher, J.L. Francis, Mary Munford , Southampton, William Fox
Parks & Rec: Bellevue, Blackwell, Broad Rock, Carver, Cary, Chimborazo, Fairfield, Ginter Park, Miles Jones, Overby-Sheppard, Reid, Obama, Swansboro, Westover, Oakgrove-Bellemeade, Henry Marsh, Woodville
Preschool offerings also vary by location, as listed on page 4 of the newly approved preschool proposal.
