Committee members identified early‑childhood services and staffing stability as the meeting’s top programmatic priorities. Multiple board members said restoring pre‑K capacity and pursuing a financially sustainable path to universal pre‑K for families with 3‑ to 5‑year‑olds should be a core district objective. Several members noted the loss of a Head Start grant and the need to examine multiple funding sources and partnerships.

Staff and board members flagged shortages of nurses, special education teacher assistants (EC TAs), bus drivers and certain classified positions as ongoing problems that affect day‑to‑day operations and student safety. Participants walked through recent EC TA allotment history the district provided: during ESSER funding years the district funded about 215 TA positions, funding later fell to about 150, a subsequent reallocation raised the number to roughly 195, and the most recent count cited in the meeting was 186 EC TA positions. Board members said they want more adults in buildings to reduce burnout and support students with special needs.

Members also urged growth in career and technical education and dual‑enrollment offerings. Several speakers recommended expanding trades programming at high schools and strengthening dual‑enrollment pathways with Cape Fear Community College to provide alternate post‑secondary routes for students. The district described plans to contact families who returned from charter schools to ask why they came back and to use that information for recruitment and retention efforts.

Next steps: staff will continue work to stabilize pre‑K enrollment where feasible, pursue grant and endowment funding options to support staffing requests, and return with more precise staffing‑and‑funding scenarios for committee review.