Wake County policy panel advances technical policy edits, asks staff to develop remote-learning plan

The Wake County Board of Education Policy Committee voted to send a package of technical and minor policy revisions to the March 18 consent agenda and unanimously asked district staff to develop a detailed remote-learning plan that could be used in place of some makeup days.

The decisions came Feb. 1 during a Policy Committee meeting in which members debated whether to add cultural-competency training language to the board—s professional learning policy (Policy 1610-7800), discussed updates to staff-student relations language, and considered how the district might use up to five remote-instruction days (or 30 remote instructional hours) allowed by state law instead of scheduling Saturday makeups or taking away teacher workdays.

Board members spent the bulk of discussion on two issues. First, board member Stephanie Rice proposed adding explicit cultural-competency training to the professional-learning policy to help teachers better "engage with students" and "build trust," saying the training would align with the district—s "see me, know me, engage me, challenge me" framework. Rice said the suggested text would be placed in the paragraph listing required or recommended training topics and that staff could advise where it best fits.

Supporters, including board member Miss Mahaffey, said the change would help classroom management and teacher-student…