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Parents and staff press board on suspensions, crumbling facilities and pay during extended public comment
Summary
Dozens of residents and district employees urged the board to revise suspension policies for young children, fix aging school facilities and increase pay or stipends for classified workers and teachers, citing data and first-hand examples.
During the call-to-audience segment at the June 2 meeting, multiple speakers urged the Board of Education to act on student discipline policy, facilities needs and workforce pay.
Facility concerns: Clancy Gray, an eighth-grade English teacher at Williston Middle School, documented water damage, mold, broken blinds and rodent evidence and argued that the building’s physical state undermines learning and threatens health. “Your students and your staff deserve a functional environment to spend every day in,” Gray said.
Suspension policy and equity: Several speakers, including Loretta Stack House and representatives of Love Our Children NC, pressed the board to extend the district’s restrictions on out-of-school suspension (currently protecting K–2) to third graders (age eight), citing research that early suspensions harm long-term outcomes and noting racial disparities in suspensions. Stack House recited district data: “Last year there were 2,428 K–2 out-of-school suspensions; more than 50% of those were for Black students while they represent 17% of the population,” she said, framing the data as an equity concern and urging policy change.
Staffing and pay: Classified staff and teacher speakers described pay that they said is below local living-wage levels and asked for local supplements or stipends. Ebony Savage, an EC teacher assistant, said teaching assistants in the district earn roughly $25,000 annually before taxes for 10 months of work and requested a recommended $8,000 stipend to raise experienced classified staff to $30,000 so they could qualify for HUD housing.
Support and data transparency: Several speakers asked the board to rely on and publish suspension and discipline data to evaluate policy changes. Reverend Jericho Winset and others urged the board to use data to track long-term outcomes for suspended students.
The board acknowledged the comments and noted that some of the issues — facilities and compensation — tie directly to the district’s budget and proposed bond funding. Follow-up steps include continuing the survey/pulse check work and integrating facility needs into the planned bond project list.
