Durham Schools Entertainers Win Big as Board Debates Tech
The Durham Public Schools Board of Education celebrates international theater honors, a standout elementary teacher, and a strong start to the school year while fielding serious concerns about school safety, student access to Chromebooks, and school leadership. The board also wrestles with transparency around agenda changes as it approves a premium exceptional children staffing partnership, advances district‑wide interactive panel upgrades, and strengthens its commitments to sustainability and solar energy reporting. 48mins
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Original Meeting
Thursday, August 27th, 2026
9383.221
#DPSCommunity | DPS Board of Education Monthly Work Session | 8/13/26
Video Notes
#DPSCommunity | DPS Board of Education Monthly Work Session | 8/13/26
In This Video
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Director Les Turner highlighted that Durham School of the Arts and Jordan High School were two of only four high schools worldwide selected, after a competitive application process, to showcase their theater work during the opening ceremony and performance slots at the International Thespian Festival.
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Director Les Turner celebrated Durham School of the Arts and Jordan High School theater students whose festival performances of Living It Up on Top from Hadestown and The Heart of Rock'n'Roll earned perfect adjudication scores and one of the coveted FESBE Awards at the International Thespian Festival.
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Recruitment, Retention and Volunteer Coordinator Fort recognized WG Pearson Elementary teacher Marcia Nice as the August Teacher of the Month, highlighting their kindness, school contributions, and mural work, while partners from North Carolina Central University and DCL Consultant, LLC joined to present congratulatory gifts and a monetary award.
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Superintendent Dr. Anthony Lewis reported on an energetic start to the traditional school year, noting visits to numerous campuses, a record low number of teacher vacancies—including in exceptional children positions—and plans to use unlimited instructor approvals to help address remaining staffing needs.
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Superintendent Lewis highlighted multiple recent accolades, including Lucas Montessori, Brogdon Middle, and Jordan High School band programs earning state distinctions, the grand opening of Glenn Elementary’s new media center and its media coordinator’s regional School Librarian of the Year award, and Southern School of Energy and Sustainability being selected for the national Smithsonian STEAM Schools of Distinction program.
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Superintendent Lewis addressed a recent incident involving a weapon at a high school, reaffirmed the district’s zero-tolerance policy and student code of conduct, and urged the community to help prevent guns from reaching campuses by safely securing firearms and treating school safety as a shared responsibility.
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Board Member Gabby Rivero successfully moved to amend the agenda, with unanimous approval, to shift the interactive panel purchase from the consent agenda to a discussion item so the board could explore usage options such as carts and classroom installation and consider teacher choice before voting.
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During approval of the meeting agenda, Board Member Rogers raised concerns about consent items being revised after posting—specifically a Country Unlimited agreement—requesting side-by-side drafts and noting unreadiness due to missed question deadlines, while staff explained the only change was a reduced price for transparency before the agenda was adopted 6–1.
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Pete Crawford, speaking for the Jordan High School Theatre Boosters, described preparations for a first-in-the-nation pilot production of Heart of Rock'n'Roll, thanked district leaders for support, and outlined no-cost plans to upgrade aging auditorium equipment to strengthen the troupe’s chances of returning to the International Thespian Festival.
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DPS parent Darcel Dillard raised concerns that technology fees were being used to limit some students’ access to Chromebooks for classroom instruction, cited the North Carolina constitution and Board Policy 4600 on free public education, and asked the board to clarify policy boundaries around required instructional technology.
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Speaker Rob Fields questioned whether proposed instructional technology upgrades justified their cost, raised concerns about multi-year capital funding and approval processes, and criticized a premium contractor agreement for exceptional children substitutes as prioritizing vendors over paying district employees a living wage.
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Doctor King explained a proposed partnership with Unlimited Instructors to recruit 20 exceptional children teachers who would serve as long-term substitutes while completing requirements to become fully certified and eligible for permanent EC positions, distinguishing this pathway from hiring standard long-term substitutes.
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Dr. Nicholas King explained that the district was intentionally paying a premium rate to fund coursework and support for exceptional children teacher candidates to become certified, and reported negotiating the hourly cost down from $74.92 to $65.95 per teacher, reducing the total contract by nearly half a million dollars to about $1.53 million.
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Board Member Rogers expressed appreciation for the reduced EC staffing costs and support for exceptional children while explaining a no vote based on concerns about agenda changes being made after posting without public alerts or board discussion, cautioning against setting a precedent that undermined transparency.
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Doctor King described piloting the identification of potential special education teachers, highlighted the drastic decline in teacher recruitment fairs, and characterized the shortage of special education teachers as an extreme structural challenge so severe the superintendent might need to teach in a classroom.
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Board Member Natalie Bent Kitaif encouraged developing stronger in-house talent acquisition within HR and asked whether negotiated savings with Unlimited Instructors would reduce the agency’s cut or staff pay, and Dr. King responded that negotiations focused on lowering the premium above a regular teacher’s cost while noting the company would not disclose its pay rates.
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Board Member Rivero questioned the urgency of approving the exceptional children staffing contract without fuller public engagement, and Doctor King responded that the district had 28 EC teacher vacancies and needed to move forward quickly so the partner could begin recruiting up to 20 teachers immediately.
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Sidbury emphasized that the long-running discussion on funding interactive panels was a complex but critical investment that would directly reach students, framing the decision as preparation for the 2026–27 school year and an opportunity with impacts stretching toward 2040, and invited board questions.
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Assistant Superintendent T. Chanel Sidbury clarified that the recommendation covered only interactive panels—not rolling carts—outlined plans to assess each classroom for safe, preferred panel placement to avoid cord hazards, and described strategies for managing repairs and failures, including maintaining a stock of extra panels for quick swaps.
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Board Member Bir asked whether interactive panels would actually improve learning outcomes, and Assistant Superintendent T. Chanel Sidbury and Dr. King responded by emphasizing equity and alignment with new school designs, outlining plans for content‑area professional development, and citing research that found interactive panels can boost engagement and visibility when paired with effective teaching.
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Board Member Bir asked how the interactive panels would be rolled out in practice, and district staff explained they aimed to stop spending on projector bulbs and would use a flexible plan that prioritized schools based on professional development readiness and high current costs for bulbs and filters, in collaboration with principals and curriculum staff.
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