Durham Public Schools’ Board of Education meets Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. with decisions and updates that hit families where it counts: dollars, daily routines, and student supports.

Top of the docket is a $20.77 million Environmental Protection Agency grant to add 32 electric school buses and charging - cleaner, quieter rides without a big local price tag.

The board also will unpack a classified salary study shaped by meet-and-confer talks with Durham Association of Educators (DAE) (think living-wage floors, compression fixes, and a possible bi-weekly pay switch), hear how the Durham Public Schools Foundation is funding classroom programs and workforce needs, and file the CIHS application that expands early-college health pathways at Durham Tech.

Rounding out the night are policy updates - parent notifications, internet safety, medicines and emergency epinephrine, records transparency - that affect how kids learn, what information families receive, and how schools handle health and safety from bell to bell.

🗓️ How to watch or speak

• When/where: Tue., Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m., DPS Fuller Building Board Room (511 Cleveland St.)
• Livestream: DPS YouTube channel
• Public comment: Sign up at the meeting location

🚌 32 Electric School Buses + Charging

What’s happening: DPS has confirmation of an EPA Clean School Bus award totaling $20,770,692 to purchase 32 electric school buses plus charging infrastructure. The N.C. Department of Public Instruction adds $135,000 per eligible replacement bus toward the bus purchase portion (state funds don’t cover charging or site work).

What Families Get:

• Cleaner air & quieter rides at bus loops and along routes; less diesel exposure for students, drivers, and neighborhoods.
• A phased rollout as chargers are installed and vehicles arrive (grant timelines typically span 24–36 months).

Money & Uses (At A Glance):

• $20.77M (federal): Bus purchases, charging equipment, project administration, training.
• $135k per bus (state): Offsets the bus purchase price only.
• Local costs (likely modest): Site prep/utility work not covered by grants and long-term ops planning.

💵 Classified Salary Study

What’s under discussion: Moving DPS’s minimum hourly wage for classified staff (bus drivers, custodians, nutrition, TAs, clerical, maintenance) toward a “living wage” and addressing pay compression.

• Scenarios modeled: $19.22/hr (Durham County living wage), $23/hr (City living wage +5%), $25.55/hr (MIT estimate).
• Today’s baseline: DPS minimum is $17.51/hr; nearby public employers are higher.
• Compression is the big hurdle: Raising the floor without stretching the ladder requires multi-year step adjustments and, realistically, state action.
• Bi-weekly pay: Popular with staff, but payroll and HRIS changes make July 2026 the earliest practical switch.

What’s Next:

• No vote on dollar amounts this week. Administration plans to bring alternative pay scales with cost impacts in November, including multi-year ramp options.
• Meet-and-confer takeaways: DAE pushed for a living-wage floor, anti-compression steps, consistent hiring practices, and removing caps where possible; administration signaled alignment on the goals, with constraints on state-set limits.

Why it matters for families: Retaining drivers, custodial crews, cafeteria teams, and classroom support staff hits everyday reliability: on-time buses, clean buildings, and fewer coverage gaps.

🤝 DPS Foundation Update

Totals so far this school year:

• $310,900 in grants & sponsorships pushed directly into DPS programs and classrooms.
• $385,100 in additional supports (scholarships, stipends, emergency aid, community services).

Programs families will notice:

• STEM Works (with Kenan Fellows): Teacher fellowships + classroom project grants rolled out across multiple DPS schools for hands-on STEM units.
• Mental-Health Student Ambassadors: Training + mini-grants supporting student teams at multiple high schools.
• FAFSA Navigators: Districtwide coaching to help seniors and families complete financial-aid forms.
• Bus Driver Workforce Fund: Spring 2025 community drive covered 35 certification fees; as of October, 20 new drivers are trained and on the road.

🏥 CIHS funding: Durham Early College of Health Sciences (Consent Agenda)

What: DPS will file the state Cooperative Innovative High School (CIHS) application to support the Durham Early College of Health Sciences (DECHS) on the Durham Tech campus, operated with Durham Tech and Duke Health.
Scale & pathways: Up to 415 students (grades 9–13) in nursing, allied health, surgical tech, and clinical research.
Family impact: Early college blends high school and college at no cost to families, creating a direct on-ramp to health-care credentials and careers.

🗂️ Policy “Tiering” & Priority Adoptions

The big idea: DPS is organizing policies into review “tiers” and adopting a batch of updates. Here’s how the notable ones affect students and families:

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Parental Involvement (1310/4002)

• Clearer annual notifications (testing dates, grading practices, advanced coursework access, student records rights).
• Health & wellbeing notices/consent: Clarifies parental notice for certain services or monitoring related to a child’s physical or mental health, and how name/pronoun changes are handled consistent with applicable law (e.g., Title IX).
  Impact at home: Expect more consistent communication from schools and a predictable place to find it (school site + improvement plans).

💊 Medicines at School (6125) & 🥜 Emergency Epinephrine (5024/6127/7266)

• Administering Medicines: Tightens consent, storage, and documentation rules; addresses when students may self-carry (e.g., inhalers, EpiPens) per law.
• Stock Epinephrine: Every school keeps at least two EpiPens, with trained staff and an emergency action plan.
  Impact at home: Re-check your child’s health plan with the school nurse; ensure prescriptions and permissions are current.

🌐 Internet Safety / Responsible Use (3226/4205 et al.)

• Reaffirms web filtering and defines what’s considered harmful for minors; allows teacher-authorized exceptions for bona fide research.
  Impact at home: Students will still see filters on district networks/devices; teachers can temporarily open access for instructional purposes.

🧾 Public Records & Personnel (5070/7350, 7820)

• Clarifies what employee information is public (name, title, pay, changes) and what remains confidential; student records stay protected by FERPA.
  Impact at home: Better transparency for how the district operates without exposing private student information.

Tiering housekeeping: Several policies (e.g., cell phones, Naloxone, law enforcement relationship, transportation contracts, student conduct, EC discipline, employee grievances) are being organized into Tier II for clearer ownership and update cadence. No direct cost impact; this is about governance hygiene.

🧾 Other Consent Agenda Items

• Two Grounds Team vehicles: Up to $120,000 (local funds) via Piedmont Trucks to maintain campuses (landscaping, safety, repairs). These are work trucks, not student buses.
• Gifts, Grants & Donations (October): Routine monthly acceptance. Recent examples include $10,000 to E.K. Powe ES, a field-trip gift for Club Boulevard ES, and support for McKinney-Vento families.
• Other policy adoptions (2nd reading): Internet Safety, Administering Medicines, Public Records, Recruitment & Selection, Personnel Files, Religious-Based Exemptions, Domicile/Residence, and more.
• New policy (1st reading on consent): 3210 — Parental Inspection/Objection to Instructional Materials (starts the review process; no immediate classroom change until adopted).

❓ Quick FAQ

Will the bus grant raise taxes?
The federal grant and state replacement dollars cover most purchase costs. DPS may need modest local site work for charging, but the buses themselves are not a new local tax ask.

When could pay raises start for classified staff?
This is a discussion item. Administration plans to return in November with costed options and a phased timeline that addresses compression.

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This report is part of SoDu We Watch Our Government, a civic transparency project covering Durham Public Schools Board of Education and local government activity affecting South Durham residents.

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