The Durham Public Schools Board of Education on Monday heard a staff summary of an online community engagement process ahead of Superintendent Dr. Pascal Lewis’s recommended budget, and received two public comments urging higher staff pay and a closer review of contracts.

Mister Teeter, a district staff member, told the board the district’s “thought exchange” attracted 1,531 participants and 28,229 ratings of individual comments and included 71 participants who do not speak English as their first language. He said the top themes were competitive staff pay, staffing and vacancies, transportation, school safety and budget transparency.

“We saw a focus on increasing teacher and staff salaries,” Mister Teeter said. “We saw a focus on ensuring that we have reliable transportation, improving our school infrastructure … student services and mental health, exceptional children, and reducing unnecessary administrative costs in the district.”

Micah Tweetmeyer, president of the Durham Association of Educators, used public comment to press the board and management to meet with the union and adopt specific pay and staffing changes. “Our working conditions are their learning conditions,” Tweetmeyer said. “Our top priorities include addressing the classified pay compression issue, fixing the transportation crisis, fully restoring master’s pay, among others.” Tweetmeyer said the union has held more than 40 meetings with hundreds of workers and elected 13 worker representatives to meet with management.

Parent Lauren Sartain told the board she was frustrated the district had not released a proposed budget for public review before the hearing and urged the board to consider pausing or cutting nonmandated items if reductions are needed. “When we’re talking about what we want to spend money on, that also means things that we have to roll back,” Sartain said. She suggested pausing nonmandated testing and surveys, nonmandated professional development, technology for kindergarten through second grade, certain curriculum contracts and other vendor contracts. She also told the board that “through contracts and change orders … this board saw $230,000,000 in contracts come before you.”

Board members approved two formal motions during the meeting. Miss Carter Otten moved, and Miss Harold Goff seconded, an amendment to the agenda to add a presentation from the chief financial officer immediately before the budget hearing; the motion passed unanimously, 6-0. Later the board voted unanimously, 6-0, on a motion by Miss Umstead, seconded by Miss Speyer, to enter closed session for the reasons listed on the agenda.

Mister Teeter said Superintendent Lewis’s recommended budget will be unveiled next week, that the board will take another round of feedback at its April 10 meeting, and that the board’s goal is to authorize a budget to forward to the county by April 24 to meet the statutory May 15 deadline for presenting a budget request to county commissioners. He said the district can make additions or modifications based on “anything compelling that we hear tonight.”

Board meeting rules for the hearing limited public comment to three minutes per speaker; board members do not engage in back-and-forth discussion during the public comment period. The district also said it will communicate the date of an additional hearing once a poll about the date is complete.