Superintendent Maggie updated the board on the Meet, Confer, Collaborate process and strategic-planning timeline, summarizing staff requests and where district leadership landed after negotiations.

Staff requests included allowing all staff who can perform job duties remotely to work from home on inclement weather days, hazard (double) pay for staff who report in inclement conditions, moving the time for cancel/delay decisions from 6 a.m. to 5 a.m., optional-workday remote options for staff who can perform duties off site, and allowing association (ACAE/NCAE) staff to meet with school staff during school hours. The superintendent reported the district agreed that staff who can do their work remotely will have that option on inclement weather days, and that hourly/essential staff who must report will receive hazard pay (details such as time-and-a-half or a stipend remain to be decided). The district declined to change the decision time to 5 a.m., citing rapidly changing local weather conditions.

On association visits, the superintendent said the district did not agree to allow association staff to meet during school hours when staff are on the clock; meetings may continue outside of working hours or before/after school in most cases.

The superintendent also described Phase 4 of the district’s strategic-planning work: leadership teams will analyze data, identify four to five focus areas, craft objectives and initiatives, and draft an action plan for the coming year with broader community engagement to follow. She said a draft strategic plan is slated for board review in April.

Public comment earlier in the meeting — delivered by Kelly Moore Spencer and Christina Shimrock on behalf of Families of Asheville City Schools (FACS) — stressed the importance of robust public input on the district’s feasibility/utilization study, asked for clarity about capacity calculations, and announced parent meetings and listening sessions to help shape enrollment and special-education priorities.

Why it matters: the Meet, Confer, Collaborate outcomes affect day-to-day working conditions for staff, the timing of school opening decisions that affect families, and the district’s approach to labor relations. The strategic-planning timetable sets a public process for longer-term goals and resource alignment.