Durham Public Schools Board of Education District 1: Natalie Bent Kitaif

Name: Natalie Bent Kitaif

Age: 37

Party affiliation: Democrat

Campaign website: https://www.nbk4dps.com/

Occupation and employer: Consultant, Redstart Takeaway

1. What is your past or current involvement with Durham Public Schools? What makes you qualified for this job?

I have been involved with DPS most of my life – first as a student, then as an active community member supporting the district, and now as a parent of two DPS elementary schoolers. I have been a community advocate for DPS my entire adult life, encouraging families to check out their base school and reminding folks that having more options doesn’t mean that any are better than their neighborhood DPS school.

As a parent, I have led organizing at our school to improve student safety and teacher working conditions. I was also part of the Durham Public School Strong crisis response to the heightened ICE presence in November and December, which terrorized our community and left us scrambling to coordinate rides to school and deliveries of groceries and other essentials.

My public health background equips me to analyze systems and make targeted interventions for the health of the whole. I have experience with governance from my time serving as a board member at my daughters’ preschool, where I worked collaboratively on a consensus-based board.

I am a firm believer that our public schools are the cornerstone of a healthy democracy and that uplifting workers rights is critical to making them thrive. My deep roots in Durham, community organizing experience, and systems-level perspective position me to serve on the Board with vision and drive to get things done. 

2. For incumbents, what has been your greatest accomplishment on the board? For newcomers, what change would you bring to the board?

I believe we need a culture shift within DPS. From the budget crisis of 2024 to the recent indictments of several administrators for obstruction, there has been a culture of self-preservation through opacity. It’s an understandable impulse to circle the wagons when an organization feels that they are under fire, but organizations accountable to the public must deeply resist this impulse.

As a school system, we must build a culture of transparency that welcomes active dialogue from students, families, and staff. Real transparency and accountability are required from day one of the Board’s new term in order to begin to build back trust between our Durham families and DPS as a whole. Board members can no longer expect our communities to blindly trust that their good intentions or statements are enough. Real harm and deep impact on our students’ families and our staff has occurred over recent years with financial mismanagement and inadequate responses to the safety concerns throughout our community.

Part of this process requires that each board member, new and old alike, approach this moment with humility and a willingness to admit error. We cannot begin to restore trust without strong, clear, and ongoing communication. From quarterly budget transparency to a robust grievance policy for students, families, and staff to ensuring clear written contracts, as a school board member, I will commit to taking these needed steps.

3. For the past two years, the district has uncovered budget shortfalls and had to make midyear cuts and adjustments. How can the board ensure that every DPS dollar is being put to best use?

We need total budget transparency, full stop. Trust has been eroded by mismanagement and we must rebuild that trust and improve efficiency and democratic decision-making across the district. The superintendent has recently agreed to regularly publish budget data, which is an important first step in the right direction. Sharing relevant data must be a DPS standard, with quarterly budget-versus-actuals reports, total transparency around various budgets for vendors, transportation, and other major cost areas, and transparency for salaries and incentives. We need to see how dollars are being spent in real time so that we can reduce waste and make sure we’re stretching our dollars most effectively. Once we have a standardized system for our budget data, I would love to see an expansion of participatory budgeting across all our stakeholders. We must continue and expand upon the efforts begun with the “Dollars and Decisions” program. We must also hire talented and committed professionals to fill any vacant positions in the finance department to support this work.

4. The superintendent is the board’s sole employee. The current board recently unanimously extended Anthony Lewis’s contract for another year. What letter grade do you give Lewis, and how could he do better?

I cannot give him an accurate grade without building a working relationship first. It’s easy as an outsider to look in and have a lot of opinions, but I need to know more about his values and perspectives and his rationale for his choices before I can give an accurate assessment. I see my role as a Board member as holding the superintendent accountable for doing the best possible job for DPS, and I take that very seriously.

Superintendent is a hard job, it’s a big job, and it’s a lot of pressure, but it should be because of how the choices a superintendent makes impact our families and staff in our daily lives. I do have some major concerns about how certain issues over the last year have been handled, but I am eager to give him the opportunity to receive feedback and grow in his role. The biggest change I would like to see immediately is an increase in a culture of transparency at the District. The heartbreaking news about a student being abused at Eno Valley and the alleged obstruction by DPS administrators highlight this issue. I would like to offer Dr. Lewis the opportunity to change the culture together, and I hope he will be willing to work together to bring this positive change to the district.

5. Nearly every public school district in the state saw a decrease in enrollment this year. Durham’s was particularly dramatic, with over 1,000 fewer students than last year. With kids leaving for charter and private schools, what can DPS do to convince parents that public schools are the best option for their students?

The biggest thing DPS needs to do to convince parents that DPS is the best option is to focus on what the current DPS students need and make sure we meet those needs. I don’t think the answer is in specialized programs or pandering to certain demographics, but rather in broad, systems-level improvements. Additionally, communications and marketing are still a major growth area for the District, as many folks really don’t know a lot about their school options and have trouble navigating DPS. Durham is growing in population, and I would love it if folks moving here were excited about sending their kids to DPS because they knew they could rely on the district for the best education possible. This is another reason equity across the district is so important – no matter where you live in Durham, you should have access to great education in a safe and welcoming environment. I admired the ambition of Growing Together, but I think that it needs to be retooled a bit as it’s clear that not all schools were actually provided with the resources they need to support their student populations, nor were they provided with the expanded programming, such as STEM and arts, as originally promised by the initiative. If every school were to receive this programming, including expanding access to universal Pre-K, it would be hugely beneficial, not only to students, but to the reputation of DPS, because it directly correlates to short and long term improved outcomes, from increased early literacy to increased rates of high school graduation. Moreover, we cannot demonstrate to the Durham community at large that DPS is the best choice, without also improving the working conditions for our incredible skilled educators and staff. We must curb the relentless cycle of turnover that negatively impacts the overall budget and daily consistency for students. We need to provide all staff clear written contracts, predictable schedules and hours, longevity pay, paid training, and advancement opportunities. I will prioritize these kinds of investments in the budget, track implementation, and hold the district accountable to improving learning & working conditions. 

6. DPS is committed to equity in education, but the “achievement gap” between white students and students of color persists. How can the district better fulfill its most basic mission of educating every child?

The focus on standardized testing persists, despite the fact that these tests reflect whiteness and wealth, rather than achievement. Even so, within the current state prioritization of standardized testing, DPS must find ways to better support students of color. Teaching culturally relevant curriculum, increasing our Spanish language and ESL resources, and prioritizing the recruitment and retention of educators of color are needed.

Another way students of color are specifically harmed within DPS is through higher rates of punitive punishments for behavior issues, which are both ineffective and unjustly doled out, with white students receiving less harsh or no punishments for the same behavior. Punishment, such as suspension, does not address the root causes of disruptive behavior and removes students from the needed classroom environments that support their learning. Centering restorative practices is critical for both supporting students and giving educators the tools and resources they need to build strong relationships with all students in the classroom.

Moreover, to support students of color, we need to adequately address the ongoing transportation crisis, as students of color are more likely to ride the bus and therefore are more negatively impacted by buses that run late or don’t show up at all.

7. North Carolina recently received an “F” grade from the Education Law Center, which reported that the state is second to last in average funding per student. As of January 2025, the state legislature hasn’t passed a budget, leaving educators without a cost-of-living adjustment. What can the Durham school board do to help student outcomes with a state government that seems uninterested in supporting public schools?

In addition to every elected official in Durham city and county government using their position to advocate for the legislature to pass a budget that respects public education, we can use the resources we do have locally to do the best we can with what we have. Without a state budget that provides the cost of living adjustment, we are in effect asking that our educators take a pay cut. We need ongoing, realtime budget transparency so that all stakeholders can be supported in providing the best education to our students.

8. The majority-member staff union Durham Association of Educators (DAE) has, at times, clashed with the superintendent and the board over policy and procedure. What kind of relationship should the board have with the DAE, and how can you balance pressure from staff with pressure from administrators and taxpayers? 

I hope that Durham Public School Board members will have a productive working relationship with DAE, just as they should have productive working relationships with the Durham County Commissioners, the Durham City Council, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, the People’s Alliance, and other local organizations within Durham politics and government services. I have stated throughout my campaign that as a Board member, I plan to listen to the people of District 1, and of Durham County, and to use their feedback to guide decisions at DPS. DAE membership includes more than half of the workforce of Durham’s second largest employer, and they are providing valuable feedback and data based on lived experience in our schools to District Administration. Additionally, members of the DAE are also taxpayers, most are Durham residents, and many are DPS parents. I believe that the superintendent and the Board should engage with the DAE in good faith, and with the understanding that we all have a common goal – to make DPS a place where all students and staff thrive. 

9. With Durham School of the Arts and Northern High School moving to new buildings, the district still owns the defunct former sites of those and other schools. What should the district do with those sites? If it is beyond the jurisdiction of the school board, how can the board work with the county to make those sites useful for the Durham community?

Durham School of the Arts is a historic campus that I believe should be preserved. I have an open mind about potential uses for the campus, but under no circumstances should the historic buildings be demolished. I am interested in pursuing partnerships with the city and/or county to use the campus in a way that both honors the history and benefits DPS, but I believe a community engagement process must also be a part of this planning before final decisions can be made. Currently, the Carr building and Black Box Theater, which are in good shape, could potentially be used as community spaces, and renting them to Parks & Rec or to other organizations who could use the space could generate revenue for the district to offset lack of state and federal funding. As far as Northern, I am curious about the value of the land and whether it would be prudent to sell, or alternatively, whether the land could be leased in a way that would generate revenue for the district. 

10. Thousands of students have stayed home from school during federal immigration enforcement sweeps. On one November day when agents were in the Triangle, over 20% of DPS students stayed home from school. What can the board realistically do to make DPS a welcoming and safe environment for all students, regardless of immigration status?

When parents send their children to school, they need to know that they will be in an environment that is safe, both physically and emotionally. DPS needs to be clear that it will not collaborate with ICE. It is very concerning that the district has been unable to meet basic demands, like providing “Know Your Rights” cards, providing “Proof of Enrollment” letters for all students, or clarifying procedures for all schools to follow if ICE attempts to enter campus. These simple measures would be an important first step in making DPS feel safe and welcoming for all students and staff. Similar to Durham City Council, DPS should reaffirm its commitment to protect the 4th amendment rights of students, family, and staff by adopting a 4th Amendment Workplace Policy, and as a Board member, I would be enthusiastic to vote ‘yes’ on such a policy.

11. Give an example of an opinion, policy, vote, or action you changed based on constituent feedback. If you have not yet held elected office, describe a time when you changed your position on an issue after listening to those affected by it.

I’ve never held elected office, but there are countless times I’ve changed my position after learning more – that’s what science is all about. We can be in consensus that something is best practice based on the data we have until we are presented with data that shows a different view, and then we must update and change our best practice; that’s how it’s supposed to work. I think one big example would be my entire perspective on service work, especially international service work. When I graduated from DPS, I was clear I wanted to make the world a better place. However, in my undergraduate studies at Guilford College, I had to grapple with a total reframe of what effective helping looks like. There’s a great essay by Ivan Illich, “To Hell With Good Intentions”, and this is where I began to unravel the paternalism inherent in so much service work. As I moved into my graduate program in public health, it became very clear to me that international service work did not feel like an ethical fit for me, not when my beloved home state has so much poverty, so many inequities, and so much work to be done here. I realized that the place I wanted to make a difference and actually had the knowledge and context to do it ethically, was right here in my hometown of Durham. 

Most recently, in my work organizing parents at Club Elementary, there have been a number of times when someone brought something to the table that I had not considered before. My own perspective on what issues were most pressing and how best to fix them changed after hearing from other families and staff. One example is the request for a collective grievance policy. I had been aware and supportive of the DAE’s proposal for the adoption of a collective grievance policy by the district, but it wasn’t until staff pointed out that we, as families, could also use this tool, that I realized how valuable such a policy would be for all the stakeholders in our public schools. As a Board member, I will continue to seek out input from stakeholders. The DPS community is a wealth of expertise and resources, and we need to take advantage of that.

12. If there is anything else you would like to address, please do so here.  

I have been called into this work as a result of my deep commitment to improving outcomes for children in my community, and I will remain laser focused on that goal. I am unable to stand idly by when I see decisions being made that harm my neighbors. That said, I have never aspired to be a politician and I have no political ambitions outside of serving District 1 on the school board.