Name as it appears on the ballot:  Myca Jeter  

Age: 44

Party affiliation: Democrat 

Occupation & employer:  Social Worker – Alliance Health

Years lived in the area: 26 years

1. In 300 words or less, please give us—and our readers—your elevator pitch: Why are you running? Why should voters entrust you with this position? What are your priorities, and what would you want to see the school board do differently or better over the course of your term?

I have a BA from NCCU and a Master’s in social work from UNC Chapel Hill.

I’ve had many roles in Durham public schools over the years.

  • I’ve been a Spanish teacher, a school social work supervisor.
  • And most importantly, I’ve been a concerned and active parent since 2014. My daughter is now in 7th Grade.

I have over 20 years of real world experience in working with families in Durham and in the triangle to heal from trauma, to advocate for their needs, and to develop a plan for achieving their goals.

Our school board needs a fresh lens, a clinical perspective, innovative solutions and new leadership.

The data is alarming.

  • Our Black and brown children make up 74% of Durham public schools student population.
  • 76% of Black students and Hispanic students are NOT performing at grade level.

My priorities are:

1. Implementing an effective plan to respond to the social and emotional needs of our students and our staff.

2. Developing a culture of expected excellence for every child regardless of their challenges, their needs or their interests. (Close the Achievement gap)

3. Improving the district’s engagement with parents.

  • Parents are the most underutilized resource in the district. We have to allow parents to partner with staff to get results for our students.
  • Improve the quality of support services for English as second language families

This board seat serves as an opportunity to leverage my passion as a mom, combined with  the principles of my social work profession and concepts and values learned from my parents – that “education and opportunity matter most- and must be fought for”.

I firmly believe that people are resilient if they are empowered to take part in designing their own destiny. I would like an opportunity to create that possibility for those students and families touched by Durham Public Schools as a member of the School Board.

2. Given the direction of the school district, would you say things are on the right course? If not, for what specific changes will you advocate if elected?

DPS is doing well in the following ways:

1. Good job with communicating to parents their efforts to ensure in person learning is being conducted in safe scientifically driven ways since students returned to the classroom and COVID remains a factor.

2. Great job during the COVID pandemic in creating opportunities for children to continue learning and to stay as connected as was possible to their school communities.

3. Great job in increasing the brown and black student representation in the academically gifted academically and intellectually gifted program across the district.

Areas that need improvement are:

1. DPS needs to continue to work on closing the achievement gap. (23% GLP for Black students;  compared to 69%GLP for white students)

2. Increased and improved parent participation

3. Work on equity around discipline so all children are experiencing consequences and accountability in the same way for the same rule violation across the district.

4. Increase Language Justice and ensure quality experience and support for English as a Second Language(ESL) families.

3. What are the three main issues that you believe the Board of Education needs to address in the upcoming year?

1. Implementing an effective plan to respond to the social and emotional needs of our students and our staff.

2. Developing a culture of expected excellence for every child regardless of their challenges, their needs or their interests. (Close the Achievement gap)

3. Improving the district’s engagement with parents.

4. Describe something you think the school board should have prioritized differently in the current budget.

5) What is your understanding of what Critical Race Theory is? Is CRT currently taught in K-12  public schools? What are your thoughts on House Bill 324, the bill Gov. Cooper vetoed because he said it “pushes calculated, conspiracy-laden politics into public education?” Would you support such a bill?

CRT is a course taught at the Graduate levels in most law schools. It is NOT taught at K -12 anywhere in the US. I believe governor Cooper was right to Veto the bill.

6) Does the General Assembly have a constitutional obligation to comply with the state Supreme Court order in the Leandro case to fully fund public schools and give every child in North Carolina a sound basic education? 

YES

7) Orange County’s Board of Education has passed some of the most progressive policies in the state around strengthening racial equity and providing a safe, inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ students to learn. Should Durham follow Orange’s lead and implement Gender Support guidelines that create a protocol for students who are transitioning or want to?

YES

8) How do you think the current school board handled the COVID-19 pandemic? Please explain your answer.

I believe the district was skilled at pivoting into virtual learning. The district achieved the 1:1 technology ratio quickly. They remained transparent about plans and rationale for decisions made.

They did a great job during the COVID pandemic in creating opportunities for children to continue learning and to stay as connected as was possible to their school communities. DPS is doing a good job with communicating to parents their efforts to follow science and CDC guidelines to ensure in-person learning is being conducted in a safe way.

I think these items demonstrate that the Board, Administration, City and County have recent successes of collaboration and innovation that they used to pool resources to achieve common and critical goals.

9) Recently the DPS board voted to change how it assigns students based on community infrastructure in an attempt to address disparities and increase equity. Do you support the new Growing Together assignment model?

I do support the new Growing Together assignment model. I think the process of gathering input from various stakeholders to help inform the proposed changes was done intentionally and offered many opportunities for families to participate. I appreciate the focus on offering equitable access to specialty programs and increasing their offerings across the district. I look forward to learning more about the detailed implementation plans I’m sure are being developed.

10) Do police officers (School Resource Officers) have a role in schools? Do you agree with the way the current board is trying to address the role of SROs in Durham County Schools?

In my experience SROs appropriately trained with clear roles and expectations around student engagement can be successful additions to the school community. I have seen them as valuable team members when I was teaching. An important element to why I believe that was my experience is that- They were members of a competent TEAM of student support services… Social Worker, Nurse, Counselors were full time (back then)! SRO’s only come when appropriate to do so, and everyone at that time understood the role of the others on the team. SRO’s were focused on truancy and school safety. Teachers had skills to manage classroom behaviors without the need for SRO’s to be called in… I would continue to improve/develop teacher/staff training around classroom management, behavior modification strategies, Coping skills development, Trauma awareness, Crisis De-Escalation.

I do agree with the way the current  board is working to address this issue.

11) Research has shown an achievement gap for Durham County Schools students based on race and socioeconomic status. What specific policies would you support or what actions would you take to help close the gap so that race and socioeconomic status don’t persist as predictive factors?

I think continuing to expand and work with innovative models like Community Schools in the district and increasing parent participation would result in improved academic achievement in ALL students. Parents are the most underutilized resource in DPS.  As a parent I have seen how impactful connecting with a child during the school day can be. Parents can serve as mentors, tutors or just someone to model coping skills and connect to the children throughout the day. Helping to create an expectation of achievement and help to push children along with staff to reach their potential.

I don’t believe these efforts will be effective unless the social and emotional needs of the students and staff  are addressed in a more adequate way. They are not going to be able to learn until a “safe normalcy” is established, and they are able to trust that it will not change in an instant. Our educators, administrators and staff must understand and embrace as a fact that this entire student population has been traumatized (albeit at differing levels).

12) How can the school board better assist students who lack broadband access and access to laptops?

I think schools and local governments are clear that there are areas of the district that have less than adequate broadband access. The solutions required to address these needs have been collaborative in nature and require infrastructure improvements. They have provided mifi devices to be used at home when requested by parents.

13) Is the district currently doing enough to assist disabled students? What more could it do?

I think the biggest challenge to providing all the supports needed for disabled students is the vacancy rates of the EC department. I know that EC staff are hard to find and seem harder to retain. I think the board needs to continue its work with HR and others to improve recruitment efforts and to secure a more competitive pay and benefits package.

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

I would look to  apply a clinical lens to the impact of trauma and generational poverty on segments of the population that the school board works to reach and partner with differently to achieve collective success. Ask questions about how to better improve parent engagement/participation with the School system.

This board seat serves as an opportunity to combine the principles of my social work profession with concepts and values learned when pursuing my political science degree and the teachings of my parents/ancestors that “education and opportunity matter most- and must be fought for”.

I firmly believe that people are resilient if they are empowered to take part in designing their own destiny and I would like an opportunity to create that possibility for those students and families touched by Durham Public Schools as a member of the Board.