Nadeen Bir

Illustration by Annabel Swansey

Public education is facing mounting pressure—from both the current administration and a growing wave of public skepticism. Across the country, mistrust and miscommunication are deepening, and we recognize that many of Durham’s parents share these concerns. In response, we reached out to Nadeen Bir, member-elect of the Durham Public Schools Board and co-founding member of Mothers for Ceasefire.

You’ve criticized past board leadership for a lack of transparency and accountability in budgeting. Can you point to specific changes you would implement to ensure DPS budget processes are transparent to the public and shielded from repeated mid-year cuts or shortfalls?

The recent crises were avoidable and are not an acceptable way to run our school system. While it is normal to have some variation between budget and actuals, the Board’s role is to have oversight and approval of this budget, and I would take an active role in this process. The DPS budget must be both public and transparent.

The first step to ensure that every DPS dollar is being put to best use is to start with grounding our budgeting in the existing 2023-2028 Strategic Plan: focusing on the mission and vision, SMART goals for the year, and carrying out detailed workplanning that involves the board as well as top administrators. That work planning will allow us to understand what each item’s estimated and real costs are, assuring fewer mistakes in budgeting. The budget process allows us to be clear on what we can  and can’t afford.  After the year ends there should be a robust evaluation that shows our accomplishment in regards to what our goals were and see if we are spending our money in a way that effectively carries out our mission.  

Budgeting should allow us to understand committed income, pending income, starting cash, and fixed expenses. It allows us to estimate less fixed expenses, plan for emergencies, and ideally, build an operating reserve. During the budgeting process, the board should see a year of detailed expenses, broken out month by month. 

As the budget year goes on, the board should receive month-to-month reporting and see a breakdown of budget to actuals. Board members should be able to see reports and ask questions, such as, why was there overspending here or underspending there? Board members should also be provided with a cash forecasting document to show what expenses are coming up in future months and what income is expected, so we can work with DPS administration to prepare before a crisis happens.

You’ve described DPS’s superintendent as “incomplete” in performance so far. What specific metrics or benchmarks would you use as a board member to evaluate the superintendent’s performance, and how would you act if those benchmarks are not met?

From a practical standpoint, my evaluation of the superintendent in collaboration with other board members would be a confidential personnel matter. I believe in using evaluation tools to assess quantitative and qualitative data on how the superintendent is excelling at his job or highlight areas of opportunity and this could support him shape a professional development plan. I think he would benefit from a more robust evaluation process and formal check-ins. My understanding is that the current tools to evaluate the superintendent are the McRel Tool which is about behavior and is evidence-based. Additionally, implementing a 360 evaluation that reviews both the superintendent’s progress on his job description and the DPS strategic plan could be a useful tool. 

Enrollment in DPS has dropped significantly as families explore charter or private options. Beyond community engagement, what targeted instructional or programmatic changes would you advocate for to reverse enrollment losses and ensure DPS schools outperform or match alternatives?

The best ambassadors for DPS are families that have great experiences in DPS. In this choice environment, people’s social networks can really shape what decisions families make. A good word goes a long way. 

We also need to continue to myth bust about who is best serving our students. For example, DPS is outperforming charters in terms of meeting and exceeding student performance growth. Charter schools and DPS aren’t accountable the same way. They don’t provide services for EC or AIG, or nutritional services or transportation. 

It has been a hard couple of years for DPS. There are core areas where we really need to focus on REBUILDING TRUST and I think change is important to usher in that trust building. I hope that the superintendent's initiative outlined in his budget proposal to reorganize the HR Department is a step in the right direction. I fully intend to hold the superintendent and administration accountable to much higher standards here. 

One of the new costs named in the budget proposal is the strategic reorganization of the Human Resources Department ($633,185) to improve service delivery, compliance, and workforce management. 

We need to get better at stabilizing DPS through recruitment, retention, and livable wages for staff. Study after study, AND common sense, tells us that more supportive adults in the classroom is the number one thing to improve student outcomes. 

Enrollment in Durham Public Schools has fallen by over 1,000 students this year, with many families enrolling in charter or private schools instead. You’ve said DPS needs to improve its performance and engagement to retain families. What do you see as the underlying reasons families in Durham are choosing charter schools — academic programs, school culture, accessibility, or other factors — and what specific changes would you champion on the Board to address those reasons so that families choose DPS first?

We have to be honest about the fact that many parents themselves had difficult or negative experiences in public schools when they were students. Our system is underfunded and understaffed due to disinvestment by the general assembly. This has a real impact every day on the experiences students have in the classroom and how parents perceive our schools. 

We need to be proactive about publicly telling the stories about the great things happening in DPS and be clear that most charter schools underperform compared to DPS. (https://carolinaforward.org/blog/how-do-public-schools-stack-up-against-charters/) 

I will ensure enrollment recovery efforts by prioritizing equity, access and support for historically underserved families because I understand what being underserved means.

We have to engage with families where they are at to hear directly from them what they need and why they aren’t happy with DPS.

We have to improve our schools-we can improve our schools by paying our staff better so that we have better student to teacher ratios. We need to hire more bus drivers and retain our highly qualified bus drivers so that kids have safe access to school. 

There is supposed to be a 1 to 23 student ratio in grades 4-5 but I hear stories about schools where there are 28 students in a classroom because we can’t keep our teachers. 

We need to make sure our teachers are culturally responsive to all of our students' needs. 

WHEN WE CANT KEEP OUR TEACHERS, OUR BUS DRIVERS, and our CLASSIFIED STAFF, we can’t keep our students. 

You’ve expressed strong support for working with the Durham Association of Educators (DAE) and the “meet and confer” process. How would you ensure that decisions benefiting teachers, such as pay or working conditions, do not conflict with decisions you believe are in the best interest of students or taxpayers when those interests diverge?

Every decision to make the working conditions better for teachers will have a direct impact on the quality of education that our students receive. Teachers are leaving because of poor pay, poor working conditions, and a lack of respect. You can’t have a decent school when you do not have educators. Taxpayers must be ready to shop locally in Durham, to vote for bonds to fund our schools, slightly increase our property taxes, and even help pressure Duke to pay its fair share to increase funding for Durham Public schools. 

You are a member of Mothers for Cease Fire. How does one keep hope up in something so hopeless? How can Durham’s dwellers contribute? 

My goal isn’t to be hopeful- my goal is liberation. We do that by building relationships and chipping away at the existential threats we are facing. 

I have been organizing for a long time. Not just for Palestine. I started working in the farmworker justice movement, immigrant rights movement, workers rights movement, youth liberation movement, and the list goes on and on and all of these movements are connected. All that work has culminated in having a strong community, who all pitched in to help me win the Board of Education election for District 2. That was a reminder of our power of being an organized community. 

With that in mind, I think everyone should commit to organizing and working to make our visions a reality. Get trained by Siembra. Join the Public Schools Strong Durham chapter. Join your school PTA. Become a member of the People’s Alliance. Become a member of Durham for All. Join your workplace union or start one. Follow Mothers* for Ceasefire and come out to Moms* on Main. Talk to your neighbors. Join a mutual aid effort.   

Everyone needs to feel empowered to contribute and understand that together we are powerful and the only way to win is with all of us.

The base of our organizing is building relationships and that helps us stay committed and hopeful. 

The goal is making our world a better place for all of us.

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