Call to order the Clarksville-Montgomery County Board of Education meeting Everyone can all stand and say a pledge of allegiance and have a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
First item tonight on the agenda is public point of pride awards and uh we have several I'm glad to say Dr Luna-Vedder Yes Uh Anthony Johnson our chief communications officer We will uh see how long his voice lasts tonight and let's let's see how he does with his pronunciation of all the names that we have tonight Excited to see everyone here Yes Good evening board As you can see we have lots of points of pride this evening And I do want to acknowledge that we actually have quite a few who can't be here tonight but for another
good reason Several several of our wrestlers who won in the state championship are tonight at the Dream Team banquet in Middle Tennessee getting additional recognition and many are there to support them So we're fortunately we do have several but we're going to get started but I did want you to know that we'll have several wrestlers missing Our first points of pride uh will be our JROTC uh JLAB champions Um these both of these teams are advancing to the final level in Washington DC in June They will compete against other JROTC teams from across the nation
uh from from Army Navy and Air Force JROTC And I will be honest I have lost count at how many times these schools have been here achieving this honor And so just congratulations to them and welcome them back again tonight So first we'll start with the Montgomery Central High School JROTC leadership team If they could please come forward Cadets on this team include Kenneth Reece, Shelby Epps, Grayden Cochran, Ray Black and their instructor Command Sergeant Major James Manning
Congratulations Montgomery Central and we're going to be rooting for you in June And next if the Northwest High School JROTC academic team could please come forward Cadets on this team include Charlize Shoffit, Brody Jenkins,
Jarrod Freeburg, Arria Graves and their instructor Chief Warrant Officer retired John Perez Congratulations to the Northwest High School team All right our next honor is historic for CMCSS If I could please have the Richview Middle School basketball team to please come forward your coaches and administrators as well And I will note uh I found out just right before we also have several of the basketball players who are also baseball players So I know many probably cannot be in attendance tonight but we are excited to have
uh this point of pride for the Richview Middle School boys basketball team who were the class AAA runnerup This is the first CMCSS middle school team to ever play for a state title and they played a fantastic game Mr Slight was giving us play-by-plays and I was on the edge of my seat as they played against a team that had three consecutive undefeated years but still played an amazing game So we're so excited to celebrate them tonight The members of this team include Owen Ahearn, Maks Andre, Sean Heuston, Alexander Hines, Aree Hines,
Jacquiese Howse, John Kent, Bo Parcells, Cliff Pember, Joshua Pember, Matthew Prosser, Tucker Shields, Harrison Smith, Spencer Standley, Kamden Sutton, Robert Vance, Ransley Wares, Brody Wilkins, Major Williams, Eli Youngs their managers Brantley Boisseau, Jeremiah Moon, Hudson Peterson and coaches Buchholz, Ahearn, and Baggett And congratulations again on this historic win All right so next we are going to move over to all of our wrestling champions And I know
several aren't going to be here tonight but if I could have all of the Clarksville High School uh wrestling team members that are here tonight along with your admin and your coach representatives Members of this team include Ava Johnson, Nora Pena-Corona, Mya Erminelli, Atiana Atkins, Kalei Durham, Chloe Kemmerlin, Anete Rodriguez, Tatiana Pena-Corona, Angel Robles, London Freeman, Jacee Cox, Macy Dallefeld, Asia Starks, Brooklyn Calico, Millie Hoback, Lily Wallen,
Luvleigh Watkins, Madison Livingston, Val Ortiz, Ciara Hoye, Johnathan Bowie, Jacee Cox, Ava Shelton, Ema Husser, Alaih’la Allen, Saniya Whiteside, Lacore Obermuller, Leaira Fisher, Alyssa Michalenko and their coaches Badon, Johnson, Manhollan, Ransom, Whiteside This team as a as a complete team were runner up in the girls wrestling duels and third place in the state in the girls individual champions In addition to the team honors we had Tatiana Pena-Corona who won
second place in the girls 114 and Ava Johnson who won second place in the girls 138 Congratulations I'm going to confirm but I did get a note Kirkwood High School Just wanted to make sure Kirkwood's not here I don't think so This name is going to be no stranger I think she's been here already twice this year but Janiya Johnson was second place in the girls 165 Congratulations to her And of course she is tonight at the Dream Team banquet from Northwest High School If I could have Sally Johnson and Tyrenoria Munene to
please come forward along with your coaches and admin representatives In the state championship Sally Johnson placed uh second in girls 145 and Tyrenoria Munene placed fourth in girls 185 Congratulations and from Rossview High School Next if I could have Are they here tonight They might
both Oh there you are Great Uh from Rossview High School if • Nevada Wildheart and Taelyn Atkinson along with their coaches and admin representatives could please come forward Excited to share that Nevada won second place in the state in the girls 126 and Taelyn won fourth place in the girls 165 Congratulations All right thank you all And next I'm going to confirm I think is anyone here from the West Creek
High School wrestling team I think they said they were all going to be at the banquet Either way we will just check Okay we'll still recognize West Creek High School They were the girls traditional wrestling champions with 152 points and were third place in the girls wrestling duels Members of this team include Elizabella Lauren, Judy Liv, Trelynn Lauren, Jehieli Velez-Almodovar, Jemma Kearney, Syriana Berrios, Elease Renken, Najette Mojica Soto, Lexi Dean, Mariana Bowen, Meckenzi Simons,
Irelynn Lauren, Jes’Onia Barefield and their coaches Budesheim, Avilla, Binkley, Fergie, Gutierrez-Arroyo, McAvoy, and Vaugh They also had individual winners including • Syriana Berrios who is third place Lexi Dean second place in the girls 132 and I'm sorry Syriana was in third place in the girls 114 Mariana Bowen first place in the girls 138 And tonight probably as we speak is being named the female wrestler of the year at the Dream Team banquet Irelynn Lauren
first place girls 185 and Jehieli Velez-Almodovar second place girls 235 And then in on the boys we had Standford Thompson who placed fourth in the boys AA 190 Congratulations to West Creek High School One more And if I could have all of the Montgomery Central High School wrestlers that are here this evening both boys and girls to please come forward No they are all at the banquet All right But that's okay If I could have Ms Gilmore though to please join Ms Houston up here So I want
to recognize the individuals Easton Dadiomoff won first place in the girls 100 Jocelyn Kolozsy third place in the girls 138 Audrey Levendusky second place in the girls 152 Craig Sudderth was second place in the boys A138 Jeremy Mills second place in the boys A150 And tonight we have a special honor for Immanuel Gilmore a senior at Montgomery Central High School who suffered a serious injury during the TSSAA wrestling sectionals All who know Immanuel have shared that his spirit is
unbreakable His strength determination and heart have always defined him not just as an athlete but as a person and we have no doubt that same spirit will carry him through his recovery To Immanuel and the Gilmore family we want you to know that your community and the wrestling community both here and across the country stand with you We are sending our love prayers and support Right now Immanuel is in the best hands receiving top care at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta
and we know he's giving this recovery everything he's got like he has everything in life We look forward to the day we can recognize him in person to celebrate his journey strength and perseverance There have been several fundraisers I hope you all have seen those And in fact on Sunday March 30th at 4 p.m there will be a fundraiser Real Life Sango And there's also a GoFundMe to support Immanuel's Road to Recovery Tonight accepting his point of pride on behalf of Immanuel is his incredible mother who is also a beloved driver supervisor at for the central
area Please join us in showing our love and support for Immanuel and his family and board That concludes this evening's points of pride Our next item is public conversation We have one person signed up to speak as Ms Karen Reynolds Is she here Okay Ms Reynolds you'll have a the you press a button there to the left The light
will come on when the microphone is red It's hot You'll it will start flashing We have one minute to go It will cut off at the end of five minutes Thank you Uh good evening Schoolboard members hold a special responsibility not just to students but and families but to the ethical standards they agreed to uphold The code of ethics is a commitment to provide equal opportunities for all students to keep politics out of education and to put children first always Tonight I want
to talk about how recent attacks from the state legislature from vouchers to diversity equity and inclusion bans to partisan schoolboard interference not only hurts our schools but endanger that ethical promise Before we dive in let's take a moment to recognize the people who keep our schools running Custodians cafeteria workers teachers staff members and administrators Your dedication is why CMCSS remains one of the best in the nation even though Tennessee ranks
45th in funding That's no small feat Tonight we celebrated the growth of girls athletics But let's be clear without diversity equity and inclusion opportunities like girls wrestling wouldn't exist DEI isn't about lowering standards It's about fairness Without it progress disappears I recently learned that two of our school board members Ms Berry and Mr Garland attended segregated schools They saw firsthand that separate but equal is a lie Funding resources
and opportunities are not the same So when they speak up for public education they're not playing the race card as has been suggested They're speaking from experience and we should listen Yet some legislators are pushing HB 622 the dismantled DEI Act It bans hiring decisions that consider race gender disability and is gutting protections for our marginalized communities They call it fair but we know better Meanwhile out of state corporations
spent $800,000 on a state representative race not for the students but to buy votes in Nashville You can't be partisan from 9:00 to 5:00 and claim nonpartisanship at 6:00 p.m Public education isn't a political game It's about our kids' future Our school board's own ethics policy states that the school board members will provide equal educational opportunities for all students regardless of ability race or location Represent the entire school community not partisan politics
refrain from using the schoolboard position for personal or partisan politics The same legislators attacking DEI are targeting students and their families with unconstitutional bills that violates these principles House Bill 793 lets districts refuse to enroll undocumented children House Bill 145 face forces immigrant parents to pay tuition for public school House Bill 746 requires US birth certificates or passports for all students to enroll These bills hurt public schools They create
red tape financial strain and deny children an education violating our ethical responsibility as a community State politicians want to take power from local school boards House Bill 779 lets the state accredit schools without local input House Bill 1250 limits schoolboard authority shifting decisions to state officials A schoolboard member cannot weaken public schools at the state level and then claim to support schools back home That's a betrayal The most recent ridiculous bill is
House Bill 1250 allowing untrained chaplains access to our students However they cannot be sued even if they harm vulnerable students and they operate with no administrative oversight If legislators truly care about children they should invest in trained counselors not muddy the waters between church and state Our children deserve leaders who put education over politics who uphold their ethical responsibility to serve every student not just a privileged few That
means defending local control and rejecting state overreach providing equal opportunities for all students protecting public schools from partisan politics that drain resources and weaken oversight It comes down to doing the right thing for our children our schools and our community We must hold our leaders accountable to the commitment they made to act in an ethical manner Thank you Next item on the agenda is approval of consent agenda
Have a motion from Ms Berry Have a second from Mr Garland to approve consent agenda All in favor please indicate by open the vote Is everyone satisfied with your vote Please close the vote That passes 7-0 Next item is policy monitoring Dr Luna-Vedder
Board please find in your board packet information on executive limitation five financial administration This executive limitation has 12 compliance expectations to ensure the director of schools shall not cause nor allow fiscal jeopardy or material deviation from the annual budget or budget policy adopted by the board All revenues are scheduled to be spent in accordance with the approved budget No funds have been borrowed to date for the current fiscal year without any without approval Nor have funds been expended from the fund balance without prior authorization The actual ending fund balance will always be greater than 3% based on current
levels of revenue and expenditures Payrolls are processed per the published calendar and all other obligations are paid in a timely manner Purchases are made consistent with state and district procurement codes Sufficient internal codes are placed in place as documented in the annual financial audits In addition all board accounts are audited annually by the state comptrollers's office Likewise individual school accounts are audited per a contract with certified public accountants and receivables are pursued as appropriate Updates regarding revenue
collections rising costs and capital projects are provided to the board through our sessions To conclude any proposed changes to the budget are approved by both board and county commission and quarterly financial reports are provided to both the board and county commission Chairman Griffy this concludes executive limitation five Thank you Dr Vedder Is there a motion to approve this report Is and did I hear a second Okay second from Chris Um any
discussion Please open the vote Is everyone satisfied with their vote Please close the vote passes 7-0 Next item rezoning Board please find in your board packet information on executive
limitation 12 rezoning This executive limitation has three compliance expectations because due to the fact that demographics change and populations increase or decrease the director of schools shall not fail to recommend and implement rezoning decisions to include equitable distribution of resources to all impacted schools The project team is championed by the director of schools There is public feedback received and public hearings are held The initial zoning recommendation for the 24-25 school year was shared with the board on December 12th 2023 The final
recommendation was presented January 2nd and the zoning plan was approved on January 22nd Phase one implemented Kirkwood Elementary and phase two is implementing the Freedom Elementary School to set to open in 2026 Chairman Griffy this concludes executive limitation 12 Do I have a motion to approve this report Motion from Mr Garland second from Ms Berry Any discussion Discussion is now closed Please open the vote
Is everyone satisfied with your vote Please close the vote It passes 7-0 Next item is reports Dr Luna-Vedder I would like to welcome um Staci Sohn to the podium to present She is going to be presenting on goal number six improving employee morale and retention All right Um board discussion and consideration I'm sorry I didn't I was not looking up and I
should have been Go right ahead No worries Good evening I'm Staci Sohn I am the employee relations specialist for the district And we'll start out I wanted to um start I know my colleagues in HR shared our most recent retention data with you in the fall but I wanted to share it briefly again and provide an update with our current status for this year So far this year we've had 171 teacher resignations versus 319 total last year
These numbers represent employee resignations and do not include teachers who were on a one-year permit who were released when their permit expired We currently have 233 classified support staff resignations compared to the 404 total for last school year And looking at retirements we've had 46 certified retirement applications submitted so far versus 43 total last year and 37 classified
applications submitted versus 58 total last year Of course we know we have a few more months left in the year and there will be some additional resignations and retirements that trickle in However if we continue this trend we are on track to see improved retention for this school year In looking at the data it is helpful to remember that fewer college students are entering uh traditional educator preparation programs which results in us hiring more teachers on emergency permits You can see how the trend has increased from the 19-20 school year with only having four
permitted teachers to this year where we have requested 231 permits So in addition to not only filling our positions a secondary focus is working to move those permitted teachers to a license We'll talk more later about the supports that we have put in place to make that happen We know that in order to keep our employees we have to understand their needs We need to know both what we are doing well and where we can improve One way we do this
is through our continued partnership with Upbeat to collect anonymous feedback from our employees based on what research says most closely ties to employee retention in education The surveys are deployed twice a year and a district leadership works closely with principals and department heads to review data set specific goals create action plans and provide support in reaching those goals throughout the year Of course feedback is most useful when you can
be assured that you are hearing everyone's voice One of our goals has been to improve survey completion rates to ensure the data is truly representative of all employees We're very pleased that we are making steady progress in reaching our goal of 90% completion districtwide You can see that our teachers have moved from 81 to 89% over the deployment cycles and our classified support staff completion has increased a whopping 15% since we began collecting feedback
in 2022 Now let's take a look at our overall workplace satisfaction scores To calculate this score Upbeat takes the individual question responses and calculates them into an average category positivity score The category scores are then weighted based on what research shows is most closely tied to employee retention in education And then those weighted categories are combined to create the overall satisfaction or positivity score for each of those surveyed groups
We can see that overall our teacher score has climbed nine points since fall of 2022 and our classified score has consistently hovered around 69 Also I want to point out that in our um reporting dashboard Upbeat gives us the ability to see um our scores compared to the overall um what they call the global report for all the schools that use this survey And currently we are at the same score um hovering right there with the global score So our scores are very consistent
with the overall scores for all of the schools um across the nation that use the upbeat survey We're hopeful to see an increase in both completion rates and overall scores for our classified staff after this uh current survey window closes because we really just aren't pleased with that hovering score But um we do know as we mentioned from the previous slide we are hearing from more of our classified employees and so that's a big plus We hope to see that the completion and the score
increase after this current deployment that we're in All right so let's take a moment to see what we're doing really well for our teachers Here you can see our highest scoring categories Our highest category equal opportunities reflects teachers views about the number of opportunities available to them being valued and feeling respected regardless of their race ethnicity culture or other aspects of personal identity Care and commitment represents how well teachers care about
the well-being of students and their willingness to go above and beyond to support those students The inclusive practices category represents how well administrators teachers and the school as a whole work together to ensure all students and families in the community feel that they belong there The instructional leadership category reflects teachers views about the effectiveness of the principal in the school in using data to ensure a clear vision for teaching and learning Lastly self-efficacy speaks to the teachers feelings of how successful they are in supporting
both academically and social and emotionally for their students So what are our areas for improvement in our teacher scores Let's take a look here You can see our top areas for growth Most of these categories are self-explanatory but I would like to point out that the school safety and order category contains questions about both the physical safety of the building and student behavior It's important to note that the questions about physical safety of the building scored 87
and 88 The questions around successfully managing and supporting student behavior ranged from 65 to 72 thus dropping the category score down to 76 You all heard from our district behavior support team recently about the great work that's happening to address the concerns around student behavior and we're looking forward to seeing the upcoming data from these same questions as we continue to make this area a high priority Before moving on I would like to point out um the significant growth
that we have had in all of these lowest scoring categories since our first deployment in fall of 2022 especially the compensation and career path category a giant 16 points We're very proud of these gains and will work toward continued growth in all areas Let's take a look at our classified staff highest areas Here we see that some of these areas of strength are similar to what we saw in our certified teacher responses Additionally we see a great score for recruiting hiring and
onboarding which tells us that our classified staff felt welcomed as a new employee and they were provided clear expectations for what their jobs would look like We also see a strong score for satisfaction and purpose which reflects an employees feelings of having a sense of purpose in their role along with how satisfied they are just being an employee in their school Now let's look at our areas for growth for classified staff Again we see a few of the same growth areas that
we saw for our teachers for compensation and career path I do want to point out that we are six points higher than the upbeat global score for our classified employees here and we have had that great gain from 48 to 58 over the last um deployments over the last two years We do see a need for improved employee voice and leadership which indicates that employees would like to be included in more of the decision-making processes that affect their work We also see that we have
some work to do in professional learning for this group While the specific question data shows that employees feel their work environment does in fact support their professional growth the concern is that the specific learning they receive doesn't always help improve their work From my experience with the feedback I've received in exit interviews this year I can share that much of this gap seems to stem from the unique behavior needs of our most severe behavior students We know that there's no
cookie cutter response to support each child's needs as they are all unique So oftentimes it can require a trial and error system to see what works and what doesn't work for each student This takes time and lots of work which our behavior support teams are doing but it can often feel unproductive if we don't see positive student responses right away In addition to our upbeat survey feedback we also ask exiting employees to complete a survey Our exit surveys ask many questions including an
open-ended response for suggestions but we're just going to take a quick look at our top areas of strength and growth Here we see that benefits professional learning opportunities and feedback on job performance were among the highest areas of satisfaction with 78% 64% and 58% respectively responding that they were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with these areas Conversely we see our lowest categories with 64 53 and 47% of respondents feeling either
dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied in these areas It is important to note that for teachers we've had a 48% response rate on the exit surveys this year so far which is similar to last year's rate of about half While we find this exit survey data useful we certainly want to keep the response rate in mind that these numbers only represent perspectives from about half of the 15% or so
teachers who reside Overall our upbeat data gives us a much clearer picture of the collective whole Here we have our classified exit survey data Again be mindful that with this group we only have a 25% response rate which means we're only hearing from one quarter of the 20% of classified employees who have left the district So let's shift gears What are some of the things we're doing to continue
increasing our employee satisfaction We know that it is crucial for employees to have all the resources and support they need to feel that they belong are valued and feel like they can be successful in their work We saw earlier in our exit data that employees feel great satisfaction with the benefits we provide them Our HR our HR outreach meetings allow us to be in buildings and communicate one- on-one with staff to ensure they are aware of all the benefits available to them
in CMCSS This year I've met with 525 employees so far and I still have five more locations to go During these meetings employees can ask me about anything but our most common topics tend to be understanding our retirement plan and steps to ensure that their teaching licenses are up to date Part of being our best is also taking care of our physical well-being Our alive and well
program creates opportunities for employees to both engage in physical activity and build a sense of community within the district Here you can see our current enrollment numbers and some of our activities we've had this year And board members I do want to note that in the slides that you received earlier today in the last bullet point the number was miskeyed for the amount of weight loss And so this number shown on the slides now is the correct number Physical well-being is only one piece of the puzzle Our employee assistance program offers
access to counseling financial and legal advice and concierge type assistance in finding whatever resources an employee needs to be mentally and emotionally supported all at no cost to the employee Additionally our on-site clinic now has two full-time counselors who are dedicated to supporting our employees for emotional well-being These are some of the resources available to our employees But let's shift gears and look at some of the ways we are recognizing the outstanding work of our people
Each year we have our teacher of the year and classified employee of the year celebrations along with a district-wide monthly focus on a specific classified employee group Our communications department does an amazing job of highlighting these individuals and groups on our social media platforms to ensure our parents and community have an opportunity to share in these celebrations Internally we have our heartwork system which allows employees to send a digital shout out or thank you to a fellow employee to show appreciation for a job well done This
year we have already had 9,578 heartworks sent by employees which is over 1,000 more than in April of last year and we're still in March We also celebrate employees with work milestones or anniversaries by printing individual certificates for each which are then shared and celebrated at the schools by principal or supervisor We are so grateful to have our morale grants available again this year from our education foundation So far
$61,670 have been awarded among 38 schools with the morale efforts supporting more than 4,000 of our employees We celebrate our retirees each year with a beautiful dinner and ceremony and we also provide tenure certificates for those teachers who've earned their tenure Our transportation department has multiple recognition incentives that you can see here And of course there are
hundreds of school level activities and events that take place all throughout the year to show appreciation for our employees Some of these activities range from pushing a woot woot goodies and treats wagon through the school for staff to enjoy to having a food truck on site or treats catered like you see in this photo from Crumbl Cookie We even had one school who treated all of their employees and their family members to an evening performance at the Roxy Theater While all of these are wonderful we know that we still have more work to do That's
why it's imperative that we continue to gather feedback from our employees We talked in depth about some of our feedback tools but here's a list of all the ways we continue to communicate with and collect feedback from our employees As we move forward we will continue to focus on collecting feedback reflecting and action
planning improve our HR outreach model to ensure all employees understand what is available to them Continue to host employee recognition events Make employee compensation a priority and continue market analysis to ensure competitive salaries provide focused support for our new teachers which includes the repurposing of five district positions who are fully dedicated to new teacher needs and support Providing a classroom management workshop for permit and job embedded teachers
so they're prepared with the needed skills before they ever step foot in their classrooms offering gather and grow sessions monthly to help with high need areas and offering PRAXIS exam support both online and in person for any teachers in pathways that need support in this area We also want to make sure our leaders have the knowledge and skills to apply best practices for retention in their buildings and their departments So we are increasing
our engage leadership sessions creating a new leadership elevation academy and we will continue the vital work um that we that's being done in our aspiring assistant principal academy Thank you so much for your attention this evening Do you all have any questions for me Ms Bryant Um yes Thank you Just a couple questions The first of all you did say that these are
anonymous right The school doesn't have access to who answered what That is correct Okay The um and you said that there were some individual answers in the exit interviews that were available Um where are those So for any employee who marks on their resignation form that they're dissatisfied or if it for teachers if they are leaving to teach in another district I reach out um via email to those employees and offer them an opportunity to either meet with me or do a phone call with me so
I can just collect more information about what were those factors that you know influenced you to leave and what why were you dissatisfied when you left um their responses I keep and I chart in my own private notes Um I look for trends and then I provide that to my supervisor the chief human resources officer so she can pass that along in senior leadership Gotcha The um I know that you said that one of the support or one of the trends is that the unique behavior needs a big reason that teachers leave This is something that I hear a lot from teachers um how I didn't
see really that in the plan moving forward Do you guys have a plan for supporting the teachers in that area We do That really falls under our instruction department um with our behavior support teams Um I don't know if Dr Doughty would you would you like to weigh in on that So this was the plan that we outlined a few weeks ago um and our continuing work on that and the work that we started really last year So we're really only in the middle of year two with that work Um and we
talked about some of those continued supports that will continue It's a lot of training um time We've added those BCBAs that are going out to support in classrooms as well Um and and so I can reshare that presentation that has all of those plans outlined if you'd like for us to Uh yeah I I I do remember that presentation Um I a couple more and I'll be done I know other people have questions Um the the other thing I noticed was that the permits to licenses at the beginning
of the presentation I'm going to pull up there so I can get exact numbers Um so in 2024 to 25 there were 231 permits and 44 of those move to licenses Can you just explain a little bit more about what the permits are I would think if somebody and this is just my lack of knowledge in this but if somebody were to go through the process of doing a permit why is that not a bigger retention in that numbers That's a great question So can I I'm sorry I'm sorry Can I chime in on that Absolutely
So I do want to reiterate if they're on a permit they have three years to to move to licensure So if you start as a permit you have and really that's a lot of times it's a PRAXIS it's more education So if I'm on year one it might take me a couple of years to either pass the PRAXIS or so I did want to reiterate that point that it's not just you can do that up to three years So one of say there's 231 that are in permits maybe some of them still have several years to go before they officially get correct Okay Yes And I'll just add to what Dr Luna-Vedder said So in my
presentation I mentioned it is a one-year permit So the state only issues the permit for a one-year period Any person can apply for a permit like she said up to three times is the max So they do have they can reapply for that permit on that for a second and third year Um at that point they they are released from employment with us at the end of the year They have to reapply under a permit as a new applicant again So their position isn't held if they were on a permit and they weren't able
to move to um their job embedded license which entails like she said passing those PRAXIS exams Okay that's all I have for now Thank you You're welcome Mr Nelson Thank you Thank you for that presentation It seems like the numbers are moving in the right direction uh based on the information you've given us Um my question is uh you mentioned that where we fallen uh in comparison to other schools um in other areas are they doing it by the the survey by districts or by individual
schools And do you know where the majority of those schools are as far as you know I know we said Tennessee before 45th as far as funding and everything else Are it's are there similar schools or similar districts that are being measured under this So I don't have those specific schools with me but what I can share is what was um published by Upbeat in September last year In their recent research that they did um they had 803 schools across the nation with 41 districts um 98,609
um US public schools and from those 803 were used in the study sample And I know that they did try to pull from very different areas in the study sample I don't have that specific but I can reach out to upbeat and and see if they can provide that for us Okay Thank you You're welcome Mr Garland I guess my I guess my question I don't know whether you can answer it or not uh if the um legislature is successful in actually passing the bill for the DEI how would that affect your ability our ability
to be able to recruit teachers that's going to represent our community And what I mean by that I mean I am a person of color Uh I know who I am I know where I am The bottom line is with the schools with the school and the community browning as fast as it as it is we definitely need to see more minority teachers or in other or organization as uh operations as well How would that affect our ability to be able to go out and hire teachers based on the real need of the community
I'm not well versed enough in the legislation to to to feel confident in giving a a good response to that Um I will see if any of my colleagues and senior leadership want to chime in on that I'll jump in there I will say that um as we receive applications it is currently it it's not um we're not legally allowed to know in any demographic information You you would learn that through the interview process if that makes sense So we we do not actually track and dig into that on the front
end It do not make sense to me Uh and the reason why I say do not make sense is because we need to be specific We need to be direct in looking for whom we need to be able to teach our children One of the problem with uh going to school in a segregated environment is that you didn't have a chance to be able to see somebody that look like you or look other than you in the classroom And that's what it's going to get to back in in this century if we don't actually do something to try
to make that correction And I asked the question and I I need an I need an answer that is more uh direct than we can't look at the demographics Uh I don't care what the legislation in Nashville say The bottom line is they don't run school systems Well they are trying to run school system but they don't have they don't know the needs of the community as well as the seven of us on the board Let me let me clarify It's not that we are not tracking what our demographic looks like
I guess what I'm saying is as we receive applications we cannot ask people um what is like your your um background your racial background in an application before we meet them We are absolutely we have that information as far as and I think we have shared what we have done in that space and happy to share what that looks like and the continued um work in that space But if it makes sense on the front end when we receive an application I cannot tell by someone's
name all of that We do not ask we would not ask you for your racial background as you're applying but we absolutely keep track of what that looks like as far as our demographics of employees If that's because of the DEI situation that we have in America today uh the record should reflect that black people don't get the jobs Forget about that I don't care what people say We are not the first to be hired but we are the first to be fired So the bottom line is when we actually go out and
look for these people we need to be looking for some people that actually can make make this district look better But anyway I appreciate all this stuff that you guys do And like I say I know that we are trying to do the best that we can with what we have but we have people in leadership right now that don't understand They don't understand what it means to be loyal to community or be loyal to students or loyal to teachers All they want to do is to control Thank you Thank you so much for sharing that I've made some notes so we can continue to look into that
Mr Maberry thank you for your presentation today How how many open positions does CMCSS have right now for teachers Oh goodness I don't know I'm I'm not typically on the recruiting end of the piece I'm more on the retention side of things Um but we can probably I think I see Melissa looking right now So we're going to hopefully have that number for you We're also in our transfer window So I will point that out Um every year our our certified employees have a window in which they can um apply for positions
that are open in other schools And during that window it makes it a little bit more complicated to to nail down an actual number But um I think Melissa's looking at that right now Did I do it right Yes Okay Um some of these are for next year though So right now there's 28 high school 30 middle school and 83 elementary So it's a combination You have some that are still remaining for this year but a lot of them are new position not brand new but openings for next year
following resignations or retirements Thank you And just a followup for you Um so I would say it's fair to say that with the opening positions anyone that's qualified that's being interviewed is being hired then Well we want quality right Exactly So yes I mean we want quality and it is a challenge you know when we're looking because that's why you see such an increase in permits is because there are so few um credentialed coming out of the traditional programs So yes first we're hiring for quality for sure Yeah Um but definitely was lots of openings and so we are doing everything
we can We were at four universities last week We have our big job fair next Tuesday um which is a huge success for us Um we do classified and certified with that Uh Fort Campbell is this week So we try to do any opportunities we can in the community and surrounding to um attract quality candidates to the district You guys are doing a great job Thank you Thank you for your report Thank you all
Next item is discussion and consideration for live stream board meetings Mr Lanier You asked that to be brought forward I think Oh I'm sorry Had the wrong person Uh thank you Mr Griffy Uh we've had this conversation on the last board meeting so I just want to make a motion to approve live streaming board meetings and the proper funding associated with that Have a motion to approve Is there a second Who made it Have a second Ms Berry Uh discussion
I would like to suggest or ask you to uh put a I'm sorry Mr Nelson Didn't see you flashing Yes So um I know there was some discussion as far as having the delay in there Did we ever come up to a final decision on how that's going to uh go forward Yes sir It was it it is appropriate funding a board is my understanding delay the timing The thing I was going to ask is delay the timing and was not in the motion and that will take care of that
You asked about funding correct I ask you about the delay We had some discussion about the delay and editing or not editing but the delay because of closed captioning Have we decided on that and Yes sir come up with a decision on that Yeah I was going to ask uh for him to actually change his motion to put a time delay in it for a start date if you wish to do so Go ahead You're on Thank you Yes I I'll amend my motion to approve uh live
streaming board meetings and proper funding um time frame set by uh the district accordingly um however they feel the so I I don't want to set an actual date that's arbitrary So Mr Nolan if you want to um give me some language for that I I I'd appreciate that I think we're maybe talking about two different things One is a date for implementing the live stream which needs to follow the appropriate funding because there is a cost an ongoing cost
So that would be one thing that would need to be added to the budget whether it's in this fiscal year or starting next year Mr Johnson is trying to speak He can probably answer the question on budget Yes So as far as when it starts and I appreciate saying you know basically for us if if approved tonight we'll get to work in getting bids and looking at prices for vendors Once that's in place we'll need a little bit of time to test the system Um I believe there would be no and
I'm looking at my peers back there to make sure they're not going to come after me but I don't think that there would be any issue with us being able to begin in the next two to three months once we get through that process But I do appreciate if it would be in form to not necessarily uh state you know like a July 1st because we may be able to start a little bit before or we might run into a little bit delay But the last time the motion was made to actually record the meetings it was similar in the sense that it was when the when the district was able to get everything installed and ready to go Of course that took us longer because we had to install the technology
With this it's a matter of of adding some systems and getting the uh the uh close captioning live Yeah So my intent is whenever the district can you know with everything you just said So I don't know if I actually need to make the end of the motion The intent behind my motion is for the district So again I'll just say I'll just say I'll make the motion to approve the live streaming board meetings and with the proper funding And the second thing if if I can I think the question around the delay um that's not that's really going to be up to the the vendor we work with
as far as how long that delay is Um and I I should have asked Skip before this meeting I apologize for not doing that I believe with the Montgomery County it's about a 10-second delay that allows that feed to come back and forth Um of course if the board decided that they wanted to have any bit of a longer delay I think we could work that out technologically I just don't know But typically the delay just happens because that stream goes to the person who does the captioning and comes back Then it's about a 10-second I believe delay Good Any further discuss any other any further discussion on the issue So we have a
motion for the live streaming to begin as soon as the funds are in place and the technology is in place with not being a confirmed date on that but it doesn't have to start next month Um any other discussion Please open the vote Are all members satisfied with your vote Please close the vote We had some mechanical issues there We had
six no votes and one won't pass it So let's try it again Please open the vote Are all members satisfied with their vote Please close the vote Passes 7-0 Next item proposed modification to EL5 and EL6 Dr Luna-Vedder board members in your packet you
have the information on EL5 and EL6 We'll start with EL6 Essentially what it is doing is um as as we've had inflation and extensive costs over the years it is updating uh to more current costs that actually aligns with the county and with Austin Peay State University and what they're doing It was recommended from the comptroller that when we look at um the formal bid process that we go up to
a $50,000 uh amount in the case of an emergency um $25,000 Many emergencies are are going to even if you have to call in Servpro something like that to do an extensive cleanup Um so the recommendation was to go to 50,000 to more closely align with the actual costs of in the case of emergency EL5 goes hand-in-hand with EL6 So essentially what it does is it allows the director of school to commit to a single non-budgeted purchase up to 50,000 So in case of an emergency and we did not have to do the
bid we would um be able to expend the actual 50 up to $50,000 Of course through that process board members would be made aware if that was occurring and there would be um communication occurring but that is the reason for the request Need a motion to accept these changes to the policies Motion by Mr Garland Is there a second And a second Mr Mr Lanier Any
discussion Please open the vote Is everyone satisfied with their vote Please close the vote It passes 7-0 Next item comments for Fort Campbell school liaison officer Thank you board and Dr Luna-Vedder Um I'd like to share a few quick highlights from
Fort Campbell Thank you Dr Luna-Vedder and the students for your support for the Garrison's start meeting It was truly an honor for Colonel Midberry to recognize and coin eight outstanding high school senior junior ROTC cadets for their leadership and dedication We're also excited to share that Fort Campbell 101st Airborne Air Assault Band will be visiting several schools as part of music in our schools month providing students with hands-on learning about musical instruments and the power of music Looking ahead April is month of the military child
a special time to honor and strengthen resiliency for our military connected students We're excited to celebrate Purple Up day together on April 15th as a community A link has been sent out to anyone who would like to purchase a shirt to be in unison with Fort Campbell Thank you again board members and Dr Luna-Vedder for your continued dedication and support to Fort Campbell Question Thank you CMCEA President Good evening As we all know the Tennessee General Assembly adopted
a universal voucher bill which I've talked about numerous times and I'm not going to talk about it tonight So I'm just going to talk about something else that has to do with it I want to address the $2,000 bonus for the K-12 teachers that was included in that legislation We recognize the inclusion of the teacher bonus for what it was a bribe to entice support for bad policy Even though it is being given for the wrong reason the bonus is deserved by educators who work every day to ensure Tennessee's public school students have access to great education
The Clarksville-Montgomery County Education Association calls on this board to adopt a resolution affirming the school district's participation in section 4 of the Education Freedom Act ensuring that hardworking teachers in our district will receive the onetime $2,000 bonus Your parent organization the Tennessee School Board Association has drafted a sample resolution that this body can adopt and submit prior to the deadline this spring A onetime bonus however does not diminish the significant work ahead of Tennessee to ensure
that public schools have the necessary resources to support both students and educators Tennessee students need more time to learn and teachers need more time to teach The general assembly should be looking for ways to reduce highstakes standardized testing allowing for more meaningful assessments that focus on student learning rather than test preparation Tennessee must also implement initiatives to recruit and retain qualified teachers thereby addressing staff shortages and ensuring diverse and effective educators in every classroom A
key component of this type of professional investment is to ensure competitive salaries professional development and resources to enhance enhance teaching quality As a legislative session progresses we urge all community members to closely follow what's happening in Nashville for the decisions made there have a real impact on our community and our school district Moreover following the passage of the Education Freedom Act the governor and lawmakers assured us they are not abandoning our public schools Honesty is one of Tennessee's core values and it is
imperative that they keep their promise Those of us here in CMCSS are counting on it as we continue working to make our community the best place in which to live teach and learn Thank you PET representative Good evening school board members and Dr Luna-Vedder It's at this time of year when I'm writing my 20th IEP that I'm also wondering okay I can do this in 45 more days I can finish
it up But anyway I was thinking today that words matter Any words that we use with people matter And there's so many bills floating around on the hill in Nashville right now There are some that are even duplicates and triplicates of bills that are floating around I could share some insight on some of the most important ones but in a few short weeks that information will probably have changed and the bill's gone through through so many revisions or some will not even have made it out of subcommittee So what I feel is most important to share at this time of year as the TCAP season approaches is that words action and cultivating relationships matter more than any
test score If the encouragement is there through words and actions then students will be motivated to try their best You may have heard this story before but I think about this story often because it motivates me to do my best every single day So it bears telling again so just bear with me So Ms Ashby walked in to meet with the principal after school one afternoon and you know if you get called to the principal's office you think one of two things What have I done Or what am I going to have to add to my plate now The principal proceeds to explain to her that her co-teacher has
resigned due to family illness and that she will need to be taking over her class for the rest of the year Her co-teacher has the worst class in the building The entire class is failing Behavior is atrocious Absenteeism is chronic So we know as all us educators we know we roll up our sleeves and we get to work Ms Ashby decides to go to the counselor's office and read through the student files She has to know what she's up against As she opens the file drawer she finds the expected list of her new students and to her astonishment sees some extraordinary information
that is quite interesting Jimmy 130 Sandra 115 Wayne 100 Don't tell Wayne I used his name There's Causey Charlie 111 Denise 138 Karen 140 The numbers continue to go on in that particular area So as she continues to read down the list her frustration grows Next day she storms into her new classroom and proceeds to lecture the class that she has seen their files and information
and cannot believe that they're not working to their potential That ends today she said I will expect nothing but your best from now on You may think you have the school fooled but you do not have me fooled for one minute So the students sat up straighter in their chairs and looked at each other shock on their faces From that moment on each student gave their best for the rest of the year So fast forward when TCAP testing was completed and the test scores were returned the entire faculty was shocked My favorite English word is gobsmacked to see Ms Ashby's
class outperform the entire grade level When asked by the principal later how she turned the class around she just sniffed and said "I read their files." And I looked at their IQ scores from the past year "What scores?" asked the principal "You know the list that's in the front of their file," she said The principal became very quiet and said "Ms Ashby those numbers are their locker numbers So you see perception and belief is powerful We have to believe in each other We have to
motivate each other motivate each other with words and actions So remember there's a sign on my door at school that says "It's not who you are that holds you back It's who you think you're not So expect the best from students and go from there I'll expect the best from my colleagues and my school board members." Thank you Comments by county commissioners Comments by board members Mr Garland Yeah I have a positive announcement Believe it or not uh there's
going to be a concert on next Saturday It's going to be at First Missionary Baptist Church 301 Vista I mean Fairview Lane I think it's going to start at 5:00 It's going to be in honor of uh Mr Gilmore Uh we're going to have groups from all over Clarksville and the Nashville area coming in and performing We coming to look for offerings for the family Whatever is going to be raised will be given to the family in honor of Mr Gilmore uh for the work that he's done
for the district and also to try to encourage the family and let them know that we love them we care for them we want to make sure that they have what they need to get the job done Thank you I don't see any more That's kind of strange All right director of school report Good evening board members students faculty and staff members as you have heard returned this week from spring break The teachers and students are diligently preparing for these last few weeks prior to the
beginning of state testing The longer days and sunshine combined with the break seem to have rejuvenated everyone to finish strong as we enter the last quarter Later this week we are looking forward to celebrating all of our seniors who are third-year academic award recipients A huge thank you to the CMC Education Foundation who ensures that we honor all of our students who have worked so hard academically throughout their high school career Mr Griffy this concludes my remarks for the evening Thank you Dr Vedder And that concludes our agenda This meeting is adjourned