I'll call this meeting to order. If you would, join me in the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence. This time, we'll turn it over to Anthony Johnson for Point of Pride Awards. Alright. Good evening, board. Tonight, we have several, celebrations, and so we're gonna start with if I could have the students from Rossview High School who competed in the math competition along with their administrator representatives, please come forward. This fall, hundreds of students across the state competed in the twenty twenty five Tennessee Mathematics Teachers Association state math contest.
We are proud to announce that we had top placements from Rossview High School in several categories. Carson Carroll won first place in the state for precalculus, Jason Moon, first place for algebra two, and Bori Choi, seventh place for geometry. Congratulations to these students. And next from Rossview High School, if I could have Cale Weber, along with administrative representatives, please come forward. Cale Weber from Rossview High School is one of 16,000 semifinalists across the nation for the National Merit Scholarship. The semifinalists are academically talented high school seniors who have an opportunity to continue in
the competition for some 6,800 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly 26,000,000. To compete for National Merit Scholarships, semifinalists must advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling several additional requirements. We are rooting for you, Cale, as you compete for the final round. Congratulations. And next, coming up with their trophies. If I could have the Kenwood High School JROTC along with their administrator and coach. As they make their way up, I'm very proud to announce that a few weeks
ago, the Knights of Kenwood High School competed in the All Service Raider national competition in Georgia. Annually, the best 50, that's right, just 50, across the nation, Raider teams from the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines come together to face off in the toughest Raider competition in the nation. Tonight, we are proud to announce that Kenwood High School was crowned the 2025 all service mixed raider team champions.
In other words, they were the best in the nation in their division. That gets some applause. But as they say, wait, there's more. In addition to this honor, the physical team test, they won first place, the four k team run, first place, the gauntlet, which sounds kinda scary. Second place, the tire flip, second place, and the rope bridge, second place. Cadets on this team include Haley McCoy, Kiara Cotterman, Tianjin Zoh, Marabella Lopez, Ariana Zepeda, Taylor Austin, Cruz Robles, bru, Bryce Ruger, Patrick Mahaney, Isaiah Morris, Joshua Taylor, Henry Jones,
Christopher Nunn, and their coach, sergeant major Aaron Keeter. Congratulations to the best in the nation. And next, going over to the other side of town to Clarksville High School. If I could have the Clarksville High School boys' golf team along with their coach and administrator to please come forward. As they make their way up, I will share that at the twenty twenty five t, double s, double a state golf championships just a few weeks ago, the Clarksville High School boys golf team made its thirtieth team appearance in the history of the championship, bringing home a fifth place trophy in this year's competition.
Players include Alan Forsyth, Luke Fuqua, Ryder Murphy, Braden Parker, Pearson Pember, Jackson Schafer, Everett Shepherd, Jonathan Wiggins, Canaan Wise, Tuck Woods, and their coach, Ken Busby. Congratulations. And last but certainly not least, if I could have our esteemed board chair, mister Christopher Lanier, to please come forward along with doctor Luna Vedder putting you on the spot. Gotta have somebody up here with him. During its annual convention, the Tennessee School Board Association recognized eight school board members for
achieving master board member status. TSBA presents this distinction to members who dedicate their time and effort to becoming more informed and effective leaders in education. The award honors participation in activities that extend beyond local board responsibilities. The TSBA Boardmanship Award Program includes five levels of recognition. To reach level five, board members must earn 185 credits across designated categories and submit a portfolio. We are proud to announce that school board chair, mister Chris Lanier, earned his master
board member status in record time, state record, having just joined the school board in August 2024 and already achieving a master board level. Congratulations, mister Lanier, and thank you for going above and beyond to serve the students, families, and employees of CMCSS. Thank you. Okay. Board members, you'll notice the items for consent agenda. Do we have a motion for approval of consent agenda? Mister Garland? Motion. Motion or second by mister Mabry. Please open the vote. Is everybody satisfied with your vote?
Please close the vote. Motion carries. K. Policy monitoring. Doctor Mona Vedder. Board, please find in your 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 a material deviation from the annual budget or budget policy adopted by the board. All revenues are scheduled to be spent in accordance with approved budget. No funds have been borrowed to date for the current fiscal year 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 the state and district procurement codes, sufficient internal controls are in place as documented in annual financial audits. In addition, all board accounts are audited annually by the state comptroller's office. Likewise, individual school accounts are audited per contract with certified public accountants and receivables are
pursued as appropriate. Updates regarding revenue collections, rising costs, and the capital projects are provided to the board through work sessions. To conclude, any proposed changes to the budget are approved by both the board and the county commission and quarterly financial reports are provided to both board and county commission. Chairman Lanier, this concludes executive limitation five. I ask for a motion. You have a motion to accept mister Mabry. Motions. Second. Mister Garland. Okay. Please open the vote. Is everyone satisfied with your vote?
Please close the vote. Motion carries. K. Policy monitoring, DLO five. Next step, if I could have doctor Kimmy Saharski come forward. She is going to be talking to us about our grants and alternative funding tonight. Evening, everybody. Oops. Evening, everybody. I'm talking about the funding that we do that's outside of the the state's funding to the school district. We always match what we're working on to our mission and our vision and our strategic work. So each of the pieces of funding that we pursue has to align directly to
the work. So alternative funding focuses on, funding to help sustain innovative kind of approaches to work, provide extra opportunities for our students, and we keep focused on how to maintain the work. What I have provided here is an overview of what it looks like since we took on this type of work. So you can see in the early two thousands, we were doing a lot of after school grants and stuff for children to have tutoring, etcetera. And then in, twenty thirteen-fourteen, it became a focus of the work about how can
we sustain larger programs looking at things like how do we expand, academies, how do we offer innovative things in the summer. So you can see the funding jump suddenly from the 3,000,000 to the 16,000,000. The work then became how do you focus on sustaining that kind of funds. If you don't work in the world of grants and alternative funding, when you receive a grant, you often can't recompete for that same grant for three to five years. So that means we have to be flexible about our thinking and what we're working
on. In 2020 during the COVID, epidemic, we had opportunities to participate in the ESSER funding and so we worked on that. And then, in twenty twenty three, twenty four, Tennessee changed their funding formula so that changed some of the awards that we work for. So in alternative funding, the things that we're working on is the focus on what the needs of the district is. You do not want to be distracted and go after funding because it's available.
All of us have seen ads of, oh, you can go after this. It will help you do these things. We remain focused on the work of the district and finding the funding that supports what's above and beyond the funding the district receives. Part of this work is developing capacity so that everybody has the ability to write grants, not just a handful of people. That makes it more sustainable. It also expands access in all the buildings. Think of the number of schools that we have. We also are working on maintaining, multiple partnerships and developing those.
We even work with the county on several of the grants. We work with the military installation. We've even had partnership grants that go over the state line. We have support structures. Writing grants is not an easy process So we've developed, processes to help people with the reading of the grant, navigating the finances of writing grants and alternative funding, making sure that we are in compliance because most grants require reports, follow-up, those kinds of things. And then we also have to make sure that whatever we're pursuing that it aligns
to the policy of the district and the policies that the state and the foundation or the granting organization has. And these are some of the things we're working on right now. Literacy is a big thing in Tennessee. Pre k, we're trying to build out an early learning center. All the things that you do in high school, There's a plethora of them around college and career readiness, technology, safety, and trying to build the cadre of teachers, make sure that we keep up the supports to help with that. So to give you an idea of the types of funding that we have been
pursuing and what we have, there are funding you get because of the dynamics of who you are, entitlement kind of funding, and then there's fundings that are competitive that that you have to do applications, prove that you can do the capacity of the work. So under entitlement funding, you see the innovative school models. We have a lot of work going on with those, the special education pre k to help build out that program. In the competitive funding, this district has one of the few McKinney Ventos. We have a voluntary, grant and we have the IDE Partnership for Systematic Change.
This is, providing services for our students with disabilities that can't be addressed with the easy funding. Our grow your own partnership, we have an investment, but we also work with organizations to provide investments. Summer learning is a huge investment. So you have things that come from the state, things that come from grants, and, partnerships that want to work with us in the summer. And then we have different kinds of school level grants. So, the capacity building now you can start seeing it.
We have AOP and STEM going on. The APEN, which is what I was doing today, we're in the midst of, army youth programs in your neighborhood monitoring. We just finished today and it went fantastic. That's a competitive grant. We get 1,250,000.00 for that providing after school programs in the middle and high schools aligned to the interest needs of students. Our foundation provides grants for teachers so that they can, roll out those innovative ideas that they have in their classrooms.
But we always look forward to, those opportunities aligned to the work. This year, the schools themselves, pursued and won, approximately 700,000 in funding. So, what's next? We want to continue the district wide participation. We want to build that capacity. We want to continue to build the collaborative partnerships, and we're always looking for how do we make CMCSS look a little bit more innovative so that foundations and organizations
says that's who we want to invest in. Questions? Thank you. Thank you. K. At this time, we have a representative from Fort Campbell, school liaison. Doctor Lunabetter, board members, my name is Karen Watkins Jouf. I'm the school liaison for Fort Campbell. On behalf of Fort Campbell, I want to extend our sincere appreciation to all our schools for your patience, flexibility, and understanding as we navigated the recent government shutdown, which led to the cancellation of several scheduled activities, including the hundred and first band performances
and our guest speakers for several Veterans Day programs. Now that we are fully operational again, we're excited to resume all Adopt A School activities, band visits, and mentorship efforts across the district. We value the strong partnership that we share with each of you, and we look forward to finishing this year in excellence together. Thank you. Thank you. CMCEA representative? Good evening. As we celebrate American Education Week this month, we honor the incredible teamwork that happens in our schools every single day.
From teachers and educate education support professionals to counselors, nurses, and bus drivers. Every role matters. Together, we create the foundation that allows our students to thrive and our community to grow stronger. The Tennessee Education Association statewide theme this year, every educator, every student, every community, reminds us that public education is not just about classrooms. It's about the heartbeat of our towns and neighborhoods. When educators are supported, students succeed. When students succeed, communities prosper. In our district, we share a common goal.
We wanna make our district the best place in which to live, teach, and learn. That means ensuring our educators have the tools, time, and trust they need to do their best work and that every student has the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. During this American Education Week, let's take stock of what unites us. A belief that every educator's voice matters. A commitment to ensure every student benefits and a shared vision that every community grows stronger when we invest in our public schools. As your local association, we're proud to partner with the district to advance that vision,
but we also know there's more work ahead. Our call to action tonight is simple. Let's continue building together. Let's strengthen educator voice in decision making, prioritize policies that lift up teaching and learning, and celebrate the incredible professionals who make our schools work. Because when we stand together, educators, families, and community leaders alike, we build strong schools, strong communities, and a strong Tennessee. Thank you. Thank you. PET representative. Looks like I timed it just right coming in. I'm sorry I was at, visitation this evening.
Good evening, board members. Last month, we talked about being a leader people want to follow. And I challenge each of us to work in our work and life capacity to be a leader people want to follow. Little did we realize that in just a few days, we would lose one of those leaders in representative Jeff Burkhart. He was such an avid supporter of education. Whenever he ended a conversation with you, he would always say, let me know if there's anything I can do for you, the community, or teachers, especially teachers. And even if you did not ask anything of him at that moment, he was
always looking for ways to contribute and give back without accepting any recognition or thanks. Jeff and I were working on a legislative piece in the upcoming January session to benefit educators. That opportunity will not be lost as I am continuously looking for leaders I want to follow and hopefully will find someone to continue to carry that idea in the upcoming session. So Jeff, to me, always embodied president John f Kennedy's comment. Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country. We, a pea a leader people want to follow. So this Thanksgiving season, I am thankful of those leaders who are always thinking of
others rather than themselves. So let's remember to put forth that effort every day. Thank you. Thank you. Comments about county commissioners? I just wanna say I appreciate the, the presentation here on the alternative funding as a county commissioner, especially, and I appreciate the focus that the district has had on some of the innovative schools models, especially like the early technical college. There's some great things going on over there. I got to participate with, mister Griffey last week, and, it's just, it's it's neat
to see some of the outside of the box thinking that's going on. So I do wanna say if there's something we can do as a county commission to support you guys in that, please let us know. Thank you. Thank you. Board member comments, but I'm gonna start first with our student board member. Just very briefly, going back to, what earlier in the presentations, with Cale Weber. He was one of my classmates when I was back at Rossview. Just a congratulations to him. Also congratulating the CHS boys golf team and the Kenwood Knights Raiders team on their
national, competition, along with the Rossview, math team. Another thing is we had four Clarksville area football teams make the playoffs this year, with one making it to the second round. And that's, I think, very big for the city. And then there's only twenty nine days until our first semester exams, and a hundred and eighty four until our first set of graduations. So I don't know if y'all can feel it as much as I can, but this school year's gone by very fast.
And, I've been very impressed by what I've seen in this county this year. Thank you. Thank you. Comments by other board members? Mister Garland? I would like Oh, here. Yeah. I would like to, to to to congratulate mister Lanier on his attainment of level five. That is something that is not easy to obtain. And for him to have done it in in one year is is phenomenal. I would I definitely like to say congratulations. Job well done.
But, also, I would like to congratulate somebody else that's setting up here because he was selected to be an an at large member of the TSBA, state, organization for upcoming year. I served in that capacity as well as the, as you know, the director for Mid Cumberland District. And I know that he's he's capable. He has the knowledge. He has the wisdom, and I know that he will do a great job in representing Clarksville Montgomery County. His name is miss Ken Griffey, our board chair our prior board chair.
You know, in that position, what you learn is you learn, from other, board members from across the state. You get to sit in the room and listen about what's going on in East Tennessee, West Tennessee, South Tennessee, North Tennessee, and then you'd be able to compare to what we are doing here in Clarksville, Montgomery County. And I'm quite sure in the comparison he can find that we have a district that is second to none. We have a district. We have leaders that really enjoy what they do, and we have students that enjoy
the enjoy learning as we saw here during the presentation. Thank god thank you for our student board member for actually recognizing him, because that was a he did a yeoman's job in doing that, I like to say. But, again, congratulations, mister Griffey, and we wish you all the best. Anyone else? Okay. Director of school's report, doctor Leonard Vetter. Good evening, board members. This past week has been emotional for our community. Montgomery County lost our District 75 state representative, Jeff Burkhart. While I never venture too far into the political fray, I would hope that we
could all agree that representative Burkhart supported public education and more importantly, the Clarksville Montgomery County School System. Years ago, when I was still the high school level director and we were contemplating beginning the early technical college at TCAT, he was one of the technical college at TCAT, he was one of the first to say, how can I help? True to his word, he's been a staunch supporter of promoting our CTE programs. He supported legislation and spent his own money to ensure that our and spent his own money to ensure that our early technical college students and teachers would have some school swag. With the shortage of workforce with CDLs in our community, he called me to ask
how he could help get it started in our high schools. He helped pave the way for CMCSS to become the first school system in the state of Tennessee to offer the CDL program. Representative Burkhart never failed to call before any important vote in the house that pertain to education and ask how I thought he should vote and talk him through all the pros and cons of both sides. He would ask for talking points and data to support opinions. If I called Jeff Burkhart, he would always answer or immediately text back and let me know hint when he would return the call.
He never failed to offer a hug and ask, what do you need doc, when I saw him. As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, I pray that we all let representative Burkhart's life and legacy be a reminder to spend precious time with loved ones and to give back more than we receive. Chairman Lanier, this concludes my comments for the evening.