e e e e e e e e Miss Clark please call the rooll board member mckisic present board
member Garcia present board member love pres board me member mckenny m present board chair Coleman presid you have five in the affirmative thank you we do have a quorum the purpose of today's special
call meeting is to discuss the contract of interim superintendent Dr rodri Richmond and the contract of general counsel Justin Bailey please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please remain standing for a moment of silence it is with extremely
heavy hearts that tonight's moment of silence is in remembrance of the following mscs students that we have lost please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers Christian perier a 12th grader at Raley Egypt high school
and J Jana Dean a kindergartner at Parkway Village Elementary School I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of am America and to the rep for it stands one nation God
indivisible liy and jusice for thank you may be seated we are now on to public comment in accordance with the state statute the board shall reserve a period for public comment during business and special call meetings only those members of the
public who submit public comment cards to the board chairman prior to the commencement of this meeting shall be permitted to address the board public comments shall be taken in the order in which the public comment cards are received a signup sheet for public
comment will be provided will become available 30 minutes prior to each applicable meeting and will be closed at the start of the meeting this sign up is located at the entryway table just past the security checkpoint
speakers must State their name organization he or she is representing if any and subject of their comment before they are permitted to speak speakers may offer objective comments about school operations and programs that concern them speakers are asked to
refrain from using names of personnel or names of persons connected with school system particularly when lodging a complaint speakers will not be permitted to engage in Gossip make defamatory comments or use
abusive or voal language the chairman shall have the authority to terminate the remarks of indiv any individual who is disruptive and does not ad here to board rules Dr SCH would announce the number of speakers and time allotted per speaker we have three speakers they'll
have three minutes each thank you your time is projected on the screen to your right W and directly behind the board when you hear a bell your time has expired our three speakers are Alisa
Alisa padly Padilla last name Potter and CIO montz thank you Alisa good evening my name is Alicia Padia and I'm here on behalf of my two children
who go to um Sheffield High School will you state your address please 4240 Chipawa Road Memphis Tennessee 38118 this school year has been really rough for my children and all the other students in this building they keep the
doors to the bathrooms locked these children are not permitted to use the restrooms they are being punished put in ISS and failing their schools their schooling because when they're put in ISS these children are get not getting the um educational materials that is
needed to pass their grades throughout the year my daughter has been an ISS more than she has been in a regular classroom um for little things for not having her shoes on right or her shoe tied or um not having on appropriate
undershirt um um and things like that they have gotten suspended um just recently my daughter was um supposedly put on a 10-day suspension um when I asked for the paperwork the administrators um denied me the
paperwork told me that they would email it to me however that never happened spring break came and left when I called the school to following that following Monday after spring break I was told that she was only on a one- day suspension and not a 10day suspension
like they had told me and to go ahead and bring her back to the school board building when I walked in with my daughter and my son when they passed through the metal detector they were told to take off their shoes their jackets their backpacks were searched
thoroughly and put through two metal detectors and had to be wand wanded taking up 20 minutes of their first class period upon walking into the office the administrators um said something to my son and he
mumbled underneath his breath at that point the administrator turned around and rudely told my son that she was not going to lift his suspension at that point my daughter turned around shocked and was
like wait a minute he's not on on a suspension only I am at that point the administrator looked at her and told her I will not be lift your suspension neither and for me to take my children home I asked their why she so told me
that she could do anything she wants because she is the administrator of that school and she does not have to excuse me have a reason so I asked what the next step was going to be she said that in um in order for me to get my
children back into the school building we would have to have a board meeting I asked for the paperwork that same day and she refused to give it to me she said that somebody would email me regarding the
situation and nothing ever happened Miss Potter or Mr Potter PLT t e r I'm sorry if I'm I barely can't read it before we start the next comment could someone follow up they're going to follow up with I just want to make sure that you get to speak to a senior leader
tonight thank you you can go ahead ma'am state your name and your address please um my name is Camila Potter um can you lift the mic up so so we can hear you we want to hear what you have to say my name is Camila
Potter I live at 4240 chip Ro I go to shefford high school um I go to shefford high school many students experience um disrespect from our administrators um teachers do not teach
us corre corly don't they don't respect us um we we we come to school to learn and a lot of times we don't get to go to our first period due to have away in
class have to no have to wait in line to enter the school building for a long periods of time many students are getting sick of it and we are missing valuable time
learning when we leave when it's time to leave school we do not get to leave at 2:15 we usually leave around 2:30 or after due to the ministrator talking on the intercom which takes up our time
and we don't get to use the restrooms due to them being locked many females have emergencies and need to use the restroom we only get to use the restrooms during our Lunch Period and during our Lunch Period only there's
only three stalls Sometimes some of them do not work and many children have to wait or don't get make it in time and that's our only time to use the restroom many students are getting sick of this and we would like to be able to use the
restroom when um when Dr Black oh when administrators do like when they like disrespect us when we try to um like give our opinions or um like
have a conversation with the administrators they do not allow it they feel we are disrespecting them and they think it's not appropriate for us to say what is on our mind when many students are getting sick of
it and we feel unheard we feel unseen we feel unsafe at school um and yeah that's um U thank you for your time thank you CIO
Monas so um when Cassio Montez uh 503 North fth Street tene so when um like 20 people saw me this post that she's on her way the young lady and taser made on social
media I had a business meeting to go to and after that I was on my way to sherfield and the prior of me having that business meeting two parents got in touch with me this was Friday so I chose to call those parents back and they met me at sherfield I know this principal is
not allowed to speak to me because I don't have a child that go there but when you deny parents a meeting that they're trying to have just to see what's going on and what's taking place and she po lightly told us she's not going to talk to us because she has an
assembly that they're having so we agreed to wait till after the assembly was over with she was nonchalant so at that moment I saw what the kids were saying had to be some truth to it and some of these people in this room they know who I am and when I
tell a person I'm going to do something I get a person my word I'm going to do exactly that so that Monday I got with in TAS she set up uh a protest I helped them guide them to know what they can and can't do very reasonable now she
wants to start setting out calling out meetings these parents were trying to meet with you at first so to the superintendent and to the L who District this is at sherfield we didn't see you period y'all got to get involved with these kids see what these these kids are saying because at the end of the day
they did something that no child has ever did they got out and fought for what they believe in to be done rightly they didn't have no gun they weren fighting they weren't disrespectful ain't nobody listening though but when they start doing things that they feel
like well people feel like is wrong then you want to listen listen to these kids while they trying to do what's right that's y'all job that what y'all obligated to do and I'm going to stand on business every step of away with anasia until she feel like she's comfortable with whatever demand she's
having get met just listen that's all it takes and do your job that's what we elected you for these children are innocent hearing some of the things this principle has done I don't know if y'all see it but I
see it she needs to be gone at least wa from Sheffield where these kids can better their education that's that's faing them as as as who you what you appointed to do only thing I'm asking is people to listen but one way or the other it will
get done because these kids are uncomfortable the way she's treating them I didn't believe it at first until she treated me that way I ain't have no dog in the fight I ain't got no kids that go there but by me being who I am and genuinely pushing this movement for our children I'm going stand on straight
business when it come to her and I appreciate y'all taking the time to listen hopefully y'all do something about it Dr White Law will you meet with the and we can go from there please thank you Mr Casio if you want to go talk to
her you're welcome we're going to arrange something for you all to miss Dr White Law right there thank you we are now on to request for actions we have two items to address under request for Action this afternoon the
first 6.1 is interim superintendent Richmond's contract I turn it over to General councel Bailey uh thank you madam chair good evening board members uh I present to you all this evening for your
consideration the contract the interm superintendent contract for Dr Rod Richmond uh the material terms of the contract are as follows the uh annual salary is 325 or the proposed annual salary is
$325,000 uh the term of the contract is 18 months um there is no payout for any early termination so it does give the board the flexibility if the the board so chooses uh to insert a permanent
superintendent or uh initiate a superintendent search any time during that term it gives the board that flexibility to move out of off of this contract uh and into another without any uh Financial penalty uh to the district
um it does call 45 days notice um if the uh board chooses to unilaterally terminate um the contract without CLA without cause and I have circulated copies of the uh proposed contract to all of you for your
review and is up on the board now I'm happy to answer any questions that the board may have but those are the high level material terms uh as presented in the uh draft contract and for full discrepancy this is on board docs it it is it is the
latest version is on board docs thank you yes ma'am board member Williams good afternoon does the board retain the option of hiring a superintendent during this the time of this contract or hiring the
superintendent who's interim do we have to wait the 18 is it 18 months but it is 18 months and and um no to answer your question if you look at paragraph 14 for superintendent search um it does speak to that the superintendent the interm
superintendent understands and acknowledges that he is serving as superintendent on a temporary interm basis and has no expectation of employment of superintendent beyond the term of this agreement but also goes on and that if you look uh take this in conjunction with the terms uh for
termination of the agreement it does allow the board again the flexibility uh to terminate the contract at any time if it does want to pursue uh another superintendent uh search during the term of this existing contract my question is
does the board retain the right to make our interim permanent if we wanted to during the life of this time but do we have to wait one year no no you do not have to the board does not have to wait one year the board under this contract
can assign a permanent superintendent in any at any time thank you yes sir Boardman mckeny just for um Clarity to make sure I have a couple questions um this particular contract is the same amount
that we were paying the previous superintendent yes ma'am that is correct okay and for clarity to be clear for the public this does not for any reason we can terminate this contract for any reason and there is no um Financial consequence behind it that that is
correct the only qualifiers that that the contract does call for a 45-day notice to the interm superintendent before the termination of the contract if it's for anything other than cause okay thank you yes ma'am board member love I have a question yes ma'am um this is
the contract that all interim superintendant agree to no no this contract specifically was negotiated between Council for Dr Richmond and and the board uh officer general counsel so there are terms that
were specifically negotiated for Dr Rich different in this contract in the previous interm interm contract uh well I can tell you one the salary is different I believe the previous interim
superintendent contract was for 310,000 I believe yeah um whereas this one of course is for 325,000 um they're I'm sure there are some other material terms I'd have to pull the interm superintendent the prior interm superintendent contract to give you all
the specific details I'm happy to do that thank you yes ma'am board member Hue Garcia so one of the provisions that we had in the prior superintendent contract around uh termination with cause was an
Ethics Clause can you um speak to whether any sort of Ethics Clause applies to interim Richmond without it being explicitly named I know just in just for transparency I did I asked was there was a maybe a tenure policy of
which an Ethics um Clause would apply so can you clarify for the public that for if there are ethical considerations it does not need to be named explicitly or is that something we need
to add C certainly board member Hugh Garcia thank you if you look to page six um paragraph uh I believe it's 13 sub paragraph C uh under termination for cause the contract states that this contract may be terminated by the board
for cause upon proof of material breach of any provision of this contract violation of any board policy and or violation of any state local or federal law uh Dr Richmond because he is a tenure educator um he is he he'd be
bound by a couple of Ethics uh Provisions one is the the board's uh policy ethics policy but also the tennessy teacher code of ethics U which is statutorily uh provided and which again as a tenur educator um he would be
governed by um so that is contemplated I guess by reference uh in paragraph uh 13 uh subparagraph C and certainly um again uh this is not a permanent con permanent superintendent contract that's
something that could be added in a permanent superintendent contract uh if there is some Financial penalty to the the district um for early termination but that that just doesn't that's not here I mean you all could terminate the contract for any reason including and a violation of the Tennessee uh teacher
code of ethics okay and then one other clarifying question yes ma'am um in terms of evaluation am I reading this correctly that the first time we will evaluate interim Richmond's performance is February 1st of 2026
uh the the contract um language States specifically that the annual evaluation will take place no later than February 1st of each year uh in accordance with board policy so certainly if the board took it upon itself to do so it it could evaluate later but we also wanted to uh
give enough Runway to to go through the whole you know uh setting up the evaluation rubric with the superintendent the whole process we just went through last fall giving the board enough time uh to do that uh and to uh be able to effectively uh evaluate the
super the interm superintendent's performance so we can we can move that up if we'd like once we feel like we have we have a 100 day plan we have something to evaluate the evaluation committee can determine an earlier date yes ma'am that flexibility does exist in the contract board M
mckisic thank you chair general counsel so this contract is very similar to the previous superintendent uh except for some of the changes that you mentioned about the 45 days and then because the
salary is comparable correct uh when you say previous superintendent you mean uh not interim superintend the previous the previous superintendent yes ma'am um well I mean there are several material differences again this is an interm contract this is designed to give the
board flexibility understanding that Dr Richmond is in an interim position and that taking that role he understands that it can be terminated at any time because the board will seek to install a permanent Superintendent at any point in
the in the future I guess my concern is that 45 days notice because the previous superintendent did not have that uh she was terminated effective immediately so I'm concerned about that Clause if we are kind of comparing Apples to Apples
so um I believe the and I'm I'm going off memory because I don't have the previous superintendent's contract in front of me I I believe there was a cause for notice but the board's um the board's resolution calls for termin called for termination for cause which
did not require any notice um I did I do believe I don't know if it was 45 days I think may have been 15 um and that was statutorily um uh prescribed um but because of the board's
uh the majority of the board's uh action there uh for cause um there was no that that notice provision um wasn't the same H it's very
interesting very interesting um I don't have any further questions but I do want to make comment is this appropriate time to make comment Dr Schultz chair um I hope and from superintendent is listening Dr Richmond because as was evidenced by people who came to speak
today and the walkouts at Sheffield High School these are serious concerns so as interim superintendent you can't threaten to suspend students you can't you can't do that uh you have to actually listen to them and work through
the problems and so I just want to just state that that um you know be careful what you wish for this this position and all that it comes with and uh people have reached out to me about the concerns that
they're not being listened to at the highest level so just want to state that if we are going to continue and into into a formal contract with Dr Richmond that um to really truly listen and not just threaten to suspend
students if they don't agree with the method ology in which the school is being run thank you board member Williams I am concerned that that was even in the interest of evaluating an interim superintendent there's not a
rubric there is not data there's nothing that we have that the interim person has created so what we would evaluate would be certainly would be um rhetorical because there is no nothing in place that this person has put in place so you would be evaluating this person on
someone else's work or the lack thereof there is no data the data is very good that is at state level now but what it would look like at the end of this year I wouldn't want to accept it if I were in this position so I think that needs to be considered if you're going to evaluate me as interim or as permanent
it need to be my own work that I would fall on not someone else's misw workk that I would have to accept because if the grades tumble as I'm expecting they will I certainly would not want to own that as a interim superintendent because that was not my program that was the
superintendent's program who was fired board member mckenny I just want to um remind us that this was negotiated between Dr Richmond's attorney and our attorney so to the point of evaluation this is something that he um entered into of his
own um valtion in during negotiation processes as far as um this being an interim contract I think this gives the board um extreme flexibility should we decide that there is something that um
we do not like it with its interims um work for of course it's termination for cause and there is no notice required unilateral termination by the board just because is 45 days and then unilateral
termination by the superintendent self um is by resignation it's 45 days so um I think that we are protected and I appreciate that general counsel so that we can make any decision whether it's
for calls or not immediately and so I appreciate that and I appreciate um the um um and I appreciate the superintendent recognizing that that he may or may not be the superintendent and is willing to um enter into a contract that makes sure that we are protecting
the interest of the district and most importantly the students so I appreciate that board member board member love I'm sorry I spoke to the superintendent when I saw the Facebook post on this week and
he told me that he visited the school and talked to the teachers and principal and the students I just want to make that clear here um he is doing talking to the teachers and the
parents and the students I just wanted to say that board member m kiss I don't know if there are any other comments I just wanted to call the question for a
vote any let the records show board member Otay and board member Porter are in attendance please and will and board member Williams I'm sorry thank you for coming after I big thank
you we I have a motion in second motion board member Porter has a comment then we'll take the motion in second this is a question um but for clarity you said this is the just the interal contract and if we decide to move forth with Dr Richmond a new new terms new negotiations can be addressed within a
new contract right it that's correct any any permanent superintendent whoever it is will require a new negoti new round of negotiations and a new contract you said who was this negotiated by between his attorney and who else I mean offic general counsel coun we represented the
district in this matter and his his attorney and officer general counsel correct no no uh Dr Richmond had private counsel that represent right he had private counil that represented himar he had outside Council that he
paid for himself that's correct yes ma'am I mean I I assume so yes ma'am you didn't we did not pay for the district did not pay for it that is correct motion and a second motion by board member Vice chair love
second by board member hu Garcia roll call vote please board member mckisic pres not voting board member Garcia I board member Porter I board member
love I board member mckenny I board member OT I board member Williams board chair Coleman I you have seven in the affirmative and one voting uh present not voting thank you that
motion passes thank you board if it's okay with the board I'm going to excuse myself for the next portion goodbye thank you thank you and now we're on to general counsel Bailey's contract attorney
Spence good afternoon with regard to this contract um I was retained by the board to negotiate it um with Mr Bailey Mr Bailey har private counsel and so Mr Bailey's
private counsil and I negotiated the contract that is before you today um just sort of a high level review of of this instrument um it's a two-year term um it
pays annually a salary of $275,000 it is retroactive to January the 1st of this year since he's been performing the job I believe since maybe September of October but this is
retroactive uh to January it requires annual eval evaluations it allows for uh unilateral termination by this board um if there is a unilateral termination uh without
cause uh the general Council would receive the lesser of six months pay are the balance of the contract um and those are the that's a high level
riew of it um with regard to uh the the um um salary in this contract this is this is a new position um um and so we didn't really have a a lot to go by
and so what I endeavored to do was to look at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics uh for comparable um um jobs not only around the country but um in um
this area and so I looked at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics uh For Occupational employment and wage estimates for legal services for 2023 I looked at uh the same data for
Metropolitan and and non-metropolitan areas um looking at Memphis no looking at Tennessee Mississippi and Arkansas um I looked at occupational
employment wage rates uh for May of 23 I reviewed um information that was provided by uh glass door which is a repository of information um that is
provided by um um uh companies that do business with them and uh what I determined um was that um and it's it's hard to determine it with any any
specificity but uh it appeared that um the um median for General councel um work in this community is 250 to
300 and that being sort of the the the broad medium um we negotiated 275 um and so I feel comfortable with that um uh salary for this position based on the data that I reviewed and
looked at um and I recommend the contract to you are there any questions board member hu Garcia what was the uh I I'm going to preface this with the general council's responsibilities as been it's been known
prior to October of this year have significantly expanded he is now managing a team in several departments or over several departments but still just for the public and our understanding what was the current
salary um prior to being under this contract the current salary was $198,000 per year so this is a uh $75,000 increase over and above that uh
based in in some measure on the new new responsibility that he had to assume thank you board member mckenny thank you um just to be clear
and for transparency circumstances um I see that there's a clause if he is terminated without Clause so it's unilateral termination the maximum let's say we terminate them the day after we
hire him then that the maximum that we would have to pay him is what 550,000 um it would be the lesser of six months or the balance so six months pay so it would be just six months the lesser of lesser of those okay just for clar
clarity so it would be significantly less than the 550,000 absolutely absolutely I also um wanted to get clarity around um the vacation and and sick
leave um the vacation um as I understand it he Acres it throughout the year um I believe that under your policies he acrs up to 35 days at the end of every year um he is paid for that vacation pay and
so there's no carryover to the next year so you started 35 every year and you only have 35 days you never have more than 35 days um and
for sick um I that is um um handled by um upon his retirement he is eligible to um be paid out for his sick day his sick days how however many days under your
policies and rules uh an employee is allow owed to carry so he can accumulate six days but and he'll be paid those days up up on his retirement follow up on that so our our current policy says 35 days but this
this contract calls for 20 this or did we the one that we have maybe I don't have the right one uh yes yes it it it call for 20 yes okay I'm sorry yes all right thanks board mckiss I was just going to move that we accept the council's
recommendation let me do I got one more thank you board member Williams over are you talking about six days or sick days well six days don't well they do accumulate but you're not paid for them correct yes but and in
retirement your whatever your days that you've reced can be placed toward that are you paid for those if you terminated yes that's what I said but it goes to well you're getting paid twice because if you retire with Daisy goes toward your retirement well I don't uh profess to be
an expert on your retirement system and how that works but but I do know that he can accumulate six days under this contract and will be paid for those six days commensurate with the rules and regulations for other employees well when you retire with Consolidated
retirement if you have 300 days that's like another year and a half of service is what they do understand Vice chair love I was seconding Michelle's motion we've been motioned by board
member mckisic and second by Vice CH love roll call vote please board member mckisic I board member Garcia I board member Porter I board member love board member mckenny I board
member OT I board member Williams I board chair Coleman I you have Aiden the affirmative thank you that motion passes there being no further business this minut is a journ please be safe going home right little