[Music] are 2025 board business meeting at Memphis Shelby County Schools mr jenkins please call the role board member Porter here board member Murphy here
board member Love here board member McKenna here board member Otay here board member Williams present board chair Coleman present all right chair Coleman you have seven eyes thank you we do have a
quorum tonight's person of colors is presented by White Station High School please stand for the pledge of allegiance and please remain standing for a moment of silence to the fac 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 thank you you may be seated [Music] oh yeah
I got contract we are now on to the approval of the agenda are there any amendments in Superintendent Richmond no amendments at this time board
members is this the time I pull i'd like to pull from the consent agenda 11.7 and I'd like to pull 11.18 11.7 and what what's the other one 11.18.7 okay we'll pull that when we get
Okay there being no amendments to the agenda is there a motion for the approval of the agenda and a second i move to approve the agenda second motion by Commissioner Murphy second by
Commissioner Otay roll call vote please board member Porter yes board member Murphy i board member Love i board member McKenna
i board member Otay i board member Williams i board chair Coleman i chair you have seven seven eyes we have seven eyes that motion
passes we are now on to public comment in accordance with 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 comments will become available 30 minutes prior to each applicable meeting
and will be closed at the start of the meeting this signup sheet 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 proceed speakers may offer objective comments about school operations and programs that concern them speakers are asked to refrain from using names of personnels or names of persons connected
with the school system particularly when lodging a complaint speakers will not be permitted to engage in gossip make defamatory comments or use abusive or vulgar language the chairman shall have the authority to terminate the remarks
of any any individual who is disruptive and does not adhere to board rules dr schultz will announce the number of speakers and time allotted per speaker we have 21 speakers this evening one and one half minutes each please your time is projected on the screen to the to
your right and directly behind the board when you hear bell your time has expired our first three speakers Dearian Gibson Caleb Chapman and Jabri I'm sorry I cannot make out the first name
brian those are the first three speakers good evening to the superintendent school board members and the listening dear Deari state your name for me please my name is Dearan Gibson i am an eighth grader at Haven View STEM Optional
Middle School i am honored to share my experience participating in a day on the hill for students in Nashville Tennessee first I would like to start by thank by saying thank you to the superintendent school district leaders and the and the
United Education Association for partnering to give me this great opportunity i have been to Nashville several times but this is my first time at the capital and meeting the legislators i saw how bills passed through committees and the results were shown on
the screen the results of the vote were about banning immigrant stu students from being taught in schools i felt uncomfortable because all students students should be able to go to school and learn the posters showed me that
some people do care about all of us i hope more students can go with us next time if more students could attend next year we could possibly get some bills passed for us as a member of the technology student association TSA at
Hiewview and a student who makes A's and B's I plan to get a technology certific certification and an academic scholarship to go to college what can you do to protect students like me who participate in TSA
activities i am asking our superintendent and board members to put money in the budget that will be used for protect protecting me and students like me who participate in TSA finally I would you consider starting a student
delegation for us this group could be in meetings to talk about adding money and the budget to protect these programs i like for you to finish that up thank you for listening and thank you again for the opportunity to travel to Nashville and experience a day on the
hill with legislators thank you Dear good evening board members and community me community members and interim superintendent my name is Caleb Chapman and I am an eighth grader here at Belleview Middle School i would like to thank the UEA for taking me and my peers
to Nashville Student Advocacy Day at Capitol Hill it was inspiring to see me see so many adults fight for me and others children's future while I was there I got the chance to learn and see how the decisions for the
children of Memphis are made now an important question my peers and I are asking this evening is what happened to the funding for behavior support programs special needs education and mental health support in
the event of a state takeover if the mission of MSES is to prepare all students for life learning and leadership it'll be very hypocritical to not let children with learning and behavioral issues get the help they need they need to learn because the resources
are not invested into it'll be disservice around 15,000 plus students that require these programs to not be able to get ahead in life simply because they're not invested resources they need we as a community cannot afford to lose the behavior specialists mental health
supports and session needs educators we have now as they help my peers not lose precious class time they need to thrive in this changing world in high poverty areas we will need more behavior specialists to keep a positive outlook in their lives another question my peers and I have is what will happen to the
behavior support specialists that work in our public schools right now in the event of a state takeover i'd like to thank the board members the interim superintendent and most importantly the community for coming out tonight to listen to my concern to the concerns my peers and I have on this
issue thank you and have a good evening you can hold it if you like good evening to the superintendent school board members and the listening community my name is Lebrandon Fletcher i am a ninth grader at Hamilton High School and new to Memphis Shepard County
Schools i want to give thanks to the the superintendent district leaders and the United Education Association for partnering and giving me the opportunity to go to the state capital my experiences in Nashville were very new i
met legislators and senators with impressive backgrounds and lots of knowledge about our school district they had a genuine interest in our concerns the protesting at the capital reminded me of the civil rights movement especially when I saw the signs the
emotions and the demeanors of the indiv individuals next I think going to the capital should be a reoccurring event i believe as a free spirit person the state capital should be declared a yearly trip to gather new faces with spirits about meeting the
politicians and to finally create job interests especially for our seniors in case of the state takeover I would like to see a student delegation at the local level which will consist of a group of students such as myself that could be a
part of the MSSE as a budget committee and so when things like a possible state takeover or times when we are faced with losing money to support our programs we will have an opportunity to voice our concerns and solutions i think there
should be a line item to protect extracurricular activities transportation classroom resources CTE classes and an infra infrastructure budget to upkeep maintenance of our schools in
closing thank you superintendent and board members for listening to my concerns and solutions as we learn lead and leave a legacy thank you our next our next three speakers are Kendall
Flowers America Rodriguez and Taylor Brown good evening to the superintendent school board members and the listening community my name is Kendall Flowers i am an eighth grader at Haven View STEM Optional Middle School i am speaking on
my experiences participating in a day on the hill for students in Nashville Tennessee first I would like to start by saying thank you to the superintendent school district leaders and the United Education Association for partnering together to provide this great experience i enjoy it and learn a lot
about what takes place at the capital the opportunity allowed me to travel to Nashville and talk to the legislators something I have never done it was it was I was afraid at first but once they came in and started talking to us I felt better i learned that we I learned that
we all need the same things in our school i would like to see more of my friends with me next year i also learned that there is a threat to our school district being taken over by the state but the strange thing about the talk about a state takeover was that nobody was talking about how this would have
benefit me as a student in MSCS we need protection during times of the unknown the legislators were discussing a state takeover hill that may not protect the programs that are available to students like me i play football for
Haven View and I make A's and B's i plan to go to college on a sports and academic scholarship with a threat of a state takeover what can you do to protect students like me who participate in extracurricular activities i would like to ask the superintendent and board
members to consider adding a line item in the budget that would be set aside for protecting me and students like me who participate in extracurricular activities will you consider starting a student delegation that will have
students that will have students participate in the budget committee meetings i would love to continue this conversation about the creation of this forum thank you for listening and for the opportunity to travel to Nashville and experience a day on the hill with the [Applause]
legislators good afternoon board members and community my name is America Rodriguez i am an eighth grader at Belleview Middle School and I am grateful to be in this position where my voice is being heard by all the people who care about the students education
and future i would like to thank the United Education Association and MCS for taking me and my peers to a day on the hill at Nashville Tennessee and for letting us experience something that I personally would never forget because
it's such an extraordinary experience whenever a young child sees an adult caring so much about them it makes them feel seen heard and more confident when legislators were listening to me it made me feel like my concerns would not just
be heard in the MCS community but also somewhere where it could have some type of influence that is exactly how other students and I felt when our questions were being answered and how we saw so many teachers and adults and important
people engaging and trying their best to fight for all of the MCS children's future the main concern that I have tonight is that I have for all the students in my future is the school district takeover which will affect all
these students free lunch access to technology and underserved communities tutoring programs sports and student support programs think about the problems something that big could cause all of us students taking away free meals at school could cause a lack of energy
level poor concentration and lower academic performance and sometimes the meals given at school could be a child's only meal that day same thing with sports being part of the sports team at school is a way for a student to have
fun while learning some type of discipline and being able to relieve some type of stress and taking it away will cause a reduction of opportunities social interactions and personal development thank you for giving me your attention and I look forward to the
things everyone has in mind and I look forward to hearing back from you all hello and good evening to the superintendent school board members and listening community my name is Taylor Brown i am a eighth grader at Havy View
STEM Optional Middle School i am honored to share my experience participating in a day on the hill for students in Nashville Tennessee first I would like to start by saying thank you to the superintendent school district leaders and United Education Association for part for partnering to provide this
incredible opportunity it was my first time at the capital and meeting legislators and inspire it was inspired I'm sorry we got to sit in committee meetings and listen to discussions about immigrant children being banned from getting an education this was eyeopener
to me because I thought all children were able to get an education regardless of their skin color there was a protest outside of the meeting which was something I had never seen before especially in person i was I was I was held I held a sign outside of the
comedian room that stated all children deserve to receive an education this was a protest that made me realize how important it was for students like me to be involved in decisions being made about us i wish more of my classmates could have came with me so they would be
able to see that there are decisions being made about us in Memphis and we should be telling the adults in Nashville what we need if more students could attend next year we could raise our voices together about what we need one thing I learned is that we need more
money for our schools during the trip I heard about a state takeover bill that may that may not protect the programs that are available to students like me as a drum major for Haverview and student who makes A's and B's I plan to
go to college and on a band and academic scholarship what can you do to protect students like me who participate in extracurricular activities i'm asking our superintendent and board members to consider adding money to the budget that will be designated for protecting me and
students like me who are participating in extracurricular activities finally will you consider starting a student delegation that will participate in the budget committee meetings this group could join the budget meeting to take to make sure
students voices are heard when decisions are made i would love to talk more about setting this up thank you for listening and thank you again for the amazing opportunity to travel to Nashville and experience a day on the hill with legislators it showed me how powerful
our voices can be chase Hawkins and Tama Kennedy [Music] good evening board members community members and interim superintendent my name is Chase Hogkins and I am an eighth grader at Belleview Middle School at this time I ask that I get you all's
full attention as my peers and I are students in this district who deserve a quality education i would like to first start off by thanking MSES and the United Education Association for investing in our students voices and concerns by taking us to Nashville
Tennessee for a day on the hill to spend some of our spring break meeting and voicing our concerns with legislators meant a lot after the trip it opened my eyes that MSES doesn't have a team of students who advocate for the students as a whole
next I would like to ask what our next steps are as many of us know the state of Tennessee is planning to take over Memphis Shelby County Schools if their plan works it will put many students futures at risk at this point there is no more time to play defense so we need
to act like a community play some offense and make sure that we are receiving the correct budget from the state to perform at our best possible success next I'd like to know what you all are doing to protect our immigrant students they've done nothing wrong and
if wanting a free education that they rightfully deserve and socializing with people that they may look a little different from is wrong then that's a huge issue lastly please as board members refrain from saying that students can't read many of my peers
watch board meetings now and it is very hurtful to tell students what they can't do i wonder how many of you have had to retake a test to achieve it once again thanks for this opportunity allow me to voice my concerns and I hope to hear back from you all in a timely
manner good evening i'm Tamaya Kennedy from Hamilton High School in Memphis Tennessee and I'd like to start by expressing my deepest gratitude to Memphis Shelby County Schools and the United Education Association for partnering together to provide us with the incredible opportunity to visit Nashville the trip was not only an
eyeopening experience but also an essential moment for us as student leaders to learn more about the legislative process and how decisions that directly affect our education and our future are made we're able to see firsthand the work being done in the state legislature and understand how important it is for students to be
engaged in these discussions throughout the trip I learned just how crucial it is for students to be aware of the laws and decisions being made about their school district these decisions impact everything from funding to curriculum to the resources available to us as students by participating in the trip I saw how our voices can help shape the
policies and that when we come together we can have a real influence on decisions that matter most to us this experience reminded me of how important it is to stay informed and advocate for the changes we want to see in our schools as we move forward I would like to propose the creation of a student delegation that can regularly speak on
behalf of students ensuring that our needs and concerns are always represented especially when it comes to budgeting a student program reserve fund for example could be a valuable addition to the budget ensuring that we have the necessary resources to support and protect student programs during crucial
times such as a state takeover i hope that this trip has inspired us all to take action and continue working together to make our voices heard in our schools better for all students thank you again to Memphis Shelby County Schools and the United Education Association for making this possible we would like to thank the
United Education Association for taking these young people and young people your voices matter we sit here because of you and the questions that you have proposed i ask that we get a copy of those questions cuz we would like to work on
the answers for their questions the board collectively will work together and very soon we will have answers for these young people and we would like to have a deeper conversation with them thank you all so much we'll move on carmen Noel Erin
Pernell Charles Nelson good evening board my name is Corman i'm Duff my daughters are Duff oh I'm so sorry uh my name is Carmen now i'm from Bartlett um my my my
girls are students here uh in the school system i'm deaf my daughters are deaf my brothers and my dad are deaf me and my siblings are former students of Seattle Elementary my brothers were in the in the deaf program and my daughters are
current students my question for you all is why has Memphis City Shelby County Schools prioritized the education of hearing students over deaf students some TAs were recently removed from my daughter Grace's classroom they replaced they were replaced with TAs that don't
know sign language instead of replacing them with replacing signing TAs in classrooms that would benefit deaf classrooms the principal made the decision to put them in classrooms that did not have any deaf students this led to me asking questions and getting very
few answers did you know that CL doesn't have a teacher for each deaf grade they have a preschool classroom a K through 2nd and a third through fifth grade classroom did you know that teachers were required to have two certifications to teach these deaf children did you know that many of them had to quit after
the requirement did you know that the K through 2 grade teacher has not completed the require requirement yet she's allowed to teach anyway did you know that the teacher that the same teacher requires an interpreter in her classroom because she hardly knows any sign language did you know that the
prior principal ran the HIPP department for the school prior to becoming the principal did you know that the current principal was her assistant did you know that the current principal has definitely seen the standard and has let it get this bad anyway did you know that if I take my daughter out of Seattle she
has nowhere to go to that will accommodate her communication needs through sign language why is this I'm sorry why is this acceptable why is no Why is one teacher teaching three grades how can you fit I'm sorry how can
you fit a whole curriculum and all the needs of each student into one classroom like that how can you call that equal access to education you can't this is not equal this is not accept accessible and this is not acceptable thank you good evening Irwin Pernell 8037
Waterford Place you asked the community to come together and move forward but how do you expect alignment from the very people you ignored what does moving forward look like when trust has been shattered we've heard warnings that if certain actions are taken the community will
lose its voice but let's be honest that voice was lost the moment you disregarded our concerns and the moment you chose to serve agendas rather than the people you didn't lead you followed orders and now you asked for unity as an alumnest and former student of the arts
in this district I've seen this dysfunction from both the inside and out and let's be clear what we are witnessing is not new for decades the same cycles have repeated we've heard the same excuses and the same failures have continued the truth is this
district does not need another empty promise it needs a reckoning and that reckoning begins with accountability six of you have violated the law betrayed this community and lost the moral authority to govern so tonight I call for your immediate resignations and if
you truly care about this district and if you have any integrity left you will step down the students the parents and the future of this community deserve better thank you how y'all doing today i thought I was supposed to get three minutes i mean the kids don't count do it Mr mr mr jones Mr
chairman woman explain it to me your time is gone now Mr nelson no you can't do that now to our side now now I was going to get you know I'm going try to be professional but we we got to do better i mean and what this young man saying I'm I'm
agreeing with it but um we we y'all said we want transparent i've been calling emailing superintendent i've been calling everybody you know y'all got my number call me back and I'm not I'm not a felon i'm not broke no law but I understand that y'all got funding to hire people okay y'all need to hire
people but then y'all complain about the state want to come in and take over okay so what I'm saying if y'all not going to hire people that qualify the state need to come in and defund cuz I'm going to start holling but I'm giving you opportunity opportunity to fix it okay i reached out to every one of you board
member email you and everything and I don't call your name but you know each each one of you guys but all I'm saying is I'm I'm vote i'm trying to give you a chance uh Mr uh Superintendent cuz uh like I said everybody deserve a chance but what I'm saying is that don't ignore
my calls brother you emailed me you You gave me a thumbs up i respect you give me a call you didn't okay let's be transparent cuz you know I called Fagens out when she wrong i don't play games but I'm going to give you opportunity to correct this okay you've been in the ditch for a long time i I've been speaking up for you like you know I
think you give you a chance but now don't make me go back on my word cuz I help everybody here get elected cuz you got to see me campaign time miss uh superintendent super Mr true woman I appreciate you cuz you do answer my phone calls but uh just don't like y'all
know who I am now i'm the campaign king so let's get this right when that get your HR right stop blocking folk from getting job black balling me it's not on my record let me let's get this straight okay you have a good day yanda Tate Ron Skyler Deer
Northcross good afternoon um superintendent and board members i am Yolanda Tate i live at 3794 University and I'm here on the behalf of my husband and our team members here about our
impact North Haven community garden now the garden is located at 5375 North Haven so what we are doing is setting up teaching our children where their food comes from because that's a thing they
need to know while they in the grocery store with their mom so we have 5 acres of land as you know that is the 5013 nonprofit organization that resides on those 5 acres so we are reaching out you
reach one and you teach one about altra culture cuz it is it is needed in this world today and I'm here in the behalf of uh North Haven inviting the children the community to know about our garden
out there that is growing out there so that we can sustain and live a healthier life through fresh vegetables and produce that we have here and our garden and at the members and anyone is invited to come to a garden where you can learn
about gardening and how to grow fresh vegetables and fruit and we also give it out free to the community so that is what I'm here for today and I just want to thank you guys for um the
opportunity to stand before this board uh teaching and telling about our community garden at North Haven Elementary thank you good evening uh hello superintendent school board members i know many of you
from when I used to work here but many of you are new so I just want to say welcome um also to the MSCS leadership here i want to thank you uh my name is Ron Skyler and I I am the senior vice president of Goodwill Excel um we had an
item on here that's the item you guys withdrew for for more discussion but I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the board members who don't know me goodwill Excel is an adult high school here in Shelby County currently there are over 120,000 adults
in Shelby County that do not have a high school degree we currently operate one adult high school in Shelby County and it is located at 240 in Perkins and there we provide services between 450 and 500 students at any one time our
school is tuition free we offer free child care and transportation vouchers in our 10 years we have graduated over 1500 students adult students the request that was on the agenda tonight is to expand our foot footprint with two more
schools outside our current zip codes our current service zip codes these new zip codes will include 38108 which is the former Hollywood Elementary School and which is currently the the Promise Academy and the second will be at 38134 the Shelby County
Correctional Center inside the Shelley County Correctional Center there are currently between 500 and 600 detainees who do not have a high school diploma almost all of these detainees lived in Shelby County before their
incarceration and nearly all of them will return to Shelby County upon their release the Excel Center inside the correctional center is true rehabilitation and we believe this will help reduce crime i'm here tonight to answer any questions
and look forward to expanding our already successful partnership thank you miss Deborah Northcross good evening everyone super interim superintendent and board members and the community i am Deborah Northcourse as
you've heard and I'm currently honored to be the board chair of the new ballet ensemble in school and I've been involved with them since 2008 that's 17 years and that's quite a long time for board service i was drawn
to the mission of New Ballet by the founder Katie Smi i was drawn because of its mission which is to bring children and youth together from diverse backgrounds by providing equitable access to excellence in dance training
and that's not just ballet the organization has remained true to its mission over the years in fact I'm more than pleased that New Ballet has contributed to the city with performances throughout the community
school shows within Memphis Shelby County Schools and mentoring and much much more and our plan forward is to grow while Katie Smi will continue to be involved with our growth we have a new
executive director Matthew Best who happens to be an alumnest of New Ballet Ensemble and School it was supposed to be my pleasure to introduce him right now but he's further down on the list for public
comment i arrived a little bit earlier than he did but he will be speaking shortly uh after me but uh he will tell you more about the magic that we create at New Ballet Ensemble and School and what we are so pleased with the
partnership that we have with Memphis Shelby County Schools but thank you for the um opportunity to speak Mark Williams damon damian I'm sorry morris Jason i can't see the last name
uh Mark Williams uh 918 East Dempster Avenue Memphis Tennessee uh and high school is Hollister Price Middle College but I'm here representing SEC because for a few reasons um I believe that since we have a whole bunch of youth here that youth leadership mostly youth
voice is not really represented at all when it comes to this uh school board and what I mean by that is is that I don't really believe that you take into true considerations of what youth want um I mean for example bunch of youth here that you know said things that they
want to change about the school district and what policies they want to you know make sure it doesn't happen and want to fund better things but yet you know of course it's going to take time but I just feel that you don't really value our time and opinion um I believe that we should strengthen the partnerships
within the board and within just overall MSCS i feel we do a poor job at doing that actually um I don't feel that you know youth you know adults value youth time i feel that they it's kind of something like you know hurry up tell me what you got to do instead of you know trying to sit down and talk to them but
again you have a lot of youth voices here um I'm one of them you know I represent SCYC Shelby County Youth Council um I just feel that again we need to prioritize youth voices this is our future in fact when we don't prioritize our future we get something that's happening within a school
district now I'm going to be blunt i'm going to be honest when if we would have prioritized youth voices and what the children need over our own agendas and our own priorities maybe we would not be in a situation like we are in today i thank you for for Thank you for
allow for my public comment damon Curry Morris 1529 Donmore Memphis Tennessee 38114 we going to do a monst between class oh yeah y'all got messed up let me tell you that ain't
no Ain't no I have to do all of that you want to transfer transfer but don't get messed up i want to say something else but I see y'all record is that what y'all
do i bet you so what y'all just heard was um your illustrious principal of South Wind High School so everybody matters it's time i told Nashville last
week's time we got to stop all this we gave everybody a chance for diplomacy the last time this young man stood before you all he had to hear his grandfather be called a
criminal he had to go to school to see his peers tell him his grandfather was dragged out of a meeting all of this matters you all are playing games especially you Natalie McKenna you playing too many
games for me mr mars you can't call names well I'm calling it and my time almost up boy chair you in there too so you you keep your mouth off me you looking at the ghost okay and they say
this is a big rich town and I come from the poorest part good evening jason Murphy 7740 Laores Road i just want to take a a moment if I could just to spotlight and appreciate
two commissioners uh uh that I've seen of late really engage their constituents and my commissioner Commissioner Porter and Commissioner Otay uh I do appreciate the work that you've been putting in um
trying to engage in the tough work that you guys do i also want to uh spotlight um coming to you as a board member of the parent advisory council and I want to invite those that are our parents our
stakeholders and um um and uh parents teachers and stakeholders uh for our exceptional education department we are having a meeting tomorrow Wednesday March 26 at the Memphis Shelby County
School Board uh Boulevard uh 239 2930 Airways Boulevard from 3:30 to 4:30 um I also want to spotlight uh we're having a meeting on the the the
29th for uh parent summit transitional fair at Colonial Middle School on the 29th from 10:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m so uh shout out to the exceptional education department thank you all
mary Calhoun Marva Griffin Matthew Best Stacy Hendris good evening my name is Mara Griffin and I live at 415 Bradwood Avenue and thank you for giving me this opportunity to introduce you to a little
known preventive healthcare benefits program that can add millions of dollars to your annual budget at no out-of- pocket cost to you or your school employees there is a preventive health care program for businesses and organizations that is subsidized through tax incentives that are outlined in the
Affordable Care Act this is a program where organizations can provide benefits to their employees and their families at no out-of- pocket cost to anyone no premiums no co-pays and no deductibles for businesses and organizations offering this program to
their employees it is given a $600 plus dollar FICA tax savings for each employee enrolled each year for example reportedly Shelby County schools have approximately 14,000 full-time employees if correct that would generate approximately $5 million added to the
school budget annually as you may know RFK Jr is the preventive healthcare zar of the Trump administration and he is religiously focused on prevention and this program is he is also promoting my company is B2B connector and I'm acting
as the town crier by asking you to please vet this information by contacting me so that I may share more about how our program can make a noticeable improvement in the financial health of our schools and physical and mental health of its employees to the school board thank you
for your retire your tireless effort to oversee and make crucial decisions about our school districts and ensure the f district's fiscal health and student success thank you and good evening good evening commissioners my name is Matthew Best 1287 Tutmeiler
Avenue uh I have the privilege of being the executive director of New Ballet Ensemble and School you heard from our board chair earlier this evening uh I just want to say thank you um for all of the work over the years allowing us to partner with you all in teaching in public schools for the better part of two decades now uh bring greetings from
our founder and our chief strategy officer Katie Smi um we have enjoyed getting a chance to teach weekly in your schools um it has not been without issue or not been without uh uh things to overcome uh we would love to talk more and create a easier pathway to getting a
master contract so that us and other arts organizations and community partners can serve more efficiently in the schools uh one of the things that's been a little bit of a challenge this year is we've been privileged to be a part of the full service community schools grant and to do work at North Haven and Millington uh unfortunately
just due to some uh hiccups around contracts we were only able to complete about half the year's worth of services at North Haven so I think I've expressed that to several uh board members individually i just wanted to follow up here and just say we would love the opportunity to be able to reach even more kids for us our work is all about access it's all about opportunity and
it's all about making space for students to have access to things they might not otherwise get and so we would love to figure out a way to more um efficiently work with you all so that we can provide even more dance education to to your students thank you so much for the work that you're doing uh we know that it's
not easy um but we are committed to staying in it with you guys and making sure that as many kids as possible have access you're also going to get a chance to hear from principal uh Hendricks at Larose Rose about some of the work that we've been able to do with them over the last several years thank you so much and look forward to continuing to partner with you all uh going
forward good afternoon board commissioners and interim superintendent Richmond and the listening public i would like to take a moment to recognize and celebrate the truly special partnership that New Ballet Academy has with LaRose Community School through their pathways program during my tenure
as principal New Ballet has consistently provided the scholars of Lar Rose with access to dance family engagement and mentoring services this program provides our scholars with an opportunity to experience the arts this school year New Ballet has provided our fifth grade scholars with mentoring opportunities
during lunch our third through fifth grade scholars have a free hiphop class weekly through a partnership with New Ballet and the Women's Foundation we have been able to expand programming into K2 offering them a free creative movement class this year in partnership
with Commissioner McKisik and New Ballet we have been able to cultivate a beautiful dance space where the kids have a place where they can go dance and just it's a wonderful space i would love to invite you all to come and see it um this year programming has been expanded
to prek our prek scholars are picked up every Monday and transported to new um to new ballet directly where they get to participate in a dance class and then they return them to school and so they're already looking forward to being able to continue that programming next school year um our scholars have been
provided with a free opportunity to participate in a dance program this summer again through Pathways everything is of no charge to our families our fifth grade scholars scholars auditioned for City Dance last week 14 of them made it the Larose community is incredibly
grateful for our partnership with New Ballet we appreciate the energy joy and inspiration that the program brings to our school community we hope that a continued partnership in the future will allow our scholars to keep dancing growing and showing the world what the Rose Lions are made of thank you for
your time today thank you all we are now on to committee reports we're done on to the board chair's report this March we celebrate Women's History Month let's remember the incredible strength
resilience and impact of women who have shaped our world from p from pioneers who fought for equity equality to everyone's heroes who inspire us and their stories are a testament to the power of the human spirit let's continue
to uplift and support women by ensuring them to reach their full potential and create an inclusive society for all let's learn from the past celebrate the present and build a brighter future for women
everywhere today I am proud to celebrate the women of our district and the vital role you play in our success happy Women's History Month to you all to us
all please join me in wishing Miss Yolanda Timberlake a very happy birthday on today dr show you did do us the honor of serenating
happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday happy birthday to you now we're on to board members celebration of outstanding some of the
outstanding people in our community we would like to start with our vice chair love and she's recognizing them if I call your name and you're here we ask that you come up to the front board members will you please go down to the front so we can congratulate those that we are honoring
on tonight our first person is Reverend Jose Houston enough time anybody you still with kids the next person for Vice Chair Love is
Miss Yawanda Tate and all those associated with her please come up board members will you please go down to the across the front so we can celebrate and super interim superintendent also please miss Yawanda Tate and the and her
organization is recognition for her significant contributions to the North Haven community miss Tate has made a notable difference by providing free vegetables to the community from her North Haven community food garden her
unselfish endeavors have greatly benefited the community by educating our children on the essential principles of gardening and the operation of a farmers market your contributions have fostered a stronger
more vi more vibrant community thank you what a way to get it okay for board commissioner OT we would like to recognize Mr adrien
[Applause] Mlin mr adrien Mlin well we going to back up for board member love and then we'll come back her other person came in mr reverend I'm so sorry reverend
Jose Houston in recognition of his outstanding service and significant contribution to the North Haven and Woodstock community Reverend Houston has made a remarkable impact through his leadership at Pleasant Chapel Missionary
Baptist Church and Houston Farms and Community Development his initiatives empower our contribution to education and for being selected as a final at the next No that's not
him i'm sorry i'm sorry community with the knowledge and skills necessary for self-sufficiency in agriculture reverend Houston's commitment and passion for fostering positive change and advocating for our students is truly commendable we
honor you today Reverend Houston commissioner Otay would like to recognize Ashton Boswell ashton in recognition of his commendable wrestling skills and unwavering spirit on the wrestling team
at Cordova High School ashton demonstrated exceptional sportsmanship dedication and grit in the on the wrestling team his outstanding performance and a highly contested
bout we are pleased to recognize Ashton Boswell Boswell for winning the 2025 TWWSA Tennessee class doubleA state wrestling championship
[Applause] come on mama is that mama doing the hollering in the audience come on get in this picture come on y'all come on get
in this picture with him [Applause] congratulations Austin congratulations family [Applause] [Music] sag three community advocates is
Courtney Jolly Kamisha Williams and Camila Fran Franchesci are they here in recognition of your unwavering commitment to the champion our community and its students through your impactful contributions to
the learning environment your dedication to supporting our students and providing exceptional service has made a profound impact in our community we extend our appreciation for the impact that SAC 3 which is
self-awareness consultant 3 is making to our students in the Memphis Shelby County Schools miss Courtney Jolly Miss Kamisha Williams and Miss Chamilleia Franceski congratulations
congratulations congratulations thank you board member McKini is next we have Neban Holland come on come on come on nevin
Holly is a teacher at Treadwell Elementary and recognition as the 2025 Tennessee recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching and the Presidential
Award for Excellence in Science Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring issued by former President Joe Biden the award is the highest the highest recognition
bestowed to a K12 STEM teachers in the United States government we congratulate Nevin Holland teacher at Treadwell Elementary [Applause]
come back no no no real quick I promise real quick i just wanted to say that this is a testament to what it looks like for teamwork where you had the leadership support of principal Carr who believed in this teacher Nevin Holland and worked
with him to make sure that these students got what they needed and they're doing well and he was recognized for that when I met these young people and he walked into the door they were like ah that's what we want to see we want to see them supported and thank you
Mr holland thank you Principal Carr for making sure that our students are happy in what they're learning and they're getting what they need so thank [Applause] you and while we're recognizing we also recognizing Principal Jason Carr from
Treadwell Elementary School also in recognition of his visionary leadership unwavering guidance and dedication with which played an instrumental role in Mr holland being selected as a national recipient for the
highest prestige presidential award for STEM education issued by former President Joe Biden your unwaving commitment to teachers and students success and collaborative spirit have made a profound impact mr carr we
talking about you we express our gratitude for the significant impact you have made on our students in the Memphis Shelby County Schools community our next is in honor of board member Murphy Miss Raven Marshall Lewis
she's not with us today she's president and c CEO of Miss South Premier Pre Preschool Academy in recognition of her unwavering dedication and profound impact on the lives of children and families with Miss South Premier
Preschool Academy your commitment to fostering nurturing and enriching environment for early childhood education is truly commendable for district nine is Dr renee Meeks with
us dr meeks the principal at Seal Elementary in recognition of your visionary leadership dedication and unwavering commitment we proudly honor you today dr me has played has played an
instrumental role in the education of our students and has made an extraordinary impact as a published author as a published author of a children's book her participation in a free book event where she generously
provided signed copies of for our students demonstrate her commitment to nurturing a love for reading and learning we extend our deepest gratitude for the lasting impact Dr meis has made on our students and the broader Memphis Shelby
County community just a couple of more the next one Miss Sabora Gray miss Gray come on down and you can Principal Robinson you can come on down with her wooddale High
School Miss Gray in recognition of Miss Gray outstanding dedication contributions and passion for education we proudly recognize her as a teacher the band director at Wooddale High School miss
Gray has taken great pride in building five awardwinning band programs showcasing her commitment for to fostering growth and excellence in her students her tireless efforts and dedication are evident in everything she
does we express our heartful heartfelt gratitude for the significant impact she has made on our students and the Memphis Chevy County community and our last but certainly not least Miss Alicia Prior
i'mma do this without crying miss Prior recently suffered a stroke the couple of days before spring break she suffered a stroke no she does not look like what
she's been through [Applause] she was having a fit to get back to school board member McKenna i I have her permission to say what I'm about to
say miss Prior goes through Dallas treatments at night so she can come to school and work with the babies in the daytime this is what you call dedication to making sure our children receive what
they need every [Applause] day when I went over last week to check on her she was checking on me that's the dedication
that she has and we honor her tonight thank you Miss Prior thank you thank you thank you thank you all 8.2 we are now on to academic performance committee
report i'm sorry i'd like to recognize superintendent did we have anything that you needed to add for the committee report otherwise I don't have anything added no all right thank you 8.3 budget audit and finance yes we did
meet uh with the committee and came up with some great ideas and we look forward to our budget retreat on tomorrow thank you time is from 9:00 a.m speaking of for the for the young children that want to get added to the budget committee uh they're at 9:00 a.m so just be prepared
for that they're not even in here so they gone charter schools committee report there's no report we are now on to community outreach and engagement committee report um we discuss family and community
engagement and everything is online evaluation committee report there's no report policy governance and legislation committee report thank you chair um I'd like to invite the Shelby County Youth
Council to come up they We Are they here shelby County Youth Council we have representatives here i believe it's supposed to be Kaia Harris Zachary Harris and Javon White are you all
here come on up all right so I want to give a little context on Saturday February 15th a couple of the board members myself and um board member Porter attended the 2025 Youth Voice Summit at Bridges which was sponsored by
both the Shelby County Youth Council and the Memphis Youth City Council and that's where they brought a lot of the um city and county leaders together to meet with youth and constituents and hear their thoughts insights and solutions on issues impacting young
people in our community so tonight we have three representatives we have um Kaia Harris kaia can you all right kaia attends Bartlett High School Zachary Harris who attends Lakeland High School and Javon am I saying that right javon White who attends the medical district
high school so they will be presenting some solutions that they came up with during that summit um and and so I will leave it all to you and I we do have the one pager and all the board members have it all right thank you uh good afternoon school board members um I'm Zachary
Harris of course um 477 North Fifth Street can Can you turn the mic on for him please we can't hear my fault um good afternoon school board members i'm Zachary Harris um 477 North Fifth Street uh I go to Lakeland
Preparatory School i'm Ka Harris 477 North Fifth Street and I go to Bartlett High School i'm Javon White 477 North Fifth Street and I go to Medical District High School um and we are the Shelby County
Youth Council we are youth council made up of high school youth who aim to amplify youth voices for every county district and hold our government representatives accountable to listen to the youth represent youth they represent first off we'd like to thank the district connector program for collaborating with us and helping us
formulate our thoughts throughout the school year and we also like to thank Shelby County Commissioners and school course of school board members and uh school board member McKenna and Porter um for showing up and showing out to the SH County Youth Council voice youth
voice summit this year which was a huge success with a turnout of over 250 youth and 15 elected officials and government staff so we are all here today because we are aware that youth are very aware of the political decision that significantly
impact our future so it is crucial for youth like us to be active in active participants in shaping the policies that affect them on behalf of the youth we would like to represent following up um a few things about the work that we did this year in the Shelby County/M
Memphis area so directing your attention towards the recommendations on the sheet in front of you um these recommendations are of a diverse group of youth including solutions that they would like to see um which they believe would better improve their community and schools some of those topics are such
things such as enhancing educational experiences funding for mental health and school resources and strengthening student and staff partnership we strongly advocate for these recommendations because these are the voices of over 250 youth and all those voices hold strong importance in the
community's future also we would like to invite the board members to an SYC meeting and youth and adult equity meeting so finding a time to schedule to follow up with each and every one of you so that we could strengthen our partnership between the council and the school board members thank you for listening and considering the voices of
Shelby County's last Memphis year and thank you again for giving us the time today we'll also love to continue working with you and help improve our lives in youth in Shelby County thank you for that do any of the board members have any questions or comments
no so uh thank you guys for coming i did enjoy myself you guys had some great ideas um looking forward to the continued collaboration and it's let's continue collaboration continue partnership as well but thank you guys for having the courage to bring all those elected officials together and just let your voice be heard so thank
you again um I was not able to make it due to some other things but I wanted to uh stress my appreciation for working with mental health and school resources that's one of my big pet peeves with making sure that we are okay all the way around the board so I appreciate that and I
appreciate what you've done thank you all right i I want to say that again I appreciated that summit that was um I was in a room full of youth who were very engaged from I think I had an elementary student all the way up to high school and what I heard and what I
think I committed to is what you all are holding us accountable to even with the youth who came earlier before you you all want to know about our budgeting process you all want to be involved in how we allocate resources to ensure that they support you where you need them and
you want them so one of the things that um I think we're talking about committing to is figuring out and hold us accountable how do we engage you all in that process we need to work together to figure that out and also just to FYI um I believe there's a piece of
legislation right now up in Nashville that is going to make it a requirement for a student board representative So that is something that I'm extremely excited about um under Legacy Memphis Shelby County Schools we did have a student board representative and that
was something that I really wanted to push for when I got on this board so now I think that will that will be I'm going to hope that that's a priority for this board to make sure that we work on how we get a student representative on this board and how we build that feedback
loop so that you all can help us inform policy and how we do our budget to make sure we're getting resources to you all to get to so that you can do what you need to do and do the best that you can do so thank you for this keep holding us accountable
okay thank you yes ma'am one last thing i did I did want to say I just had a meeting with Mr harris uh a couple weeks ago and I'm um very grateful for you guys and excited for you guys to be participating in the democratic process um you guys are doing an amazing job and just want to thank you for your leadership and looking forward to do
more more events with you guys in the next couple weeks so thank you for that of course thank you procure procurement committee report everything that procurement talked about in the committee meeting is
on the agenda we are now on to general counsel report thank you chair no report this evening we are now on to interrum superintendent report yes good evening Madame Chair board members and community members uh thank
you for the opportunity to share highlights from across Memphis Shelby County Schools as part of tonight's superintendence report we remain focused aligned and committed to ensuring that every decision we make advances academic excellence equity and student center
growth but before I begin tonight I'd like to recognize and wish all of the amazing MSCS women please stand we want to celebrate you all board members MSCS employees we want to celebrate you all
for Women's History [Applause] Month thank you for your hard work and missiondriven approach to serving our students tonight I'm pleased to lift several key updates that reflect both
the heart and the impact of our work so thank you thank you all very much first we start with student voice and representation earlier this month I had the distinct pleasure of seeing our students in action not in the classroom but at the state capital a cohort of
MSCS student ambassadors travel to Nashville to engage directly with lawmakers and educational leaders on the issues that matter most to them i want to thank UEA uh Miss Marble and Dr stokes if you all please would you stand
i want to thank you all for taking those students taking time out to prepare the students tonight thank you very very much for what you all did thank you these young leaders advocated for equity access and opportunity with a
level of courage and clarity that should make all of us proud their voices reflected the promise of tomorrow and it reaffirmed that when we center students in our work we shape policy through purpose and progress so thank you
students you all did a great job [Applause] tonight next strengthening family engagement through Let's Talk uh we continue to prioritize transparent and equitable communication with families our Let's Talk platform approved by this
board is now fully live and available 247 it allows parents and guardians to ask questions offer feedback and engage with the district in real time across over 40 languages questions like when are report cards going out or
how can I request a transfer are now answered more efficiently than ever this is a step toward increasing trust and ensuring that our families are not left behind in the flow of information next prioritizing Safe
365 as safety remains a top priority our Safe 365 task force in partnership with the Memphis Police Department and Shelby County Sheriff's Office continues to work to refine emergency response strategies and to protect our schools
and communities we meet bi-weekly also we also held inservice training with our school resource officers to sharpen campus safety protocols and to ensure all students and staff feel secure safety is not just a reaction it's a
responsibility and we're treating it as such i want to thank uh Director Riley all of our SRO's all of our screeners i met with them a couple of weeks ago to let them know how much we appreciate what they do each and every day to keep our schools safe next academic growth
and recognition stating the facts our momentum is strong mscs received zero audit findings and clean opinions for four consecutive years a powerful testament to our financial
stewardship i want to thank uh Mr tito Langston Mrs leslie Nighting and the entire finance department let's give them a round of [Applause]
applause we're also fully accredited by Cogna and I want to thank both past and present uh academic senior leaders uh for maintaining a level five uh invas growth designation the highest available
for three straight years let's give our academic department both past and present a round of applause our graduation rates have increased from 80.1% in 2022 to 83.4 in 2024 and our ready graduate rate rose
from three 36.6 uh 13 points over the last two years finally I'm proud to report that 81 of our schools improved their state letter grades from 2022 23 to 23 2023 24 um
that's a district-wide lift and one that speaks to the daily dedication of our educators support staff and families we appreciate you all also I want to want you to recognize our new tagline as we move forward will
be greatness grows here want to thank our communications department for that lock in and level up as we gear for TCAP season we're inviting families and schools to participate in our lock in and level up events energizing efforts
that focus on academic achievement student readiness and family engagement take a look at the invitation on the screen and let's check out a special video county Schools get ready to lock in and level up it's TECAP kickoff time
we're talking delicious food awesome games and giveaways mscs departments will be there with information tables just for you and don't miss our awesome bands and dance teams but wait there's more the Safe and Supportive Families
Expo with over 40 community organizations and vendors all here to support you and your family connect learn and celebrate let's power up for TECAP lock in level up and let's go memphis Shelby County Schools get
ready to lock in and level up it's TCAP kickoff time we're talking delicious food awesome games and giveaways msc I want to thank uh Dr whitelaw and our communications team i want to thank Dr whitaw for taking the lead her and
her team on the lock in and level up and I want to thank our communications team for a wonderful uh video thank you all for the work you continue to do to spotlight our [Applause] district looking ahead for our
202526 calendar and beyond as a reminder the academic calendar uh has been released i want to thank the board for your partnership in ensuring alignment uh with our community's needs and in closing we often say that greatness grows here and tonight you can see that
it does uh from the capital to the classroom from safety to student support from fiscal excellence to academic achievement our district is rising as we as we are and we're doing it with a clear commitment to transparency service
and student success thank you for your continued leadership and support together we're writing the new chapter or the next chapter for MFCS and it's one of excellence equity and hope thank you for your steadfast dedication as we continue to make Memphis Shelby County
Schools the number one urban district in the nation thank you thank you Dr richmond we are now on to unfinished business 9.1 proposed policy second reading
i'm sorry Miss Stewart thank you um Dr richmond um commissioners um during the last board meeting you asked that we bring the policies back before you for um consideration we have two policies
actually tonight that we would like to present the first one is policy number 4014 accidents on the job we've already discussed the policies um but I can provide you with a brief recap of 4014
we are proposing renaming the policy to on the job injury we clarify in the revisions that OJI benefits are strictly for injuries or illnesses sustained within the scope of district employment we've also extended the time frame for
reporting an OGI from the same day to within 24 hours of the injury we also clarify that medical expenses um medical expense coverage is generally limited to one year in accordance with with the state law we also make OJI benefits
available to all employees if they are injured as a result of a violent criminal act in accordance with state law currently in our policy we state that it's only available to teachers but the law changed last year so we need to
make that specific res revision also we are proposing revisions to policy number 603 confidential student information and that's just to bring the policy into alignment with state law are there any
questions thank you Miss Stewart this is for second reading and approval oh we need a motion and a second a mot I move to adopt this resolution it's been moved by Commissioner Murphy
second by Vice Chair Love roll call vote please board member Porter yes board member Murphy I board member Love I board member McKenna
board member Otay i board member Williams hi board chair Coleman i Chair Coleman you have six eyes we have six eyes that motion passes no we are now on to the consent agenda
are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda i know board member Kenny had two yes i believe it was item 11.7 and 11.18 11.7 and
11.18 to be removed from the consent agenda 11.1 Approval knowledge tree summer learning academy supplies $425,60 11.2 Two approval Tennessee Prevention Network amendment TPN
$15,20 a 11.3 approval CCTE technology equipment $244,135 11.4 Four approval funding agreement between City of Memphis Housing and Community Development and
MSCS no dollar amount 11.5 Approval of cosmetology and barbering equipment purchases $134,427.97 11.6 approval Shelby County government pre-trial services
no dollar amount 11.7 is removed 11.8 approval bottle bottled water purchase master distribution $132,90 11.9 Grant acceptance the community foundation of Greater Memphis
Barish Chapel School $24,959.40 11.10 10 approval food food management systems $227,25 11.11 approval refrigeration monitoring
equipment $827,854 112 approval chiller preventive maintenance contract $174,430 $30 11.13 denial property reversion clause
former Graceland Elementary School land 11.14 purchase approval maintenance department utility trucks $847,495 11.15 approval Germantown High School
fire systems upgrade 986,775 11.16 approval of White Station High School auditorium sound system and stage lighting upgrades $257,37820 26
11.17 has been removed no I'm sorry 11.18 is removed 11.17 approve a resolution declaring review of the Shelby County Board of Education Policy Manual
11.18 is removed approve a resolution opposing changes in elected school board's authority is removed huh that's why I said 18 is removed
11.19 we've got two different sets of numbers going on which which number did you actually want removed yeah our numbers are not the same what is the title of yours okay okay so it's 11.19 on ours it's got
It's 11.19 on mine i apologize yeah our numbers are one off from yours mine's different okay 11.19 11 on my paper it's 11.19 on some people's paper it's one point the one that we're
removing is the approval of strengthening governance through collaboration resolutions is that the one we're removing correct okay 11.18 11.18 resolution opposing changes in elected school boards authority
that's it it stays on 11.20 do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda motion a sec oh second okay motion by Commissioner Otay second by Commissioner
Vice Chair Love roll call vote board member Porter yes board member Murphy i board member Love i board member McKenna i board member Otay
i board member Williams i board Chair Coleman i chair you have seven eyes point of order i just want to make sure cuz one of the resolutions will not was not read into the consent agenda and
that was the board of education resolution to support first aid Memphis prek for all initiative it's not on the screen it's not on here it's on our agenda online
no it is not it needs to be added the number online is 1.19 11.19 i think that's what we were missing commissioner McKenna yeah that's the only one that we're missing
okay the consent agenda is approved with now we will add 11.19 the approval of the Chevy County Board of Education resolution to support first
aid Memphis prek for all initiative i move that we approve 11.19 second vice Chair Love did you have a question no second she second i know she did i'm Thank you
roll call vote mr jenkins board member Porter yes board member Murphy i board member Love hi board member McKenna i board member Otay i board member Williams i board
Chair Coleman i chair you have seven eyes that motion is adopted we're now on to our strategic allocations item 11.7 and 119 okay we go back to request for action
11.7 and 11 19 or 18 118 four 11.7 first board member McKenna yes I'd like to get some more information about the Goodwill Excel Center Mids South
um item please dr richmond yes board member McKenna uh do you want that information today or would you like for us to bring that item back to committee meeting i'd actually I know that there's some um
urgency and I want to be clear about the funding issue with this so is there a way for us to have more discussion around this or is this something I can have uh Mr langston okay uh to answer for you regarding funding okay
[Music] thank you Dr richmond uh board member McKini so to you asked if there's more time so I did speak with uh Mr skylar who spoke during public comment today to let him know that we would um like to push the item for the board's
consideration um for um if the board if it's the board's will possibly a special call meeting but what's under consideration is what I wanted to to to inform the board so with contract schools just like Goodwill Excel and the way we receive funding as a district we
receive funding on the prior year's enrollment so all of our students who are currently enrolled in our district now the funding that we give for the 26 school year will be um based on the students that are in place now so um
Goodwill Excel is asking the board to expand to two zip codes and with that they're asking for a 300 seats with those 300 seats um within the first year um with th with the seating the fund there's no funding for the first year
because again those adult students aren't with us today so when those 300 adult students show up anytime after July 1 as a board or a school district we will be funding those 300 students from our budget in our general fund for
that first year and if the funding is anywhere in the neighborhood of about $10,000 per adult student the way you get the $10,000 is one you're going to get the base funding for TISA which um I'm excited to talk to you guys about tomorrow which is $72.95 per uh pupil
for the base funding as well as the local funding that we get from the Shelby County Commission which is your education fund your sales tax um your mixed drinks tax um so on and so forth that so that equates to about $10,000 per pupil so if you're doing easy math
if they receive 300 students next year times 10,000 we're talking about from us that'll be $3 million that we will have to provide upfront funding for those adult um students in addition to that um Goodwill Excel they offer the in-person
version of adult students obviously as a district we offer virtual adult students as well um and in any given time when we open do open enrollment for our adult students we have about a 500 waiting list as well so we already um have to
frontload our own stu our own adult education students from a virtual capacity just remember if you're keeping count for every student and it's just a way that the BE was the same way it's based on prior year enrollment tissa is the same way it's based on prior year
enrollment so um every time if it's whether it's a K12 or an adult student if they show up and they weren't accounted for in prior year's data then as a district we would have to fund the first year of of that if it makes sense
so given that and the um the fiscal impact I'd like to propose to the f our my fellow board members that we get a better idea of what this looks like and perhaps we can come up with something creative so that it's not as much front
loading particularly since I'm not we're not clear until tomorrow what our budget um is going to look like for the upcoming year so I do think there's an opportunity for us to have a win-win situation we just need to figure out what that is and to your point I think that if once we get that explanation we
can um I would like to propose to my fellow board members that we could have a special call meeting so that we don't um prevent the school from moving forward for the next school year what by what date are they saying they need to response
[Music] so they haven't given any exact date but obviously um again there's two things that's uh for consideration with item 11.7 there's two zip codes that they want to expand in one being 38134 that's
in a penal form there's about a 600 waiting list of penal form uh inmates if you will that is could be up for consideration they're asking for 300 uh students for next year again which is why I'm getting to the $3 million in addition to that they're asking for the
other zip code that is the former Hollywood building so if and when that comes back up for consideration if that zip code is also improved is approved not it wasn't it won't have an impact on next year's budget but the previous year's budget that they're trying to expand for that as well so there is a
statute um uh there's a state statute that says that if you approve the expansion of the zip code then we would have to provide the first year's funding so that's why I wanted to inform the board um tomorrow obviously with our budget conversations we'll have a budget conversation talking about where we are
as a district with our budget and give you the opportunity to decide what you want to do in terms of and expansion when you look at our budget first thank you Dr richmond and Tito i think that um it would be incumbent upon us to
to explore our options and and then come back thank you also the board we we'd like to let you all know about the uh reversion uh we also have to consider that these two things are interconnected uh the
reversion is the selling of Hollywood uh where promise is the Hollywood facility as well as you all voting on this particular item so we wanted to talk to you all more about those two items possibly bring it to a committee meeting
following up with that committee meeting we could do a special call meeting if necessary to vote on those two items together i already approved one just a minute ago in the consent agenda
did you say something ap yes it's April 8th board member Murphy I forgot to turn my light off but I think you asked the question you answered my question you asked my question already i was just looking at the time frame in which we need to have
this done vice Chair Love what happens if we don't approve the contract thank you very much answer that for me Mr l
great question Miss Lo Vice Chair Love so if we don't approve the contract then Goodwill Excel wouldn't be allowed to expand um in those um zip codes so what I can tell you is that um in full transparency they have a grant of about
I believe $12 million to expand u both of these zip codes with that grant i think I'm not sure I don't want to speak out of term but what I remember is a lot of it is for infrastructure but maybe there's an opportunity to negotiate if you will 300 to me is quite a bit of
seats from a fiscal impact but maybe there's an opportunity to do some kind of negotiations where um we can after having discussions with our board tomorrow about where we are as a district with our budget if there's something that you guys would be um willing to approve based on where we
fall with our budget i would like to view the facilities index on that building and see what um a work needs to be done on that building miss Love if I understand you correctly
are you particularly talking about the Hollywood building yes with that that now Promise Academy is in yes ma'am board member Williams when do you receive the money from these the TISA that would include those schools and how long do we hold it before we give it to
them if it's theirs when will we receive the money that will service all of those students whether they are at at that facility or with Shelby County Schools and when do we pass it on langston thank you Borman Williams so again as I alluded
to right now Goodwill Excel currently um they educate 431 adult students um and that those numbers are based on the prior year numbers they're getting and it's just a pass through we get the money from revenues because those students were there last year and we
passing it on to them from last year however they're asking for an expansion of 300 students those students would wouldn't be reflected in the data until next year which we're on a year lag of when we receive funding so what happens again if 300 students show up to
Goodwill Excel in these two zip codes next year as a district we will be funded for the first year for Goodwill Excel and they won't we won't receive money from the state until the following year to pay for those 300 students so it's always a lag year so we're not expected to pay them before we receive
the money yes if you if you approve this item today you're approving that we're going to upfront fund them because of the state statute suppose they go out of business the following year if they go out of then if they go out of business the following year then you wouldn't
receive any funding for those students so we would have lost a million dollars well I wouldn't say you would lost you would have just funded the students for the first year of $3 million but we're funding them based based upon when the money comes in to be funded i don't know
why we would fund them before we receive any money so that's that's that's what's the that's what the discussion is about so unfortunately right now we're always going to even with our own students for the first year the way the current funding model works even with prior BEP
the first year of any student showing up that wasn't in the prior year's data we're always going to have to fund for the first year um the only true up that we do with the state is with obviously if we receive ASD students back but those students are in our data already and we it's a pass through to the state
with charter schools we have a trueup as well but that's a student to student ratio and the the difference is that if a charter school receives um if they receives an increase in enrollment we pass money on to them in the same year but the reverse is also different if
they receive a decrease in enrollment we pass less money on to them so again it's always a lag year and if again if if approved the way it's set uh set for now then we will be spending $3 million out of our budget to fund the first year for
goodwill seal board member McKenna would you object to us taking this back to committee no I think the timing is we I think it's April 8th is our next committee and if once we have a discussion we could probably do a special call you think
yeah we can okay okay thank you without objection we will refer this one back to committee so we have more time to have a discussion of there being no objection if there being no okay 12.1 deny property reversion clause former Graceland Elementary
School land we have one other one before 118 depending on what you have 11.18 board member McKenna thank you that's the resolution of the Shelby County Board of Education advancing cross- sector and community partnerships through collaboration and accountability
i just wanted to pull that out because I wanted to thank both board member Otay and board member Porter for um bringing this and um bringing this to us and helping us work through it and I'd like to um add my name to this resolution
can we have a motion and a second to adopt it a motion second motion by Vice Chair Love second by uh board member Porter roll call vote
please board member Porter board member Murphy pass board member Love hi board member McKenna yes
board member Otay yes board member Williams yes board Chair Coleman yes board member Murphy present no vote i don't have that chair
you have six eyes one present not voting that motion passes the motion is adopted now are we now on to 12.1 denial property reversion clause former Graceland Elementary School land
superintendent yes Miss Stewart would you explain uh the reversion for the Graceland yes sir um this is board members um this is the item we discussed in committee
about the Graceland former Graceland Elementary land only it's 13 acres um every property we sell has a reversion clause that says that if um a purchaser a purchaser tells us their proposal and
if that proposal changes after they buy the property we have the right to take the property back um in this specific instance the uh South Memphis Renewal Community Development Corporation purchased the land with the proposal to
develop uh mixed income housing um the South Memphis CDC is a nonprofit organization that was going to develop this uh mixed income single family housing they were not able to start that development their time runs out in November um they are trying to transfer
the land to Baroo Properties baroo Properties is a for-profit entity who wants to build single family housing market rate not mixed income so that is a change in what the purchaser proposed
and so we're bringing this item to you with the recommendation to deny the request to wave the reverter so basically what we're asking is to not grant the request to wave the reverter to not let South Memphis CDC transfer
the property to the for-profit developer and instead in November if they still haven't started development we then have the right to take the property back and then we can sell it ourselves and Baroo can then bid and purchase the property
from us board member Williams take the property back would we have to give them their money back that they invested in it with us no sir we would no sir board member
McKenna i make a motion to accept the administration's recommendation to deny the um reverter waiver vice Chair Love I second that thank you roll call vote please
board member Porter yes board member Murphy pass board member Love I board member McKenna i board member Otay i board member
Williams i board member Murphy i board chair Coleman i chair you have seven in the U you have seven eyes thank you we have seven eyes that motion passes now we're on to our strategic
allocations approval resolution approving MSCS board member strategic school fund allocations for March 2025 the dollar amount is $103,785 i have a motion and second to approve
um it seems that my district has been left off i want to um give $2,000 to Lucy E Campbell lucy Lucy E
Campbell for teacher incentives um for student incentives and for the PTA $5,000 for the PTA so you giving 25,500 or
2,000 500 for the PTA and the rest of it for student incentives and teacher incentives okay total 2000 total 2,000 okay
15 okay family and community engagement not PTA okay our new total is $15,785 for strategic school fund allocations may I
have a motion and second chair uh was this the last time for allocations okay cuz two of mine wasn't added it's Kirby High School in German are you how much for Kirby um Kirby High
yes ma'am kirby High School i'll just put $5,000 okay and Germany Elementary 6,700 6700 mhm okay board member board member love your
light is on board member Otay how much money do I have mine is not on here yeah give $250 to all elementary schools for
teacher appreciation day give $300 to all middle schools besides Woodstock Middle and give $500
to all high schools including Tresvent i have it board member vice chair love I'm sorry board member McKenna may I make a suggestion for our
consideration is there any way for us to um get a little leeway for some of the board members so they can be know what their amounts are and can give it to their schools if you can get it done to Karen by tomorrow you can call Karen and ask her
how much and we will update it on the website if you can do that if you have to be approved any increase will have to be approved so is that something we can add to special call meeting we No what we'll do is when at our at our April meeting when we approve
the agenda we will make the corrections to the dollar amount thank you gotcha thank you okay so call Karen tomorrow and ask her how much do you have and you can allocate I'll give her yours tomorrow morning and you can do that and
then at our uh April meeting we will update the totals um I want to make an exception excluding Lucy E campbell and Woodstock Middle
School i got because I gave him some fun okay so the strategic allocations will be updated and it will be read into record in our Mar um
April in our April uh business meeting if you want okay we're going to approve the dollar amount that we have up until this the 103,000 We're going to we're going to approve that and then everything that we add
we'll add it on to it in our uh next meeting okay yeah i just just tell Karen tomorrow okay okay i just want to make sure that they'll be able to get it in time they will okay thank you just call her as
early as tomorrow all right okay that's it i think that's it we need a motion may I have a motion and a second to approve the $103,785 motion second motion by Vice Chair Love second by board member Otay roll call
vote please board member Porter yes board member Murphy i board member Love i board member McKenna i board member Otay I board member Williams hi board chair
Coleman i chair you have seven eyes that motion passes me and no further business this meeting is adjourned thank you have a good night