Thirty PM meeting, board meeting for the Rutherford County School District. We'll be opening the meeting with a brief moment of silence or prayer and the pledge of allegiance to The United States flag. No one is required to participate or be present for any of these, and being in this portion of the meeting is completely voluntary. Before I hand it over to miss Rosales who has our prayer and pledge, I wanna say, that we lost, one of our own, mister Traley, has lost his mother this week, and please be in prayer for her. Yes. Bow your heads with me, please. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be here one more day.
We thank you for how good you are to us and how loving and kind you are. Thank you, Lord, that you hear our prayers. And, Lord, I just wanna lift up Trele's, family as they're having to deal with the devastating loss of their mother. I pray that you will comfort them and bring them peace in spite of the pain that they're going through right now. Lord, I just wanna pray as we're gathered here to make decisions on behalf of so many that are impacted, students, families, and teachers and administration. Lord, give us wisdom in the sermon as we go about in making these decisions.
We humble ourselves before you, and we thank you for all that you do for us. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. First up, we have the approval of the agenda. Any comments or questions? Move to approve approval. Thank you, mister Vaught. I'm sorry. Mister Vaught. Go ahead. We did remove the, Kiddom bid like we talked about last week.
Okay. Or on Tuesday. So we have a motion from mister Vaught, seconded by mister Vaught. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next, we have the approval of the consent agenda. Any comments or questions there? So moved. Okay. Thank you, mister Vaught. Thank you, mister Vaught. And doctor Sullivan? We have added a nepotism for Rebecca Larson whose mother will also be teaching at Poplar Hill Middle School. So you have that below if it's been added. Okay. All in favor say, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next, we have public comment. And we have two speakers this evening.
First up, we have mister Terry Letterman. Thank you, sir. Good evening. I've appeared before speaking to you about Smyrna High School, and I'm back for the same reason. Today, I'm gonna talk to you about the experience my son has had being bullied and traumatized by an assistant coach and one of his favorite bowlers. He'll tell you more about it, but basically, the assistant coach Donnie Richardson used information in a confidential court order given to the school and distributed that information to people that were not authorized. Not only is that a violation of a court order, it's also a violation of
HIPAA and FERPA. Not to mention professional and ethical standards. Assistant director Michael Wright and assistant principal Billy Harris stonewalled our complaints before trying to bully and intimidate us at himself. Smyrna has repeatedly failed to report scoring averages as all other Rutherford bowling teams do, middle school and high school. Smyrna said that Richardson, the same coach, had lost all the records for the past five seasons. All of them. The athletic director had no copies of any of it. Wright, you know what? Sir. Can I ask that I don't know what you're going to say, but could you
refrain from saying any student's name? Oh, I haven't. Okay. Thank you. Wright unilaterally stated that Smyrna considered the matter closed, and no documentation would be provided. Hint, spoiler, it was this week, Tuesday night. Last month, same coach, Richardson escalated the situation with help from his boy foot boyhood best friend, Randy Toombs. And Donnie retaliated by falsifying scoring records for two bowlers resulting in a recognition for his favorite bowler, the same one that was the bully, and denying the recognition to
my son. Now this is not about recognition. My son has plenty of that. K? This is about what's right, and instead getting petty vindictive behavior from coaches that should be held to a higher standard. Speaking of that wisdom that was mentioned in the prayer, speaking of integrity, these are things we look to in our coaches. We want them to lead by example. But why is Richardson, a non faculty assistant coach with no employment status with Rutherford Schools, given complete control of an entire athletic program at Smyrna High School without oversight
despite repeated complaints and accusations going back sixteen months to some people in this room? Instead, he got nominated by Smyrna High School for a state of Tennessee assistant coach of the year award for winter sports, and it was announced on Smyrna High School's social media to date. How can this community trust the Smyrna coaches and athletic administrators in this situation? Will Rutherford Schools continue to allow coaches to manipulate student athletes' futures and scholarship offers by falsifying or even with holding, as they did in this case for the last
five years, statistics. I propose that this board create a website on the RC school's domain where they can host records for for sports that are underrepresented, like bowling, archery, things like that, not covered on max preps. I've extended some other requests, and it's up to you what you'd like to do with that. Thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. Our next speaker is mister Eric Martin. Goof restow. Good evening. Thank you for your time tonight. I'm currently a student at Smyrna High School. I know that my dad has spoken to you previously and just now about my
experiences at Smyrna High School. And counseling has helped me confront and process another the negative experiences that I have had at Smyrna High School. From bullying to intimidation to retaliation, I have had to confront not only classmates and teammates, but also coaches and athletic directors and principals. I was repeatedly demeaned, called names, and told to kill myself before by teammates and people that I trusted, all because Donnie had told the teammate that I was at therapy when we had practice one day. And I was betrayed by the school personnel that I was taught to trust.
For too long, the voices of victims have been silenced by symbols of authority. When victims speak out, we are often overwritten and told that what happened. Well, it didn't. Nine months after we complained, athletic director Billy Wright and assistant principal assistant director assistant principal Billy Wright and athletic director, mister Wright, ambushed my dad and I by demanding that we attend a meeting at the school. When we arrived, I was basically told, get it get right or get out, that
I would not be part of the program if I spoke about anything that involved bullying or bullying or intimidation. If I wanted to stay on the team, I could not speak out. This was after three practices, which meant that I could not transfer schools and maintain my eligibility for this year. I was forced to bowl next to people who had bullied me without the concerns ever being addressed by the team, the school, or the district. I responded with my best season fueled by my anger and disappointment by nobody doing anything about my concerns or speaking out.
And I was stuck in that toxic culture. I did my best and was recognized by my true teammates and even mentioned in the Rutherford County Schools podcast for my leadership and ability to help teammates improve and make situations better. Sadly, after the season, Donnie falsified our scoring our scoring records to ensure that an award made it to another bowler. I respect my teammates' bowling ability, and this is not about the award itself, but about the fact that they lied to put another bowler up and put me down. What is happening at Smyrna High School is simply not right. The bowling program is toxic, corrupt, and not right.
The betrayal continued today when it was announced that Donnie was was announced. Assistant winter sports coach of the year. After everything that has happened, for the school to say that Donnie has brought them pride that Smyrna makes my stomach churn. I I ask that this board, doctor Sullivan, and mister Harris take swift and appropriate action to change the environment and culture of the of the bowling team and athletic leadership at Smyrna High School. Thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. Next up, we have the RC difference. Mister Creasy, mister Evans, I think y'all both are doing this one. Correct? And so this is something the SCOPE student congress and policies in education is something
that I normally am a presenting member with this year. TOS had our annual conference the exact same dates and so I wasn't able to be a part of this. But it is where our boards aware is Tennessee School Board Association and TOS host this together. And so we have students from our high schools that present and I'll kinda let you guys talk and explain their experience. So we have three items tonight that we're recognizing for the RCS difference, which is the new, title of this section of the agenda because we're trying to make sure that we highlight the the things that make our schools different and our student achievement
is one of those, of course. So mister Creasy is going to talk about this our scope delegates. We're also, Lee Ramsey back here has some students from the DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution, who won an essay contest. And then, of course, we're gonna do our staff awards with our spot friend from Sonic. We'll do those there at the end of those. So, mister Christie, it's all yours. Thank Thanks, sir. Thank you, Boar. Thank you, doctor Solon. I had the privilege of taking 24 of our wonderful students to, Belmont to participate in SCOPE. It was a fun field packed day.
They do a great job with this program. Our students, performed very well and made Rutherford County very proud. We have one student that I'm gonna ask to come up and just talk a little bit about her experience here in just a second. Emily Bird from Eagleville. She was voted as the first vice president for the SCOPE conference for so she'll be serving, this coming year. But what the students had to do is that was in general session when they first got there that day, and then they broke off into groups. And they were able then to 16 groups, I believe. And they were given four different topics to, debate and learn about.
And then in the afternoons, they come back and they would have a debate upon the stage, the pros and cons of that. And the four topics that they had this year, one is, that's at that's in the state board of education right now was the world language graduation requirement shall be an elective. Then they debated the ACT shall be substituted for end of course examinations. Students should have the option of sub substituting club sports, meaning kickball, club soccer, water polo for physical education requirements. And then the fourth one was all students shall be required to to participate in
at least one extracurricular activity per year. So each group then, they chose the leader to get up on the stage to represent the their particular group and debate, like I said, debate the pros and the cons. And we had two students actually chosen to represent Rutherford County. One was from, Central Magnet School and mister Gamble, John Gamble. And then I said I already, Emily Bird from Eagle. So I will ask Emily to come up and just tell a little bit about her day very quickly, and then we'll have the rest of the students that are
here this evening, introduce themselves and the school that they represent. Emily? Hello, everybody. My name's Emily Bird. I just wanted to say thank you to everybody for the opportunity that I got. I met so many amazing people. It was so great. Like he said, he covered just about all of it, but left me with nothing to say. But, I got to participate in a mock school board. So I got to do just about everything that you guys get to do up here. And I got to participate in a debate. My group voted me to be our debate debate member, and I got to debate
whether world language needs to be a requirement in our schools and our debate won. And it was it was just a great experience. The people there were so kind. I really had a great time. So thank you all. Thank you. The rest of the students that participated in SCOPE, if you'd come up and introduce yourself and the school that you attend, and we'll go right in front here as they announce. So anyone else that participated, let's go. Come on up, students. Tell us your name and the school that you attend. My name is Mohammed Tavish. I'm representing Stewart's Creek or I represented Stewart's Creek High School.
My name is Monica Andrade, and I represented Stewart's Creek High School. My name is Isabella Kuber, and I'm representing Holloway High School. My name is Alexa Reese, and I'm representing Riverdale High School. My name is Caroline Cole, and I'm representing Rutherford County Virtual School. My name is Zuri O'berry, and I'm also representing the Rutherford County Virtual School. My name is Jaden White, and I'm representing Riverdale High School. My name is Kason Ocenloye, and I represent Rockville High School. My name is Blake Walters, and I represented Oakland High School. And earlier this week, we had, we we ran some articles about these delegates to
recognize them, but I still wanna get a picture of them with the board tonight if we could do that. Alright. Alright. So, mister Lee Ramsey is next. He is wearing a suit tonight, but he has another suit that I really wish he was gonna wear. It's appropriate for the American revolution. He has the George Washington full body thing that he did not wear tonight. But, I mean, I guess, we'll we'll go with the traditional look. That's fine. Thanks. It's in the dry cleaner. It's getting getting cleaned at the moment. So, earlier this fall, I spoke about freedom week and the governor's civic seal, which is TDOE's most prestigious award in social studies.
Spearheaded by their instructional coach, miss Wilcox, and their librarian, miss Shepherd, Blackman Middle School set out to be the first middle school in Rutherford County to receive the award. They're well on their way. Two of the main requirements is that they have to have cross curricular civic education, which means that they have to teach about civics across all different subject levels. Real world learning opportunities for their students. So in a true demonstration across curricular, real world learning activities, Blavin Middle School's ELA teachers, took up the challenge and ran with the DART essay contest, which had their
students write creative creatively about the founding fathers. And two other students received state recognition, which we'll talk about a little bit more in a second. In addition, one of their sixth grade students, received first place in the state for their poster contest. So I wanna introduce miss Baird and miss Wilcox. They're here to talk a little bit more about their students and their their accomplishments. Good evening. My name is April Baird, and I am an eighth grade English teacher at Blytheman Middle School. It is my honor to stand before you tonight to recognize an exceptional student. This is Emma, whose hard work, curiosity, and dedication have earned her recognition at the
highest level of our state. Please understand that witnessing her excitement about writing an essay for a competition has been one of the true highlights of my teaching career, and knowing the work that she dedicated to her essay made this achievement even more special. I have to add that when this came up, I hadn't mentioned it to my class, but I came in and Emma's like, miss Baird, miss Baird, I heard there's an essay contest. Are we gonna do it? And I was like, we are. Just just give me a minute. So she is very, very excited. But for those who may not be familiar, the Daughters of the American Revolution sponsors
an annual eighth grade essay contest. This year, students were asked to immerse themselves into American history, research a founding, founding figure, and write a thoughtful, well crafted essay about a signer's contribution to this nation. It is a program designed to keep the stories of our founders alive and to remind us all why the ideals they fought for still matter today. This year marked Blackman Middle School's very first time entering the contest, and what a way to make an entrance. When most eighth graders heard the word hear the word essay, their excitement level falls
somewhere between doing laundry and going to the dentist. But not Emma. She embraced this competition with genuine enthusiasm and curiosity, choosing to write about William Whipple, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who freed his enslaved servant in the middle of a revolution because he refused to fight for liberty while denying it to someone else. Emma didn't just recite the facts. She explored Whipple's character, his integrity, his moral evolution, his courage, and she connected his
story to lessons that still resonate today. In her essay, she writes that she wrote, or she would ask him as a signer, what part of the declaration of independence resonated with you the most? She goes on to explain, this could be important to help explore which ideals, liberty, equality, and self governance, he felt most passionate about. I think he would respond by saying that he resonated the most with equality since he viewed virtue as an essential to freedom. Emma's writing is thoughtful, mature, and reflects someone who clearly understands that history isn't just
about dates and battles. It's about people, principle, and the choices that define us. And the judges agreed. Out of every eighth grader who entered, Emma Tiffany placed second in the state. Blackman Middle School, her family, and her eighth grade English teacher couldn't be more proud. Congratulations, Emma. I'm gonna go on and continue if that's okay. Just pretend I'm miss Federici. We're also here tonight to honor Jack Neli. He's one of our seventh graders. And for anyone who knows Jack or has witnessed his work ethic, this is no
surprise. Jack is well organized, competent, intelligent, and creative. When we initially proposed the DAR assignment to the students, some were not thrilled with the idea of additional work. This seems to be a theme. Jack, however, tackled the project with gusto. He immediately began wondering out loud what would be the best way to approach the essay. Even in those early brainstorm stages, Jack's idea was impressive. But Jack is not just personally motivated, he is a true team player, which Jack demonstrates an encouragement he gives his classmates every day.
Jack is a bright student for certain, but his other pervasive equality is the one we shall all celebrate the most, his citizenship. Since it is a hallmark of Rutherford County community, we at Blackman Middle School are thrilled at the achievement of Jack Neli and we are proud to call him a Blackman flame. Thank you. And now I'll let you guys look at somebody else. This is miss Wilcox. So I'm one of the instructional coaches at Blackman Middle. And when mister Ramsey, brought in the governor seal, project endeavor to us, we discovered
that, we truly liked the project with the daughters of the American Revolution because it's not just an essay contest. They have a poster contest and they also have a movie contest that you can enter. And, this is my son, Owen Kaske, and he's a sixth grader. And he was not excited about writing an essay. And so we kind of dug into it and we discovered the poster contest. And so I showed it to Owen and what it had Owen do was to look into the early days of Tennessee becoming a state in the early, statehood of Tennessee.
And so I had Owen kinda take this on. He was not excited about it. But he got into it. And so we sat down and we really looked into this and he was able to really engage and kind of learn about history and and get deep with, just all of the things in the research of the statehood of Tennessee. And not only did they have them research the people and the founders, but they had to create the images with it and how could they connect the two. And I think that's what he really liked the most is he had to come
up with those creative ways of how he could make this poster and bring it alive for other people to look at. And so Owen took two weeks on this project, doing all of his research and designing his poster and putting a lot of work into that. And so, he placed first in the state with his poster. And so we're really excited for him. As someone who's part of the captain William Lytle DAR chapter, it is absolutely so gratifying to see young people get excited about history. Alright. Well, we appreciate you all coming tonight.
We've also ran a photo of them this week. One of them couldn't be here tonight because they're at another event tonight. So we thank you all for coming. Congratulations. And we're gonna move forward with the next part now. Okay. So, the to wrap this up, it's, our friends from Sonic, Allen and Nikki. They've given me permission just to use their first names because I always mess up their last names. So that's gonna be it for now. It's much easier to say. But they have graciously again, the Sonic Drive Ins of Rutherford County have been sponsoring these awards. Now this is the second year. We're gonna start out with our principal recipient this this month, doctor Theawanna Hatchett from
La Verne High School. She is the model. I'm gonna read a little bit about what they wrote. I'm not gonna read all of this, because they wrote a novel, which is under script for considering how great Doctor. Hapton is. But, she is a great example of a great leader. She sets high expectations for student behavior and academics. She goes above and beyond for her students like my son, who has special needs with multiple diagnosis. She allows me to email her and even text or call her cell phone if needed, even on nights and weekends. She is often proactive and reaches out to me first with about upcoming deadlines, especially
the ones for seniors. She she always makes sure my son gets to where he needs to be. So again, I don't know too many principals to give out their cell phone numbers to parents and let them call and text at any hour. But it does not surprise me that doctor Hatchett does that. So great example. Thank you. Doctor Hatchett, don't run off. We are gonna do a photo with you. Sorry. Alright. Our teacher recipient this this month is mister Omar Smith. Omar, it says here he's a great coach and selfless person, and he really supports the kids. And I know that doctor Sullivan has some history and would like to share something.
I I just think we have one heck of a former Blytheville middle school coaching staff up here between doctor Hatchet, Omar, myself. I mean, we're all there. Yeah. But make sure you tell him what school are you with now, mister Smith? That's what I thought. Okay. Just wanna make sure we brought that up. Yes. Correct. It's amazing to me. Mister Blackfin Middle School, Omar, you have done well, my man. All the award recipients, I meant to tell you that I'm glad you carried on the tradition of Blackman Middle School. Started out that way and it continues to be.
Doctor Slobin made a contribution there and Omar and a lot of others. So congratulations. Okay. Did you hire him, mister Okay. I just had a feeling you may have. I don't know. I learned a long time ago. You don't have to be smart, but you got to be smart enough to hire good people. I hired Omar. I hired doctor Sullivan, you know. And, who else did you hire? Let's go down the list. I'm just joking. Oh, I'll tell you. Hey. Listen. Okay. Support staff and the support staff staff I don't think you read what they said about it. I did. Oh, did you? Yes, sir. I did. Okay. I didn't hear it. It's a short nomination, but it's not the it's not the quantity.
It's quality. He's such a great coach and a selfless person. He always really supports the kids. And then That's right. That's right. So thank you. Now in our support staff category this month, Margaret Hossfeldt from Buchanan Whitworth Buchanan Middle School. She is an outstanding secretary. She can always count we can and we can always count on her. She is generous, kindhearted, and dedicated to her work, staff, and students. Our office would not run the same without her. Thank you. Okay. Transportation. And I'm gonna mess up this name. I'm just gonna tell you right now. Guido, he asked he told me how to say it but I can't remember.
Transportation. This is one of our crossing guards and we're I'm glad that someone's nominated that it was selected because we've done a variety of people in transportation. This is, I believe, our first crossing guard that we've done. But mister Guido, Hussle Hussle. Chris, mister Hussle is a crossing guard at our Christiana school. This is his second career. He retired and wanted to do this. He is but the the nomination says he is dedicated to his job and he's very reliable. He's a team player and cares greatly about the safety of the bus drivers, school children, and the other drivers on the road.
And I can tell you that we would not make it through any of our school zones without what you all did. So thank you so much. Can I say pass him every morning in a Honda Accord, and he took the place as somebody who dressed up all the time? And for him to and for him to get a nomination still replacing somebody very famous, out there, and you have you have done a phenomenal job, sir. Phenomenal. Yep. Alright. And last but not least is miss Christine Bryan from the central office. And if you know Christine, she loves public speaking and has offered to give a
speech at the earliest. She received three nominations. And so I'm not gonna read all of them, but I'm gonna read one of them. She is one of the most genuine, kind, intelligent, and fierce advocates for the k twelve school counselors. She's an expert in our field and works tire tirelessly to support each and every one of us through policy changes, best practices, and professional development. So congratulations and thank you. Very deserved. Now we are gonna do a photo. Next up, we have human resources. Alright. So we talked about this on Tuesday, but this was a new job description for
bus driver part time for us to allow to begin posting. And again, if these don't fill then we would come back with potential full time for special education for special education EA and potential. But this is just for bus driver part time. Any comments or questions? No. I'll entertain a motion. Move to approve. Thank you, Mr. Watts. Thank you, Ms. Rosales. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next. Next is director of schools request to utilize up to a twenty day contract based on applicant and school situation for the hiring of a new principal at multiple occasions
this summer due to pending retirements. I mean, we talked about this on Tuesday just based on when principal contracts end for retirements and when the new school year starts. Move for approval. Thank you, mister Vaught. Second. Thank you, mister Chitbull. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next. This is an updated job description from the federal programs administrative assistant to federal programs account analyst. This updated job description more appropriately assistant to federal programs account analyst. This updated job description more appropriately reflects the essential duties of this role. This position will move from classified hourly to classified salary on the pay scale. Positions fully funded through federal programs and will not impact the general purpose budget.
Any comments or question? Thank you, Mr. Vaughn. Second. Thank you, Mr. Vaughn. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next. Alright. Next we have the career and technical education textbook adoption committee respectfully recommends approval of the following instructional materials. And we went over these Tuesday if it's okay and I don't read these or I'll be happy to read all of these again. We have the first list are the ones that have a state approved title. The second list are the ones that do not have a state approved title that
the committees have approved. Doctor. Chastain again was available to talk about this on Tuesday. She's available today to talk about these. And, committee confirms that all of these recommended materials support the district's commitment to preparing students for high skill, high wage and in demand careers. Any comments or questions? Move to approve. Thank you, Mr. Tidwell. Thank you, mister Ball. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next we have legal. First you have a transfer student under discipline. Label is number one. The board's been requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline.
The student was remanded to alternative school for possession of a THC product. According to policy 6.318, the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system while under suspension or expulsion. Director of schools recommendation is to deny. Move to approve. Okay. Thank you, miss Stark. Thank you, mister Vaughn. All in favor say aye. Aye. I'm sorry. Ma'am. To to deny. Okay. I'm so sorry. Thank you. Motion passes. Next, we have Yep. Transfer student under discipline number two. The board has been requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under
discipline. The student was expelled for possession of a THC products. According to policy 6.318, the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system while under suspension or expulsion. Director of school's recommendation again is to deny. Thank you, mister Vaughn. Second. Thank you, miss Darby. All in favor of denial. Yes. Say aye. Aye. Thank you. Next. The transfer student or discipline number three. The board's been requested to admit a transfer student from another school system or discipline. The student expelled for repeated violations of type three behaviors. Again, important to policy 6.318,
the board may deny admission of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system under suspension or expulsion. Director of school's recommendation against to deny. Thank you, miss Vaughn, mister Sharp, mister Darby. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next, we have board matters. So this is on the McFadden properties. The board of education contracts to purchase five properties adjacent to the McFadden School of Excellence to provide additional land for a new school building. McFadden is the oldest school building in the system and requires extensive ongoing maintenance.
There's been discussion about replacing or remodeling the building with a new one or doing a a major renovation on it. These five properties would provide additional land for a new school building. The purchase contracts on the five parcels were subject to inspection inspection periods. Those are coming up for expiration soon. So the appraisals have come in on the five properties, a chart showing that the contract purchase prices, current tax appraisals, and the appraisal amounts are attached to a tab. The houses on the property will be demolished, so the real value in the property is the land itself and allows that entire block to be squared up to give
you space for a new school. The board needs to determine whether you want to move forward with these par purchases or not. If we do decide to move forward with them, I have to give notice to the sellers that we're electing to move forward with the purchase. If we'd like not to purchase these properties, our contracts will expire. Move to approve. Second. Thank you, mister Rosales. Thank you, mister Vaughn. Any comments or questions? Miss Maxwell? Just a second. Miss Sharp. I'll hand it up. Yes, miss Sharp. So there's quite a bit of difference in the appraisal price and the contract price. Is there any wiggle room in that? I talked to the I called the property owners, and they were not willing to
negotiate the price. I did make an effort to get the price lower. From their standpoint, you know, I mean, we came went to them. They were not selling these properties. So these are not properties they had in the market for sale. We went to them to ask to buy their property. So it's kind of a different situation from someone actually selling the property. And these are partial that really needed to square up that that whole lot. If you've been buying and looked at it, the houses are not in great condition. They're older houses. Some of them, you could say, are pretty poor condition on it. So really what you're buying here is the land, and you're paying what you're while
you're paying more than the appraised value for some of these houses, it's whether you want to make the investment to square up that parcel to square it up for a school site. So that's the really the analysis you have to undertake. So that's a board decision is what you want to do. Miss Rosales. Thank you. So this idea, buying those five houses that were literally gonna be demolished, really came from the parents, the PTO that we the board was invited, so was, other county commissioners. I was there when they presented the, the idea of buying the five houses so
that it can give them more space so they can grow and renovate. With that, I wanna read the letter that we all received today from a PTO member of McFadden School of Excellence. It says, dear, members of the Rutherford County School Board, I'm writing today as a McFadden parent and and an active member of the PTO to share my support for the purchase of the five adjacent properties currently under consideration. McFadden has been advocating for facility improvements for a long time.
Our family, staff, and leadership have consistently shown up, shared concerns, and worked collaboratively with the district to highlight both the strengths of our school and the very real limitations of our current building. This feels like a meaningful next step in the ongoing work. As you know, McFadden serves students from across Rutherford County, yet our facility dating back to 1938 was not designed to support the demands of the modern countrywide magnet program. The layout, aging infrastructure, and limited space continue to impact functionality, safety, and long term
planning. The opportunity to purchase these properties seemed like an important step forward. It could open the door to a safer campus, improve traffic flow, and more intentional use of space, including the possibility of relocating areas like the playground away from a busy street. It also helps create options for the district as you continue to think about the long term future of the board. I understand there are many factors to consider, including the appraisal, and I appreciate the thoughtfulness that goes into decisions decisions like these like this.
From a parent and a PTO perspective, I simply wanted to share that there is strong support and appreciation for continued progress in the in this area. Thank you for your time and your leadership and for all you do to support students and school and schools across Rutherford County. And it's sincerely by PTO member, McPhindon School of Excellence. One thing that we do not that we're struggling, in my opinion, is that if you we're growing, which is great. And, obviously, it's a reason. And the reason is because we have great schools.
We have a strong school system. And with that, we need to offer options. If you compare us to other counties that are bigger, there are more options of Magna schools. We are having to prioritize what schools to build and and how to compensate. This will allow by purchasing go ahead and moving forward with this purchase and demolishing the houses is gonna allow to expand the school building. And that expansion will also means we're gonna increase the number of students that can
go that can apply to go to the school. And we right now, it's really difficult to to make decisions from, should we, buy another high school? We need another elementary school. We need this. We need that. And so and yet, I feel that we need another magnet school too because we have 52,000 kids. And, and we're limited on how many number of kids that can apply to these type of programs. So with that, I hope that the board would join unanimously in support of buying these houses so that we can expand the school, increase the number of enrollment, and
provide more families with an option to send their skills, send their students to a school that it has a magnet program. Thank you, mister Sullivan. Yes. Mister Sidwell. And this this thing has to be squared up. Right? In order to that was my really my only question about when they showed the map the other night is there's two properties kinda on the the if you're facing the front of the school, it would be the back right corner, but it needs to be squared up. Would you agree with that statement? Yes. If you're As far as the design of the building and the layout. Keep well, I say particularly if you're trying to keep the current school open while
you're building a new school, you need really all the property. Yeah. And I think there's a couple of additional points that I think would help maybe overlay the the points that have already been made. It been such a old building, there's a ton of maintenance that goes into that. There's already been some major projects that have already happened over at McFadden. And it those are just band aids that are not gonna cons they're not gonna fix the the problem in totality. And so when you have like a major thing, I know that the the mortar got replaced at one time, not remember what the cost of that was, but it was substantial.
When you look at some of the difference in the appraisals, I think that's wiped out by one of these major changes. And all that is is a band aid, and they have problems in the basement, and they have problems on the roof, and they have problems with the HVAC. So there's there's a lot of different things that are going into this. So I I don't know that it would be, completely equal in order to just look at this as just a cost basis. There's more factors that are involved. So we're we've been band aiding the school long enough. I think it's time to take that initial step and move forward with this purchase.
I think that makes the most sense fiscally. So, that's my opinion on it, and I'll be supporting it. Thank you, miss Tidwell. Does anyone else have any other comments or questions? Yes, mister Arvey? Mister Reed, where did the, the original contract prices, were those given to us by the sellers? Yes. They were given to the by the sellers. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yes, mister doctor Sullivan. The we met with the city of Murfreesboro, a month month and a half ago about this as well. And they were extremely pleased for us to be looking at this.
Met with, Mayor Mcfarland, Darren Gordon, a lot of his planning team to discuss this. And they really looked at it as a way to revitalize that entire area, even potentially. I won't get into all of their plans. But a huge way to revitalize all of that area using McFadden and the school is kind of a hub. So, really looking long term as a way to kind of partner with county and city for multiple ways. But this area is kind of needed to be able to do that. And the egress, and I think mister Reed mentioned that the other day, being able
to bring cars around the backside of the I can't remember that road, would be needed for all of that. So I I think it's a good idea. I know the city supports it as well. Oh, absolutely. They looked at it as a win win and, they didn't put up any any roadblocks at all. No. Yes. Miss Darby. Doctor Sullivan, can you speak to, the funding portion of this where we would pull that from? Is it gonna have to go to Fort County Commission? It does. When we did the earnest money, back in December, I believe. Yeah. It was December. We tried to pull it out of fund balance, and they wouldn't allow us to
pull the 70,000 out of fund balance. So instead we moved it out of January. And so we had existing funds in January from other construction projects and we moved funds from I can't remember which projects they were because the commission handles those. But it was moved from January, from those. I can go back in a minute and find it. But we tried the board passed a motion for 70 or 80,000. Now, quote me on the numbers, but it was a number for the earnest money. And then the commission didn't want it to come out of that. Health and Ed passed it.
Budget did not. And before it got to budget in January, they requested mister Smith Michael Smith to come up with a different way to fund it. So by the time it got to budget, they just requested it to be moved around in fund January and that's something they can do. So they moved funds from other construction projects that had not been moved yet or not finished. They had existing leftover funds into a McFadden kind of holding property. So the full balance is gonna come out of that same? Okay. Thank you. Yes, miss Sharp. Listen, I support this project.
Miss Darby has for years been trying to get us to address the older buildings that we have, in our area. And it does need to be addressed. And I I agree that we need the land. But what I don't agree with is the $565,000 that we're paying over the appraised value. So that's the problem that I have with it. Yes, mister Bond. You know, the price value, you don't have deals like this. If you got something you wanna buy, you're gonna have to pay what people want. Appraised value means absolutely nothing. It's what you can buy it for. And if you want it, you're gonna have to pay it.
And, in my opinion, we just might waste money on doing their appraisals because we're gonna have to pay it because I think the amount's fair and I think if we want it bad enough, you're gonna have to pay the fiddler. So, you know, I think that we need to move ahead with this and get it going. I think I think McFadden is probably the the number one, priority in our five five year plan. Because man, it's been it's been neglected for so many years. It's it's not even funny.
And, it's about time we called up. So I just recommend everybody vote for this. Okay. Yes. Miss, go ahead. I went back to this. It was on our January 8 board meeting. The way it was worded in partnership with county finance department request to utilize fund one eighty nine funds currently allocated to the Church Street property to McFadden School of Excellence. So it was the old Church Street property. Thank you. Yep. Mister Reed. You when you spoke to well, I guess the first question is, did you speak to all five owners? Talked to three of the five owners.
Okay. So we have One parcel's there's two parcels owned by the same owner. Okay. So you spoke to all but one? Yes. Okay. I'm curious whether or not it was was it just kind of asked, like, if they were interested in negotiating any lower, or was it an actual, like, formal offer? I discussed with them that appraisals had come in on the properties. That some of the appraisals came in lower than what the contract purchase prices were on the properties. I said, you know, and some were lower than what what the tax appraisals were because we looked at both of those.
So I said the school system obviously has some interest in in buying the property. It'll be up to the school board to decide whether to move forward with these or not. So I'll be taking this back to the board. I would like you to see if you if you'd be willing to accept a different offer or give us a lower amount. So I so I I talked to them and tried to get in the lower number out of them. Some of them were not just interested in, I got different responses from different people. But the bottom line, whether they're not willing to move off the price, they, some of these people did not have a strong interest in selling, but they were willing
to sell for this price, they said. And, they were not willing to move off the price. So, I have off I offer less. I said, what if we can discount it by 10% less? And they were not willing to do that even. So k. I will just say, my biggest concern is just the precedent that we're setting moving forward that we're just gonna buy whatever anybody wants to sell it for, which was kind of just stated up here as well, which I think is a dangerous place
to be. This isn't our money. It's everybody's money. It's the taxpayers' money, and I do think we have a responsibility to make sure that we're spending it wisely. That's not to say that I don't think this is a wise investment, but I think I would feel better if the board put a formal counter offer together for these properties. And if they come back and reject it, we can come back and decide to agree to purchase them at this at this price. But we didn't even talk to well, there's one owner that wasn't even spoken to. So I just feel like it's it's our job to make sure we do all
we can to get the best deal we can so that we're not paying whatever anybody comes to this board wants us to pay. I don't I don't think that's a good practice to get into. Mister Brown. I would love to buy the property. I'm all on board with renovating McFadden. I have been talking about renovating our older schools for years. It's it's not an issue of not wanting to, but I do have to feel like we're making good sound decisions and that we've done everything on our end to make sure that we tried everything we could to do so.
Mister Ball? You know, sound decisions is if you want it, you're gonna have to pay it. And, you know, we don't buy this property. There's nothing to keep these people from selling it to somebody else. If somebody else buy this property, we might not ever touch it again. Or if we do, we may have to pay twice. So we've got an opportunity to buy it, which is unique. And, again, these people have said, hey. If you want it, you're going to have to pay it. And so I don't think we have any choice. And I think being good stewards and being responsible to the magnifying community and that
we're not using our duties if we don't take advantage of this. And, again, I'd like for it to be land given to us, but that's just not the way these people are gonna operate. Miss Maxwell? Yes. Mister Rosales. This is my last comment. I just wanna remind the board one more time that the reason this even started, it was because the parents came the parents of McFadden came to us and proposed the idea of us buying the five houses that were in the back because they were trying to come up with a solution to bring to the table of how
they can how they can expand the school without having to go and buy the land somewhere else and rebuild the whole entire school from the ground up to increase enrollment numbers. And second of all, I just also want to reiterate that these houses did not have a for sale sign on the yard either. And so the owners were not even interested in selling to begin with. And the only reason why they're even selling to us is because we came to them. And so, we we we've already done that negotiation price and asking back and forth
when we went to them and knocked on the doors and said, hey. We would like to buy the house for you. And they and they came to us in with a price, and then we had to we had to figure out if that was the price that we were willing to even consider. So the negotiations already been done prior to us moving here. Those houses were never for sale, and we went to them. So I just want everyone to take to consideration to that in that the parents of the school those children that are currently enrolled in a school are the ones
who came to the board and proposed the idea for us to buy the houses and the why and the reasons. Mister Tidwell. Yeah. No. I think a lot of great points are being made up here, and I completely understand about the difference in the appraisal. Again, for me, with the construction background, I wish I had the numbers, and the tray is not here, and that's for good reason. But, of what that mortar cost when we went to to do that, and that they're still having moisture issues over there. It's just and look, central is having a lot of issues as well. The older buildings, you can't just go in there and re renovate them the same
way that you can some of the newer buildings. They're just not the space, the room, they're built differently, have the concrete. So for me, the justification for working out the difference between the appraisal is you have one more large repair and you Band Aid another piece of the building. At some point, it doesn't make sense to continue the Band Aid because it's already covered that appraisal price difference, because we're talking about city land in the middle of the city. That's gonna be expensive, if it's even available, and keeping that centralized location. I just think there's a great argument, for this, and I I completely understand.
Not wanting to set precedent, and I agree with that. I think this I'm looking at each situation specifically, and I think for this specific situation, the maintenance that goes into this building is, it's expensive to begin with. It's only gonna get more expensive. So are the cost to build a new building. I think now is the time, and this is something that, like Mr. Arbuth said, she's been advocating for a long time, and I appreciate that. You know, sometimes we just don't get everything we want and I think this is such one of those situations where we're not gonna get everything we want.
But if the outcome is still gonna be good. So that's that's kinda where I'm at on it. Just adding a little context from a construction standpoint. I agree with mister Tidwell. Between the Keystone project downtown and the daylighting project, that land is going to get even hotter. I mean really really really really favorable and it's gonna be way more expensive if we try to. And in talking with the people, did you see any wiggle room with them at all? No. Okay. Did not. Yeah, go ahead. I know mister Lee, of course, can't be here because of a death in his
family, which is where he needs to be. Just going back and looking at emails, I have from mister Lee in 2023. And I know we have doctor Blair here, but he in 2023 said over the last few years, we've worked diligently to solve the water intrusion. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to point in the mortar joints and sew in the brick walls. Latest attempt was raw wall repairs. The contractor informed that he thinks the window panes are installed backwards and those were installed in 2007, 2008. And they've had that same type of issue since. They've had local glass companies look at it.
And I know that doctor Blair kind of in a year before that had said we'd spend money putting tough points in. They look good for less than a year and then it just continually goes down the same problem. I know that you can go into the library and still, yeah. You still already go to the library and you gotta put your hand behind the curtain and get some debris from behind the curtain is a Oh, wow. A nice way to say it. Wouldn't you agree? Yes, miss Darby? Doctor Sullivan, do you have any I know mister Lee is not here. Do we have any idea of the maintenance costs over the last year or two?
Possibly. Let me see if I can log in. Okay. Usually, I don't have access, but I can text Brian and see if I can get in. Part of centralized government, I don't get access to the funding system. Mister Clark. Mhmm. Because he wouldn't have access to that. Okay. So I'll see what I can find. Thank you. I appreciate it. Anybody else have anything they wanna ask regarding while mister Reed is up here? No. I can't. I'm not on the server. I'm not downtown. I don't know what I was thinking. Yeah. I'm not I'm not the courthouse. I would just like to say that I I think as a board, I don't think there's any question that everybody's ready to rebuild McFadden.
I don't think that's a concern. It's it's a big decision. And there's some of these there's quite a bit of difference between what those appraisals came back at and what were what we've been asked to pay for them. So I just wanna make it clear because it sometimes likes to get twisted that I am for rebuilding McFadden. I would love to see us do some stuff at Central, at Thurman Francis. Our magnet schools have been, I think, due for a little while. So for whatever that's worth.
Okay? Thank you, sir. Two thirds vote, please. Mhmm. K. Call to end discussion. Missus Rosales? Yes. Mister Vaughn? Yes. Mister Tidwell? Yes. Miss Sharp? Yes. Mister Vaught? Yes. Missus Darby? Yes. Missus Maxwell? Yes. Motion passes. And we have a motion on the floor to proceed with the purchase of the five pro properties as provided in the contracts. Could we have a roll call for that as well, please? Missus Darby? This is a tough one. We're looking at a difference of a half $1,000,000.
Just vote. We just need to vote. Excuse me. I don't need to hear from you. Thank you. We just need to vote. Ladies, please, please, please. It's please just vote. Okay? To vote. That's it. There's no more questions for discussion. Miss Rosales, please. No more discussion. No. Missus Rosales? Yes. Mister Vaught? Yes. Mister Vaughn? Yes. Mister Tidwell? Yes. Miss Sharp? Yes. Missus Maxwell? Yes. Motion passes. Next, we have transportation. So this is we talked about on Tuesday night. We had a used bus from, Central States that was a 33 plus one passenger
bus that was used at a $115,000 that was bought before we could get to it. This is a replacement of that. It's just 2027 Bluebird type c 33 plus one passenger sped bus. It is new. It's a $153,746. We do we did move enough money into that line to cover that. In order to have it ready by August from Central States, I wanna read you what we got yesterday from purchasing. It says in order I'll make sure I've got this. Yes. In order to be able to have this by August, they need a PO approved
by March 30. So that's why we needed to put it on this one and we had a plate. Okay. And this is the exact pretty much the exact same bus for size purposes. Miss Maxwell? Yes. Mister Tidwell? On the top of this paper, it says promise date 04/09/2027. Is that when we're gonna receive it? Are you saying Do what? Sorry. On the top of this, Bluebird Body Company sales quotation, It says, promise date 04/09/2027. So I just want a clarification. Are we gonna receive it in April 2027 or is it August?
I have in writing from Chuck. It says, as I mentioned, we can make delivery of this bus before school starts in August if a PO is received on or before March 30. So that is What he says in writing, and he's straight to general manager. So if he doesn't, then I'd say we probably have a reason to back out. And that'd be my recommendation. Well, thank you. I just wanted to Good catch. Yes. Very good catch. Any comments or question? Move for approval. Thank you, mister Vaughn. Okay. Miss Darby? Thank you, mister Vaughn. I'm sorry, doctor Sullivan. Can you remind me how many sped buses we got on the last vote?
Was it Five. Four? And we were trying to get this other It was five and then so one fell off. So now we're Now we this would make the fifth. This would be five again. Yep. Five. This is the bigger one. This is the one doctor Ralston wanted the most that fell off. Yes. Yeah. Any more discussion? All in favor to purchase, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next, we go to financial update. Financial update. We are working through just about all of our department updates. So we'll begin, of course, at our budget retreat.
We'll have more. We did one seventy seven that kinda draft Tuesday. We'll start doing a little bit more of that, bringing one forty one funds back to you as soon as we get back from spring break. To go over a little bit of that, most districts are looking at 2% raises at the most. That's kinda what we're looking at as well. Our TCRS rates, which is what the district has to put in, those have gone up as well, which just seems like everything's hitting for everybody this year. Insurance rates go up. People aren't aware. Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, those retirement rates, teachers have to put in a certain percent
or all staff have to put in a certain percentage of their paychecks they never see. It's been that way, I guess, since the dawn of eternity since that system was put there. And then the districts are told what percentage we have to put in. So both classified and certified rates went up this year. And so that'll have a little bit of an impact, that Brian and I will put in. And then we'll probably have a little bit of a draft of one forty one, one forty three over the next couple weeks to really start looking at. Okay. Thank you. Next director's update. Yeah. Couple quick things. So we did have, history rocks and we'll have a better report.
I'll ask doctor Harold to come give a report from Stewarts Creek High School that they did an amazing job putting that together because it was very quick notice. So that and the US Department of Education picks one school of each state to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth, anniversary of signing, the declaration of independence. And so what they are looking for when they did that was one school, they picked them, gave them about three days notice. We had quite a few special guests. So we had Kathy Jackson from World Outreach. We had doctor Carol Slain.
We had the guest speaker was Catherine Gorka from US Department of Education. She's the US Department of Ed senior advisor for civic education. And I know kids get a lot of bad rap for not knowing history. But if you the kids had to hold up a US flag or a Tennessee flag and the kids were chanting USA the whole time answering it, they then had to like answer questions based on which flag they thought it was and then the each class, freshmen, sophomore, junior, seniors had to compete against each other. I haven't seen that a lot of excitement over history in a long time.
And they they knew the answers. Like, she was sitting beside me, she said, we made these questions too easy for your kids. And so that was that was nice to hear. And they even incorporated Tennessee history which has not been something that's been included in our state standards very heavily in the last couple years. And so, Stewarts Creek High School did an absolutely amazing job. That was a great one. It was it was phenomenal. And I'm sorry for such short short notice. It just they show up and they It happens. It happens. It happens. Next, we have the legislative mister Stink?
The biggest thing was representative Sparks got his bill through, which I don't think many people thought that that was gonna happen, but lowered the, driver age requirement for buses. So that's one thing kinda personal that on on our level. The rest of it, I think the director's given us a pretty good update of everything moving through right now. So probably in the next next time we get together, two weeks, we'll pro really probably know. I've talked to most of our legislative delegate.
I think I've talked to all of them, to tell you the truth, in the last three weeks, and they think session will be finished maybe by the April right now is what they're shooting for. So, anyway, no other surprises other than what we've already seen right now. Okay. Thank you. Yes, mister doctor. And and, we we talked about the bill about pilots and I heard back from, Senator White. It only talks about ELA and math the way she understands it. So science and social studies, we should be fine too. Oh, okay. Okay. Wonderful. Continue as needed from her understanding. It hasn't gotten to their committee yet, but that's her understanding.
And I did wanna mention, I know doctor Anthony has completed this as well. Doctor Martin is not here. She is doing the prospective superintendents academy, with the Austin TSBA. I'm not going anywhere, but she is doing that as well. Doctor Anthony's done that. We've had several people, do that. Doctor Blair, do you do that as well? I thought so. So we've we always want our people to be encouraged to to keep doing that, because it's kinda like your tree, your branch, and you want people to continue to do that. So that's where she is. She'll be there a couple nights throughout the next year. Thank you. Any general discussion? Yes, mister Salves. Yes. Thank you.
I wanna bring something up because it was something that was said during the public comments. I don't know the whole context of the conversation or what happened only what we heard, but I do want to bring up the whole bullying aspect of it when, the comments are are said that are just not very kind. And this is not the first time I've heard of an incident where, the kids have been caught up in a bullying situation where names are being used and and kids are not being kind to one another. And I just wanna reiterate what we're doing as a as a district to combat
that. I know we're doing things and I'm not this is not me trying to say that we're our fault by any means. I just wanna remind what we're doing and if if something that we can do better then then whatever is let's do better. The only reason one of the reasons why I am bringing this up is because I know what it's like to be bullied because that did happen to me when I was in seventh grade. And so when I hear these instances of kids that are going through that, I just wanna make sure that we as a school district, I know we take it
seriously and I know our staff takes it seriously, but that we, that we that we remind each other of why we need to be kind to one another and ensure that we are talking to kids and how do they should be treated to one another because no one deserves to be treated in an unkind unfair way. Thank you, mister Rosales. Anyone else? Yes, miss Sharp. I do. Thank you. I'm gonna I'm sorry, Doctor Hatchett. I'm gonna put you back on the spot again. Doctor Hatchett and Chief Muse in La Verne, the La Verne Police Department, I don't
know if y'all saw that or not, but they revamped their logos for the police cars and they put the La Verne l on there and their logos are fantastic. So thank you for your leadership on that, doctor Hatchett. That logo is phenomenal and I think it's gonna go a long way with our kids too. They were so excited. Thank you for that. And also Jazz Fest, y'all tune in tomorrow to Brian's, 10:30 show. There's gonna be a special announcement about Jazz Fest. It's gonna be the first time, that we're doing this and it's gonna be fantastic.
So that is all I have. Okay. Anyone else have anything? If not Move to adjourn. Thank you. We're adjourned.