first of all let me congratulate your team for being invited to participate in this this very rigorous process Um and thank you for dedicating your time and efforts into creating a new charter school for us in our district Um if you've not met me I know I met most of you when you walked in but if you've not
I'm Jeff McCann I am the choice and charter schools coordinator for Rutherford County Schools And this is our charter application review team in front of you consisting of members of the central office staff uh local administrators parents um and board members So we'll start out by
introducing ourselves But first of all um let me go over a few details about the interview First of all uh if you do need to excuse yourself to go to the restroom uh the nearest one is right out that exit door and to your left Okay They're right they're right there So feel free to to take a break as you need
to Uh this interview is scheduled to last approximately 90 minutes We hope to keep it within that time frame but it's okay if we run a little bit long depending upon the questions that we would have for you and you have for us We'll take about 5 to 10 minutes for introductions and get an a brief opening statement from you as well I know you've
prepared one for us Um and then we'll dedicate the bulk of the time approximately 70 minutes to the questions that we have already um listed that we would like to ask you And with 10 minutes at the end for you to ask questions of us and anybody else to ask any remaining questions or get any more
details that we might need as you as you speak um whenever you are chosen to speak and it doesn't matter You can designate a specific person to answer each one of your questions depending upon your area of expertise That's always recommended But do uh um make sure you turn your microphone on when
you speak This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on the Rutherford County Schools YouTube channel Um so you will have access to that but you want to make sure you're heard So make sure that you um hit the button to when whenever you talk And if any of you need to get up to speak you can you're welcome to
come to the podium That microphone works as well But it looks like most of you are in proximity I don't know that that there's one microphone that doesn't seem to work on that desk right there And it may be that one but this one I think you can probably pass around There you go
Okay So we've read all of us have read your entire application um and have developed these questions that we talked about to get some more clarifying information today You've been through this process many times yourself as I know you are a a highly experienced charter organization Um it's relatively
new to us in Rutherford County This is only the second year that we've had applications Um well no I take that back We we've had applications for the last couple years but the second year I've been in this role and conducting capacity um interviews So
um try to limit your responses to two to three minutes per question We have approximately 24 questions and that will get us within that 90minut time frame and if and and please forgive me if I try to uh speed up the process a little bit because we do want to be respectful of everyone's time but at the same time
we want to get responses to all the questions that we have and answer your questions too So okay Okay So we're going to start out with our with introductions at the um from the head table here We'll go around and introduce each one of us and then I'll turn it over to you to introduce
your yourselves and and please when you do that state your role in the application process andor your role in the um management organization or the new charter school itself Okay And then you may proceed with your um opening statement Okay Let's start down here
Miss Barnes Hi there Angela Barnes principal Wilson Elementary I'm Yiania Campbell principal at Kitrol Elementary Lissa Westerfield coordinator of teaching and learning Francis Rosales I'm a school board member for Rutherford County
Schools serving in the zone 7 That's the black men and a little bit of Sarna I'm Lisa Kegler I'm one of the K5 ELA instructional specialists for the district Uh but Bone school board member zone 6
Hi I'm Annie Rston I'm the coordinator of special education here in Rutherford County Trey Lee chief operations officer Susan Eps elementary math specialist for the district Shannon Kaywood accounting supervisor
Emily Madison a Rutherford County school parent And I'm Mark Goalie and I'm the director of special populations and federal programs Thank you all It's good to be here Um and thank you to the Rocket Ship team for for being here Um I will quickly give a brief introduction and then
invite the Rocket Ship team to share a little bit about themselves and then we'll jump into our our presentation So um by way of introduction my name is Eric Daly the executive director for Rocket Ship Public Schools here in Tennessee Um I have 15 years of education experience as a teacher as a
principal um and as an executive specifically with Teach for America um where we recruited and developed about 2,000 teachers to Tennessee um to support districts across the country Um and as a consultant where I supported um work here in the southeast region of the
country including uh Tennessee So excited to be here and excited to share more with you all about uh Rocket Ship our hopes for Rutherford County and the partnership we hope to pursue with all of you Uh hello everybody My name is Aaron Lynn I'm the associate director uh for
integrated special education for Rocket Public Schools here in Tennessee [Music] Good morning everyone Excited to be here My name is Easter Core I'm the chief academic officer with Rocket Public Schools
Let's test this out Good morning My name is Tajima Still I am director director of schools for Rocket Ship Tennessee I've been in education uh for 18 years 10 years with Rocket Ship Thank you Good morning everyone Thank
you so much for your time My name is Kenishha Haristen and I am the senior director of special education I've been with Rocket Ship for 10 years now Good morning everyone Uh my name is Eric Newman I'm the VP for our uh program team for our East Coast regions Uh this
is my ninth year with Rocket Ship [Music] Hi Uh Benjamin Carson CFO Rocket Ship Schools Hello Lupe Meyers director of community organizing for Rocket Public Schools Tennessee and has spent over a decade
working on education policy expanding opportunities for families and students and excited to be here Good morning everyone Um I'm Maria chief legal officer for the network I've been working uh with public charter schools for over 30 years throughout uh
California and across um several states and uh delighted to be here and really wanted to say I appreciate the deep read that you all gave the thousand pages we submitted [Music] Lamar Wade chief people officer for uh
the network but I actually sit here in Nashville Good morning everybody Um really excited to be here My name is Damon Hardy and I am the chief of staff for Rocket Ship Tennessee and I've been with Rocket Ship for two years now
Thanks Rocket Ship team And we're going to make sure that we get these mics adjusted as best we can as we go through Just a quick process uh update The folks at this table will sort of take our academic plan and design questions which I believe will be sort of our first set
of questions and then we'll swap out a couple of functional experts to provide intel on finance operations and governance I'm going to quickly if you would uh give me grace provide a little bit of context um with the presentation on the screen It may mean that you tilt
your chairs just a little bit so that you can see or you can see here Um so what this hopes to do is to provide a little bit of context um on rocket ship um our model um our mission and our history We're going to make sure that
the projection is working Oh it's the Wi-Fi You should have And if it's best to do the PDF is fine Here we go All right Let's hope that it stays up and I will make this as quick as possible uh to be a good steward of
time So the hope the hope here is that we provide a little bit of context about Rocket Ship about our hopes for Rutherford County and the partnership we hope to pursue with all of you before we dig into the application First things first our mission is really simple Um
how do we ensure that we can scale high-quality elementary schools across the country but specifically here in Tennessee that unlock the the potential and opportunity for for all students We've been doing this work in Tennessee for over a decade Um and one of the things we're most proud of is the
seminal research that suggests that our model um is not only closing the gap but it's busting the gap You'll see on the screen um a study out of Stanford in 2023 that suggests that our work um is just not stacking good days but it's stacking lots of good days for students
And so our students um at our schools um are learning um 96 additional uh days of instruction in reading and 138 um additional learning days in math Again we believe if you can stack that kind of progress over time um we can certainly
ensure that students um are on a stronger trajectory um in their educational experiences As I mentioned we've been in Tennessee for 10 years You'll see on the screen the students and families that we serve over 90% of them um are students and families of color Nearly 40% of them
are English language learners which we're excited to share a little bit more about our model there Um and roughly 13% um are students with learning differences We're also incredibly proud of our track record here in Tennessee Um over the last uh five years um two of
out of the last five years four of those years our schools have been level four and level five And then you'll see on the screen the reward school designations that our schools have received um starting in 2028 and as me as as most recent as 2023 Um and so the
work that we're doing is not only um showing up in um the work that we're doing with our students and families but it's being recognized um by our constituents across across the state A quick deep dive into our model and we hope we can share more about the nuances
here But the highlevel um summary here is that our approach is rooted in three uh pillars The first is personalized learning that we'll talk more about Uh talent development ensuring that the adults in the rooms um have the right mindsets have the right skills and have
the right dispositions to support our families And then um the third pillar which we're deeply excited about is parent power And I think it went out again And that is okay For the sake of
time oh it's back Okay I think it's back Very quickly our personalized learning pillar hinges on these four um pieces of the instru our instructional model Um I won't dig deeply into them Uh but we have a
rotational model at Rocket Shift that ensures that all students are receiving exactly what they need throughout um throughout the full day So leveraging adaptive online programs whole group instruction which which we know is important differentiated targeted support and certainly independent learning We're going to talk a little
bit more about our schedule which allows us to execute this sort of model Additionally uh we know special populations are important not just um with the three schools we currently operate but also here in Rutherford County Um so you'll see language here around our English language learners uh
staffing program ensuring that we've got dedicated instructors to provide explicit small groupoup instruction certified humanities teachers that are EL certified at every grade level and certainly um a very strong um integrated special education team inclusive of PAR professionals psychologists and related
service providers uh to meet the needs of all of our students And then finally you see that we leverage a number of tailored interventions that ensure again that that first pillar of our model personalized learning is at the core of the work that we do Additionally um it's not just about
the mind It's also about the heart and the spirit of our students And so um we have values that we um uh inculcate across our campuses with our students those values are personalized for the campuses Um the the the the unique uh
situations of of each campus Um we have a MTSS program that certainly leverages best practices to ensure that the social and emotional well-being of our students is attended to Um we have assessments that ensure that our services are targeted and specific And then finally I
think it goes without saying that culture really drives um the work that we do in our buildings And so ensuring that there's joy ensuring that we've got strong systems and practices um to encourage that kind of joy in not only our students but our staff members and families The second pillar very very
quickly is around talent development Um schools only go as far as the adults in the building go and we deeply believe that the professional development of our staff members are important There are a number of things you'll see listed here from onetoone leader coaching to networkled professional development I
think the thing that is most important to call out here is that our teachers receive 210 hours of professional development throughout the year Um and our schedule um is built around ensuring that that professional learning is not happening at the expense of staff members but it's happening as part of
the school infrastructure We'll talk more about our data cycles and our Thursday early release days so that teachers um are not inconvenienced but it is a part of the process um of our development for staff members And then finally parent power which we're really excited about having engaged with
parents here in Rutherford County um since we've submitted um our application This is at the core of our work and I think it's what sets us apart This pillar is not u indispensable It is absolutely required um for our schools to operate at high levels Ensuring that
our families receive home home visits every year helps to shift the power dynamic It is not us sort of telling you what we're going to do to you or for you It is really about helping to co-create an experience for students um which starts with with the family And then
finally as we think about a founding school particularly in Rutherford County our founding parents play a pivotal role in helping to create the culture that they want their students to experience all the way from naming the school um to providing uh intel on what the core
values of the school should be and also helping to choose what enrichment opportunities will be provided to students And so you might have seen that the placeholder for the name of this school is TN4 That is intentional um because we believe parents should have
agency and voice in naming um the the school that they choose to attend their students to And then finally why Rutherford County Why this school at this time Um there are really three things that um drove us uh to pursue this charter
application The first um is the population growth here in Rutherford County um is absolutely exploding You all know this because you work here and you feel it and you experience it Um but that population growth growth provides us an opportunity to maybe attend to
some of the utilization of our schools Um and so we see a partnership with you all in helping to alleviate um some of the overutilization that might be occurring in some of our schools particularly uh north of the county Um the second is that underserved and
diverse populations still exist not just in Rutherford County but across the state of Tennessee Um and we have a track record of supporting um those students whether they are students with learning differences um early English language learners um or the like Um and we know that that population is growing
rapidly And then finally um which I think is is important to call out um our track record of success um is is really important We are not pitching an idea We're really pitching an opportunity to partner with Rutherford County to help scale the best practices that we know
have worked um not only here in Tennessee but really um across the country Very quickly you all know this data more than we know this data Uh but population growth is not just hitting our economy It's not just hitting the need to build new houses and you know
housing units It's also impacting our schools Um and so you can see here which I'm sure you all are fully aware of that the utilization of some of our schools um might be creating an experience that that presents an opportunity for us to to support Um also underserved students
Um for us we've historically served these students well Our newest campus um which is in Antioch you'll see their results just in their first year compared to the local district Special education economically disadvantaged ELLL students and students of color we have historically outperformed the local
district here gives you some flavor about the kind of programs we provide and the outcomes that come with it And then finally as I mentioned before um this this is not an idea This is this is really about enlisting a partnership
with Rutherford County so that we can partnership with all of you expand choice and an opportunity for um another high quality elementary school here in Rutherford County The images here are of our newest campus which we opened uh three years ago um in Antioch Um if you
ever want a sort of idea of what is possible with Rocket Ship this is what's possible Um really strong academic results a really strong community um and a very strong partnership um with the state in ensuring that students are receiving exactly what they need
I won't go through this because we're going to dig into it a little bit um during the conversation today but as I mentioned um all of our students school student schools have earned a level four or five um nearly every year um and you'll see sort of the distinctions here
by by school levels four and five um primarily Um and then finally I will just add here it isn't about any of the adults in this room as much as we like to think that it is Um it is not about rocket ship for sure It really is about
the faces um and the smiles of the students um on this screen Those are students at our Nashville Northeast campus Um and uh we are excited about what um a partnership could look like um here in Muford County It goes without saying that you all are a um high
performing school district Um and for us to be a part of that kind of community only helps all of us Um and so we're excited to share more um today and again thank you for indulging us uh for the presentation Thank you Okay To start with just a sort
of an introductory type question Um we'd like for you to describe for us the the process used to write the application and how you um how you adapted your typical application I know you've written many in the past to meet the needs of
Rutherford County to address Rutherford County Talk to us about that Such a great a great question and I think at the core of our process is um what we call a greenlighting process um which includes certainly local staff members
here in Rocket Ship um here in Tennessee and also functional um experts across our organization to ensure that we are covering all of the inputs that could impact a successful standup of a new school That process is really 12 to 18
months before we start any new school So we have actually poured over data from Rutherford County um our own results the trends here in Tennessee um and have taken a pretty methodical approach to considering um how might we operate Have we earned the right to grow here in
Tennessee Um what's our financial and staffing model And many of the functional experts here have been a part of that process Um as I mentioned that is sort of um a full year's worth of um interrogation and research that led us to the writing of this application which
is led by um multiple functional teams um at Rocket Ship including our regional team And it allows us to ensure that we're meeting the nuance needs not just of Tennessee but also of Rutherford County Um this is not sort of a one-sizefits-all Although we are a a
national network we really have um ensured that we're speaking to the specific needs and much of that is because of this long runway of greenlighting process that allowed us allowed us to do that Yeah I know you this has been in the works for a while and we you had submitted a letter of intent even last year to to to to apply
So I know it's it's been in the works So um but if you're approved talk to us What do you think your biggest challenges are going to be between now and opening day and how do you plan to meet them Yeah I think a a couple of things The first um is you know we want to learn more about Rutherford County
This is this this would be a Rutherford County school Um which means we want to ensure that we are learning the history We're learning the unique needs of this community We're also meeting with many of you touring your schools to the principles on the panel uh touring the
districts of the board members that are here So I would say the first opportunity would be um to really understand Rutherford County in a deep way um and to talk to the folks who are living and breathing this every day I think the second opportunity um which we know is one of the most important
considerations is enrollment We know that you have three existing charter schools here U we know that there are lots of different sort of experiences that those charter schools have had But as a CMO and as an organization that has done this work for 10 years we know that recruiting families is at the heart of
our work Without students there are no schools Um and so we intend um to continue some of the engagement work we've been doing in Rutherford County connecting with parents meeting with daycare um owners connecting with institutions of higher learning talking uh to other families uh here in the
community So making sure that we um have a strong pool of students um we make sure that they're a part of the process in standing up the school And then finally I will say um as an organization that has been exclusively Nashville uh what we want to make sure we are able to
do is to fully bring Rutherford County into the fold of Rocket Ship Tennessee And that is making sure that all families and and others have opportunities to visit our schools that we've got opportunities to visit the Rutherford County schools um we see those as opportunities and we're excited
about those opportunities which sort of led us to um to submit this application Great Thanks Now we'll head into some questions focused on the academic plan and design Hi Um could you explain for us um you have that STEM and humanities pathways
Um so how are those incorporated into your school's objective where it says to accelerate academic achievement for all students um specifically for student subgroups Thanks for the question I'll I'll probably defer to our academic team mostly We'll start with our CEO Hi good
morning Thank you for the question Um so I first want to start with the specialization um and maybe break down the schedule a bit so it helps you think about and visualize the school day Our students typically will receive about 160 to 180 minutes of literacy
instruction They'll receive about 90 minutes um anywhere between 70 to 90 minutes of math instruction and they receive about 40 minutes of enrichment instruction They'll also receive about anywhere between 50 to 70 minutes of
learning lab instruction Now let me break down each of those different blocks The best way I would say to think about this is to think of a middle school or high school bell schedule right So students rotate between classes and you have teachers who are
specialized in their specific field Um and that's how we operate all of our elementary schools Our teachers will either teach math um or they will either or they will teach literacy and we integrate social studies as a part of that as well and science instruction And
then they experience enrichment Um and enrichment is really tailored to the local school and community So for example in some of our schools we have gardening we might have art um we might have ballet folklorico There's a wide array of enrichments that we offer but
they really kind of depend on the interest of our students and community Um and then we have our learning lab time So when Eric was speaking about the additional instructional days that students receive based off of the Kredo study right our students experience
about anywhere between 5 to 7 months of accelerated learning um based off of our model that learning lab time is really really important and especially during the pandemic folks started to realize that um high dosage tutoring is really important to accelerate student learning
outcomes either to remediate or to accelerate them So our students during that block receive um a wide array of um materials as well They might receive one-to-one tutoring with the tutoring specialist They might receive additional
enrichment opportunities such as like a robotics Um and they'll have time to engage in online learning programs which are highly differentiated and personalized for each student So they are dependent on where the student is starting what their personalized goals are for the year um and they're working
more independently through that process Sometimes the question comes up around um well is a student only ever receiving tutoring and the answer is no They'll receive um services So they'll receive tutoring they'll receive the enrichment component as well and they'll have an
opportunity to work on their individualized learning plan as well So the broader question was around how do we serve students We focus on making sure that our teachers are highly specialized that our tutors are highly specialized We spend a ton of time in their professional development making
sure that they are specialists in the work that they do They receive a ton of real-time coaching and feedback Um and we have lots of feedback loops for folks to give feedback for us to be able to edit materials and to respond to the needs of the school lots of data analysis cycles progress monitoring
individualized learning plans so that we are meeting the needs of all of our students I've got a uh I've got a question for you It's got two components to it Uh how did you determine the level of need for the
opening of your school and how was community input obtained Yeah it's such a great question and important that it's coming from a board member So thank you Thank you for the question Um so the the need or
opportunity for um a high-quality school here in Rutherford County really hinges on two of the things that were named in the presentation The first is how do we um ensure that every student in Rutherford County um specifically special populations um our English language learners or students with
special uh with with learning differences are receiving um just as a high quality um education and because of our track record in doing that in Nashville Um we see an opportunity for us to scale those particular services here in Rutherford County Um I think
also an opportunity which I alluded to um you've got great elementary schools here Um and what we are hearing from parents um is that while those options are great there is still a desire um for even more opportunities here in Rutherford County particularly newer
families who are moving into the county Um we know that many of our elementary schools um are at or very near capacity And so ensuring that we honor the good work that is happening in all of those schools while also um offering another option uh for families in Rutherford
County certainly led us um to submit the application today I think core in this answer is that for us another good option is always a good thing uh for families Um and we believe that in partnership with Rutherford County our model um will speak to the needs
particularly of families um who um have students with learning differences or English language learners Uh but also will help us learn from your model um what is working in many of your elementary schools and how do we build a partnership that really brings the best to bear across uh both of our our
organizations Very finally um uh uh board member Vaughn I'll just say that our family recruitment team has been hard at work um here in Rutherford County tableabling canvasing knocking on doors meeting families Uh we just left a meeting at Mllo State Community College
this morning really gauging interest identifying potential partnerships and needs And what we are consistently hearing is yes Rutherford County is a great school district and yes we'd be interested in learning more about another option Um and that doesn't take
anything away from Rocket Ship or from Rutherford County It just means we all are able to do more and do better for the students here in Rutherford County Okay you um pretty much answered this Um but just so that I have my notes correctly I'm going to go ahead and ask
again But um just interested in hearing a little more about the four content blocks um that structure that you have and how adequate instructional minutes are allotted to ELA science and social studies during the school day Thank you Yes So um the four blocks
are humanities STEM enrichment and learning lab And if helpful I can break down the minutes Again there we usually use some approximations um and get more specific down to the minute when we build out the
bell schedule but it's usually about 180 minutes for humanities instruction 90 minutes of STEM instruction 90 minutes of learning lab and 40 minutes of enrichment And so students will rotate
through each of those four blocks every day I piggy back on that just a second just for clarity Can you talk a little bit more clearly about science and social studies as where do those fit in Yeah great question So science instruction is
embedded in both math and our humanities blocks and social studies instruction is embedded in our humanities block and we use um if helpful I can talk a little bit about the curriculum We use amplify CKLA in uh our humanities instructional
blocks We use Eureka Math Squared in our math blocks and we use um discovery science in our science block as [Music] well So that sort of answers a little
bit of my question I think Um so Eureka squared for math in the um application it said that CKLA amplify was only for K2 So is there a specific curriculum that you use for 35 for
ELA Yes sorry We also use CKLA integrated So we use CLA skills uh for K2 CKLA knowledge for K2 and CLA integrated for 35 Okay And then say science one more time discovery and then
what about social studies Uh we also use amplify CQLA Um and then just a quick question regarding so um how will you ensure that it's going
to meet the standards of Tennessee Um a little bit throughout your application you referred to common core and I'm sure you're well aware that we have Tennessee state standards So if you could just elaborate on that for Yes thank you Um
so that was a scrivener's error and we apologize for that We um we are aware that Tennessee prohibits the use of common core and we uh then underwent some curriculum adoption processes several years back to ensure that we are
deeply aligned to the Tennessee state standards So what our team did is we took a look at the adoption list um the approved adoption list by the Tennessee Department of Education um and we went through a process to engage all of the local stakeholders so our teachers school leaders students families to
solicit feedback on the adoption list the different types of resources So for example I think Witten Wisdom is one of the approved curricula Wonders is another approved curricula We dove into each of those different lessons unit plans um and then ultimately walked away
with the understanding that CKLA would best meet the needs of our students Um and so underwent that adoption process We are committed of course to making sure that we are in alignment with all of Tennessee state standards and our current three schools um use curricula
that is approved by the Tennessee Department of Education I have one more follow-up question So I I'm not sure about with CKLA or Amplify but I know when we were adopting Eureka there was no um online component to that and I know you talked about a little bit about the
blended learning and what so what do you use for the online components for the students to utilize Yeah really great question So we actually um we use a we use a series of different online learning programs Amplify Boost for our
humanities instruction For math we use um in uh Tennessee and we actually did a deeper dive on the analysis and we found that students who were engaging with the recommended dosage of um were seeing
significant positively correlated data to NWA and state assessments And so we were encouraged by the usage of um across all of our three Tennessee campuses Okay good morning So myself and uh Dr Rosson are going to ask you guys a few
questions about your special populations and you've alluded to that in your presentation Um I'm going to talk specifically or ask a few questions about your English learners and uh as you guys mentioned in your presentation as well we continue to go grow rapidly uh as a school district uh but
specifically with our English learners So in the past 10 years especially in our Smyrna and Leverne area the northern end of the county uh we've gone from about 200 English learners to today about 8,700 Uh so that is a student population that's near and dear to our
heart Um and Dr Rosson's going to ask you some specific questions about students with disabilities But my first question is talk to us a little bit about what is your goal or what is your work with English learners looking like at Rocket Ship Thank you for that question We have also
seen a huge growth in our numbers of English language learners So we are right there with you Um at Rocket Ship we want to ensure that EL planning and assessment aligns with our Tennessee state uh regulations in order to be in compliance But we also want to make sure
that we are offering highquality education for our students And we've really found by doing this we need to invest in five buckets Uh the first one is the clear and codified um identification process So making sure that our um OM and our CIS teams are
aware of how we identify English language learners And we all know it starts with the home language survey and then making sure students are appropriately screened Um based off our district for one district we screen in-house and for the next district we send students out to be screened Um and
then based off their scores uh we have our parent notification process and then we determine whether um they will be a wave student or an active student and then create the ILP to support them Uh we do ILP uh monitoring So we do our
quarterly monitoring Um we were using the WEDA uh to support with uh progress monitoring and then with the switch to ELPA we uh use Dibbles this year Um and then we are in the process of looking for more of an ELPA aligned standard uh screener to make sure that we're focused
on language acquisition when we're progress monitoring our students Um the next is our staff development We know that in order to meet the needs of all of our English language learners you have to have strong tier one instruction And so that means we're investing in our teachers to make sure that they
understand those ELPA standards also the identification process and the support process for our students Um that they are well equipped to provide best practices in um all of their instruction Um that they're incorporating EL eLPA
standards um within instruction um and that they are using each uh EL strategies in each lesson So total body response TPR universal strategies and all that stuff Um it just makes sure that we're creating strong tier one instruction We know students spend the majority of their day in tier one so we
got to have a high impact there Um we also have our EL certified teachers that provide direct instruction based off state regulations Um and those teachers we invest a lot of time in in supporting them to understand what strong uh direct
instruction looks like so that they are focused on language acquisition Um we also are investing in a e um uh uh intervention for our students that aligns with our gened curriculum so that students are getting multiple at bats at grade level curriculum and high rigor
but also getting uh language support throughout it Um and so we also focus on our um collaborative structures Um so we know that in order to have clear co-eing models for English language learners you have to have three components You know
the co-eing the co-planning and the co-assessment So we make sure that those are built into our bell schedules um to support the amount of English language learners for each of our campus We have multiple uh uh models for depending on how many uh English language learners we
have that uh directly relates to how many ML instructors you need to certified ML instructors you need to have Um these teams work together to do co-planning Um they also work together to do data analysis Um and this just
ensures that all of our students are getting the appropriate accommodations for each assessment Um but also during each lesson I'll just I'll just quickly say that in the application and and you can tell we've been we've been digging into this
We're projecting about 40% of the population of um our new school here in Rutherford County um to be identified as English language learners which I imagine is commiserate with the numbers that you all are saying Uh but we know it is core um to standing up a strong stu school here in Rutherford County Yes
sir I can also share that one of our schools are is currently at 50% English language learners and another school is very close behind So we're very used to having to adjust based off population uh changes throughout the year Yep My other question is you alluded to this when you
were talking earlier about the shift to ELPA Talk to us about throughout the application process How did you ensure that you were going by the latest information that we're receiving from the Tennessee Department of Education as it pertains to English learners
Um yes So we have strong partnerships with our current districts that we work in Uh so MNPS and TPCSC So really leaning on them because they get the information first and then filter it down to us Um I meet monthly with our TPCSC team to ensure that uh we review
all student populations our numbers what's happening uh things that are coming up ELPA was a big one this year We did a lot of planning for ELPA because nobody knew what it looked like and the information was coming slow and steady Um so we were able to provide uh
receive professional development from them and then turnkey professional development to our school and staff and EL instructors to make sure that they were prepared We have an amazing assessment team um that leaned in and supported us with figuring out um the
TAI portal I get Tide and Kite confused sometimes because they're very similar um and making sure that our students were rostered correctly Um so that when it came down to giving the ELPA assessment that technology and rostering was not in the way
Okay Good morning Good morning Almost noon So it's almost afternoon but um what is your plan for working with students with disabilities Do you want to take this one or Kenisha We'll we'll probably invite our director of integrated special education Kenisha
Harrington to maybe jump in Sorry Thank you Um thank you so much for the question Um as we spoke to earlier um serving our special education population is key to us and you can see that throughout our key pillars Um and so between myself and Aaron will
definitely speak to this question for you And so jumping back to our block structure right When we think about serving our students through those four different blocks a key pillar there is our model of inclusion and co-eing Um we serve the majority of our students
through our co-eing model Our students with special education needs spend the bulk of their day within the general education classroom Um however we also know that our students at times depending upon their IEPs and their level of needs they also need foundational skills right Um and so we
also gap fill for our students However we know that it is very critical that we do that at a key time so that they're not missing out on instruction Um and so with that in addition to the co-eing we lean in during that personalized learning sorry we lean in during that
personalized learning block time And so thinking about that lab those minutes are when we really zone in on additional small groupoup intervention time And so this can be for math or STEM Um and at times is also for social emotional and behavior for our students Um but this
really allows for us to support our special education students from all ends through that co-eing model as well as through small groupoup instruction Okay Oh it's okay Um we were uh we have a very strong model to support our special uh our students with disabilities and as
Kenishha stated um because we have specialized block structures it's actually we find the most appropriate time to provide the push-in support so those co-eing structures but also the most uh appropriate time to provide small group instruction that pull out
support so that there's limited disruption to students receiving tier one instruction We know the less they are exposed to it the more gaps are that occur Um so in the morning for example student all of our students start with social emotional learning Our uh special
education staff pulls students who have social emotional learning in their IEPs and they do uh specialized learning with them based on how intensive of the need it is um which is outlined in their IEPs Uh for small groupoup instruction we have research-based uh interventions
that our staff is very well trained on that actually have progress monitoring built within the week so that it's not an extra service we have to find time for for our teams Um as well as um just a strong collaboration of our school
psychologists our speech and language pathologists access to occupational therapists physical therapists Uh we have uh contractors that support with audio uh and vision support with our students as well as a lot of consult for uh behavior if we have an extended need
for it Okay Um you led me right into my next question So that was great Um so what are the staffing plans for the first few years especially with your contract providers Yeah Um like OTP things like that Yeah Um so our staffing plan really does uh depend on how many
students we have with disabilities We uh like to keep our ratio for teacher to student as low as possible so that one it's manageable and that two that uh the uh the I we call them ISC specialists So e exceptional education teachers are able to target instruction for their
team Um so it would really based off the model One of our schools we currently have uh three specialists um some parapros Each of our campus has a speech and language pathologist that is inhouse So they are there five days a week to provide services and collaboration Um
and then we have an occupational therapist for each campus One of them is in-house two are contracted out um depending on just the level of need for that service uh for that campus We have a physical therapist that is contracted out that goes to each campus a week
because that need is a little bit less Um as well as uh a school psychologist uh for one of our campus because it has a higher need and then we have a school psychologist that supports both our campus Now with that being said sometimes you need more support Um and
then we have a great system of support here Um where we're able to pivot and find the support that we need for our students Uh and for example we had a student who uh had vision impairment that was possibly interested at our school And because of those strong partnerships we have with our external
providers we were able to have them come in sit on the meeting and then determine if it was an appropriate placement for them Okay Were you gonna Nope I was just going to add here I think our application enumerates um projecting three special education teachers in year
one Um that is consistent with how we have stood up other schools I would say the benefit of being a part of an existing network um which I I hope you all appreciate is that we're we're able really to pull from the best of what's happening not only at Rocket Ship and
our three campuses here but also from you all Um and so this is this is really about scaling something that exists and not necessarily having to build it from the ground up We know that that brings quite a bit of of challenges Um and so I think with our special populations we'll
be able to really leverage the best of what's happening across both of our organizations to serve um the students here in Rutherford I'd like to ask a follow-up question um with with the plans for possibly contracting some of the services out um we have run into
this in our current situation um with with some charter schools What is the backup plan for Rocket Ship if the contract services cannot be provided They can't provide a person an OT or a PT or whoever um when it's written in the IEP Yeah Um that is a great question
Um and we have multiple external partners Um and so we found that with those multiple external partners we were able to staff um all of our positions especially when you're thinking about occupational therapy um speech and language We also have um an internal
hiring um uh director who supports with uh finding uh licensed SLPs uh occupational therapists Um and we have um a network of support that can be provided to onboard those teams um to
make sure that they have the the correct support that they need it as well as I uh regionally support them in order to make sure that they're abiding by uh Tennessee special education regulations because that is very important Yes it is Thank you very much Thank you Let's
change directions a little bit Uh going to recruitment and marketing How do you intend to generate interest and recruit sufficient students in the area of intended services given that a large number of
families speak languages other than English or Spanish Yep Thank you for the question Um I'll tee up our chief of staff and Lupe Meyers to jump in Before before they do I will just say as I mentioned um I
believe earlier many of our existing schools have a similar level of diversity Um and what we have found not only leveraging our home visit structure not only allowing parents and ensuring that parents are part of our um our school experience Uh but leveraging the
community uh to ensure that we're tapping into every asset of the community um not just to sort of recruit and enroll students but to sustain that experience when the school is in operation So certainly we're leveraging our family recruitment team um to ensure
that we're meeting our enrollment targets Um notably our newest school um our school in in Antioch has a wait list and has been fully enrolled Was one of the largest um elementary schools to open in their first year So we are we're pretty fluent in sort of enrolling
students recruiting families but keeping them Um our retention of families is near 90% across all of our campuses Um and so we're excited to dig deeper into recruitment strategies that speak to the needs of Rutherford County Um particularly families um with language
differences Um and so I'll pass it maybe to to to Damon Hardy to share more about our recruitment efforts and then potentially Lupe Yeah Uh thank you for the question and thank you Eric for that context Um so obviously we have the
existing schools in Nashville and as Eric has shared our school in Antioch has a very um similar demographic or serves a similar pool of students that uh we think Tennessee uh for a Rutherford County school will serve And
so we really leverage that recruitment team and the skills that we've built over the years um to we plan to we've been using them to come down in Rutherford County As we get into the stage of standing up the school we'll
bring in folks who are uh of the community in Rutherford um who uh have um who who who know the know the infrastructure um of Rutherford County Um we're constantly um uh hiring and
bringing folks onto our team that reflects our community that speak different languages um in uh acknowledging that we serve uh families that speak a variety of languages Um in addition we also partner
with and we also um build relationships with daycarees in the community And so we've done some of that leg work in uh Rutherford County already of where we have uh tabled at daycarees and talked with parents to understand their interest in a school in Rutherford
County And then um I call it boots on the groundwork We're also in the community knocking on doors letting families know that um uh this is who we are This is the process that we're in Are you interested in a school um here
And so we um we anticipate uh bolstering and and kind of beefing up that operation uh as we move forward uh with uh um standing up a school and uh recruiting families to come in And I should share that as Eric shared I would
just like to restamp again that um our school in Antioch Rocket Ship Dream um Rocket Ship Dream Community Prep uh its first year of operation it had a weight list of about 70 families It second year it had a weight list of 130
families And the way that we're tracking this year that is a we anticipate that weight list being larger this year Um and then another piece of information to add on there we know that that um Antioch area and the north northern portion of Rutherford County there is a
lot of is is um families move back and forth between that boundary So we've had just this year about 30 families that have had to unenroll from our Rocket Ship Dream uh community prep campus and uh move down into Rutherford County and
are interested in having a a rocket ship school there and would really like to stay at Rocket Ship but just because of the boundaries of the school district can't So we think that we have like a really nice foundation to build upon here Only other thing I would add here
as we continue to engage the community um we've got information sessions that are scheduled um next month the 12th and the 14th um to ensure that families are hearing directly from us about um not only our model but also hearing from them about that what they would like to see in a new school Um I would also just
note um that we've got about close to 30 staff members um current staff members who work in three of our in who work across three the the three campuses in Nashville that live in Rutherford County I think a part of the interest is also tapping into um their experiences as
current rocket ship staff members but folks who live um and support businesses here in Rutherford County So we anticipate the interest only surging um as we continue to engage families A final point to um um Butchvon your
question about special populations and really um allowing them to access information uh all of the things that have been shared are true and we also provide translation services um for those families to ensure that um they are able to access information in ways
um that are specific um and appropriate for them based on on the languages that they're speaking Thank you Why would parents want to enroll their students in your school You're the parents Is that right Okay It
is it's such a good question and it's such a refreshing question Um here's what here's what I would say I am not a parent Um I um am I think I've shared with some of
you I'm I'm from Little Rock Arkansas but have spent spent about six or seven years living and working here in Tennessee middle and east Tennessee And if you'd ask any of the parents of the 1500 students that currently are choosing Rocket Ship I think the first
thing they will tell you is that Rocket Ship cares I think so much of um the experience is about the culture and the emotions that we invoke for our families who legitimately just want the best
experience for their students Many of them don't distinguish between charter or non-charter Many of them um aren't interested in some of the politics as you all know that go with education They just want their kids to have the very
best experience Um that sets them up to have as many opportunities as they want And so I believe that parents um would share with you that Rocket Ship cares And because of that level of care they see it in the way we speak they see it
in the way that we engage with them and they see it in the ways that their students talk about um their experience at Rocket Ship So that that would be the first I think the second thing that I would I think parents would would share with you and it's connected to that third pillar that I shared Parent power
um is not just two words that we put on a screen It is really at the core of our work It is what sets us apart We believe bringing parents in as partners to this work not just to advocate for their their students but to advocate for their
communities Um and so I think parents would say that rocket ship is also a place where they feel supported not just to ensure that their students are meeting benchmarks and having a good time uh but they're being developed in
ways that elevate their voice that increase their agency and that allow them to have more opportunities as adults and as parents So those are two of the things that I will say I'll invite all of you to come to our schools and maybe to talk to a couple of families who are um consistently there
to hear more about their experience at Rockship Thank you so much for that question Thank you Um so from the students perspective why would students want to enroll in your school and also how many letters of intent to enroll do you have currently Yeah so I'll take the
second question um first We have not uh issued any formal letters of intent um given this process What is provided in uh the application is a sampling um of letters of support intent informal letters of support and intent from
families It is not an exhaustive list Um I know we have about a 100 parent signatures of parents here in Rutherford County um who have indicated interest um in Rutherford County Um we have meetings quite frankly lined up between now and
the hearing with parents and community members um where they've committed to providing letters of support uh testimonials um in support of rocket ship Um I would also say that much of the data that Damon just shared around current staff members who live in
Rutherford but work in in uh Nashville and families who have exited Rocket Ship because they've moved to Rutherford County are really strong data points um about the initial interest that I believe will only grow as we continue our community engagement work I think a
student uh would say a couple of things It probably depends on the day Um but I I think the average student would sh would say um I feel safe at rocket ship I feel loved at rocket ship and I am growing at rocket ship I think many of
you all know um that much of that starts and stops with the teacher It is why we um engage deeply in the professional learning of our our teachers Um our teachers I believe go above and beyond to ensure that our students not only feel safe but are also stretched in how
they think about their work um the kind of work that they're producing um and they provide sort of exposure and opportunities for those those students um on a regular So I I believe that our fam our families are um our best testimonies about the work that we do and our students whether they're current
students um or alumni who have left Rocket Ship and many of them are now in college um would would say that they felt loved and supported and that they grew um at a rocket ship school Now we'll move into some questions on your organizational plan itself Um um so
and this one's relatively simple Tell us about how once you get the ball rolling if you get approved how is the governing board going to reflect local membership and what's the plan and timeline for addressing the lack of local participation in the current board A
great question Before I answer if we are pivoting from academics might it be okay for us to swap um out members here at the the table So I'll invite our chief financial officer our chief people officer and our chief legal officer to swap out That's a good idea
[Music] I'm sure they will To the three that just left the table you're not off the hook You may have those microphones Mr Daily while we're while we're um uh restructuring here u I did get a request just now from our board member Would you
be willing to share your opening slides with us Absolutely So if you could if you could just email those to me I'll be glad to share them with our board members Absolutely So the question around governance board composition So as you all saw in the application we have a 14 member board um
made up of local leaders um really across middle Tennessee There are a couple of those leaders who who live in Rutherford County Um our plan certainly is to ensure uh that there are two um pieces included in the board um if and when we expand to Rutherford County The
first is parent uh representation You'll see that there is a current parent that sits on our board Um we intend to ensure that there is parental representation from a Rutherford parent that is is on the board Um interestingly enough we've got a couple of names of people who have
already in uh uh named their interest And then the second is to ensure certainly that there um is local representation of community leaders business leaders Um what what I would share with you is that the best indication of what what is possible here
in Rutherford County is what you um have seen over the last 10 years So standing up that board of really influential leaders in Nashville we expect that we would be able to replicate that process to ensure that we're talking to diverse constituencies across um Rutherford
County and we're able to enlist their support in helping to govern Rocket Public Schools here in Rutherford County and across Nashville Right And this this question is not on my list so excuse me a minute team members but I I I meant to ask I've been meaning to ask this but
where where are you in the process of finalizing the agreement between Rocket Ship National and Rocket Ship Tennessee If I understood correctly it was in the draft stages um uh most recently It's a great question We'll invite maybe our chief legal officer to to
share Thank you Um are you I believe you are referring to the asset transfer agreement Okay Yes So we are in the midst of that and we expect that it will be final and ready for our board meetings um prior to July
1 when the transition will occur We already have board authorization from the um two authorizers that we currently work with in Tennessee to make that transfer of governance from the national board to the local board Okay So that's how that works is the local authorizer
has to approve that too Okay Yes Understood So that's the process we went through um seeking material amendments to the charter petitions to allow the governing board to shift from the national board to the local Tennessee board Those have been approved already
Great So and is this the first time you've had a Tennessee board Is it always been a national board that has that has governed uh the the Tennessee schools Yes In fact the national board was the applicant for the three existing schools Right And uh we established a
local regional Tennessee board believe in 2022 in the spring of 2022 and have been working to perfect their tax exempt status and get them ready and prepared to take on governance Thanks for clarifying that for me I appreciate it
What you plan if it doesn't happen I don't foresee any uh impediment to it happening It's already been approved So um but if something unforeseeable were to happen um I imagine that the national board would continue uh
with the local board which is an operational board at this point being in full advisory capacity and having the board chairs continue to serve on the national board But I really do believe that we're pretty well teed up to make this happen Fingers crossed
Yeah Let let me just quickly add here I don't want it to be lost There is an existing local regional board The amendment really is to shift or transfer governance authority to that regional board So this board as Maria mentioned has been in existence for at least three
years here locally Um really the amendment is to just shift governance authority Uh but there has always been and continues to be um regional input on that national board But we feel very confident um that that amendment will will will be fine Great Thank you so
much for clarifying that for us It was a little hard to understand um what was going on there So thank thanks so much Okay You mentioned um having parent representation on your school board Um what other can you give us and obviously
the parent power pillar is very important Um so what are some of the specific opportunities and avenues for parental involvement um that you expect to have Sure And I think our program team you
all feel free to jump in as you see fit I would say a a couple of things Uh the first is that our parents have open invitation into our buildings Um they are truly partners um whether it is supporting uh with tutoring supporting with afterare extracurricular activities
um there is sort of an open door policy for our families to be a part of the educational program um at our schools Those opportunities um range in sort of their scope based on the needs of each of those campuses Uh but our commitment to families is to ensure that they u
both feel welcomed but also have a space uh to support the work happening in our schools There are number of programs that I will not even try to enumerate for this group that engage our families uh both informally and formally both
around academics and around extracurriculars um but also um around advocacy And so I might invite Lupe Meyers or Isser to share just a little bit more about how we engage our parents in both the educational program but also
in some of our community work Thank you so much Um I myself am a mother to two kids Um and parent involvement engagement is important to me not just as an educator uh but also as a parent and there's a variety of
different ways in which we engage parents both on the cultural front advocacy front and academic front Um Eric talked a little bit about this during the presentation All of our teachers and our leaders conduct home visits with every single one of our
families at the start of the year This gives us an opportunity to better understand the family better understand the needs of the student for the family to be able to ask any questions of us and to start the partnership off um on a
strong foundation We also offer lots of opportunities monthly opportunities for families to engage in parent coffees Um it's an opportunity for the principal to share what's happening at the school Um and an invitation for families to share
what is top of mind for them to engage in things like um the academic uh learnings that we're providing Uh sometimes we'll dig into attendance data Sometimes families will have an opportunity to practice some of the questions that students will encounter
on a state assessment They might dig into a lesson plan um we might teach them uh specific sounds from the alphabet so that they can practice those at home So lots of opportunities for how do you take the learning from school and apply it at home as well We offer things
like of course back to school night showcase nights for students to be able to perform Um also where students receive awards for things like core values their academic performance their attendance um field trips to local colleges or local spaces in the
community so that families start to uh more readily access those spaces um even in their free time Some of our schools will do um an afternoon at the library a Saturday evening at the library So we help families um navigate those
resources as well And just last night actually there was a poster making party at our Rocket Ship Nashville Northeast campus So families and their kids came Um they had lots of materials Glitter was flying everywhere glue was flying everywhere and kids made posters with
their families um to encourage them as they embark on um a really intense stretch of learning um and especially as we head into the state assessment So an o a really neat opportunity um for the community to to come together um and
celebrate the progress that kids are making and also set them up for success for the next few weeks Switch gears Describe and explain the indicated qualifications for a potential school principal and the reasons for not hiring
such until December or January I want to make sure I heard the question correctly Qualifications for principles and the decision to hire in the fall So I will I'll invite our chief people officer to share a little bit more about our process for sourcing candidates and
uh some of the specific qualifications we look for in um school leaders Very quickly I will share our timeline as we think about starting a new school Um it is one of the things that we take into a consideration during that green lighting process that I mentioned as we start to
think about where might we grow how might we stand up a school Um what are some of the milestones we need to make sure we cover and at what point in the year We found that the fall is really the best time to ensure that a leader is in place that they can begin to become
versed in the rocket ship model but also in the Rutherford County community Um and then more importantly that they have an opportunity to coalesce a team that is not just sort of thinking about the building and thinking about um hiring
teachers but they're also thinking about how best to engage the community So that fall timeline um uh comports with um our ultimate goal of having the school ready well in advance of opening any doors Um and we've seen historically that that
timeline has worked particularly here in Tennessee As we find a good leader that leader coaleses a really good team Um and that we're ready to to start the school I'll have Lamar Wade our chief people officer share a little bit more about the u qualities of a strong leader Thank you Eric So um I'll start more
broadly just talking about recruitment in general Uh super important for us to have high quality leadership but also when we look at recruitment in general we want to make sure we're compliant right So we look at what's compliant uh the compliance needs are for a principal or any person in our schools to make
sure they're meeting those needs So we have partnerships with local universities and colleges to ensure those needs are met Uh we even impose different internal metrics like credentiing for all of our leadership uh because we want to make sure that they're able to model behavior for our teachers When we think about uh
specifically the principal the reason we delay that later is just to be candid folks want to pick their team right So we want to make sure they're in place first the principal so they have a voice they're bought into the candidates that we're recruiting and that they can help build that culture uh which we know is
really important Just to piggy back uh with the parent question I'm a parent uh father of five so I've done my duty to multiply and within Wilson County in particular and I will say we see that parents in particular sign up to join our staff which is very important
because they really know the needs We'll see a transition sometimes from operations typically moving into maybe some par roles other things where they can volunteer get a taste for it and then ultimately even into leadership So a pretty large population are interested in becoming staff and that parent
population as well So what is your plan for recruiting and retaining highquality staff which I think you kind of answered that a little bit What's your plan Let me jump in So I'll jump in The first thing is understanding the need So we start with
uh looking specifically at the ratios right And what we're how we're intending to grow year one and beyond Uh that gives us an idea of the quantity that we're going to need I think Eric touched touched on it earlier We have uh close to 30 staff members who actually sit
here in Rutherford County a part of that community who we suspect will be interested uh just because I24 if nothing else to join the Rutherford team So that is impressive because you you usually don't have that in a new startup So our being embedded in the community is important to us And then the
partnerships that I mentioned earlier with local colleges and universities we've met with MTSU MLOW had some great conversations with them and building that pipeline as well as other Nashville universities We know Nashville is known as the the uh the Parthonon or the Athens of the South So we have a lot of
uh universities here that we have partnerships already from our existing schools and we have the ability because we're part of a national network actually to transfer talent We have people in other regions who are some of them are native Tennessans who moved because there wasn't that opportunity in Tennessee initially who have already
expressed interest and signed up to come to Tennessee uh potentially if this if this is to come to fruition Let me let me just quickly uh add a a personal note I shared in the introduction that I've spent a part of my career um at an organization called
Teach for America Um and and I served as deputy and inram executive director here in Tennessee So for Nashville and and Chattanooga And the the at the heart of that work is really about bringing good talent into our communities um that stay whether they stay in the classroom or
they become principles or they become doctors This is the the question um around talent is is really near and dear to me because we know that schools only work if we've got the right adults in the right seats Um and so we have spent
a lot of time learning over the course of these 10 years about really what attracts a highquality teacher to rocket ship but more importantly how do we keep them How do we keep them And so we can talk a little bit more about sort of our compensation and benefits and all of
those things but it really is a relationship between organization and talent to ensure that they feel both supported but also valued when they come and work at Rocket Ship We have high expectations for our teachers um and we expect them to have high expectations of
us and the kind of experience we help uh to steward for them So this is this is a such a good question and it's one that we've spent a lot of time thinking about to ensure that we've got the right staff members um at this school Okay Before we leave the staffing issue
I do want to uh talk specifically about staffing for ELLs And I know you addressed this quite a bit already but the angle I'm coming from is um you know in our district um we have such a a high number a growing ELLL population we've had difficulty staffing certified ELLL
teachers and and our two existing charters have have have experienced very much the same So I'm curious as to what are your contingency plans for that I mean I know in in in Metro Nashville their teachers typically have to be certified in in ELLL and I think they
even provided the opportunity for them to earn that cert certification I'm curious what your contingency plans are for ensuring that you meet that mandated 35 to1 um student teacher ratio for your ELLLs due to the fact that there's such a shortage of those folks around
Such a shortage um and certainly something that we're thinking a lot about Um Erin I don't know if you want to lean in here to share a little bit more Um and then Lamar would invite you to share a bit more about how we're trying to attract um those sorts of credentialed staff members Yes the 1:35
ratio always a good time to talk about um so what we have done is made sure that one um we have a full understanding of the different levels of full-time based off what they provide our students in the classroom Um so we worked actually with our local districts for uh
staffing documents in order to calculate those uh.33 66 and all those fun things Um but making sure that we have uh our EL direct certified teachers Uh most of the time they are internal staff that are looking for the next step up So we make
sure that we provide them those pathways of supports Um I know Lamar has met with many universities as well as our talent team Uh Jessica Hulkcom uh uh sources out different um paths that accelerate providing um those certifications to our
team members Um and then we find those interested parties and then move them into those places Uh I think one of the things too is we want to keep the amazing EL certified teachers that we have Um so making sure that they have the support they are seen as valued and they have the development that they need
is really important as well as make sure that we are uh talking to our humanities teachers about getting dual certified as well as our special education teachers about getting dual certified um since we do have dual students supporting them in both areas is very
important And then Lammore Sarah you said it very well I would just emphasize once again those partnerships being so important So we do actively recruit uh EL certified teachers through those partnerships with bilingual credentiing programs Uh the university teaching English to speakers of other languages
programs and we have national organizations that specialize in those multilingual programs Another piece I would highlight uh is retention right um for these teachers in particular because we know it's it's a war for talent here and folks are constantly looking for
these teachers in 23 24 we retained 100% of our EL teachers So that's pretty impressive um because of the the war for talent that's going on We see folks doing a lot to attract those teachers to other other schools So for us to have that balance approach that Eric
mentioned making sure we're meeting the needs even as going as far as from a contingency standpoint having all of our teachers certified in these areas that way from a development perspective they're ready to move on but they they can also in that integrated model support each other
Thank you So go ahead real quick Lots of contingencies The only other I would name is that our staffing model is specifically built to ensure that EL specialists are also serving at every grade level So we've got the EL certified teachers to meet the ratio and then we have EL specialists at every
grade level to support So there really is sort of a combination of contingencies built into both our model our finance model uh but also our execution of the program Thanks Okay now let's move into our discussion about facilities Mr Lee
good afternoon It is afternoon now officially Um as the gentleman who's been building schools for almost 20 years here in Ruleford County I'm very wellversed in the difficulties of getting these things out of the ground
And you guys are probably the first that have come in here that does have at least a semblance of experience with trying to build something um based on the areas that you've listed in your review and
um I'd like to hear more about your 10-month construction schedule because that's fairly aggressive Um and second of all based on our recent experiences with other charters they've run
into what I suspect is going to be some of the same things you're going to run into And what is your contingency plan if you don't if you're not able to pull that off Yep Sure Thank you Um Ben Carson I'm the CFO of National Rocket Ship I lead our
real estate facilities team I've been founding and building charter schools for 15 years Um couple of things on 10 months We we think about 10 months as shovel in to CFO not idea to occupancy giving ourselves five months on the
front end for entitlements and financing We g ourselves six weeks on the back end for punch list and and overruns So 10 months shovel in to shovel out is consistent with our recent experiences in the region and elsewhere and we've tried to give ourselves some slack I
think the second is the primary facility we're targeting now um is a light touch renovation Right We are we are moving away from brand new ground up given the time given the calendar right that that we
don't think brand new ground up is something that we are prioritizing uh to get open in fall of 26 So the building we're looking at we're under under uh under contract Obviously we won't close without a charter Um but under contract existing commercial structure relatively light
touch reconfigure some walls uh put some FFN in and then uh likely have to build a storm shelter outback but something that we think is is consistent with other projects we've done in you know in another market We recently did a light touch commercial plus storm shelter in
six months from permit to CFO And so we we think we're we're in the slot I think to your point about contingency um through our community engagement work We're constantly looking for partners who might have a church basement who might have a sunny school wing who might
have a sort of Boys and Girls Club that just in case we could get a few weeks a semester a year just in case as a as a temporary facility It's not what we want to do We know that schools start best when they start in their permanent location but we we know
that we'd be foolish not to have the the parachute Does that answer your question Although I'll make sure I understood what I heard correctly I understand you you are currently under contract with an existing building What what is that building Can you can you provide that
location for us Sure It's a commercial structure near the Smyrn airport It's a about a 20,000 foot office building that would need initially renovation and the addition of storm shelter And then our plan would be to phase in kind of a building two uh after a year or so when
student demand required Yep If we get to that if we get to that point we'd be most interested in touring that facility with you at some time just to take a look Absolutely Okay And Miss Madison I think it sounded like they answered this question about
the storm shelter That was our next question That that has definitely become a a hot topic Oh my gosh Yeah Are you okay with that Miss McKinn Good Great Thank you so much Mr Lee
Back up Um highly happy to see that you're planning on providing transportation Um Ruer County is unique Uh we as of today still provide basically
door-to-door transportation for all students which is a little unique Um a lot of the areas around us have gone to parent responsibility zones or they've got hubs where um students you
know can from certain areas can provide that's not the model that the um county students are used to What can you explain a little bit more about how you would plan to provide that transportation Yeah I think what we've seen work in in
Davidson County which is a different model is more of the asking families to meet us in the middle right And and having kind of instead of going up and down your neighborhood meet you at the end of the culde-sac right Or meet you at the the outside of your neighborhood And what we find is that that just keeps
ride times down Um that you guys know you can the constraint is usually not 54 kids on a bus It's how early can you put them on the bus to get the bus fully And so what we have found works and got some data that says many of our families were already getting cars and
so asking them to come to the edge of their neighborhood on their way to work well for us So our plan would be a couple of routes per grade level and scale it that way Um and try to keep ride times down by asking families to
meet us at these drop off homes I The only thing I would add here is certainly ride time is a major consideration to ensure that our students aren't on buses um for an exorbitant amount of time We currently operate 14 uh buses in Nashville Um and
so this is something that we are pretty fluent in We continue to assess sort of the strategy with identifying routes and stops and um how parents are experiencing uh transportation but certainly we intend to provide transportation and we intend to provide
it um in a way that is convenient for families but is also safe uh for students Thank you So transportation's a definite part of the plan not a we hope to It is a definite part of the plan Okay great So
uh let's shift gears just a little bit and talk about um and not knowing the facility itself It's hard for me to um even forecast this but um I want to hear about your detailed plans for safety and security of whatever facility you choose Um how did you determine those needs And
I'm going to let me give provide a little background as to why I'm asking that question It was interesting in your application that it listed or that indicated the school would be providing security personnel if if local law enforcement and the community determined it was
necessary I'm kind of curious what you meant by that and what is the what is the solid plan to to provide a safe and secure facility Yeah sure I'll I'll start and talk a little bit about the facility and then I'll ask my colleague uh Eric Newman who mentors all of our operation staff to
talk a little about the people side because we what everyone knows is a safe building is only as safe as the people in it uh and the adults in it and and well-trained adults need a safe facility as well And so on the facility side we have evolved uh over our 15 year history
to to make sure that we're staying state-of-the-art What that looks like for us these days is um cameras on every point of ingress and egress is access control with multiple checkpoints right Man traps they call them like you guys have out here Um impact resistant film
on ground floors and uh sort of panic button burglar alarms at every at every front desk That's sort of the baseline to make sure that we know who's coming on campus and that there's not an ability to force your way into the building or where the
students are Um Eric you want to and then and we brought a copy of our school safety plan as sort of collateral Yeah Uh thank you So safety obviously a huge priority for our campuses for our students for our staff um and for our
families as well Um I think I'll talk about the specific trainings and whatnot but I think at the core of our work um there's a lot of things that we have in our facilities There's a lot of trainings that we do but the thing that creates the safest spaces are the strong relationships that we have with our
families and we have with our students and we have with our our teams right And so you know that's built around if we see something we say something we share it we care for each other Um and so both on the front end on the back end we make sure that all parties are prepared and understand um what our systems and
structures are So uh throughout the course of the summer we provide training to each of our you know each of our regions each of our schools um is is led by our business operations managers our operations teams our principles uh and that's executed at the start of the
school year Um and then there's ongoing drills throughout the course of the year Um we partner really closely in our Nashville schools with the Metro Nashville Police Department Um we also partner uh with a a we're contracted with an organization who provides us
with se uh security resource officers at each of our schools who participate in the training who give feedback to our training um and who are members of our community Um they're not just uh there to direct traffic or to respond in in moments of need but they you know they
support students they say hello to families Um and so they're really integrated into that Another thing that we do again there are state requirements for yearly uh safety walkthroughs at each of our buildings Um however we actually do that on a weekly basis We have a shorter it's not quite as intense
but a shorter uh safety checklist that our schools each run through again in partnership with school staff in partnership with our resource resource officers Uh and then three times a year we do formal um operations visits at each of our schools I can say that right
now based on all the inspection the weekly inspections the schools are at a 97% So there's things that might be missed you know a visitor doesn't sign in or something like that and at our last formal visits um all of our schools scored at the highest uh value of that
So again safety is really important for us Um and again the training goes to our staff and then our students as well We have specific uh resources that are used to train not just our student or staff what to do in an emergency but our students as well And then we're really
uh cognizant of that whether there's an emergency or whether there's a drill We follow up when we communicate with families so they know that that's happened They know uh they can talk about their student about it and so they're not hearing from them or we had you know I think the reality is we have some pretty intense drills that we run
and so it's really important that our families know that that's happening as well I just say quickly Dr McCann the explicit answer to your question is yes we will provide school resource officers The language in the application is meant to honor any existing partnerships or
relationships here in Rutherford County Um but as evidenced by our current setup in our Nashville schools um yes we will provide school resource officers It's built into our budget and built into our model Thanks for that Just a couple of pieces of tech I'd
mentioned Number one uh Eric mentioned sign in now We use a device called Visit You at all our campuses I think it's probably similar what they have here Take your driver's license scan it and if you're on a no fly list at Rocket Ship uh your mom asks that you not be
released to your dad anymore something like that then we can uh we can flag that on the screen for the staff And then the other is we don't pick up the drop off It is the craziest time at any school And so um Eric just talk a little
bit about pick up Yeah So we we use a product called visit um sorry visit use a sign in They actually were just acquired by pick my kid which is the other one but each family is assigned a number um through our power school uh CIS information systems And so
every day uh that that parent has that specific identification number when they're going to pick up their student whether that is on the bus they're picking their student up they're showing that as well We have bus monitors who ride our buses with our uh with our students to make sure that they get home
safely whether that's at the school in the drive-thru Uh again they'll present the number or student families are walking up to pick up their student Uh and then staff will send the students to the designated areas making sure that they get there safely Um and I would say again our student or our schools in
Tennessee um specifically are sworn really highly when it comes to our operation systems uh both safe efficient and also joyful Thanks for that Mr McCann Yes I said I was not going to ask any questions No you go But I do have a
question Now that we're in the vein of uh school safety and this wasn't asked but I I feel like it needs to be brought up So within the vein of school safety and providing what is your contingency
plan for your teachers and even those that are not permanent and the people that are in the building that are um equipped to handle type of emergencies such as with an active shooter training such as an active shooter that's not in
your application and it wasn't part of your this is but in the vein of talking about safety I feel that is part of needs to be part of the conversation as well Yeah thank you So that that is all part of the the work that we do with our safety training Um again there are
different levels of of what that training looks like specifically here in Tennessee We partner really closely with the the local authorities um as it's outlined by the different updates in you know by from the state So we run a number of different drills uh we partner
not only with the the local authorities but with our resource officers and so that everyone has their you know their their roles and responsibilities during those times We do run specific drills for that so that um so that folks are
prepared Um that you know we give we get feedback on that We adjust our practices each year Um the other thing I would say is that uh you know luckily we've never had any of those situations ever occur However we are prepared for them Um we have
recently there's a new um technology for the the the alert the quick alert to make sure that everyone is uh everyone's notified uh if there are some of any of those situations that occur Um what I'll say is and I'll just show you briefly here at our front office we have our
like a safety binder right but in each of our classrooms we know that under those moments of distress uh can be challenging and so we have safety cheat sheets for all of our staff that are present um and so you can pass this around and so you can look at the basics of each procedure are outlined here so
folks can um reference them very quickly and then enact uh what the responsibilities that they have to have have to do We also include in here again just for the purpose of uh any any emergencies and reunification we'll see student lists and so you know there are contact information here but in the case
when there's you know technology or your system on the computer isn't working you have that information you can call the people that you need to uh and of course with this with the resource officers we partner with one company that serves each of our schools and so if there was an emergency or a need we could move uh
those move those personnel and so that their their manager would cover a would would go to one school and they could move active duty senior resource officers to another location if there is a higher need there Um and again they do that we've never had to do that in in an
actual emergency but they do circulate and they connect so that again it's there's it's not just a random person but oh oh you're not my usual officer but I've seen you before I know who you are when you're at the school So so as a clarification and thank you so much for
all the the details and and being thorough So part of the training does include your non-permanent your temporary teachers as well Absolut absolutely So any person that is um working with students um in our
buildings consistently participate in some level of training much of which is statemandated whether it is fire drills or active shooter I I will just quickly name that particularly in Nashville and you all know this given recent events um here um in Middle Tennessee This is one
of those areas where we've sort of um done a comprehensive audit to make sure that our trainings um both are aligned to state law and regulation but also that they make sense for our families So yes all of those adults are engaged in some level of training um and we're deeply sensitive to it given um current
events here in Middle Tennessee Well thank you I know this was not part of the questions but since we were talking about safety I felt like we needed to address it So thank you so much Thank you Thank you Mr Rosales No questions are off the table today so don't feel bad
about that I do have one more followup on that too You mentioned a a system where visitors scan their license and make sure that they're the appropriate person to pick up that that child Does that system connect to the state offenders database to determine to make
sure that anybody who enters into the school um it it does not have some sort of flag that would prevent that Uh yes every any visitor uh at the school needs to show that um and uh scan in for staff
visitors anyone Uh and it will flag on that registry Thank you Okay the last part of our interview well almost the last part of our interview is going to cover everybody's favorite topic of finance and money Um clearly the rocket ship
organization you know presents a solid foundational or solid financial foundation Um so but we do have a few small questions that we just like to ask to help us clarify our own understanding Okay Miss Kwood ex sorry explain the discrepancy
between your staff budget and staff FTE numbers What is your intended pupil toteer ratio understand what discrepancy you mentioned pupil FTE can pull this up sorry I don't have
that one in memory I think we're looking by full scale for pupils to be [Music] 5 28 and for staff at full scale to be
40 So yeah I think that question 13.2 to1 I think just for clarification I think that question was based on as we kind of looked at your staff FTE numbers and your intended enrollment it did look like some of your classes um and we're talking basic home room classes your
basic um classroom setting appear to have some kind of high ratios Is that your intention I mean what do you typically look for A 25 kids in a class 20 kids in a class What 30 kids in a class typically What do you look for Yeah we're we're budgeting and and I'll ask my colleague to talk about how this
works but from what we're budgeting we're budgeting 96 students on a grade Um which would be 4R for us And I'll ask my colleague to talk a little bit about what 4R means but basically means four cohorts of 24 each Could you talk a little more about how we staff a four
Yeah sure So uh when I was talking about the B schedule all of those blocks run concurrent to one another in a grade level Almost every grade level will have two humanities teachers one math teacher
and uh one learning lab specialist That's the tutor And then the enrichment teachers uh span across multiple grades So when you take a look at the bell schedule um the humanities teachers are teaching at the same time two different
cohorts and the math um the STEM teachers are teaching opposite our learning lab uh tutors So that's that and that's how you're able to make um four different rotations throughout the day
The only thing that I would add here is yes the the aspirational student teacher ratio or teacher student ratio is 1 to 24 Um you you may be seeing um the scaled growth of the school So in year one we of course will not be enrolling
500 plus students It's closer to 200 Um which certainly aids us in a host of other ways from a financial standpoint and enrollment standpoint Uh but it also might adjust those ratios just a little bit I think likely in our favor uh because we're not growing at scale so
quick So it allows us time to have a model that's commiserate with our finances but also ensures um that we're not overcrowding classrooms and upending the experiences of our educators Okay one more question What is the plan for achieving
financial sustainability RCS authorized charter schools fell from 27 to 35% below projections this year How can Rocket Ship operate on a financially sound basis if the same enrollment challenges occur in 26 to 27
It's a great question and it's one we've been as you can imagine thinking a lot about as we decided the application We know that that revenue in Redford County is not the same for people as it is in Metro I think what do we take confidence
from as we as we decide to uh uh start school The first is strong track record of starting schools at the number we intend with respect to enrollment We've got national and regional team who've shown over and over again their ability to set and hit goals with regards to
enrollment and then to manage staffing and manage our compensation spend to match that enrollment That's something that we feel is a strength The second strength we take right from is our confidence from is our ability to
acquire and deliver facilities that live within our means Right Whether that's an incubation space whether that's a phase space just planning for us right now Not having that 600 kid building with 200 kids in it that'll drown Uh I think the third is that that we have the ability
to leverage a regional and national network which keeps our overhead proportional Right We're not carrying a full business office on 200 kids because it's a a fee based a percentage based uh network services fee
Uh we know that a small school pays a small network services fee and as a national network we're set up to absorb scaling schools not being able to pay their proportional amount right until they're at full scale Uh and then the
final thing is is we are um as as Easter like we are made more confident by the flexibility of the rocket model itself We have schools uh across the country that are running uh sustainably with 300 children We have schools that are
running sustainably with 600 children Um the rotational model enables us as long as we can manage those other factors enables us to staff the school proportionally to enrollment and again not have 500 kids worth of adults 200 kids worth of revenue Those are the factors we
considered when we were making the decision but it's the risk that that we don't need to answer really close Only other two things I would one emphasize and then offer the benefit of being a part of a network is really felt in this
part of the application Um to Ben's point um we have a network that is helping to absorb some cost as we continue to grow Um so we are not holding um costs associated to lots of other things that really matter as you start a school We can leverage the
benefits um of the network The other thing and it it sort of goes without saying in the application you'll see that our model our finance model is not dependent on philanthropy We did submit some letters of support from places like the charter school growth fund um from a
city fund Um um I'm not sure we submitted a a letter um um from a couple of other philanthrop philanthropy groups but there is an opportunity to create some cushion through our philanthropic uh endeavors and we fully intend um to
pursue those avenues as well But at its base we have a pretty strong finance model that ensures if we hit those enrollment targets that we can sustain our work over time Thanks for the question Okay So we'll wrap things up with just a
couple of questions on your um the portfolio review and performance record section of the application itself Um first of all you know we took a really good look at the the data that you presented and the data that you presented us today in your opening statement and clearly your performance um measures very positively when
compared to students in in your current setting Um and um that was um pretty impressive to see But we did note over the years that your performance can fluctuate from from year to year Um and no surprises there But
um ultimately your your success rates your other your growth is good but your success rates don't typically come close to matching the performance success rates of Rutherford County schools So what we want you to how can you assure this committee that you're going to be successful with the students in
Rutherford County Okay It's such a great question It also presents an opportunity for us to learn from Rutherford County and for Rutherford County uh to learn from us So I I really do believe um that the
impetus for this application really is centered around a partnership with all of you You have something to share with us Um and we have something to share with you and we'd like to do that in collaboration um with the Rutherford County team I will tell you um we feel
pretty proud of the results we've been able um to garner over the last 10 years I shared on the outset um that nearly all of our schools um have received level four or five uh status um measured by TBOS composite scores We also have
sort of a three peak reward school um at our United Academy campus We know that with any portfolio of work there are ongoing opportunities um we see them we know them particularly at our Nashville Northeast campus um and are doing the hard work as I'm sure you all are uh to
ensure that every child that walks through your doors is receiving the kind of education um you promise to them to the question around you know how can we assure you all that we um will perform well with the students um that we're targeting I think the best indication of
that is what we've been able to do um at our dream uh community prep school which is our newest campus which serves a very similar population as the students we're seeking to serve here As I mentioned um yes MNPS is a very different district than Rutherford County We believe um
that comparatively um we'll be able to stand um right up with uh Rutherford County as we think about special population students and we intend to continue to massage our model so it's meeting the needs of the nuanced sort of um specific needs of students uh here in
Rutherford County But I would point you to our work at our newest campus um not just the academic data but also the enrollment work Um and we feel pretty proud about our our ability um to get strong results for students who need it
the most in partnership with districts and authorizers because we know that the partnerships really um make the difference Not sure if any member from our program team wants to speak to maybe some of the things we're doing to ensure that um the results continue to rise to
the level that we hope for our families in in Tennessee Yes Um thank you for the question Extremely proud Yes um as a pre previous principal at one of our locations um I will name that with the success is also ongoing um progress in
planning when you're striving towards excellence So definitely um partnership in that um is foreseen Um I will just name some of our strategies um particularly for to your point some of our um times andor years or phases in
which we're not um comparing to uh Rutherford County um we have data cycles where we um engage in step backs and in those stepbacks we have um a priority of strengthening our instructional quality
Um intellectual prep is definitely honed in on when it comes to our teacher development our collaborative meetings and our partnerships to ensure that all students are being served at high qualities Uh we have live coaching I don't know if anyone's mentioned that in
the moment um with instructional coaches and teachers so that they're also able to get that development in the moment Um so we're definitely striving towards excellence in strengthening our instructional quality Another bucket is
targeting our student um our students for intervention already mentioned but we have a priority our priority list of students um when it comes to intervention as well Um we believe that um multiple opportunities for those students to engage in rigorous
instruction is important Um so we have this was mentioned our online learning programs um Lexia we're very strategic when it comes to aligning our NWA um strategies and skills so that they are able to transfer and translate to our
ten ready assessment data as well Um and we do that in a means of hiring the rigor that our students increasing the rigor that our students see on a day-to-day basis making sure that not only are they they they are growing but we wanted to make sure that those
students who on the proficiency cusp when they grow they're able to transfer or translate into another proficiency level or to another proficiency band And so I just want to name that we definitely have a eye on each campus Um
and during those data stepbacks we also partner with our network our network team our regional team and we look forward to partner partnering with you on gaining some of those key strategies as well The only thing I would I would
add here um yes Tim Ready is you know the thing and and we're pursuing it Um and we have found that leveraging multiple assessments matters a lot for our families Um growth is really important and there are some spaces and
some years where the magnitude of growth is a bit more than it was the previous year And so we're proud of the growth that we're seeing across all of our campuses across all of their c our ciles um particularly at our national northeast campus Um we're encouraged by recent data um from benchmark
assessments and unit assessments and NWA that suggests that we um are climbing closer um to where we have been in the past Um but again I I I am confident and very proud of the portfolio of work that Rocket Ship has been able to stand over
the last decade and believe it could be an absolutely beautiful partnership here in Rutherford County So could you kind of share your thoughts with us team on um what happened with the two schools that were that that had recently um come under the authorization
of the Tennessee Charter School Commission I understand Metro Nashville um um decided to not extend um the agreement with one of your schools and and declined an application for another new school in recent history C give us your thoughts on what happened there
Yeah I'll take a first stab here and then u perhaps invite I I'll invite others Um I think what's important here particularly for our newest um our most recent school that um was to that went to the to the state commission um our
rocket ship dream community prep school authorized 3 years ago by the state Um we do not believe that that is in any way a reflection of Rocket Ship and its performance We believe that is a reflection um of an ongoing sort of climate around charter schools and the
growth happening in in Nashville Um we were certainly not the only um school um denied uh by MNPS um but then was of course approved by the commission Um we also know that in both of these cases or at least one of those cases the Troder
office did recommend um renewal at least for our Nashville Northeast campus And the board of course has authority to reject or accept that recommendation And so we feel really good um about what we put before um MNS and even more
encouraged by the decision of the state um to say "Hey we actually believe in your model we see your results and we believe that the families um in both of those schools deserve to continue to receive um services uh through rocket ship So um education is hard work Um
we're ready and up for the task Um we know that folks um are balancing a number of different um priorities as they make some of those decisions I think at the end of the day we're proud that all of our schools um currently exist under proper authorization in the
state of Tennessee two of them having been renewed for an additional decade Um and feel really good about Rocket Ship Dream Community Prep um which continues to outperform the schools in their cluster So yeah we we feel good about it I'm not sure if anyone else would would
add anything No Okay Thank you And then the last question Maria and I have already talked about this a little bit on the side but that we had a question down asking about the the the several items of litigation that that the organization itself has faced over the years And um again there's no
judgment there It's not surprising with a a school organization with a history that long to have some litigation but there appear to be a pattern of EEOC um um issues How can you assure us that that is not an ongoing problem with the organization itself without you
revealing any details or anything over those cases Um thanks for the nuance to the question I appreciate we're trying to maintain hope that helped And u it's a difficult question to answer in a public forum So thank you for that
Um the the question the matters that were listed there on the administrative side are not full litigation or arbitration matters The first thing that I'll say it's an administrative procedure So it's
more readily accessible to someone who would like to state a claim by going to the EEOC or whatever Department of Labor agency there might be in the jurisdiction to state the claim when
they feel that they have Good news is that out of the less than handful only one really emerged into full litigation which is the call of the question in the application And uh that is ongoing information right
now Um asked about the nature of these claims They are varied The claims range of age claim discrimination on basis of disability They're all different So
there's no pattern that we see [Music] And also I can also tell you that the way in which we practice we have a team which practice practice more
prevention than we do prevent to prevent misunderstandings that happen And the way in which we do that
is really hard with executive directors and choose a staff and principles to make [Music] sure and there is a [Music] disun honest communication So we found
more often than not that you have a really good conversation where really listening to people trying to address their concerns We don't get to place any So that's why I'm happy We only have one
[Music] Yeah Um you got one school that's really doing well You talked about um I'm just concerned why you hadn't taken the the practices that you learned in that
school that's successful and incorporate them into other schools that you have that hadn't done as well you know um I guess I just wonder why that evaluation hadn't been done and why you
didn't take the some of those things and incorporate it into the other schools that you learn from the school that's doing well Yeah I think it's a it's an appropriate question and and what I would add here is that we believe we're sort of on the
path of continuing to do that Um as a region we continue to evaluate and share practices across campuses Um what we what we have what we have seen um is that the current investments particularly at one campus we're making
right now um are actually showing really strong evidence of upward uh movement um on student assessments Um I mentioned our growth data um later or earlier this winter um where that school is close to a year's worth of growth in literacy and
in math That is a direct result um Mr Bond of the shifts that we're making at that school Um given the best practices really across the other two campuses um we've seen pretty steady performance across all three campuses We have
certainly hit a patch um where there's greater opportunity at one of our campuses We do not believe that's indicative of our model It is not indicative of our commitment to excellence It is indicative of leadership change at that campus changes
in demography uh for the students there um and the pace at which change happens um has been a little slower I would imagine that you all can appreciate um the time it certainly takes to ensure that every school within your portfolio is performing at its highest level but
we take you at your word that sharing best practices is certainly something we should be doing we are doing and the hope is that we can continue to accelerate uh the performance of our students across all three of those campuses Uh I guess one question about that
um what are you doing um to the schools that haven't performed as well as you expect What are your uh what's your plans and procedures to turn those programs around Whether it
be uh finding somebody else to run the ship or you know whatever it takes you know cuz you got to do whatever it takes Absolutely It it certainly is a whatever it takes mentality I know that Tajjima
Steel spoke to to some of this I I'll provide this context Um the the the school in question has historically been a pretty high performing school Um it's our oldest campus Um it has been a level four or five um multiple years since its
existence Um and what we have um understood is that given a leadership transition there it's taken a while to sort of bounce back That is on top of the pandemic and a couple of other things that have happened there So we believe we've got the right leader in place who started um earlier this school
year We believe that she is coalesed the appropriate leadership team of credentialed assistant principles and interventionist and we believe we have the right teaching staff um there I'll also just call out our nearly 500 students who continue to attend that
school every single day That is a partnership with those families who fully understand the state of the school but also continue to commit to attending Rocket Ship Nashville Northeast We actually feel pretty good about the plans we have in place starting with the
top to your point having a right leader having the right leadership team but also making adjustments um to the instructional model to ensure that where there are gaps we are filling them leveraging our network team to provide even more focused interventions for that school All of those things I assure you
are currently happening Um and we are encouraged by the most recent academic data that suggests that that school is on an upward trend So we agree with you everything has to be um available um to ensure that we turn that school around
Um and my commitment to you and to the 500 families that attend that school um is that that is happening um and that we expect to see much stronger results um over the next months and years So thank you for the question I think it's an appropriate one especially as you all consider um the strength of our
application Any other questions from any of the committee members Anything else you want to know or ask I do have Mr Rosales Go This is my last question This wasn't on the the sheet so it's another question that was not there Again no questions are are off the table but it was
something that was noted um in your application and I just want to pick your brain a little bit And how were you able to have a low expulsion rate That was one thing that was really highlighted emphasized in your
application So I just would like to know what um tokens gold tokens you can share with us in achieving uh a low explosion rate and kudos to you guys for achieving that
Yeah I appreciate the question I'll certainly invite program team members to to to jump in here I will share one thing board member Rosales It begins with mindset We want our kids in our schools Um we do
not want our kids pushed out of our schools If all of the adults in the building maintain that mindset then we look for creative ways to intervene um to support students who are having difficult moments Um and a last resort
is exiting a student from from our school So it starts with mindset that I think starts at the top with our leaders um that certainly is embraced across all of our staff members I'll invite maybe our program team members to maybe share more about our interventions and PBIS plans that um are maybe more
interventions that prevent um any additional escalation Yeah I just want to start by echoing what Eric said We don't expouse students because we believe in order to have access to a highquality education you actually have to have a seat at the table You have to
be in the classroom You have to be engaged in the learning Um and in the initial presentation deck there was a section in which we outlined all behavior is learned Um and anytime a student uh produces an action there is a
consequence to that whether positive or negative And what we attempt to do in all of our schools is to teach students this action is connected to this consequence This choice results in this reward or this consequence Um we have
our positive behavior intervention system that we employ at all of our schools We have teachers who are trained um in our model We use team chart to ensure that students um receive feedback on each of their actions So it might
sound something like uh Troy great job I see that you are focused in this conversation and I'm going to move uh your magnet up so that students see Okay great I am I'm doing this thing and it's connected to this reward Or the inverse
of that might sound something like Rosa I need your eyes focused on me When I see that you are back in the conversation I will move your magnet back up Right And so students see okay I'm doing this thing and it's resulting in this consequence We also recognize
that students need um deeper supports So we uh Erin talked a little bit about uh more individualized learning uh behavior plans that students have to support their behavioral needs Um we do things like lunch bunches We do social emotional learning lessons for all of
our students Some of our students might get additional small groupoup support to be able to practice some of those skills Um if you walk into a kindergarten classroom we do we do community meeting across all of our spaces We start our day with launch So our entire community
comes together Our families are there We ground um our schools and our core values The fifth core value is actually selected by the school community by the families in the school Um and we center ourselves in here's what we're here to accomplish today And then we get into
community meeting in individual classrooms So if you walk into a kindergarten classroom at the very beginning of the year students are learning um hi my name is Easter what's your name That's an opportunity for students to build community And so respect is very much ingrained and
embedded into like how we work to teach our kids with of course additional additional specialized supports So we believe that all behavior is learned and we believe that kids don't just deserve but have a right to be in school um if
we hope to achieve our mission of making sure that kids go to and through college Got one more thing Um this process is pretty difficult and the reason for that is that the expectations in Rutherford County is
pretty high You mentioned level fours and level fives in schools uh level fours here don't get it Uh our expectations are all fives So
um you know I just want you to keep that in mind that um learn from this application process and what Mr again because u he's shown to y'all what what
the expectations are here and uh we just need for you to check all the boxes and that's what it's all about So whatever it takes Any other questions from the committee Any questions from your team
rocket ship No questions Let us leave you with three things First thank you Um as much as it is a lift for us it's a lift for you Um so we appreciate the due diligence um of reading the application asking really
good questions Um and to board member um Van's point continuing to elevate the expectation here in Rutherford County We want to be a part of that Second thing I'd leave you with um is this is really about a partnership Um for as much talk
as there is about charters and non-charters and um dips in performance or not um we know that when adults are in partnership and are working together students win and we deeply want that partnership with Rutherford County Our aspirations are the same We want level
fives We want reward schools and we want to do that um in ways that honor our families and honor uh the partnership in our local communities And then the third um we've got a couple of resources we want to leave each of you with Um our chief of staff Damon Hardy has a folder
with a year-end review report um about our work um not just in Tennessee but across our network Um and we will certainly ensure that you've got the presentation earlier today Invite all of you to visit one of our campuses um in Nashville to get a better sense of
what's happening I led at the beginning with we're not pitching an idea Some charters are pitching an idea to you about what might happen We're telling you that this is what we've done and how we want to improve it here in Rutherford County Um and so that's the
hope Um that's uh what led us to apply and I hope that's this been the spirit of of this conversation So just thanks again for the opportunity and uh we look forward to engaging with you all more Well thank you all very much for your time Clearly we didn't meet our goal of an hour and a half but that is that is
quite okay Hey we learned a lot from you today I will just clue you in a little bit on next steps What will happen next is uh the committee um will consider the scoring rubrics and submit their revised rubrics to me We meet again on April the 7th to develop our our final
recommendation to make um and present to our board of education I will present that recommendation formally to the board at their work session on April the 22nd That's the Tuesday of the of of board meeting week Um and then they will
um vote um on on the on the resolution whether to approve or or not to approve on the their regular board meeting of April 24th That is that's when the vote will be taken Okay At least that's the current plan All right Again thank you all so much for your time It was a
pleasure meeting each of you and uh um have a great rest of your day Take care Thank you