Welcome to the March 24th, 2026 work session for the Rutherford County School Board. We'll be opening this meeting with a brief moment of silence or prayer and a pledge of allegiance to the United States flag. No one is required to participate or be present for any of
these and being in this portion of the meeting is completely voluntary. Tonight's um prayer and pledge will be led by Miss Francis Rosales. And real quickly before, Miss Roselle, before we get started, I would like for us to all think of former county commissioner Veronica Buchanan. Her father had a
tragic farm accident and a tractor fell over him. So, if you could say a prayer, he's at Vanderbilt. >> Yes, definitely. For sure. Um, please bow your head with me. Dear heavenly father, thank you for this beautiful day that you've given us today. Thank you,
Lord, for allowing us to be here one more day. And God, I just pray that you give us wisdom and discernment as we are getting ready to make decisions that are going to impact so many people, including families, students, teachers, and administration. God, I pray, Lord,
and lift up prayer requests of those who are in need of a miracle. God, I pray for Pastor Ben Graham who's in the hospital. God, I believe in the report that you've given us, God, that you are able, you're the miracle worker. I also pray for um Veronica Buchinan's father.
Lord, I pray that you give him healing and whatever uh the report may be. I pray that you give the family peace, Lord. And any family that is in need of a prayer today, I ask that you will um listen, answer it accordingly. Thank you, Lord,
for all that you've done for us and continue to do. And we thank you for keeping us safe and sound. And we pray all this in your son's mighty name. in in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. First up, I'll everyone to look over the agenda. Any comments or questions there? If not, we'll move to the uh the consent
agenda. Take a look at that and see if there's any comments or questions. Okay. If not, there is no public comment tonight. Um and RCS difference will be on Thursday as well.
And uh so we can human resources. >> Yep. So the first thing and our TV is not on up here. TV is not on up here either. >> Down here, sorry. And so first thing we have is a new job
description um for bus drivers. And this one is the part-time job description. And so this does start I think James has got that one coming up over there too. pulling it up on this
second to pull mine up while we're doing that. >> And so you'll see this is a classified position. It is part-time um reports to director of transportation. The pay grade is R107. Um but we will have recognized verified experience. And so
if someone has bus driver experience or experience driving in a similar aspect, then we'll verify that experience. Um it does start off lower than Murphy'sboro City, but all of their part-time positions all pay exactly the same to
where ours will be comparable and then more with experience. So we were trying to be in the same ballpark, but also then recognize experience in different ways. So I think theirs starts around 24, ours starts at 21, but ours is much
more aggressive on those with experience at the end of the scale. >> Okay? >> Because it goes 20 something steps past. >> And we worked um multiple districts looking at job description. Uh, some of
these, I mentioned this during our previous board meeting, some of the job descriptions weren't worded in a way that I felt like was a very professional wording and so I thank our team for working on this in a a professional way, but happy to answer any questions.
>> Any comments or questions? >> Yes, Mr. Tidville. >> A question. You said that it starts off at 21 and then they get on the the step raise depend on their experience just like the rest of our salary system. >> Correct. Exactly the same. And give me just a second. And I'll pull exactly how far that goes.
Yeah. R 107 would start at 2278. Sorry, 2278 and goes all the way to 3418. And I believe Murphy'sboro City is somewhere at 24. >> But that's just a flat. >> That's flat for part-time. Yes.
>> For R 107 goes all the way to 3418. Miss Maxwell. >> Now that is somebody with 25 years experience. >> Okay. M. Rosales. Thank you. Um I believe that the
bill that um Representative Sparks asked us to support as a resolution got passed. So they're I think it's lowering the age to 23, the driving age to 23. Okay. >> So, there may be possibility that we get
more um interest in in people that are wanting to drive. >> Okay. >> Cuz I believe it's it's passing through the house. >> Thank you. Did not know that. Anyone >> thought I said something? >> Did you say you had something? Okay. No.
Okay. Yes. Mr. >> Question and if I remember this right, the big buses require a CDL. Sped buses do not. Correct. So there be there could be a difference in pay scale there or experience
>> to my knowledge >> both should to with the size that we have to my knowledge >> they will with the size that we have because we're not using just the vans >> they should with the size that we're purchasing. Yes. shouldn't.
>> I'll verify, but there shouldn't. >> And the way the job description is read, we can place them on either bus. >> Okay? >> That way, we can utilize them more. >> Okay? And connected to that, if we get
to where we aren't able to fill all of these routes, we do have another job description that we are working on that is a special education EAS plus special education driver that we could combine into one, which would be a lower level, but it is a full-time
with benefits. I hope we don't need to get there, but that would probably allow us to be able to have a full-time position, a lower R level, but we're trying this first. >> Okay. Well, thank you for clarifying that. I was going to ask you about that. >> Okay. Any other comments or questions?
>> Okay. Next. >> This is director of schools requests and still under human resources, but really could be under director of schools request to utilize up to a 20-day contract based on applicant and school situation for the hiring of a new principal at multiple locations this summer due to pending retirements. We
have a couple retirements um that we have talked about as a board. When people retire, they can take vacation days um or leave days. Principles don't get vacation days, but they can take personal days. They can take uh different days. And when the principal contract ends, this year it's got about
a week and a half overlap between when the principal contract ends and the new principal contract starts. And so based on when that happens, I'd like to have a little bit of overlap, especially if we have anybody coming from out of district or even some cross trainining. One thing that I do want to point out because we
get this question. If you ever have an assistant principal that becomes a principal in the same district, uh we do make sure that they have to document from one job to the next their hours so that somebody's not double dipping. They can't get paid for two of the same job at the same time. So they have to
document their hours if they are because an AP gets paid 10 days after the school year ends. So, they would have to document, I'm working 8 to three o'clock for my assistant principal job. Now, I'm working from 3:15 until six o'clock. And they would only get paid for the actual
days that they are working for that. We deal with that a lot with opening new schools. >> Gotcha. Any other comments or questions? Next, we move to instruction. >> This is updated job description from federal program administrative assistant
to federal programs account analyst. This updated job description more appropriately reflects the essential duties of this role. The position will move from classified hourly to classified salary on the pay scale. Positions fully funded through federal funds and will not impact the general purpose budget. >> All right, any questions?
>> Okay, next. Career and Technical Education Textbook Adoption Section E Committee respectfully recommends approval of the following instructional materials for use and advanced manufacturing and digital technology for the section E textbook adoption cycle. All recommended instructional materials
have been carefully reviewed by a committee of CTE educators and content specialists to ensure rigor, relevance, and alignment with Tennessee Department of Educated Education standards. And you see those courses. Um, STEM 1, STEM 2, STEM 3, principles of engineering and
technology, engineering design one, two, intro to industrial maintenance, principles of machining one, principles of machining two, robotics and automated systems, welding one, welding two, computer science foundations, coding one and cyber security.
And then we move to the next list which is state approved um instructional materials list. The instructional materials listed above are included in the state board of education's approved textbook list. These resources meet all the state requirements for content standards, accessibility, and instructional quality. Adoption of these
materials ensures compliance with state guidelines while approving teachers with vetted high-quality resources to support student learning. And so then you'll see another list that we get to, and we'll talk a little bit more so everybody's clear. Then we have a couple more courses and you're going to notice
principles of manufacturing, advanced industrial maintenance, digital electronics, mechatronics 1, mechatronics 2, coding 2, cyber security 2, computer systems networking, and then cabling and inter working internet. Those courses mentioned above did not
include any state approved instructional materials. Therefore, the committee had to proceed with recommendations for local adoption. The selected instructional titles have thoroughly reviewed and recommended by the CTE textbook adoption section E committee. Committee again based its recommendations on the materials strong
alignment with course standards their relevance in the in industry and their instructional value. These resources are well recognized to their respective fields and equip students with practical up-to-date knowledge and skills essential for success in advanced manufacturing and digital technology.
Dr. Dr. Chastain, anything you want to add to that other than it's extremely hard to get textbooks for these career and technical education courses that stay up to date >> and oftent times publishers don't submit their materials to the state to be approved. So that's why we have this gap
of courses and specific classes that don't have an approved book for us to choose from. So that's where you get that secondary list and we will we will go through the process of making sure we submit those to the state as well and we provide crosswalks so that we make sure they're attached to our standards but
they were thoroughly vetted. >> Okay. Okay. >> Next. >> Next I'm actually going to request that we remove this from the agenda. Dr. Chastain and I talked about 10 minutes before the meeting. This is uh just so everyone is aware the state department
moves two years ago from a I believe it's been two years. It's been three years, two years. All the years run together at this point. Uh they moved from a six-year adoption cycle to an eight-year adoption cycle. And so textbooks now were adopted on an 8-year cycle. So we have a couple gap years.
And so yes, we have several gap years. So, we have elementary right now, but it doesn't make any sense just to approve elementary when we know you're going to need to approve middle and high school to continue as well. So, we're going to I'm going to request that we pull this and wait till we have middle and high school. It's the current textbooks we
have been using and been successful with, but I'm just going to request that we remove this from the agenda and wait till we have middle and high school. Get them. Yep. And really, that's just the platform. They use EL as the curriculum that we've been using.
Good. Any questions or comments? Okay. Next, we have legal. >> The first is a transfer student under discipline 1. The board's been requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline. The student was remanded to alternative school for possession of THC product. According to policy 6.318, the board may
deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system under suspension or expulsion. Director of school's recommendation is to is to deny. Uh we are full at our at our alternative schools. They're well over a hundred right now and that is typical
for when we are in March. March is a tough month along with October, but March is tough and I will leave it at that. We're ready for spring break. Parents, students, teachers, everybody is ready. >> Understand? Number two. >> Second, the board's been requested to
admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline. the student was expelled for possession of a THC product or products. Sorry. According to policy 6.318, the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system while under suspension or expulsion.
Again, the director of schools recommendation to deny. And again, it's because we are overcrowded. >> Okay. Number three, >> the board has been requested to admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline. The student was expelled for repeated violations of type
three behaviors. According to policy 6.318, the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system under suspension or expulsion. Again, director of school's recommendation is to deny in this case. And the board of course has all of those folders. I think Miss
Ridley emailed that to everybody last week. >> Okay. >> Number 10. >> Board matters. I think Mr. Reid, this is you. >> Yes. Thank you. >> This is on the McFaten properties. The board of education entered into contracts with the purchase of five
parcels adjacent to McFaten School of Ex excellence to provide additional land for a new school building. McFaten, as you know, is the oldest school building in the system and requires extensive ongoing maintenance. There's been a discussion of the need to replace the old building with a new one or do a
major renovation. The five properties will provide additional land for a new school building. The purchase contracts on the five parcels were subject to inspection periods. Appraisals appraisals have come in on those five properties. A chart showing the contract purchase prices, the current tax
appraisals, and the appraisal amounts from the appraisals are attached in your materials. The houses on the property will be torn down. So, the value of the property for the board of education is more for the land and not really for the houses. The board needs to determine whether it wishes to move forward with
the purchase of some or all of the properties. If the board determines to purchase any of the properties, we do need to give a notice to proceed to the sellers. So, I don't know if can we pull up that chart of where these properties are located. So, um this is from the I'm sorry, go
back to the last map to just to refresh everyone's memories. I know a lot of you have gone by and looked at these properties. These are kind of the corners of the property and what these properties do if you acquire them squares up the entire block so that the board of education would then have the entire block of that um partial
property which gives you a pretty good space on the back end of the property to build new schools or doing renovation to it. So the properties there you see is the 401 and 403 um there on Kings Highway and then the 208 204 and 202
u there on Bluff Avenue. So, those are the pri five properties we're talking about. Um, we have all most of these are rental properties. There may be a resident I think living in 202 and 204 um across from the water tower there,
but um the um the appra the appraisals the purchase prices for these properties are higher than what the appraisal amounts came in to be. So, the board needs to and I have called the seller to see if there's any movement on their part as far as purchase prices go. There's really not I
did not get any kind of reception of being willing to negotiate the purchase price with the sellers on these deals. Um, I guess the board needs to decide what it wants to do with these properties. Um, one thing I'll ask the board to keep in mind is really what you're acquiring in this case is not really the houses because they're all
going to be torn down. the the what you're acquiring are the lots and you're requiring the land necessary to square out this parcel. So you have a a perfectly rectangular parcel at that point that gives you the ability to do something on that back portion behind the school while you're maybe hopefully
keeping the for front portion open so you're not displacing kids during the construction process. Um um as you know kind of the circulation with traffic has an issue around McFaten too. So it is important to get kind of a rear access to Bluff Avenue. So that
gives you a more more a better ingress and egress from the school grounds and gives by better circulation and way to get it out there along Kings Highway so you don't have your traffic stacking up in front of the school as it is now. Um so our inspection periods are coming up
for for expiration. So if we do want to move forward with this, we didn't need to probably know Thursday if we want to move forward then or not. the way our contracts breed, if we'd like, if we don't decide to move forward with these, the contracts just terminate. So, so that would be something for the board to
consider what you want to do about these um five properties Thursday night. >> Any questions, comments? >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Reed. >> All right. Next, we do not have anything here. Uh, just so that everyone is aware
that is watching, we did have a at our special call meeting a request to purchase a used bus from central states before we could actually purchase that bus. It was purchased by another
entity, company, somebody purchased it. And so, that bus is no longer available. Our purchasing agent is trying to find an additional one. So, we have a couple options. Um, so we are working with our special education team to see if any of those meet what our needs are right now
to either get in line for possible delivery of a new bus by August or if an additional used bus is out there that meets what we need. We we really liked that idea of having the larger special education bus to be able to get more wheelchair accessible buses there or
more wheelchair accessible seats and that was the bus that was sold. And so that was the one we were trying to Miss Maxim questions. Yes, Mr. Z. >> Thank you. Um Dr. Svin, the bus that was um picked up by the another entity was
that that was the new 42 passenger bus. >> It was believe it was the Central States used bus, was it? It was the >> What was that? What was that one? But it was brand new. Correct. That was the new one. >> It was used. >> But it was used. Okay, never mind then.
So it was just the one of the used bed buses then? Yeah, it was the big one. >> I thought it was the bigger one. 42. Yes, 42 passenger. >> Yeah, it was the 42 passenger and it was >> I think it was at 115,000 roughly. I think that sounds right. Yes. >> But was that the new one or the It was
>> It was used. We didn't have many miles to it, but it was and that's what we're trying to get another replacement, but it is a one that is a struggle to get in the rotation to build. >> So, we didn't get the bigger sped buses. We So, we got the We're getting the the five the four
>> 24 plus. >> Yeah. 24 passenger one. >> Yes, >> M. Maxwell. >> Yes, Mr. Tidville. >> If one of our if we had a contractor that wanted to sell the bus, could we buy from the contractor? What does that look like? >> It would I would have to talk to our
purchasing agent and we would have to get with our finance department at the county to make sure it's within Kelly Blue Book, all those different types of things. is easier when it's an actual if they have an LLC it's probably easier um because then it's a company that you're
working with that's why the two central states and mids south are easier because they're companies but there are definitely options >> okay see if that was on the table >> yes >> any other comments >> yes Mr. Sharp. >> So,
>> um I was in Alabama last week and there's a bus company down there.com that had about 10 or 15 buses, brand new buses sitting in their lot. I don't know. Maybe it's something that y'all can look at. >> Were you in Birmingham or Huntsville?
>> No, I was coming up 65. >> I was looking for sure. >> Yeah. The bus company.com, I believe, is what the name of it was. And they had about 10 brand new shiny buses. So, okay. I know everybody's trying to get close to here and everything so we can get them quicker, but that may be an option.
>> Yep. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Okay. Next. >> Yep. Financial update. Just so that everyone knows, we of course had our budget retreat about a week ago, week and a half ago. So, we're Mr. Ren and I
spend just about every day in the conference room going through department requests. We're working through that process. Dr. Martin and um Mr. Renun are at Health and Ed. We don't have any amendments tonight. So, it's just a general update. Should hopefully, knock on wood, be a fairly quick meeting for them at Health and Ed and we're just
continuing to work on our update. I'm going to ask Mr. Lee here in just a minute to kind of go over 177 and I'll go over the funding aspect for that unless there's any questions about financial update. >> Okay. >> Directorate. >> All right. Director's update. I'll do
the big portion of it on Thursday, but we are going to go over fund 177. So, just for everyone watching and as a review, fund 141 is our general purpose school budget. That's the the large budget that we operate with. Fund 143 is our general our centralized cafeteria
fund. And then fund 177 is our capital projects and um deferred maintenance budget that we use. That is one that is unique to us and just a couple other counties. has several pennies uh that are allocated and then the other portion
of the funding that goes to that is the adequate facilities tax. And so you will see that we are going off of last year's numbers. And so we are going off of about 19 million I believe on this document which is very similar to what
we got last year just so that everyone knows. Uh, so we're going off 19 million roughly. So that everyone is aware, we do not set revenue. The county sets revenue. And so we have not had any conversations that with the county about the movement of pennies. There was a
rumor um, and I got an email from the city about a week and a half ago that they were already aware that there may be the movement of pennies. I've I have not had that email sent to me about the movement of pennies from the county finance department. And so that hasn't
been told to me. So 177 as far as I know will stay very similar to the way it is right now. It has been going up just a little bit and so that would be great. This is where the last couple years we have started hitting the LED projects which are helping uh Mr. Lee has done a
fabulous job. We got another check today. Uh so we're getting rebate checks back that go back against our electricity bill and then of course it's saving electricity after several years as well. As we are very well aware, the numbers keep going up for capital
projects because as we continue to our buildings get older, we are nowhere we are nowhere near where we need to be and this is with every >> always go up. >> They always go up. This is not unique to any government. So every government falls into this. Your buildings get
older. We have made a lot of progress. This was I don't know how big was this account just a couple years ago five six million and it wasn't very large and so five years ago we put five or six pennies into it with the addition of TISA so we have made quite a bit of of
improvement unfortunately HVAC has gone up just as quickly as we put money into it and that's what our our big need still is the way this is outlined you see major you'll see the major categories to the left our big categories are major your HVAC,
bleachers, and seats. And then, can you go ahead and pull this up, Brad, so everybody can see? You'll see paving, seal, coating, striping, major roofing, major plumbing, renovation, um, life, safety, security, restroom
restoration, track resurfacing, playgrounds, and then LED lighting. Beside it, you will then see five years and you'll have if money were no object, how could we accomplish all of these
projects? If money were no object, we would like to have $492 million right now. For year one, we would like to have 151 million to take care of all of our HVAC
projects. We know that's not going to happen. Instead, we're going to look at 19.4 million, which again, we are grateful for because most systems in the state of Tennessee do not get anything for this. So, we would much rather have
more, but most systems do not get anything for deferred maintenance. So, thank the board for always allocating for this because or advocating because this is always a fight to make sure that we keep this because the county commission does not have to give us this. So, as long as we always stay aligned, this is something we always
want to keep. The things that are highlighted yellow are the ones that, excuse me, we are prioritizing to and any of these of course can be moved, chosen. It's just kind of what our team has decided that have prioritize that we
need to fund. You'll see the project is highlighted in yellow and then out to the right is how much we actually can are planning to fund this year. So the first example is and then I'll let Dre kind of take over is Blackman High. This is a major HVAC. It really needs $6
million. In year one, we would like to do 1.5, but we're really going to allocate a million. So that kind of gives you an idea of how we're looking at these projects. Trey, you can take over. >> Thank you. And I'm glad you brought up
Blackman High right off the jump. On your board agenda tonight is a Blackman High chiller piping bid. It's number one. It's 2.1 million. We had a budget two year. We We have in
my tenure in this position. We have struggled with the piping that goes from the building to the chiller. We've dug this piping up three times in the last eight years. The piping is failing. So
we are we bid out a complete replacement of the piping that goes from the building to the chiller. We had a budget of about a million and a half is what we were told last year based off a couple of contractors that do that sort of
work. So to hedge a bet, I had placed a half a million dollars in this year's budget 2526 to get us started and was anticipating doing the other million million and a half to come out of the following year. And I do we've done that
a lot the last three or four years because it's difficult to take a big swing at an HVAC project that takes six or eight million dollars out of our budget. So, we're trying to balance and do as many things as we can, but get
things started in one year and carry it over to the next. I was not anticipating 2.1 million. We have that on the agenda for you all to approve. It's on the consent agenda, but there's a real
possibility we may back up and put it back out for bid. I don't think it's going to come down a whole lot, but what I'm trying to say is these projects, the price is going up exponentially by putting them off a year or two years
or another year. And unfortunately, we don't have the money to do it all. So, we do the best we can analyzing everything. And if you'll if you look at your HVAC next to the dollar figures in the chart, you can see some small numbers. and I
just quit going after number 12. It doesn't help us to prioritize past number 12 because I know I'm not going to get there and we're going to have to re look at the need next year. So, those
are our top 12 uh issu uh systems that are in need of replacement. What we're looking at this year is uh last casses um elementary uh it's 9 a.5 million. We've allocated four
which means next year we would allocate the other five and a half. >> Is that the original system? >> Yes sir. It is >> 96 97. >> Yes sir. >> Wow. Okay. >> So most of our systems are original. That does not mean that some components
here and there have been replaced, but by and large it's still the original system that was there. Um, we have a consultant which we're utilizing CMTA again this year. They are going to be
going to all 12 of these to um reh help us rebudget, repric, get things in line for things going forward and to begin to look at what our options are for replacement systems. Um, our
intent, uh, if you think about Smyrna Elementary, which we did completed this past year, uh, because we did have property, we utilized a geothermal system like we do on our new schools. So, we actually
spent a little bit more than we would have with just a conventional fourpipe system, but by having the property that available to us, we could spend that money to put geothermal in. We're getting some tax credits back. We're
getting credits back from TVA. Plus, our utility bill will be cut in half. So, so over a 10-year period, we're going to get our money back with knowing that our HVAC systems are going to be in place for years and years and years. So, once
we get past that 10year mark, we're actually saving significant dollars going forward. We can't do that at all of our locations. I wish we could because I'd put geothermal in everywhere, but we just can't. We just we don't it's we could put geothermal
underneath a parking lot, but if we tore our parking lot up, it takes such a long time to get the wells in, we wouldn't have any place to park. It just becomes difficult. So, each system is looked at on its own merit and what's there and what we can do best to maximize our and
we work with TVA uh we uh with the uh energy buyback credits. Uh it's a lot of paperwork, but it's worth the money uh for us. We even did it on the uh sports lighting. They brought the program back. We already had
a number of our sports fields completed before they bought brought the program back, but because they did bring it back midstream. Middle Tennessee Electric is a huge partner for us. Middle Tennessee Electric leveraged their uh TVA
um partnership so that we they would let us back in at midstream. Typically, they don't let you once a project is started, they don't let you get back in, but they did allow us. So, we were able to get about six of our schools enrolled for the sports lighting and we got
significant dollars back there. So we we're looking at all the avenues that we have. So basically I'm going to run down a few things. It's nothing that you haven't seen. Mr. Ball, >> what's the chances put geothermal at Central Management?
>> Nothing's ever worked out there. >> It's possible. The problem with Central Magnet is they don't have the space internally for the pumps and all the equipment that we would need. So, we would have to they
call it a preackaged boiler house be like in addition outside the building. Um I'm going to be very um careful with with central magnet.
We are the the infrastructure for the water piping and the electrical systems are still fairly original >> and that's been back to what 1935 something like that.
>> Yes, sir. and and we go if we we've reached our load potential to change the gear out to increase the load capacity for the electric system that would be required would be very very very very expensive
>> because what's there our engineers and myself we're we're a little leerary of tinkering with it very much more. How do we stand? I mean, is that you know, they were suing each other, the the contractor and architect,
everybody's suing everybody about their AC units, aren't they? Are they got anything settled yet? >> Yeah, >> I wouldn't discuss that. Yeah, I wouldn't discuss that. >> I'm going to leave that one alone for Mr. Reed at another time. >> Okay. >> But it that that is still moving
forward. >> Okay. >> That's still moving forward. >> As long as it's moving, that's main thing. >> Yes, sir. Um, we each year we go we have uh when we go to bleachers and seats, we're required by state law, we have a
vendor that goes to every school twice a year to inspect our bleachers and seats. So, they inspect them. We make sure everything is up to code. They also come back with us with repairs that need to be made. They also provide budgets. So, we have outside consultants that help
us. And there again, we're trying to peace mill Blackman High. We did one half. We did the homeside bleachers. And then the next year we did the visitor side. We did the same thing at Seagull High. We did that at Smyrna. We've done it at Leverne. We're we're I hate to use
the term peace milling, but we're trying to stretch our dollars as far as they can because we do have a lot of needs. Our needs are getting better because we did a facilities analysis. I hate to I guess it's been six years now that I've
been in this position. That was the first thing that we did was did a complete facilities analysis to see where we were. And each year we revisit that and add to it with our new with our additional schools. We have a gym floor
maintenance program. Um that's there. We look at all of our um special projects. Then we have paving and seal coating. If you'll notice, a lot of our schools, the pavement has
lost its asphalt. It's getting very dry. So, by sealing and restriping, we buy some more time before we have to uh repave or recoat. So, we've got a lot of that this year. We've got a lot of schools that we've kind of bypassed, but
we've got to get these things sealed and restriped. We have major roofing. Uh this year is our byian annual year that we will uh have an outside firm every other year that we uh goes and looks at each and all of our roofs. Gives us an
idea on preventative maintenance things that we can do and also allows us to to there again kind of like our HVAC units and typical roofs running 20 to around 20 years is kind of the end of it. But because of our maintenance programs and the way we've taken care of
things, we're getting longer lives out of our roofs. So, we're going to continue with that practice. One thing I do uh want to bring up to you, you'll notice under major plumbing components, there's three new items. I've got them kind of in a light orange. There's no
dollar figure over there yet, but they're coming. Las Casses, Wilson, and Kitrol are the three schools where we have our own sewer system. Those sewer systems were designed uh in conjunction, they're managed by
CUD. We own them, but CUD manages manages and operates them. That's a TEC requirement. You have to hire someone to manage them. So, C in partnership with CUD, they manage ours for us. the baffles. And I'm not going to get into
the uh engineering of these things, but there's baffles inside that separates the solids that allows them to degrade and then go into a drip system and and they go into the ground. Those baffles are prematurely
deteriorating and fading and going away. And it's not just us. It's all the local residential areas that have built these in the last 20 years that are of this same time period are having the same
problem. CUD really does not know what caused it. They are in the process of telling us what would be a good product to uh rebuild is what we will have to
do. The budgets this year were around a million dollars each. Um we are going to have to start in the next couple of years taking those one at a time and taking them down and rebuilding them. Um we're our plan is to do it over the
summer when school is out. Um but so I've added them to the list. I highlighted them just so that you would be aware of them that it is something new and it's something major that we're going to have to address. So that is a
new uh item. Another new item uh is the under renovation repurpose and I struggled with exactly where to put it but it's in a brighter orange and that's a budget number. I'm working now with some outside consultants.
We began to notice some premature, I'm going to call it premature, concrete spalling on some of the beams at Lever and Smyrna's uh football bleachers. Um, they are pre-cast concrete is what
those structures are. It's pre-cast columns, pre-cast beams with pre-cast planks. We've got some issues with some of the beams. We knew probably five or six years ago, we had an issue at Leverne. If you've ever been down there, there's a couple of steel columns in place. I'm
thinking we're probably going to have to do something similar to Leverne again to buy us a little more time, but we're going to have to hire an engineer and a consultant that's going to have to put together a package. I believe what's going to have to happen is we're going have to take them down
>> and we're looking at significant dollars. I think the visitor side are probably going to be okay for a period of time. It's the home side that's the problem. and Leverne is actually in worse condition than Sperna, but they were built at the same time. The same
company provided the materials for both of them. And what we saw five or six years ago at Leverne, we're beginning to see at Smyrna as well. So, we're going to have to address those. So, I put some monies in this year's budget. Just so
everybody knows, we hire a a separate consultant to review these. Every year, uh, after what happened a couple of years ago in one of our neighboring, uh, counties, uh, we took it, we were already inspecting ours, uh, every
couple of years, and I just upped it to every year. Uh, I just felt like we needed to be on the safe side for our bleachers. So, that wanted to call that out to you. The only other thing that's I don't want to say new down at the bottom at the very bottom there's a
yellow underneath that says trustee fees. Last year was the first year that we've had to pay trustees fees and Dr. Sullivan said it when he discussed 141. We get our money and we got to give them some back. It was a little over 350,000
last year. So I've got that number sitting there at trustee fees. it comes out of what we get and we have to pay it back. So I've listed it separate outside so that it doesn't get confused with a
project that's ours. It's something we have to I have to allocate for once we know once the budget is set by the county each year my number is around it's a little bit more than what we got the year before. Last year we were about 181
and some change. It's like everything else throughout the year as things do better, our investments do better, uh the tax dollars come in better, we actually if we get a penny, we get the full penny. So we get a little bit over
that. So as that comes in each year, it gives us a little bit more. It's usually a couple hundred,000 that we get. And if we don't use it, it goes into the fund balance. And if we have a catastrophic event, which we've utilized a few times over the last couple of years, that
money stays there and we get we can get it to use it that way. So what happens is once I know what our final dollar figure is, I have to balance with them at the end at right before everything's approved by the county commission. So once they tell me what that penny looks
like, let's say it's $19,100,000. I will go up through there and I'll have to play Solomon again, cutting the baby. I'll have to figure out where to cut $340,000 and we'll do it as best we can. Um, but
we do have uh M. Rosales just you brought up the LED. It's there again. Uh, so we're going to continue on with that program. It's very it's worth our while. Um, we are going to be able to see the first couple of We've already started on our first two schools. So
hopefully in about another four or five weeks, I'll have a couple of schools that have been completed and y'all we can go see them uh to show you the difference in the lighting. But that program is up and running and I, you know, as long as we have the money, we're going to continue to roll on. And
if y'all have any questions between now and Thursday, just let me know and I'll be glad to answer them for you. It's well worth the money to do >> LED lighting. >> It it I think the students will notice it more once we get things completed. >> Yes, Mr. Sharp.
>> Madam Chair, uh Mr. Lee, on the keying, am I reading this correctly? We've got two years left to finish the keying process >> just about. Okay. We and I will be the happiest person in the county when we have completed and when we complete that we will have rekeyed every school in the
county. Got them on a primus master system where they cannot be copied at the local Lowe's or today's Ace Hardware anymore. And we have every school on a single master now for like their classrooms and all of their exterior doors. the monies that we lack now. We
left off like mechanical rooms and things like that that weren't necessarily safety features so that we could get all the schools to where our classrooms and our exterior doors and the teachers were the places where students were all were on that key so
that the principles were in much better shape and they went from five or six and those extra keys were mechanical rooms and electrical rooms that things did not involve students. And that's what we're finishing up and I will be tickled to death. >> I know you will be. It's been a long project. Thank you for that.
>> Yes, ma'am. >> Yes. Go ahead, sir. >> And that is a good project. Uh being a principal in a previous county when Trey and I always tell the story when Trey and I opened Rocky Fork, I was a principal in Bedford County and we didn't have a primise key system. So if somebody wanted a master key, I went to
Lowe's and I made a master key. And I opened Rocky Fork and I went to Lowe's to make keys and I couldn't make keys. And so I called Trey and I was like, "How come I can't make keys?" He's like, "You you can't make those keys." And I didn't never got any keys. So
Trey wins. Uh the one thing I want to bring out is just so that this board realizes how much we have put into capital projects. I just pulled up the um how many pennies have gone into it over the last couple years. In 2020, there were 4.7 pennies that went into
education capital projects. In 2023, there were 7.5. We eventually got to 11. Um was the highest that we got to over the last couple years. The county commission once on the floor took some pennies away. And
so we're around 10ish now. So 10.6. The new appraisal rates closer to 11. But we have of our own funding moved quite a bit when Tissa came around back into capital projects. So the previous board, this board has put a lot of funding into
capital projects. Just the HVAC components have gone through the roof the last 5 years at the same at the same time. So that that's been the big increase. >> Miss Maxwell. >> Yes, Mr. >> I have several questions, Trey, so bear with me. Um, one has to do with HVAC.
Um, you say it's the the prices are going up. What is your take on why the pricing is going up? I know one I know I I know couple years ago it could have been due to shipping because there's issues with shipping parts coming from
overseas. So those issues are not happening today. So what's your take on why the prices are going up in HVAC >> general inflation and there's so much work still out there that manufacturing cannot keep up.
>> So the demand is what's causing is what's driving >> it's causing a large portion of it but gas is going up. That's true. >> I mean, it's a combination of things. Um, but it's not it's not going to go back down, >> right? >> That is true. Um, the other one I have a
question on is the playgrounds. >> Um, I was in a conversation. It's been, you were in the conversation as well with the the playground. Forget what school it was. Anyway, uh but how do we deter how do we keep up with the
playgrounds in the need of repair? Because see, there's some schools, but I So, I'm just wondering how do we keep up with the maintenance of the playground when they're get to this list >> on this list. It's replacement. It's not maintenance. We maintain them. Mo most
of them, we've just about completed every elementary in the district >> and they have new playgrounds. Once this list is o done with, then all of our all of our start over. >> We'll start over. We'll start over. >> Start all over again. Oh my god. >> It's time for the new cycle. >> Oh my goodness. So, how long are the playgrounds?
>> Goes away. >> I'm sorry. >> It never goes away. >> Never. >> But how how how good how long is a playground good for? When you say replacing, because elementary schools have multiple playgrounds. So, >> replace it all. >> You replace it all. So, how all at one
time? >> Most of the time, yes. Sometimes we'll do one and then the other the next year, but yes, with within a close proximity, we replace them all within a year. >> Now, the here here's the thing about playgrounds. Depending upon
where that school is, um some schools get more usage than others. The And I'm going to pick on uh Last Casses. Last Cases Elementary, that playground is uh out there in the Las
Cases area and the gates are left open and if they can most of the time the gate at the front is locked so they don't get as much use on the weekends and at nights from the public. You take a Smyrna Elementary, a Smyrna Primary, a
Roy Waldrin, Leverne Si, what's now Simon Springs, you take some of these, we are not allowed to lock those playgrounds at night. we have to leave them open. So they are utilized seven days a week and on the weekends. So they
get a lot of use and sometimes abuse. >> Um so I'm going to call it they sometimes they prematurely wear out u based on the amount of usage that they get. We also had a few years back and
I'll get the date wrong so don't quote me on this. This has been 10 or 15 years ago. We went around and concreted a lot of our playgrounds. There was some federal dollars that came about and we concreted them and put a turf product on
top of them. It's it was a spongy >> um fall protection place. >> Great thing. Got a lot of money out of them. The problem was >> there was nowhere for the water go. The plastic held the >> held the water. the movement of the
playground wore the paint off at the concrete line. The water went down in it and we had premature uh failure with the structural components. Now we've had to go back and take all of them up >> when we put the new playgrounds in. So
we lost a number of playgrounds prematurely doing that. But we we've our goal was to get everybody replaced. It's kind of like King. we got to get to. And there again, there were those that thought we weren't
going to get to them. You know, they they they wanted, but there again, we send our consultant around. They tell us what's what's most in need and that was the number one priority and we looked at them every year. But now that we're just about finished, we will be starting back
around again. Whatever our consultants tell us, we do. So the so the playgrounds is determined by the consultants. >> Yes, ma'am. >> So if this consultant goes to the school and looks at everything and they provide the recommendation, that's what we'll put here. How long is the playground
typically without premature wear and tear? How long is it supposed to be? >> They should last about 15 to 20 years. >> 15 years. So when you say premature, are they lasting like around 10 years? >> Mhm. >> Wow. So, we're going back to uh mulch instead of the
>> we're doing rubber pads and grass. It's called a grass mat meets it meets ADA and fall protection. There's some schools that they have that they get beat down. We're also looking at and we've tried it in a couple of places a synthetic product
um at at just around the uh equipment areas. It's it adds about $150,000, but we're piloting it at four or five schools before I get before I sign off on putting it everywhere. I want to give
it three or four or five years just to kind of see what kind of wear I'm getting on it before I do it. So, we are piloting some other things. There's some products out there. We're trying them. I'm not doing them wholesale till I'm sold that they work. >> Right. That's good. Is that what you put
at Popular Hill or is that something Do we use do something? >> Not at Popular Hill. What schools are those that you're piloting? >> We did a courtyard at Barfield recently uh where the prek area is. It's an enclosed area that doesn't get a lot of sun. So gr it's hard for grass to grow.
Um got it at Rockville Elementary. We got it at three or four places that we're piloting it. See how it works. >> Okay, that's good. And my last question, which is not pertaining to the capital projects, but um I think we I think we
asked this before where we were wanting to get an inventory of the portables and see where they've been how many portables we have now versus what we have then. >> I thought we did I thought we got that before. >> I can do that. Yeah. >> Yeah, that'd be great because I'm curious to see now if we removed all of
the portables out of Blackman. I thought we did. I think we did out of Blackman Elementary School. >> They're gone. Blackman Elementary School and Sew Creek. Well, Sew Creek never had Yeah. Sewers Creek had portables. >> They still They still do. >> They still do. Y >> How many? So, we never reduced the
number of portables at Sewers Creek or still remain. >> We reduced it by two doubles. >> Two doubles. >> Yep. >> Yeah. We can send a new inventory. >> Yeah, that'd be great. If we could get inventory >> of what the portal >> I'll send I'll email y'all the new list in >> Yeah. and include elementary and middle
since we're getting a new middle school. >> Uh that'll be great to see how much >> all schools. Yeah. >> Okay, that's perfect. Can we have before and after? >> Oh, I can send you two. I can send you the before and where we are now. >> That'd be great. Thank you. >> The only thing I'll add is sometimes some schools may have additional
playgrounds because of PTO's, >> right? >> Those are harder for us to replace because we want to be equitable to all schools. So, we may not go and replace all of them because we're going to be fair to all schools to make sure they get all the ones replaced. >> Yeah, that's understandable.
>> I had a parent real quick and I'll get to the go. I had a parent reach out to me. Um, there are adaptable swings that can handle a wheelchair. Do we have some kind of adaptable apparatus at all of our elementary schools for our sped population?
>> The vast majority, yes. We started about five or six years ago with we worked with our sped department and they gave us some ideas on things to utilize that are adaptable and meet that and we are we do include that now as part of our new playgrounds. Um and but there are
some that we've gone back and we've utilized some of their capital projects money and we've just added one piece or two pieces or things like that. But yes, we are at it is part of our package now. It has been for the last four or five years, but we've actually gone back to other schools and actually added pieces.
>> That's wonderful. Wonderful. Any other questions? Yes, Wolf. >> Dr. Sullivan, uh, you were talking about the pennies in different years. What does the penny usually come out to? Is that like 1.2 million, 1.5 or a lot of variance? If you'll give me just a minute. I'm going to somebody else. I'll pull up what it's bringing. >> All righty.
>> Yeah. >> Um, and then Trey >> it out. So, I had it up and I closed it out. >> That's all right. Um, and Trey, we're looking at about 19.4 19,440,000. That's kind of what you got listed for your wish list here.
>> Yes, sir. >> Great. I appreciate this information. >> Any other questions while he pulls that up? >> Oh, I'm on the clock. >> None. >> I guess while while he's looking that up, I'll ask another question real quick. So you said playgrounds are about
10 to 15 years. Uh HVAC vary greatly. Uh because here last Casses I think you said that's the original on Last Casses and that would be in that in the '90s for sure.
>> Yes sir. And and with it being original there's been there's a lot of maintenance work that goes on with it to keep it running. >> Sure. >> Uh some of those units we can no longer get components for. So like in the summertime we spend a lot of money just putting refrigerant in them to keep to
keep them gas. The problem is we get R14 is getting in short supply >> and when you when you can buy it it was you know $50 a pound. Then it was $100 a pound. Then it was $150 a pound. Now it's you know it's like $500 a pound.
And that's the only thing keeping these units some of these units running. And and a question I get a lot is, well, why don't you use the new R17 or whatever the new gas is? Well, the new gas operates at a higher pressure, and those units weren't designed. The piping for
those systems can't handle the higher pressure that that gas exhibits. So, it's not like you can just use a different type of gas. And we've got a lot of a number of schools that we're keeping alive by just replacing the refrigerant every summer,
but eventually that's going to bite us. >> Yeah. We're just kind of toting alone best we can. >> Yes, sir. >> Well, I mean it seems it does seem to be working at least because there's so many of them on the list. Um, two other questions. Your track resurfacing, how often we do that? is that
>> well we didn't used to do that and that's something we've I've learned or we've learned there wasn't a lot of maintenance done on our tracks. We spent a couple million dollars putting these tracks in and then we just kind of left them alone. Um we have just completed
this past year replacing all of our track surfaces in the county to extend their life. Every two to three years you have to recote them. It's like a rubbery sealant that goes on it and it extends the life of the track surface. So, if we
do this, we're supposed to get an extra 5 to 10 years out of the tracks. I'm hoping in my tenure, I'm not replacing any more tracks. So, that is sort of new that the the recoting of the tracks. Every two to three years, we're going to
go be going back around to recoat. >> Okay. >> About 1.2 that I can tell. I'm trying to find the difference between the shared penny and the non-shared penny. So >> between one, two, and 14 depending on what the shared versus non-shared, but I'll have the exact dollar amount by
>> No, it's fine. I was just getting a rough idea. I appreciate that. >> Thank you, Drake. >> Anybody else have any comments or questions? >> Okay, we'll move to legislative update. >> Do you have anything, Mr. V?
>> Okay. And next we move to general discussion. Does anybody have anything for that? Yes, Mr. >> B. Facebook. >> Let me take Let me take a poll. All right. 77. That's pretty good. I
just wonder I didn't know I already came up somewhere. So, uh, why Mr. B doing that? There's two things on the legislature that there's two things on the legislature I think that really concern me. And I think
those people up there on the hill are drinking some water that's been piped in from Short Mountain. And I think the result of this is they're trying to bring back, the way I understand it, elected superintendent.
And one of you, the ones of you that are so young, you don't understand. But man, you talking about a political uh firestorm. That's all the superintendents were doing was politic. So boy that anything anybody has
anything to do with that that's a that needs to be something that goes by the wayside. Another thing that's coming up uh and I think a Senate bill was it be no tip no TCAP testing for the voucher
students. Now to me why would you want to do that? Why would you not want to compare everybody? Why would you separate the vouchers? I mean, I pretty well know why, but I
can't can't say that, but that's a that's a no-brainer bill, too. I hope goes away. And so, >> anyone else? Yes, Mr. Yes. >> I've got one just because I think it's going to apply to us. We talked about it in leadership. It is a bill and I'll
have the number for you on Thursday. I think we all agree that less testing would be good. Um, I am concerned though the the bill the way it is written um because it will probably impact funding. One, we've talked about Tivos. I haven't
gotten an answer back. So, that tells me how far I got with Tivos. And so, I will forward you all my response again. So, if you want to push with any of the connections you have because that's going to impact us with our $4 million about the Tivos change with us going from 34 to 12 school. I feel like I've
given ample time a couple weeks uh for a response from the department. The other one, and I we like being parts of pilots. I don't like being a part of a pilot that I feel like could hurt our students. And so there's going there's a bill that um authorizes the department to select. So
it it doesn't seem like it's an opt-in for 10 districts. believe it was 10 districts to be a part of a pilot to have less testing again which I I love fundamentally you would have TCAP universal screener
and benchmark which is all the testing we give anyways what I don't like is that it disallows you from giving a science benchmark and so we give benchmarks in English language arts math science and social studies it removes
our ability to give a science or social studies today's benchmark >> or our kids are held accountable for science and social studies. And if we are forced because that's the way it looks, the way that the districts are going to be chosen. We're high performing. We're a large district. We I don't see a way that we're not going to
be selected as one of the 10 districts. I don't feel like that's fair for our students, for our teachers not to be able to have an idea of where they are because we're not one of the districts, at least I don't feel like that is over testing. But we've we try to do a very fine line the benchmarks what we so if we're going to allow it for ELA we're
going to allow it for math our third through eighth graders all have to take science as well and so that's that's my only portion and I'm going to reach out to the bill sponsors and say this would be fine just can we include science and social studies in here and then we'd be
perfectly fine that's the only concern I have with it right now so >> it kind of caught me off guard I I noticed it Friday it was wasn't on my radar at Okay, Mr. Tipple, can you have your hand up? >> I I will, but I did not for >> Okay, I'm sorry. I thought it was Sorry,
that must been >> I was just going to ask for clarification on this science benchmark. So, it's not going to allow it for the third graders >> for anybody level. Y >> So, so they're trying to figure out what not what. So, okay. So, they're trying
to figure out >> because federal law doesn't require you to give a science test until twice. once in elementary, once in middle school, and once in high. So, that's the basis. But if our kids are going to be held accountable to the rest of the state, I
don't want our students not to have that same chance to prepare like everyone else has. That's that's my concern. Like, fundamentally, I agree, but I think there's just some parts we may not have thought through of how that could impact some people. I'm trying to pull it up real quick. >> That'd be great. Um, do you know where it's at in the process
>> if not already all the way through? because I again it wasn't on my radar to >> the education committee is closing. >> Yes. >> I think this is no the Senate Senate Education Committee this was last week >> and so if it already so it there's
already passed through the Senate committee >> and probably won't have a fiscal note maybe. I don't know if it does have a fiscal note then it'll go to budget. So that'd be great if you could tell us what the bill is so we can see where it's at in the process. Okay. Can I Mr.
Tidwell first and then I'll get to you. I promise. >> Um I was actually going to ask about Daniel McKe. I know we've talked about this and we looked at having a third alternative school to kind of as you mentioned again once again we're full. We haven't touched these schools in what
is it 20 plus years now. Our population has skyrocketed. Um, we've talked about the issues that we have not having space at all our alternative schools, how the program cannot fully the kids can't students can't go through the program fully. They
get sent back early. It's Miss Brown, Dr. Brown when she was here, she she had mentioned that was an issue that they were having that it doesn't allow the students to get the full benefit of it. So, with that said, I
know Stan had brought up at one time about potentially looking at what it would cost to rebuild a new school on Daniel McKe property. I would still like to follow up with that and see where we're at. And I understand there's a lot of things going on and there's a lot of needs and the county has their needs and
the school system has our needs, but that is really something that we tried to get into. It didn't work out with this building. Um, I want to revisit that as soon as possible. I agree. Um that's something that's that we need to do. We we've had multiple
conversations with the administration out there and we've even started with a couple a church that would like to partner with us in some capacity for that. So yes, we're stressed as a county. Everybody knows we've got to build a jail, but we we need a high school, but I I can't we can't mfadden,
but I can't forget Daniel McKeas either. So it needs to stay on our radar. >> Does anybody else have anything, Mr. Vaughn? Yeah, if out there in the lobby they got the Merur magazine and if you hadn't seen it, Mr. Vault along with his
son Chandler have a very nice picture spread full page uh that's really really nice. And also later in the back it's got a picture of Mr. Vald and his beautiful wife. They didn't get a full page. She didn't but
Chandler did. So, >> grab you one when you go out there. It's pretty nice. >> Yes, Miss Sharp. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I know we all received an email from Is he doctor now? Lucky do is he okay? Because I want
to make sure um about changing the parent teachers meeting with the block schedule. >> Yeah. >> Did you were you on that one as well? >> Yes. Dr. Martin and I had a chance to kind of briefly discuss. I've not followed up with him. The the issue that
he's specifically addressing to me would be more of a a reason to have two for for teachers that have seme quarter courses like that as opposed to moving it up earlier. Moving it up earlier would eliminate any kind of contact with
the other section of students. Um so I mean at a just with a brief conversation with Dr. Martin, as we were kind of talking through it, I don't see any any reason why we need to make a change to the entire district schedule. Um, but I
think perhaps talking through some ways that they can connect with parents on that quarter section is totally appropriate. So, we'll follow up with him >> and he did mention that um since they're now title one that the parents are more >> absolutely responsible. We certainly would love more opportunity for parents
to connect and they and they can. It's just a matter of where in the district calendar do we have that scheduled, right? Um so I don't see a reason at this point could be convinced but to to change that schedule, but we can certainly create more opportunities for them to connect. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. I've got
one more, Madam Chair. >> Okay. Um I had given Mr. Reid another school district's policy manual and I don't have it on my calendar with our next policy meeting. I would like to ask board members to to review that and see
if there's some policies and Mr. Lee see if there's some policies in there that we can use and put in place for the bus for our busing instead of recre recreating the will. We should look in there. Mr. Mr. Lee has it um if
he can send that back out to us because I sent it to him to look over months months and months ago. But I did send it to Mr. read for him to look at. And so I mentioned >> April 14th. >> April 14th. That's what I thought. >> April 14th. >> April 14th. Okay. That's what I was
thinking. I just don't have it on my calendar. But I would like for us to review it and you as well to see if there's any policy in there to put in our policy meeting for review and if we can adopt any of those because we don't have to recreate the will. T. >> Yeah. I'm sorry. Are you referring to
bus like that having our own bus drivers that policy? >> It's a it's a bus driving. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Sorry. I have one thing before Oh, you Mr. F. Go ahead. >> You go ahead. I just have a recap. >> Okay. Okay. I was going to make a notice
and hopefully I will remember to make this notice uh Thursday as well. Uh I'm having tomorrow the first meeting of uh some of you may know that are listening and some may not, but there is a joint venture between myself and Discovery Center. It's called Camp Wonder and it's for special needs kids and it's for a
week of camp in the summer. We do uh lessons. We have a different theme each year and it's really wonderful. Um and uh they have get to play with their peers and it's just an absolute wonderful time for a week for parents and the kids and um I need volunteers. I
had some wonderful EAs and some uh some uh sped teachers that stepped up to the plate and emailed either Annie Rston or myself and I'm asking an all call for more volunteers. I need about 6 to 10 really if we want to do over 20 kids. Um
it's next it's this July the 6th through the 10th at Riverdale High School and it's from 8:30 to 2 o'clock and sadly it is unpaid. Uh but uh if you have a heart for children and would like to participate in Cam Wonder, this will be like our sixth year, so it's going
strong and um just let me know. Um all my information is on the website if you need to get in touch with me. Thank you. >> That's a great >> Can I ask a follow-up question for that? >> Yes. >> Is that an opportunity um for some of our high schoolers for community service hours? >> Yes, it is. Uh yes, we would prefer you
be older, like 17, 18, a senior. That would be better. And I will sign off on hope, promise, whatever you need. Yes. >> Thank you, Miss Maxwell. >> Miss Morales. >> So, I would like to say that Camp Wonder is a amazing time. I think I've done it
three years with you as a volunteer and and I think my little girl went to it last year and did the last day where we were at um Discovery Center. And so you get to spend time with the with with the with the with the high schoolers and you
get to learn a lot about them and they learn about you and some of them even remember that you were there the year before. So you build this relationship with them and it's really neat and a great experience and kudos to you Miss Maxwell uh for starting something like
Discovery Center. Discovery Center has been amazing. And um I will tell you it is I always get this and I mean to make make sure I when I talked about it. It is for ages 14 until 22. If you're eligible to come to our high school and participate in our sped program, you're
eligible to come to camp. I always get some parents who call me my child's 10 and I'm like I'll see you in a couple of years. But so >> that's Yeah, that's a lot. It has been a great program. >> And don't they get like a photo album at the ends? Yes, we have. We do a book, we do a t-shirt. Yes, there's lots of
favors they get to take home from that. Now, Mr. Bot, go right ahead. >> All right. Now, this is going to be boring to most people, but I do think it our our listening audience at home needs to know this. This is and I and I kind of want to
I am going to brag on Trey. I'm not going to kind of brag on him. I'm going to really brag on him and his department and also the director for taking this stance about capital projects and
maintaining these buildings. And I know some of you get tired of hearing me, but I ha I have to reflect back in the early 80s and n or the mid 80s and the 90s that there was a high level of I don't want to say mistrust, but questioning
between the county commission and the school board all the time. Hey, we need money for this and then they go spend it over here for this. and maintenance and upkeep has always been just I mean I've learned this you brought and Butch your
words were very kind about Chandler and I and Terry and I. So my wife and I have learned this over the last 40 years earning real estate and I'd say every one of us sitting here have learned this. If you have something, if you have a home, you have a car, you have a vehicle, you have to maintain it. You
have to keep it up. buying it is only about half of it. And so I'm going to pull out just one thing here that the our listening audience at at home can understand. The five-year C or the HV the major HVAC
uh systems that are in this county for roughly 52 54 buildings I'm going to guess including the central office $325 million. Now, I'm gonna bring it down to where most of us can understand. We throw away around big numbers, and I laugh about
this. Again, when I was on the county commission, they you could bring something up that cost 10 million, $20 million. We wouldn't spend 10 minutes on it. But you bring up something cost $50,000. We might argue for it. We'd argue on it for three hours. But, but I'm going I'm going to bring it down
kind of where we can understand this. I'm taking last cases. $9.5 million. That school has been there since about 94, I think, when we opened it. Broke ground on it. Um, two weeks after I got married. That's one reason I remember
it. U, but it's going to cost $9.5 million to replace it. So, if you do your simple depreciation cost, Caleb, over 30 years, that's roughly $300,000 a year. You bring it down to about 600 kids in that. I mean there's more than
that could be there but that capacity 600 kids 900 kids it's costing $527 per kid per year to have heat and air in that building.
And so that's a number all of us can kind of get behind and understand. If you've got a child in the system, you got a grandchild in the system, that's about what it's costing. And I've also broken down the number. Y'all have heard me do this before. It's about $1,000 per
kid per year to provide transportation in our system. We deal with big numbers here all the time. And I know y'all, some of excuse me, may think we just half-hazardly go at it. But I can grant you that the people on this board that
I've worked with so far have we analyze these numbers a little bit. We grunt just like everybody else. If you had your central heat and air unit go out at home, I know with our rental property, we replace three or four a year. And every time I have to do it, it's a dang,
I hate that. And we hate it here, but but we owe it to uh everybody in the county to take care of these buildings. Building them is not just half of it. Maintaining them is big. So, Mr. Lee, I appreciate everything you've done. I appreciate how you've approached this
because this way it's not political. Everybody's in line. Everybody's treated about as fair as they can be. So, thank you for that. That was my two cents worth. >> Thank you. That was a great analysis. If there's nothing else,
then we're adjourned.