welcome to the February 20th 2025 work session for the Rutherford County School System first up we have the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mr Stan VA Al 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 [Music] next I ask you to Bow your heads for a moment of silence
[Music] thank you first up we have the agenda give a second to look that over any questions comments anything you need to add Dr suan okay if not we'll move to the approval
of the consent agenda okay any questions comments not first up on our speakers we have two different um people come to speak today first we have Dr Jeff mccan who's
presenting Charter School 101 training to the board Mr mccan why you're doing that if we found out whether or not we are being um evaluated by the Board of Education this year by the state board we get evaluated next year so we're the
next year CLE process okay I knew that they were publicizing which districts were when and I didn't know if we were this year or next year yet looking tremendously forward to that by the way we'll talk that'll be part of my presentation a little bit today we'll
talk about briefly hey here we go okay board thank you for your time uh this evening I did want to spend a little bit of time um reviewing the charter school process with you especially since we have two new board members this year who I'm sure probably have a lot of questions um and that's
what's tonight is designed for but in addition I think it's important that we review the whole process every year um it is one of the requirements by the way of of our evaluation that Dr Sullivan was just mentioning that's one of the things we're evaluated on is whether or not we're training our govern learning
board on on our Charter School process okay so that's our goal tonight is to talk about what exactly are charter schools and what is your role as a board in in the authorization process um and I apologize if some of this is old hat to a lot of you but I do think it's worth
going over I think every year so let's talk about what charter schools are my clicker to work but it's not going to work here okay so what is a charter school uh just remember charter schools and this is a lot of misunderstanding here charter schools are public schools
they're operated by independent nonprofit governing bodies and other words each charter school is a part of a public school system but they're governed by their own board of education similar to the way you govern our our traditional schools they have their own board of education
that runs their operation uh but they trade basically we say they trade that high accountability for high autonomy in other words we hold them highly accountable um for out comes but they get a lot of autonomy in how they produce those outcomes okay and and stop
me if you have questions as we go along but in Tennessee Public Charter School students are measured against the same standards as traditional Public Schools they have to take teap they have to take um all the state assessments they get a report card grade just like our schools
do they get Tas scores they get achievement test scores they're held accountable for chronic absenteeism just like every other public school in the state okay now local Boards of Education you ensure that only those charter schools that meet the needs of their students
are allowed to open initially and remain open throughout their term now in Tennessee we Grant 10year terms to our approved Charter Schools some states only go five in Tennessee we Grant 10 that's a big decision to make at the end of that 10-year term whether or not to
renew or discontinue that charter school and there is an interim review at the 5year Mark as well where we Rev view their progress but we also look at it on a year-to-year basis and we'll talk about that too okay and you're going to do this you're going to monitor them through a rigorous authorization process
ongoing monitoring of three areas academic operational and financial performance of those charter schools and in unlikely in the unlikely event that a charter school is not successful um they can be revoked you can revoke a school's Charter or you can decide to renew them
after 10 years so so let's talk about funding because that's a big part of of our discussion here in ruford County schools with our Charter Schools how are they funded well 100% of that of the state and local funds for every student go with them to that Charter School the
Money Follows the student goes directly to them they're also eligible to be reimbursed for federal funds like uh funding for students with disabilities elll students Title One title two expenditures they can get reimbursed for those expenditures as well on a limited
basis but and this was a tough part for us this year in the first year of operation their funding is based on what their predicted enrollment is going to be in that first year of operation now it is adjusted um in by the state in October and February and technically we can
adjust that on a monthly basis ourselves if we need to but that initial budgeted figure is based on their enrollment predictions and that can be quite a lot of money um I think for us this year it was $1 million I believe that we had do a lot for those charter schools based on
what they predicted they would have sitting in their building but after the initial year the funding is based on their prior Year's average daily membership their ADM numbers um and that's what it will be next year in addition though we will have to add a
prediction for any new grades that they add and both of our current charter schools are adding another grade level so their predicted enrollment for that grade level will will determine the funding just for that grade level other than that the school's funding will be based on this year's a
M so the state has identified six purposes for a charter school why do they exist what is their purpose what do they do and here they are and you to be approved to start a new charter school you have to meet at least three of these we'd like them to meet all six and here they are number one is to
improve learning for all students and close those achievement gaps that's really why Charter Schools were created was to close achievement gaps between low performing and high performing students they also need to provide parents with options for their students number three is a big one encourage the
use of different and Innovative teaching methods that's why a lot of charter schools or that's what a lot of charter schools base their applications on is we are going to try a different method we're going to do something different than the traditional Public Schools but they do have to measure the
performance of their pupils and their faculty and ensure that their students have that opportunity to reach proficiency on those same state assessments that every other child has to take they're also there to create new professional opportunities for teachers and to afford parents substantial
meaningful opportunities parent involvement is a big part of a chart every Charter School's plan and it's a big component that we look at in their application let's take a minute and Define define some of those key terms that you need to know that you've heard
may not know what they are what is an authorizer you you are the authorizer you're a local the local Board of Education that makes decisions regarding approval renewal and revocation of a charter school application or an agreement the other authorizer right now is the Tennessee Public Charter School
commission they can agree to authorize certain schools when local boards may turn them down and the verb form of that word authorizing uh this is the process for approving an application negotiating that contract and really overseeing a charter school and operations including
that decision whether or not to close them down or renew their Charter at the end of 10 years what's a governing body uh like we talked about every Charter has their own governing body their own board to oversee their operations okay and then finally what's that Charter agreement well that's the signed
contract that we engage with any Charter that we approve um to operate in our district it is a legally binding agreement and really we can adjust that however we need to um per what what what we feel like our Charters need to be
required to do and I just put this up there just so that you know that um authorizing standards are based on state board rules state laws that we all must follow and like Dr Sullivan mentioned a minute ago authorizers are evaluated by an on the standards by the State Board of
Education we get evaluated next year um as a part of the process for a new authorizer I was they ask us to sit in as a shadow on uh on the current application cycle which I did back in November and December I sat on the team
that evaluated actually the state Charter commission um so I've become very familiar with what those standards are that we get evaluated on and they're quite extensive um so I'm really looking forward to that process next year when we go through it in September October
and November where we have to provide a lot of documentation to prove that we are serving as a quality authorizer over our Charter Schools yes sir just evaluated in 5 years if one of these charter schools
are not performing very well do we have to wait 5 years for them to get shut down close great question technically no you do not as the authorizing board you can pull their Charter really at any time they usually take some pretty egregious violations of that Charter to
to shut them down before that the end of the review term it doesn't happen very often uh but it does happen so yes you can make that decision as a board okay tman K I think it's just good for the board to know so when we start this process um we Jeff will be the one is
the designate that will be doing it I'm sure um those are documents that we'll be asking for that are part of the things that we're required to ask for so just be aware of that because I'm sure our first time through that there will be lots of questions why are you asking for that other things that we're required that we have to do but that
won't be till next year and the evaluating team may very well reach out to you too as well with questions um and they will expect you to be a part of that whole process especially in the end the the final review where they discuss results with us they have asked for our board members to to be a part of that as
well so just keep that in mind and I'll give you a heads up for sure where that's coming up I guess if if I understand this right if the board denies one and state approves it we don't have any control over that school right that is correct
we we no longer serve as their um their monitoring body that the state Charter commission would serve as their their monitoring body although the funds will go with those students we will lose that funding we don't have any um oversight okay
so what does a qual quality authorizer do well there's three things for us to look at number one we have to maintain high standards for our charter schools and we oversee them using our performance standards and I'll talk about our performance Frameworks in a minute because if you're not aware we do
have RCS performance Frameworks that guides how we monitor those charter schools and what we hold them accountable for um however we do have to make our best effort to uphold that school autonomy and to allow them to operate in the way that they see fit as
long as they are adherent to state law and state statutes and policies and District policies policies as well in other words we hold them accountable for their outcomes not their processes that's where we hold them accountable is what they produce what the end result is that's where we monitor their success
not in how they get there they have a tremendous amount of autonomy to do that um and really we're asked specifically Al to minimize their administrative burden and that's a very difficult thing for me right now um because I feel like
I am um I place quite a a bit of burden on their administrators at both of those schools to provide me with evidence and documentation and results and things that they're doing to prove that they're following those state laws and statutes um so it's a fine line that I'm walking right now between holding them
accountable and allowing them that autonomy that that really they're supposed to have but I'm going to continue to hold them uh accountable for whatever they they have to produce to show their they're uh in line with state law that's one thing that they do not
get um a waiver from okay now but and then thirdly we protect student and public interest we have to hold schools accountable and ensure ethical conduct and compliance with um applicable laws like we just talked about that's our job we have to look out for the kids that are in those schools
and make sure they're utilizing public funds properly so I talked about this a minute ago how we hold Charters accountable is through our performance framework that document is available if you ever want to see it is on our website on the charter school page under uh performance
Frameworks um and we use this to to measure their performance every year and say whether they are meeting um the terms of their agreement or not but the most there are three there are three parts to that there's the academic the U um organizational and the financial
performance by far the most important part of that framework is the academic measures their test scores are part of our district test scores we're held accountable for their for their test scores just like they are they are a part of our testing portfolio so it's
very important that we hold them accountable to those academic measures okay and I will provide you with an annual public report um that's my job is to do that unfortunately um it is we since they're in their first year of
operation we will not complete a a full testing cycle until the end of this year and nor will we get a an audit on their financial progress until the end of this fiscal year so and and typically the state doesn't always get our data reported until December sometimes so
it's probably going to be December or January before you get that full annual report on our two operating Charter Schools okay so if you feel like you've been kind of left in the dark about how they're doing that's really why we base their performance on what that framework
says and we don't get that data really until the end of the year well after their testing is completed okay I will say this that if necessary and this should answer some of your questions um we provide notice to the Charter Schools when they are not
compliant with applicable laws that's sort of my job and we give them an opportunity to cure that non-compliance prior to instituting those revocation proceedings so we do we want to give them every opportunity to correct um any mistakes that they are
making or any non-compliance areas um because I'll be quite frankly both of our current operating Charter Schools came from outside of Tennessee and just don't have a whole lot of familiarity with Tennessee laws so that's been a a continual process I will say this currently both of our authorized charter
schools are engaged in in our intervention protocols and the protocols are the things that we put in place um to address areas of non-compliance okay and we'll talk about that as we go but I will say that both our Charters are currently engaged in
that process so what are our CH our our two Charter Schools the the two schools that are authorized by this board are Springs Empire Academy um in and they're they're located in Smyrna at the Boys and Girls Club facility if you're not with that it's on Culbertson street right behind
smna middle and smna primary right across the street from Thurman Francis and right down the hill from David Yuri um they rent that facility from the boys and girls club during the day and they have right now approximately 176 students in serving K5 they predicted
enrollment however though and what we based our original funding numbers on was 240 so they're a little bit below what their hoped for enrollment was next year though they are expanding to sixth grade in 25 26 and the other Charter School in operation is American Classical Academy
Rutherford in leverne uh they're at a really nice building in the Ingram entertainment complex um and serving approximately 220 students in K5 their predicted enrollment was a little bit higher than that though 340 was what they budgeted for and you'll notice both
of our schools did not hit their budgeted enrollment number so money has been very tight and it's caused some of their their challenges in providing um Services as as the the agreement calls for quite honestly yes sir where class
they they teach classical education they do they do we'll talk about that when I get to their mission the state objectives that they're on classical because State objectives is line is not aligned up to class I agree that's a
great point but uh Charter Schools do have to teach Tennessee content standards they cannot wave that they don't have to utilize Tennessee approved textbooks and materials but they do have to teach Tennessee content standards and they're held accountable for how they perform for Tennessee content standards
and they know that okay they're also expanding to sixth grade by the way next year we do have one other um charter school that is not authorized by us that I'm sure you're aware of ruford Collegiate prep is the one that was denied by ruford County Board of Education a couple years ago and the
state Charter commission agreed um to serve as their authorizer and they approve their application so they're operating um W with no oversight from us and they're located over in the Blackman area so the two that we are authorized though let's talk about what they're all
about Springs Empower Academy basically um um like their their mission says they Empower students by nurturing innate curiosity engaging parents in promoting Optimum learning by collaboratively developing a personalized learning program for each student you might think
of that as what is called a montauri approach where um per each student has their own personalized plan for learning if you were to visit there you would see a lot of Collaborative Learning going on a lot of groups a lot of movement a lot of fluidity in those groups where students are working together in teams
pretty much the whole day long okay that's the mission of Springs EMP power Academy American Classical Academy uh like Mr you said um they um they engage in a classical education in the liberal arts and sciences with instruction in
the principles of Moral Moral character and civic virtue Civics is a big part of what they do there and as far as classical education is concerned they tend to focus on classical pieces of literature um and classical teaching
methods quite frankly um that that sort of have fallen by the wayside um here in the past or in the recent past but their vision is to develop students into exemplary citizens that adhere to the school's Seven Virtues so again um Civics and virtue are a big
part of what they do and yes they teach the classical model of education so they read Classics book they do they do we have since received two more applicants to open in the year
2627 um Nova smart academy K8 many of you may be familiar with them already because they applied last year and were denied by this board um submitted an an amended application were denied again and then they submitted to the State Board of Education who also denied their
application this year they have come back with a with a revised application for us to consider for them this year and the other one is new to ruford County rocket ship Tennessee school number four rocket ship Public Schools right now operates three charter schools in Metro Nashville um they've applied to
open another one in Metro and one again here so they they will if approved they would have a total of five in the area okay I'm sorry I'm sorry yes they're K5 thank you very much and they they plan to remain K5 Nova smart academy is hoping to
expand into high school at some point if if if they're approved now let's talk about each of those schools just real quick the mission statement for rocket ship Public Schools says that they are focused on low-income communities which is where they have primarily served and to help close those opportunity gaps for those
students in traditionally underserved populations and underserved areas that's their goal is to close those opportunity gaps for lowincome students and their intention is to locate in the Smyrna L area which is where our two operating charter schools are
now and then the other one Nova smart academy um their whole focus is early intervention that starting in kindergarten to PR prepare kids for College and Career Readiness they feel like the earlier you start the better they want to identify
gaps in learning early and close them before the students um get too far in their education where they can't close those gaps anymore okay so here's the timeline that you you guys need to think about um that applies um in the case of both our two new
applicants we've received letters of intent by the deadline of December 3rd we received their initial applications by the deadline of February 3rd and that's where we are in the process now the committee you approved last month is already um a hard at work reviewing those applications uh and we've met a
couple of times already to discuss them and and share our thoughts um where you come into play is we have to make a recommendation to you so you can vote within 90 days and we will do that we will have a recommendation for you but regardless of what we recommend remember
the decision it falls on you that's a pretty um heavy burden I realize um um so but you have to vote within 90 days to approve or deny or it will automatically be approved okay if we don't vote and that deadline is May the
1st that we'll have to vote um now if you were deny were to deny both or either one of them they can can submit an amended application within 30 days this is what happened last year then we would have 60 more days to review and
then you'd vote again after that 60 days and we provide another recommendation for the amended application um if what happens like last year and you denied the second amended application they can then appeal to the commission the state commission within
10 days and then the commission can decide whether to approve them or not in the case of Nova smart academy they did not not last year that's why they're back some more specific timelines for the committee a couple I want to draw your attention to a couple of dates
March 19th and 27 will be conducting capacity interviews in this room this is where members of their boards U come and answer questions that we have for them face to face often times you learn a whole lot more about um a charter school and their intentions when you speak with
them face to face rather than read their written application I'd like to invite you to feel free to attend either one of those and I'll send you calendar invitations with a specific times but March 19th and 27th in the boardroom it's a great chance for you to come learn about what these schools are
all about and to hear from their leadership okay and then um on April 22nd my plan at the work session of that uh that month's board meeting is to present you with the the committee's recommendation to either approve or deny
uh and we'll will detail the strengths and concerns um for each application but our hope is you'll be ready to vote by your April 24th board meeting to approve or deny and you can always call us a special called meeting if you'd rather
do that independently but we do have to vote by May the 1st okay what questions do you have for me that was a brief snapshot of charter schools yes sir uh I guess one thing's always
bothered me about this if if some of our kids go these charter schools and they don't perform very well then they come back to us these kids going to be behind and I don't know I guess it's one thing
that I don't know I'm sure y'all keep their feed in the fire but you know that's something that really that's we we got to make sure cuz boy I tell you it's going to be a hardship on the kids and on everybody else can we visit the the ones that we've approved
already are we allowed to go visit them will they let us know you can the the the expectation is that we give them notice but I have found both of our charter schools to be open to us visiting anytime I will be making their annual site visit coming up um the first of
next month um for one and the first of the following month for the other so and I will uh provide you with a um some um feedback or a presentation after I have done that one other thing that I've got you know everybody all of them say that
they're going to address the give opportunities for lower socioeconomic kids and you know I didn't fall off the turnup truck yesterday
but you know those folks just don't have ways to get to scho sounds good you know it's a sounds really good but I just wonder if they how we ensure that they do that other than just
talk we have to monitor their performance carefully cuz you're right anybody can put anything they want in an application it sounds great that they plan on they we plan on doing this but it's up to us then to monitor their performance um after that to make sure they're doing what they say well I'm glad you're doing it cuz
you'll do a good job no Mr tinle uh couple questions novas you said they're K through 8 they initially apply for K through 8 or was it K through five they have a a model they have a slow growth model where they their initial application last year was to start with
kindergarten only then add first grade the next year then add second then add third and they've uped that to start with K1 and then be K4 and then k6 and then K A8 okay so rather than adding one grade per year they're going to try to add add a couple mhm um and can you give
us the numbers on the acar and springs the the social economics uh whether or not they're addressing some of those needs that they presented I I can I can prepare that for you I don't have that off the top of my head but I will say if we're looking at economically disant disadvantaged kids both of those schools
are somewhere in the 25% range um which um as we were talking earlier um typically schools in our district um receive tital one funds once they hit the 70% range so they they don't have quite the same numbers they at about 40%
elll kids a very small percentage of of special ed this next M rales um I was just going to say that um we met today for the first time with the committee and it's a
very thorough process of this going through an evalu Val ating uh just so that the board can have a recommendation and I will tell you that the people that are part of the committee they pick this thing very apart I mean they really comb
through it with a and just have questions and I'm I'm learning so much new stuff that I didn't even know before so um so I just want everyone to be aware how thorough it is and educative
as well so if you in this seat I highly recommend that you be part of that committee cuz you learned a lot it's valuable information that you gain so thank you so much for setting those those times and I know we're not going to meet tomorrow because of the weather
but we can always we'll figure that out it is a great committee very knowledgeable people on that on that team they are thorough I was on that last year and you do learn a lot sitting just sitting there listening to these Educators so anybody else like to
comment yes Mr I guess you know from if I understand correctly most these charter schools and in the state have not done very well I know in Nashville I don't think I
think it's probably 30 and I don't know 29 of them I think are below a performance level with the state um and I guess everybody thinks they got a better better idea
right do they have to see you on the idea that what they it's going to make them different they do they do and performance does vary you're right Mr vaugh from school to school to school just like traditional Public Schools the performance does vary um and and they can um you know they can a the thing
about rocket ship schools is they have a past history of school tools that they're in current in operation that we can compare their performance um and see how how they have done in the past you know the secret to any effective school is good
teachers we've got the best here in R County where do they uh where they get their teachers from basically in special ed especially where do they get them from well again they have a lot of flexibility there um and I just just out
a frame of reference I will say this let's talk about our two Charter Schools we have in place right now one of our charter schools did a great job of hiring only Tennessee certified licensed teachers okay now they they've had a few struggles with losing staff along the way and having to move staff around to
make sure they've got coverage in every area our other charter school did not they hired mainly um um unlicensed people um with a few licensed mainly unlicensed people with the intentions of getting um um LIC
waivers for them to complete their certification during the year in the understanding that they would train them in their own methodologies um and and how they prefer to teach um that has been a challenge getting waivers and permits um approved in a timely manner
for that particular school so there you see two totally different approaches one elected to only hire Tennessee licensed teachers one did not um and and you can see a difference in in the two staffs okay anything
else thank you Mr McAn thank you all thank you there's you have my contact information Reach Out come in and sit down talk to me if you need to okay thanks can you send this to us your presentation next we have Mr James
Evans most popular person in the county today yes thank you um John would you switch over to that video so in front of you is the uh Communications report for the month of January we're going to do something a little different this week or this month
because I think you guys glaze over when I just throw numbers at you so I wanted to show some actual um results that we've been getting there are lots of numbers on this sheet on the back side it shows you um to put it simply all the arrows are pointing up and we're growing
tremendously from month to month so I'm not going to go through every number but I do want to highlight Instagram for just a second we have had 21 new 2100 new followers on Instagram in 1 month that's tremendous growth it's really those are taking off
but I want to show you a video that the Communications Department um produced about smna High School's ribbon cutting I know that uh some of you were able to attend others could not because of other obligations but I want to illustrate a point John would you play that please it's about a minute and a half so it's not too long smna High School cut the
ribbon on its $ 38.4 two million expansion at more than 95,000 Square ft the two-story Edition provides smyna high school with 38 classrooms and lab spaces in addition to offices and a large lecture hall the space was much needed as smah
high has the second largest enrollment within Rutherford County schools and is among the top 10 in Tennessee with the expansion Smyrna high can serve up to 2500 students Under One Roof the building houses Career and Technical education program
including cosmetology Health Science a stem lab criminal justice and audiovisual production World languages and English as a second language classes also meet in the building teachers and students moved into their new space in early December this comes about 16
months after a groundbreaking ceremony in August 2023 and nearly 8 months ahead of its projected opening another 16,000 ft of space was renovated during the process including the school cafeteria other updates have taken place
on campus but this is the first major update to the main building since 2005 Goodwin Mills kwood was the project architect and RG Anderson company served as a general contractor thank you to the Rutherford County Board of Education County
Commission and our State Legislative delegation for making this project possible okay so my point of showing that is smart thanks joh is that there were there were a few hundred people there maybe two or three hundred people I would estimate we there right but let me
I want to show you the power of our social media channel so on YouTube 419 people watch that video that's not very much but on Facebook uh more than 10,000 people watch the video on Instagram uh 17,500 and then on Twitter or X another
11,600 for a total of 39,000 580 views of that video um about 40% of that were people who don't already follow us so they see those kinds of things because they follow someone who does follow us and so my point of that is that just the power of our social media channels and
the the the growth and impact that we're having there that we've seen this year so when I say when I show you these numbers every every month there's these are the kinds of things that are behind those numbers now of course construction stories always get more following than say maybe a prek event or something like
that but the potential is that there for us to be able to reach a huge audience and that's that's the point of this report every month is to show you how much more we're reaching every month so um there's exact numbers on each one of our channels including our website to
show you what our most popular pages are just to highlight our academic calendar is always a popular page our jobs listing and our events listing those are our top three things that we've seen this month um you'll also see the kind of content that we're creating there that we created over the month of
January and into February uh and remember January was a short month because we had some snow days we came back from winter break all those kinds of things um one other project that we're really excited about and you're going to see this starting in March is that we have been recruiting what we're
calling student influencers from every high school so at least one student from every High School including the non-traditional high schools like Holloway the virtual school you know the K12 school all those not just the large high schools is my point but these students are going to be using a social
media platform they have they can create content about things happening at their schools they will then submit them to us through that platform we will review them and edit them and schedule them on our social media channels so there's the point is there's three of us and there are 52 schools if you count the new school and we can't be everywhere so
this will help us increase the kind of content we're getting and it involves some of our best students these students are students who are recommended by a teacher but a lot of them are either in skills USA Beta Club media Club Deca FCA or the National Honor Society and
they're taking classes and Pathways for CTE like photography Film Production yearbook or they're involved in athletics these are leaders in the in the various high schools some of them are freshmen there's a couple of seniors but a lot of them are sophomores or Juniors and then from these we will
choose our plan is to choose our intern for the summer which is a paid internship it's through a grant uh we are hoping to choose that person to be our intern this summer based on how these students do and our plan is to continue to grow this so I've given you a lot of information what questions do
you have yes ma'am it's Mr Arvey do you know if we've gotten started at all um you and I had talked about doing almost commerciall like things for some of the things our high schools have that are available to the citizens of Rutherford County right so Dr Sullivan has asked us to put together
a promotional video which we're working on uh that's going to highlight some of the different options and opportunities available especially in our high schools you know the CT programs and those kinds of things we want to make about a 5minute video and then also be able to break that video into smaller pieces that we can really just expand and put
and use it for several months so we are working on that yes ma'am awesome thank you any other questions comments all right and the reason we're doing this is the work session is just to kind of try to spread it out a little bit because you know we all want to go home So eventually so uh that's why we're doing but if you guys would rather
have this on Thursdays just let us know and we can always move it back okay thank you next we have Rutherford proud um Rutherford proud will be potentially Thursday um but realistically if we receive precipitation um our kids won't
be here to be here Thursday um and talking about Thursday I think that is just something we will keep up in the air as far as our school board meeting goes board policy 1.400 does allow for
um electronic attendance and it does it's for inclement weather or natural disaster and it says a board member May attend a meeting by electronic means due to inclement weather or natural disaster if the schools in the school district are closed and so that's just something
to keep in mind as we look at Thursday and kind of look to see what it looks like over next but we'll keep that in mind as we look at what Thursday looks like so but again if we are out of school on Thursday those groups won't be here on
Thursday and we're moving to the next one uh no public comment tonight instruction tab two is next so special course request oh yeah we will me need to move G sorry stiens um we have g under the
cons an agenda and it will need to come under instruction as well um it's under it's the ESL departments requesting to that's on page six Naomi Rodriguez ESL teacher at Rock Springs to be paid $1,200 from the title three immigrant
Grant to reach an ESL parent classes Miss rogerz is taking the place of a teacher would resign so we'll move that under instruction as well and then the other part of instruction is our annual special course request the instruction departments requesting permission to make an application to offer credit for special
courses under the following guidelines rule 05201 352a local school systems may offer special course did not listed in 052 013.0 six on an experimental basis that the commissioner of Education must approve each course in advance each year
bref County high schools are requesting approve for the following special course request and you'll see all five of these are renewal meaning we have them this year anthropology Global diplomacy Native American history positive psychology and then US Presidency so all
five of those and we get the uh I mean students are basically taking these classes now sometime not tonight but whenever I can tell you where they're all offered and there's only one section of each so it's a small number um
anthropology is currently offered at Central Global diplomacy is currently offered at Seagull has previously been offered at lever uh Native American history has yet to make but they're hoping it makes this year um I was just
seagull would like to offer it uh positive psychology is currently at Central and US Presidency we're looking to add at Rockvale and seagull and other once these get approved as they're approved currently these are renewals but other people in the state can also
take advantage of these courses as well um but yes so they we've aligned it to standards has a syllabi all this is approved by the state all same laws still apply just special courses are electives thank
you next we have human resources and I mentioned this at our last meeting but these are two additional nurses additional school nurse position requests for one additional nursing staff due to increasing medical procedures at Riverdale and Rockville High Schools Health Services Department is requesting one new school nurse
position currently these two these two schools share a second school nurse so this added Position will allow both large high schools to have two School nurses total any questions number two teach now and grow your own clinical educator typen rather for teach now and grow your own
Apprentice programs would like to allocate $155,000 of general purpose funds to compensate clinical Educators for their support of 98 rord teach now candidates and 18 grow your own apprentices these clinical Educators serve as the on-site support team for our aspiring teachers complete Mentor
training meet regular their apprentices and Report competency evaluations for program completion being assigned a clinical educator is a state requirement of both programs the state newly requires compensation for clinical Educators assigned to support grow your in furnaces cost associate with whether
for teach now clinical educator stiens are factured into the tuition and program fees collected from each candidate and just to give you a a number I mean that is well over 100 people that we are licensing as teachers ourselves and so we are we are
definitely one of the larger educator Preparatory programs in the state at this point so it's pretty phenomenal M maell yes Mr um in these grow you own uh apprentices what areas are they going into everywhere now just about uh 612
just about everywhere yes and special we were discussing that as well ESL sped math science all Humanities foreign language CTE that was my question to see if there were if there were some that were
entering into the hardto fill positions so that's good it's where we started it was in those areas we just we don't have a way for K5 yet that's great they probably yes unless it's special education correct that's good any questions okay number three
tenure recommendation yeah we inadvertently left one person off of our tenure list and so we have an additional individual from Blackman Middle School to add to our tenure list so I bet she's glad to see that she um alerted us to it
right away so we have added her although I did have somebody call me and say was my name on there and I was like yes it was so okay number 11 legal the first one is just continuing with our Board of distinction program making sure that we are continually looking at all P
portions of our annual policy agenda and then number two is transfer student under discipline the boards been requested to am in to transfer student for another school system under discipline student was expelled for possession of marijuana according to policy 6318 the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system on
or suspension or expulsion director of school's recommendation is to I because of capacity issues next we have policy changes and these are the policy adoption second reading of two readings so they were recommended on the first reading on
February 6 20125 so they would go into effect if approved at our meeting on Thursday policy changes the first one policy 2.88 purchase orders and contracts adds language of exemptions from purchase order requirements B policy 4.63 promotion and retention adds
language regarding request for retention to be in writing pursuant to State Board of Education regulation policy 5118 background investigations adds language regarding background checks and FBI rback program for employees and other individuals having proximity to
students policy 5.5 discrimination harassment employees adds language to align with state and federal law and then policy 6.24 attendance of non-resident students clarifies geographical boundary for non-resident students who don't live in rord
County any questions comments okay number 12 this is a contract agreement between MTSU and rord County Schools MTSU seeks to be a central Magnet School sponsor and as the board can remember this kind of comes around for every school so we're
continuing this um revolving group of sponsors from MTSU MTSU proposes a contract in which MTSU May sponsor activities in place advertising at Central Magnet School MTSU request permission to place signage which is detailed in the contract
attachment a MTSU proposes to pay 5,000 per year for 5 years the contract terms are July 1st 2025 through June 30th 2030 it's a good investment by MTSU why don't they do it Fa Scope they do they do they do it's just each one's on a different
contract term they're rotating around yeah since I've been here they've probably done seven schools 7 eight they all yeah it's a wonderful program and I'm glad they're doing that next we have resolution and I said I didn't like resolutions but I like this
one chess um this was propos proposed of Mr Tidwell um this is similar to the resolution we did last year but this is a resolution basically advocating for a chess program U be implemented on a pilot basis by the state and so this is
a resolution um saying whereas Research indicates a moderate positive effect of chess instruction on math and overall cognitive ability in primary and middle school students as well as a smaller yet significant effect on reading achievement and whereas chess training
is linked to the Improvement of specific cognitive skills including critical thinking problem solving planning and memory which are essential skills for academic success in subjects such as Math Science and language arts whereas chess promotes the development of skills
that reach beyond the academic setting including discipline focus and perseverance while these attributes can also support better study habits and overall academic performance whereas the through teacher training student engagement research
collaboration and Community awareness the integration of chess instruction into into student coursework can be expected to produce the following outcomes improve critical thinking skills among students enhance conflict resolution abilities increase interest
in Scholastic activities and a positive impact on mathematics achievement now therefore be resolved by the ruford County Board of Education it requests that the governor's office develop and fund a three-year grant for a pilot program consisting of the following components and funding
allocation teacher number one teacher training and chess materials of $70,000 annually number two workshops to train teachers and incorporating chess into their lesson plans three resources curriculum materials chess sets and
boards for teachers four student engagement events $5,000 annually five events to foster a sense of community and healthy competition six research and evaluation of $155,000 annually and seven
collaboration with educational researchers to Monitor and evaluate the impact of chess instruction on Scholastic achievement eight regular assessment of the cognitive and educational benefits of the program nine program Administration Outreach which is
$10,000 annually 10 administrative support number 11 community outreach and awareness campaigns we have further resolved that the r County Board of Education calls upon state legislators Tennessee Department of Education and other relevant stakeholders to consider
these proposals earnestly and act as swiftly to implement these necessary changes we have finally resolved that copies of this resolution should be distributed to the governor state legislator the Tennessee Department of Education and other relevant parties so that's the resolution being proposed for
consideration Thursday night I want to thank you Mr Tidwell for bringing this U when Rob Mitchell is like the grandfather of of this idea and he started talking to us probably a year and a half two years ago and this is just a wonderful program and I want to thank you Mr Tidwell M
Maxwell yes um yeah so just as you mentioned and I know you've been a supporter of this as well um Mitchell is really the the main brain behind this uh I think this was one of the few resolutions that got bipartisan support at the general assembly last year uh so
this is just kind of they were kind of getting it off the ground and I think they had some chess tournaments now they're wanting to turn it into there's some professional development that can happen uh to incorporate it into teaching and some of the benefits of that so it's really a pilot program um
that has some potential and I've talked to Rob and he feels like there is um some connections there at the governor's office that that they may add it into their budget to Pilot it and see if it goes anywhere and I think we have some Grant monies that we that we have that we've been they've been holding for us
that we can use as well so this is a wonderful thing and uh I'm hope it gets implemented thank you Mr tidal 14 financial report um financial report will you pull up I say he emailed you um if you'll
pull up just real quick this kind of gets into our next one but we are working on budgets right now so we've had most of our individual principal meetings we had our big principal meeting with our budget um overview with them a couple weeks
ago and as he is kind of pulling that up it gets into our next discussion about bus driver contract so I just want to give you guys a an overview Mr Reed um asked me to just kind of put together what our the percentages were and so I sent that to the board on Friday and
contractors and bus drivers have a copy for everybody before we go into the next one just so everybody can kind of see and be on the same page and that'll be all that I say but we'll y'all can pass those around um and then then I'll get into General discussion just so that everybody can see what we are looking at across the top so you basically have
three columns and across the top just says current contract and this is what is in our 141 which our general purpose school budget we budget 27 m169 400
$169,450 this does not include power hour or summer school this is just general purpose and so these numbers are strictly based off of that budgeted amount which we the last couple years because of Power Hour I've had to put a little bit more into across the bot or to the left you
will see the percent raise and it just has 5 8 10 15 20 25 30 and then what our contractors have requested 34.8 you'll see what that number equates to just for an overall dollar figure that is the same in the First Column the
second column and the third column just for pure numbers then you will see beside it 2026 2027 2028 and those numbers are based on a 5% across the top and the three 10% which
is in the middle and then 15% at the bottom the one that is highlighted I just highlighted that that is the request of what I think our bus contractors I me their attorney have have asked for and I just highlighted what that was the last column if you
will scroll all the way back up to the top just shows the total dollar amount and then all the way to the right John sorry the total increase over four years and just what that percent increase is to the budget this is not a percent increase to a contractor I'm looking at
percent increase towards the overall budget so I think that's important to just highlight that is the percent increase to this portion of the budget and that is um just the specific so if you see for example the very top 5%
raise and a 5% increase every year is 5.8 million over four years and a 2.55 increase to the operating budget if you look at the bottom of that column it's
34.8 and a 5% raise every year is a $15.2 million increase and a 56% increase to the budget all the way to the bottom which is 34.8% raise and a 15% increase every year is
28,5 31,000 and 10 15.01% increase to that line item and again these are just numbers of what our budget operation is um just that is kind of our hinge point of where we are for operations um and
we're kind of stuck as far as our central office budgets and our principal budget until we get a little bit further on bus Contracting because that is a a large amount of discrepancy of where we are and so till we get a little bit further we're we're kind of
stuck yes sir that is based just strictly on the budgeted amount of cont private contracts contracts with private owners however that is worded yes sir correct other questions and then I'll
get into and I know that'll get into further bus driers minute but I just wanted that was part of the financial report um but our individual meetings have gone good I have to give Dr Chastain an amazing amount of credit she has had a the horrible part of the job that I had three years ago when you have
to call all the School principles and tell them I'm taking all these positions from you um we haven't grown this school year and so we are moving positions all over the place and so I talked a couple weeks ago about our separate a of powers to where Dr Anthony posts the positions
I Dr Chastain moves the positions and I sign the positions and Dr Chastain has been moving the positions all over the county so I appreciate our principal's um just understanding that's how it works and she's had to make all those phone calls so thank you for your work don't envy you our principles are great
they they understand I mean it's an overall District that we're working with any other questions okay uh now I've got just a couple quick things on directors up yeah I was gonna say director school tomorrow of course is closed central office will be closed
tomorrow as well extracurriculars we will make a decision on extracurricular activities by noon tomorrow I know that may seem strange the reason for that is we have two District basketball tournaments going on one we have control over
because it's all of our district teams um smyna Stewart's Creek and leverne partner up with Lebanon and Lebanon as of right now is still playing and so they are not making any adjustments and so if steuart's Creek SM and L if we were to cancel then they would have to
Forfeit games and so that is not something we ever do so usually we put parent discretion and they go anyways I itan is hard when steuart scri and smyna are going to have to drive to Lebanon to play other but um that is something we are still working with so if we allow extracurricular activities it'll be very
limited on a caseby Case basis and then decision about Thursday will be made based on what type precipitation we actually last one and this may connect to Mr Vault with you TOS the organization School superintendents had their annual meeting
last week and there was a a great legislative panel with Senator white and um representative hon on the economically disadvantaged portion and so this is where I think our delegation would would get behind in the governor's
proposal they are his proposal is a 75% hold harmless on that which would add back about a million dollars so we this year have seen that decrease of about $2,000 so or 2,000 students in that economically disadvantaged category is
for this year proposing a 75% hold harmless to that amount which would increase us to about a million dollars and it would drop down year after year this must be approved through the general assembly through appropriation um I think the concern is this is not
part of TD's proposal and so something that doesn't have the Department's backing sometimes as a challenge to get through the general assembly so we are hoping that um representative paston and Senator white are going to to support this so I may ask some of y'all that have good relationships to and I'll
reach out to them as well to to say this is something I know Dr Duke did with Murphy's Boro city as well that this is something we absolutely support and will be very helpful to not having OE support is is a little challenging is a
challenge and then it is bus driver appreciation day Saturday I think I I have been Googling it if you because if you Google it it says it is April 22nd or February
22nd North Carolina governor did a proclamation for February 22nd but Google says it is April 22nd so whichever one it is is we will thank you twice thank you and I'm sorry that we have to have contract negotiations next
but thank you for your your service for that um and we'll thank you both times officially with our social media channels and all that too and if you find out officially which one it is in Tennessee please let me know so that's all I've got okay thank you Mr VA are you going to have anything for us on
Thursday or yes I will make my round I was down there lasted made consensus was and I hate to laugh about true I think they were all tired and going out previous week which was
vouer vote and support for East Tennessee and they're all just catching their breath last week I actually we were there but uh I have talked to a couple individuals this week and I think they're s in
and maybe [Music] this I think your meeting last thir last Friday was I we do have some sympathetic say very
sympathetic any uh General discussion yes Mr I got a couple things um I'd like to make a recommendation Mr DAV if is any we could add bust driver appreciation to the staff appreciation
group is that possible so the awards that you talking about the awards that we do once a month yes transportation is one of the categories and so uh parents or employees or anyone can nominate anyone who's involved in the transportation function that could be a
school crossing guard it could be a contractor could be a driver we've so far had a variety of those um we are recognizing a bus if we if assuming that the meeting still goes as normal Thursday one of the four that we are recognizing is a bus uh driver and
contractor good thanks second thing U I read an article where bruford County Schools was one of three County School Systems in the state that's been recognized nationally
uh because of the performance gain since Co and you know that's we know we've got the best school system but you know this is another great honor that our teachers and all have
because you you get recognized at that level that's pretty good you know says a lot yeah anything else move to a Jour okay thank you we're going to take a 10-minute break and then come back at uh 6:45 almost 10
minutes is that okay okay