Dear heavenly father, Lord, we just wanna come before you today and say thank you for giving us a place to meet. We ask that you would be with us and to guide us in the decisions that we are asked to make for our district. We thank you for the fabulous district that Rutherford County is, and we pray that you would pour out your blessings upon us. Please be with us. Give us safe travels and, watch over everyone this holiday season, Lord. It is in your name I pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America, and to the
Republic for which to stand, First up, we have the agenda. Everyone got a chance to take a look at the agenda? And any questions or comments? Okay. Next, we have the consent agenda. It'll take me just a second to look at that. Any questions, comments? Anything to add, doctor Sullivan? Okay. No.
Then next, we'll move on to Rutherford Proud. That'll be Thursday. We have quite a a packed group of guests on Thursday. So we'll be aware. And Lot of recognition. Yes. There is quite a few there. Yes. Yes. We will also have a guest speaker on Thursday. No public comments tonight. That will be for Thursday as well. And now we go to the board items. And this is connected somewhat well, it's connected to the guest speaker with mister Blair and missus Bratton, who we're gonna present, an overview of the Rutherford County Schools Foundation.
The board this past summer attended the TSBA law conference where they talked about foundations having to go through the schools, school support organization through the county books. And so mister Reed has worked with the foundation on this. And so this is kind of a little bit of an update and they'll speak a lot more to it. I'm not involved with the foundation, but this it gives a little bit of background. The Rutherford County Schools Foundation has been created to provide a charitable foundation to support projects and programs benefiting the Rutherford County School System and its students. The foundation will provide a mechanism to raise significant contributions for projects beyond what's capable
of being funded through tax revenues. The foundation will involve the participation of local businesses and business leaders who will seek charitable contributions per RCS board policy 2.404. Only a group organization as a cooperative agreement with the board may use the name or logo of the school district to solicit or raise money, materials, property, security services, or other things of value. The Rutherford County Schools Foundation has provided some information requested from the board's written cooperative agreement. It can be recognized as an RCSSO. It's noted this SSO has not received an IRS determination letter to be recognized as
a five zero one c three nonprofit entity that has compliance with the Board of Education's written cooperative agreement. This IRS letter allows the SSO to operate out of a checking account that's separate from Rutherford County School District funds. Until the letter of termination is needed, the SSO will utilize Rutherford County Schools District funds for all its financial activities to be subject to the BOE financial policies and procedures. Also, the approvals contingent upon the organization providing a detailed financial policy, list of officers with titles, training acknowledgement, and annual cooperative agreement of which the board attorney has been notified about. So this allows them to start collecting money while they're working on this very similar
to what our sports organizations do. This is just for the district instead of a school. Okay. Any questions? Okay. Next, we run to go to, yes. Miss Rosales. So this is that, where do you tend to have Elizabeth for the work session? Do we have any greater plug computers? Is it the plugs here? Should have one a little bit in front of you. Oh, yes. There is some plugs right there. Yep. Matt's gotcha. Yep. No. Go ahead. No. That's important. Yep. So while they're doing that, I'm gonna ask, Rob Schwartz with RSP to go ahead
and come up. The next thing we have are elementary school rezoning and middle school rezoning. This is a work session. So not a lot of information has changed since we did this in November. We had a little bit over 450 comments submitted to us through Microsoft forms. Mister Evans, do you know how many clicks were on our QR code? I know it was well over 17,000 back a couple weeks ago. Thousand now. I had the exact number up until the meeting and I forgot the number.
I'm sorry. It's, well over 20,000 now. Okay. So that was from the yard signs that we put at all the middle schools and then the four elementary schools that were under discussion too. Perfect. So just a couple updates because I think it is imperative the director gives some guidance. Of course, whatever the board decides to do is is whatever the board, up to their jurisdiction. When it comes to elementary, my recommendation is to adopt concept one or concept two. There are pros and cons to both concepts, but excluding the Walter Hill and Wilson
areas that we've talked about previously. We have talked about pre k. I emailed everyone, pre k programs, whether they're integrated pre k or our voluntary pre k programs. The board, of course, can get involved in placing those if they would so want to. Traditionally, it has been the curriculum and instruction assistant superintendent and director who are in and our special education coordinator who place those based on need, income and space throughout the county. And so unless there's some direction the board wants to take to get involved in
placing those, we will wait to see where space is available for pre k. But that is our recommendation. For middle school has a lot of a lot of conversation as well. Based on trying to fill our available seats for middle school, my recommendation is concept two, something that is a little bit different than we haven't talked a lot about. I asked James to go back today in every middle school except for Oakland and Whitworth. So Oakland and Whitworth are a little bit different because we closed Central Middle School
and opened Oakland and Whitworth, the closing of those. Every other middle school we have opened, we've grandfathered eighth graders. And so from a space perspective, that is not what is best from a space perspective. So it will cost us a little bit more. We'll have duplicative teachers in some spots. But I do believe what's best for our students is to grandfather eighth graders. I have an eighth grader and so I go back to he wouldn't be impacted by this, because he'd be in ninth grade next year. But in having an I go back to myself in eighth grade.
My eighth grade basketball coach left. And that was a traumatic experience, your eighth grade coach leaving, let alone going to a new school. And so I'm a middle school proponent. That's what my background is. I love middle school and that's a that's a tough age, is for middle school. Whatever the board wants to decide, I would definitely, my recommendation is concept two to grandfather eighth graders to make sure that that does have to have parent transportation though. That's traditionally what we've been. It has to have their own transportation. If we get beyond doing eighth grade, then we really aren't making a big impact
on zoning. So only eighth grade. Miss Sharp had actually put her hand up first. I'm sorry. And I'll I'll promise I'll give to you. Yes, miss Sharp. Doctor. Sullivan, I think I asked you if we went ahead and closed off enrollment at Walter Hill now. Yeah. Can we do that? And that way the parents don't start and then they have to move And that may reduce the number of kids that we have to Yeah. Move to. That That's a great suggestion. I don't think closing off is needed yet. We have some a huge townhome development over the next five years as projected. What I was trying to do with that Walter Hill Wilson was this is my
fourth year as director and the fourth year some of you have served with me or longer and we have rezoned every year. And just like you all, I am sick and tired of rezoning. And so I don't think we need to do that yet with these four potential classrooms. We've got a couple other classrooms. I was just trying to look three or four years down those. Because I know I was on the board when we moved them from Wilson County to Walter Hill. Yes. So now we're moving them back. Yeah. So I think we'll be okay. I'm gonna look at it one more time, but I think we're fine. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Mister Vaught. Question I had, doctor Sullivan. How many potential eighth graders are we talking about?
You've got just over four thousand eighth graders, with taking a guess, and it's truly just a guess at how many are impacted by rezoning, I'd say 15 to 20%. All I have to go off is I opened Rocky Fork with rezoning eighth graders, and I only had 70 or of my 300 show up. Okay. So that's that's a pretty large number. It's gonna vary based on the ability of parents to provide transportation because of your different areas of the county. With this being a county wide rezone Right. Some of your areas are gonna provide transportation better than the others.
Right. Right. And it it will just so everyone it will have an extra cost for you still gotta have teachers at both schools because we usually get additional funding when we open a school. So we get a little bit of extra funding. We would go ahead and establish the entire eighth grade teacher class so that it's ready because going back and asking the funding next year is is tough. Yeah. So basically, what you're saying is you may have some eighth grade classes that are should be they they could be overloaded in a couple of schools and they could
be very Small. Which is tough. They they small. So it could be a great experience for some of these new schools to have those small classrooms. Yes. Right. It helps start off well and does not help you athletically to start off with the next school. So it's gonna be a challenge. Alright. We gotta give them that second. Yes. Right. Yeah. Miss Darby. Sorry. We kinda jumped straight to the middle school. So I'm gonna Yeah. Back up just a little bit on the elementary side. I know you had sent I believe the whole board the numbers that I had asked for. He's gonna go over some of that too. I just was given two recommendations and Gotcha.
Then we're gonna go over the whole thing. I just wanted to bring forward something I have been thinking about and I would really like to see us look at capping Stewarts Creek similarly to how we did before, whether that's effective January 1. If you move into the Stewards Creek Elementary zone, you're going to Brown's Chapel. But I would really also like for the board to consider adding an elementary school onto the five year plan. I think it's very obvious that that area needs another elementary school.
I mean, Stewards Creek has been over capacity for, I don't know, seven or eight years at this point. We've opened a new elementary school and that still hasn't fixed the problem. They're still building, like, right in and around that school. So, I would love to see us put something in place that will hopefully more permanently address the issue rather than a rezoning back and forth. So I just kinda wanted to throw it out there for the board to consider before the vote on Thursday as an option. Okay. Miss Maxwell respond to that? I think mister yes.
Go ahead. I'll have a five year plan on our January 8 agenda because I've been requested for it as well from the county commission of us that we have to decide rezoning before we do our five year plan. So definitely. Mister Vaughn? We don't have a deadline for the middle schools to declare or they don't regret. Yes. Last year we did January 31. I would like to do probably, we're gonna talk internally. I would recommend January 15, earlier, two weeks earlier. I know that's earlier than the January 31 deadline, but we have to move physicians
all across the district. So the January 31 deadline is our open seats district wide. For grandfathering having a two week window, would help us be able to go ahead, because we start, we start our budget cycle next Thursday. I know that that's crazy, but, internally we start budget next Thursday. So, for grandfathering of parents by January, I don't know if that's even a Friday. January 16 would be a Friday. Doctor. Justin, I'm looking to choose that same. And doctor McCann's back there because he's the ones who have to process all of these. Probably happening them separate.
Would that help instead of both deadlines hitting at the same time? It will be last year's complete. K. Good. Okay. Miss Visible. Rosales. Yes. Doctor Sullivan, thank you so much for making that recommendation to grandfather, the incoming seventh graders to the eighth grade because we've been receiving a ton of emails from parents that are really wanting to do that. Second of all, since you have the new recommendation for the motion, can we get and revise Yep. I'll update them. We'll update them tonight and Okay. Send them out tomorrow. Perfect.
That way we can go ahead and communicate to the parents Yep. That grandfathering the seventh graders at the recommendation of the director. Incoming seventh graders to eighth graders, is more possible that's gonna happen. So thank you for making that recommendation. And Can I real quick? I think it's important that we're all unified if we go that route to the county commission that that does add extra cost and that we're all just unified that that's what's best for our students. I have another question. Thank you for the grandfathering. Will you be open to increasing a few of the seats for choice? To let those that are not in eighth grade?
I think it's better with the lack of stability we already have now to leave it at ten. Okay. Yep. K. Did okay. Yeah. I thought he hit. So mister Wilman, miss Sharp. Doctor Sullivan, I know we're kinda bouncing back and forth between elementary and middle, so I'm gonna go back to middle here for a second. There was a, a particular subdivision that I received a lot of emails from. I I emailed you about it. We had had a few conversations. But could you just speak to Barfield Downs? Yeah. Barfield Downs. Happened to be leaving Barfield yesterday. So I drove through that as we were talking about it.
Appreciate that. That area was traditionally Christiana. Rockville opened, went to Rockville. Now that has development has happened around Rock Vale, what is happening across our district, now the ones that are closer to Rock Vale, that density shrinks. And to relieve students from Rock Vale, because it's our second largest well, second largest middle school in the state, Christiana Middle is the best place for those students based on number, especially since we are looking at grandfathering eighth graders. It is the more long term solution instead of bouncing students back and forth.
Long term once that Burgess Farms neighborhood hits off of 269, we'll need a middle school there at some point. That area I mean, I hate that, but that area is gonna have to get a new a middle school at some point down the road. And the the project you're referring to, that's the Burgess property? Yeah. The Burgess Farms. It's a six to 700 home property, and it's projected in the next five years, I believe, on RSPs. And we talked about, in our five year plan about possibly having middle school on the Southern End probably in the next three years or so.
So this would not be just for those that they're listening that are like, are you gonna are we gonna swap it up again and kick them back to, you know, Rockbell again and kick them back to Christianity again. That's unlikely. Unlikely. Yes. Okay. Well, thank you for looking in there. Yeah. I hate that but they're they would be where a new school would hopefully go. Miss Sharp. Thank you for chatting about chair. So I don't know what the solution is, but having my son be at Stewart's Creek in the middle school and when they open the high school, it was overzoned and it was already over capacity. So they took everybody and had his own exceptional way.
We also opened Rockville. It was overzoned and now we have 10 is it just 10 portables? Mhmm. 10 portables. So I understand the county commissioners want us to fill up these schools, But when we do that, that's what's really putting this that's what's pulling the trigger for all these rezones because the neighborhoods are not fully developed and they're not densely populated. So when we fill up the school, when the neighborhood's not densely populated, more people move in there and that triggers the rezoning. And I know our parents would probably rather pay for our schools to maybe not
be at capacity or not as full, than continue re rezoning. So I don't know I don't know what the solution is, but it's something we need to talk to the county commissioners about because that's what's happening. We're having to rezone because more people are coming in. It's less densely populated when we fill up the school. And the school's already filled up, and then more people move in and then we have to rezone. So I I don't know. But we did we need to I know it's just changing the county commissioner's mind. I get the I get the money. I get the I get the whole thing.
But that's what's putting us in this cycle of having to rezone. Miss Darby. Okay. I'm sorry. Miss mister Clark. Did you I thought you were gonna say something. That that's alright. Now what what Rob's been standing here very patient with us. The projected numbers you you carry everything out for us five years right now. Right? Correct. So if we take the data and I and I'm a data driven person. Right? We we know what's going to happen. We see what's going to happen. If these numbers get updated every year, theirs your proof to the Commission about where
it's going. Now if if my numbers are right, and this may be something that you could help me with, but basically in the budget every year, if I figure it if I figured it correctly, we spend about $1,000 a student per year transportation cost. It's like $33,000,000 $34,000,000 in that budget. You haul about 32,000 kids, so that's about $1,000 a kid. And if you do the depreciating cost on a fifty year basis, if I did
that right the other night, it's about a thousand dollars a year per student per building. Yeah. So those are capital outlay. Everything else is operational cost, teacher salaries, insurance, utilities, and all that. And I'm kinda on I think I'm on base. Right? Pretty close. Yeah. Split hairs here in a minute. But so if we reach out there and start identifying with the data that he's providing us and locate these sites where we know and work with the commission, convince
the commission, Hey, we know it's coming. When we built the courthouse, the projected numbers the State of Tennessee gave us was for half a million people in this county. That was by '20 to '40. We're at three eighty. According to Mayor Carr, I think we're at three eighty right now. So another 120,000 people in this county in the next fifteen years. So we know it's coming. So why don't we plan for it instead of being reactive? And so what if we build a school or locate a school and build a
core capacity for 600 kids for a middle school and then come back five years later and do the add on, if he's getting the numbers right and I'm really convinced Rob has done an excellent job. I am so impressed every time I sit through this that his model he's built gives us that insight that we don't have to play this reactive game. We lay it out and say, okay. Here it is. I think one thing, Doctor. Sullivan, I wish we would do, I think a lot of times in what I've
noticed in the five year plan, you know, school on the South end of the county or school on the West Side of the county or something like that, I think we've got to get a little more specific, maybe community based. You know, we need something in Walter Hill or we need something in, Las Casas or Christiana. And and and that way, the public knows it's coming and that commissioner in that district knows it's coming instead of just a general thing. I think it's kinda like turning the tide a little bit if we can just kinda keep it moving. It may make our job and create less stress.
I can remember thirty something years ago, a lady called me one night, And this was right after Siegel had opened up. She lived on the far end of Mona. She lived down on almost the Wilson County line, Caleb. I mean, that's a long way. Right? She had one child at Wilson, one child at Oakland Middle, and one child at Sigel. She said, mister Vought will drive an hour and a half every morning and every afternoon. We should not do that to our parents. We should not do it to our students. We should not do it to the taxpayers or the county. It causes traffic, causes a lot of stress, causes a lot of upheaval.
And I think it's caused a lot of stress with us here for the last two or three weeks. And God knows it's caused a lot of stress with doctor Sullivan and his staff for the last four years. So anyway, that's just my 2¢ worth. I think we've got to utilize him every time, on all of this. Thank you. Doctor Sullivan. I know it's been painful, but we have I think the board needs to graduate themselves. We've made a lot of progress. When Rob came with us our first year, we had so much red on those graphs. I mean, just about every one of our schools, elementary, middle, high school is overcrowded.
We're at the last step with the middle school to try to relieve. And I know concept two moves more kids than we would like, but it's necessary to to move students into where we have some spots. Rob, you wanna go with your your projections? Yeah. And so we I have no official report. Now there's applause in the background. Yep. But I do want I'm open for, like, questions and then other things that you wanna discuss, but I wanna build on some of the things that we've talked about here in in a brief statement. So we've been reactive. What we're trying to move towards is being proactive, and that comes with, building stronger
relationships and partnerships between us and the county. And I think some of that really even is more enhanced starting next week. So we've built an agenda with some of our conversation with the county commissioners that will help bridge some of this information and how we can work together to make some better solutions for our students. Because I think what when we talk about some of this realignment, we don't have much choice in our realignment because we don't have space throughout our entire system.
When we have space, as Bernard Sharp indicated, we then can have flexibility. As an area grows, we let it grow into what will fill that building. We just don't have that luxury right now. And in order to get to that place, we need to be further in advance of when we need to open buildings and buy sites. And so everything that, board member Vaught, was saying, we we need to do. And I think we're positioned where, if they work with us, we can achieve that.
Yep. The only thing I wanna go over in the presentation just all we did was highlight some changes to give you some better visualizations of what you may know. Because you've asked some questions about, how far students are, let's say a mile or a mile and a half, or what developments are north or south of Rocky Forks. If we go to, I think page 12 in that presentation, I just wanna just briefly go over this page and the following page.
So we took, a tool called Network Analyst and said, hey, if we look at by the roads, who is within one mile that's shaded yellow. So that's all the parcels that would be in the yellow. And then if it's greater than one mile to one and a half miles, it's shaded in that orange color. So it gives you a visual of the parcels with the road segment, how that would, relate. Now as we build more roads in these areas, it gets better. Right? Right now we're pretty limited in some of our capacity to move around in this
area. The dots represent where the 25, 26 elementary students are located. So this gives you a visual of of some of the the elements of our road network and where kids are. The next page, was some conversation about, specifically in Stewards Creek, where are those developments and how many, are in these areas that would be North Of Rocky Fork and South Of Rocky Fork. So the table that you see to the left in this legend, gives you that
perspective that, north, we basically have of the current developments over 80% of those developments are North Of Rocky Fork and Elmerville Road, and in the five year, 30 percents. And this is just of those developments in in this area. South of it, current is a little under 20%, but 70% as we get out towards five years. So this gives you again that perspective of how this factors into the number of students that we're indicating come in this area. And so however this, factors into your, influence of what we do with our elementary
or middle school boundaries, I think this piece of information starts to give you a sense. How does this tie to the developments? How does this tie to the the new forecast that students, in these areas? So that's really newer information to to help you have some visuals. Some of the stuff that we'll talk about with the county is gonna address population, county population to our student population, where we're seeing these two hot zones, so down by Rockville, Stewarts Creek. Really just trying to help them see that with the sophistication that we are using
as a school district, how that may play into, getting some land, getting some things in our five year plan. Right? Getting another elementary building so, we can be more proactive in how we resolve our challenges. Miss Seiko? Yes. Miss Rosales. Okay. I I wanna back up just a little bit. Back in November 2023, what you're talking about, the development right there, I actually took pictures of all the, subdivisions that were popping up. There were some areas that were just starting, and I think I bought like 12
of them. 12 pictures of different subdivisions that were within that my radius and over close to Van Buren and even where I live. Anyway, so the reason why I'm bringing up November 2023 is because in that meeting, we voted for the concept maps of the middle school. I don't have my computer is not working, but if I do remember correctly, what the board voted at that time, the projections of Blackman Middle School was still very
very high during that first, second, third, fourth year. I don't have it with me. And so when when we voted on those concept maps, the parents, when they looked at the map and trying to figure out for two years if they were going to go somewhere or they were staying, they were going by the concept maps of what was voted in November 2023. And a lot of them there was quite a few of them that thought they were gonna be staying in a particular zone. But then now, two years later, we completely redid the whole entire map and the
zones are very, very different, especially in Blackmun zone area. So my question to you, and maybe you can speak I know that the board voted on gave you specific guidance of what to create the boundary lines based on five things that we said were priority. My computer is not is not working for with me. And so out of that, that's where the projection came. So my question is, is it good practice for county that is growing if we're
going to vote on a projection, if we're going to vote on a concept map, Show the board make a decision about boundary lines with concept maps that are not really finalized in the sense that we still had projections in some of those schools that were really really high that will eventually will trigger a reason. Should we then, if we're going to vote on a constant map, vote on a map that's a lot more aligned with numbers that are more realistic.
They're they're they're gonna serve the the the they're gonna serve that that population better. They're gonna be under capacity. Because one of the things that we said as a priority was building utilization. It wasn't keeping neighborhoods together. We had, I think another one was to make keep the the elementary and the middle school as a feeder school to the high school, and then certain things like that. So my question is, if the board is going to take action, show the board
take action on projections that are a lot more realistic versus projections that are still up high that's gonna trigger a rezone? Excellent question. What it might be is that two years out, if we use this timeline of November 2023, and what we all were thinking, what were the parameters of these guiding principles, boundary criteria, what we were thinking with enrollment projections, here's what we intend the boundary to be.
But then as you circle back here, we are the year before this opens. We use the latest data to fine tune whether this really is playing out. Because I think when we go back and we do this every year, when you look at some of these new developments, some built a little bit faster, some a little bit slower, some yield at different age group of kids. And so that would probably be good practice that we're letting everyone know that, hey. This new building's coming online. This is what we intend the the boundary to be, but the year before it
opens, we're gonna have one final examination to make sure that we can fit with whatever those given conditions are. And I wanna give you kind of one clarity to this. We're doing the same thing with Montgomery County. So two years ago, we set their elementary boundaries, and some things have changed with what they're doing with their programming and and how they're utilizing space. And so much to your point, we're doing the same thing. We're now the year before the elementary opens. We're finalizing what that boundary is and having those conversations with the board and with
the community. And I'm and I get that data moves and evolves. I understand that. I don't think that is the the argument here. I think the argument that I'm trying to, convey is that because we did vote in 2023, the parents' mindset is completely different than my mindset as a board member and the mindset of where our central office is at because they're concerned about how do we get seats in our schools for kids not to be overcrowded.
A parent's mindset is, hey, where is my kid going to go to school? And if the dot is in this blue thing and that's the zone they're gonna be in, they're like, awesome. My kid is there. But in essence, they may not be there. And so it's just created a lot of confusion for the parents because then they're coming to us. Hey, two years ago, this whole neighborhood was in the zone. Now, we're taken back out of there. Why are we there when you when we've had two years saying that we're gonna
be here and now we're not gonna be. So I think for me as a board, if I'm sitting in the seat and having to vote in something that's gonna be anticipation two years ahead instead of closer to it. I don't think it's in the best interest as a board to take action, more action and say, these are the these are a these are preliminary zones that we're gonna vote on if we're gonna go back at them and re and completely blister these zones. Because the black men's zone has been completely redone.
It doesn't even look the same as it was when it was voted on 2023. So I think to piece people's mind, we can have a concept of of, and publish and communicate it, but saying these are subject to be changed. They're not final, and the board is not taking action. And they will take action, you know, six months before the school open. I think that's a reasonable request for the board to say, let's not take action
today, but we're gonna go ahead and put these maps up these concept maps there so parents can have a vague idea of what could potentially move or could potentially could not move, but don't make plans into thinking that this is where you're gonna be. That's just my opinion. Just one board member. No. I think it's Then. This is all the shake outs. I just don't think it's in the best interest of us as a board because as a parent, I'm frustrated as a parent, and not I'm not really moved and
this isn't impact me as much, but rezoning has impacted me in the past multiple times. So that's my opinion. Understand. Mister Chitmel and mister Vaughn. Yeah. I mean, I think that's kind of what we're doing here is when we agreed upon the concepts in 2023, we agreed that we'd revisit them within nine months for any changes. There's no way for you to accurate like, as you just mentioned, there's no way for you to accurately, a 100% guarantee us that the developments are gonna happen on time, on schedule, and you know which family is gonna move into these zones.
I also understand the idea that, zone certain areas that have been rezoned multiple times in multiple years is quite frustrating. I I was gonna wait probably until Thursday to mention this, but, actually two other, board members have mentioned something similar. But, we can't control the development and the growth that's going on. That's not something we have control over. You take a school like Rockville that's having a lot of development in close proximity to the school. What is that gonna do in a year, two years? We can project as best as we can, but that's gonna cause another rezone once
a if a lot of students come in that are gonna help fill up those middle schools or elementary schools more than we would have projected. They're gonna fill that up and then that zone is gonna shrink toward the school. So, you know, obviously, I don't think any of us have enjoyed the rezoning process. And I think we do have a lot of hard decisions to make. And And I do think we should focus on building utilization. That's what we've asked you to do. That's what you've done. That's what we have before us. Also, I think it may be worthy to consider that we have while we have
had some help at the state level, we need more assistance on this growth. Everybody on this board will tell you from a education standpoint, growth is not paying for itself. It's not happening. It's not it does not cover the cost. It's not covering the infrastructure. It's not covering the public services. It's not keeping up. I know that's great for some, but it's not great for education. So, here's a thought. And it's it's it's did something. We move forward with a concept, concept two's, maybe on these particular zones.
And then we we also seriously look at emotion that says, and the board can discuss what this might look like or think about it, and we can talk about it then, but potentially shutting down enrollment at schools where some of these developments are happening right next to the school, and that putting the onus back on those developers where they can't say, well you're gonna you're right here beside Rockville, so you're gonna be just fine at Rockville. And the school board can worry about cutting out all the rules zones tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter each year.
And we just say, hey, you know what? Once Rockville Middle hits a 102%, 103% capacity, no more enrollments going there. If you move next door to Rockville, we've had to do this at Stewart's Creek Elementary. If you move next door to Rockville, then guess what? Your kids are gonna get bused to the next, the school that's closest, like we did with Brown's Chapel, and that has available seats. Maybe that'll that'll bring the developers to the table here to have a conversation with us, because we need we need some buy in.
And I know that sounds a little bit extreme and it could end up for us closing enrollment at a lot of different schools and it's gonna be a bigger headache for the school system. I understand that, I've talked to doctor Sullivan about this. And so we can see what we can talk about, here and what the board would like to do. But what is happening right now, and I do understand missus Rosales' concerns, what is happening right now is there are sections that are going, no matter what is decided tonight, they're going to be rezoned again because development is happening so tight to some
of these schools. And so you there's gonna have to be a decision made. Now this board can get in front of that decision like Stan was mentioning, projecting out. We can do the best we can and build, we're we're not gonna be able to build fast enough to keep up with it. Unless, we got some big donors out there. So I would just like the board to consider that. Consider what it might look like if we started shutting down enrollment at some of these places that are having development right next to these schools. And those those kids being done like we did at Brown's Chapel, which look, I'm not in favor of that.
I don't think this is best for the students. I don't think that it's I don't think it's fair. But I also think, I also don't think it's fair that there are several areas that keep getting rezoned. And again, no matter what happens now, we're gonna do the best we can. I do think we need to make a decision on these concepts. But with that in mind, we can also start to seriously talk about what this school board would like to do as far as when a school reaches capacity and the decisions that the school board has the ability to make to put the pressure
back on those that are causing the growth. Miss Maxwell? Oh, go ahead. Yeah. You know, all we have is the data that Rob has given us, which, I mean, it's, I'm like mister Bald. It's just phenomenal that we have this information. And, again, we don't have a crystal ball. There's no way in this world for us to know what's going to happen in the future. And we received a lot of emails that these these parents say, well, when I bought this house, we were guaranteed that we were gonna be able to go this
good. If anybody ever tells you that, there are no guarantees because we don't know what's gonna happen. All we have to do is to address what it is now and what it is tomorrow and what it is the next week and next year. And we've got to we can't just continue overloading schools. We've got to move kids to where we utilize the seats in these schools. And I wish we had, you know, like you say, Kayla, that we wish we
had plenty of money that we could just build schools. And I wish that we could build them on the front end instead of trying to catch up all the time. But, I mean, the trouble is that, if you call it trouble, people have realized we've got the best school system in the state of Tennessee. People realize that Middle Tennessee is the best place to live in the state of Tennessee. And people in other parts of the country realize that, hey, Tennessee is a pretty good place to live, especially as folks out there from California come in with all
that money. But again, you know, we had no idea that this was going to happen. We don't know what's gonna happen next year. You know, we hope we take this data, and that's where we have to make our decisions. And we hope we get it right. And so we just really like to have your support and, you know, instill criticism, you know, just to, I guess, be with us and pray with us that we get things right.
Because, we I wish we knew, but we don't. Okay. So, looking at mister Tidwell's point, if we were put a cap in the some of these moments, well, this is where the challenge is gonna come to play. So in 2027, in 2028, there's a second year with the new school opening. If we were to potentially go with concept two, well, the black women middle isn't will be 90 per 98%.
So in other words, it should be capped at this point because it's at 98%. Then it's you've got Christiana middle. It's a 101%. But realistically, it's not because of the growth that's happened. It's because we're shipping the kids that are in the growth zones that are moving into Christianity Middle. Similar to what happened with Black Men of Segal where we have kids that are in in a hot zone area that's growing, we're putting them in Segal and that is reaching capacity, not because that area is growing. Then you've got Eagleville is at 80, but they only have about a 100 seats
left. Then you've got La Verne Middle at 88%. And in Oakland Middle, it's at 99%. Again, we will have to go ahead and move forward the cap because it's at 99%. It's technically at capacity at that point. Same thing is because we're moving kids over to that area so that we can fill up these seats. And then Poplar Hill, the new school, second year, 91%. That is the second year. That's not the third, fourth, fifth. No. That is one year after open, 91%. You know what that means?
We're gonna have portables. That's what that means. And then, well, Rocky Springs Middle, guess what? 100% capacity. Definitely closing the doors at that point because they're capacity. Then you've got, Rockville Middle at 95. You've got Rocky Fork Middle at 98%. You've got Sigel Middle at 91%. You've got Smyrna Middle at 91%. You've got Sewers Creek Middle at 88%. So you got a little bit of room there.
And then Wentworth Buchanan Middle at 98% the second year, Not because we've got a very an area that is growing, it's because we're taking the kids from the hot area to that area. So where are the kids gonna go if we were to cap them? They're gonna be sitting in the air somewhere. We're technically gonna have to bring portables. That's what this is gonna tell us. The portables are not gonna go away and we're gonna have to bring them back. A brand new school that we're opening the second year and 91% is gonna tell us, we're gonna need portables.
This is what so we can do that but, we don't have we don't know where we're gonna bring them. We need to build another middle school. That's what it also means. So a couple of things. I'm loving all of the discussion by everybody and I think, this proves how important it is to hear from our community because I think, some of us have kind of been brought back to the reasons that we're here and that we're here to serve our students. And while that may make things difficult for central office, unfortunately, our county commission, our
elected officials, At the end of the day, our job is to make decisions based on what's best for our students. To miss Sharp's point earlier, if we are constantly moving children to fill up seats, which let's be honest, there are not a whole lot of seats really anywhere. But even if we're moving them just to fill up a few seats, I think some people have lost sight of the fact that it's you're talking about now taking somebody's commute from ten minutes to now thirty or thirty five minutes to get their
kid to or from school or a twice as long bus ride. I mean, we have to look at the entire impact that these decisions have. I think which is why, you know, a lot of people like the idea of kind of looking at a school and going out this way because it it makes it a little more even across the board for who attends. Unfortunately, our area is not the easiest place to do it that way. I would love for us to get away from a focus on utilizing seats and
space until they're completely full to just turn around and move people again to utilize the school next door that now has a few extra seats. Our schools should have some space in them because we are growing. While some areas grow faster than others, the entire county is growing. So to fill up a school to over 90% capacity just to say we're utilizing seats, I don't think is probably gonna be in the best interest of our students. Doctor Sullivan, I know you said you wanted to do the rezoning before confirming the
five year plan. I'm also wondering though, should those things be being done almost in conjunction? Because for instance, I would love to see the next middle school be in plain view because I think it will relieve black men in Christiana. If I'm not wrong, it will probably help depending on what those zones would look like. If we did something like that, I think that should take have us take pause and look at rezoning and go, well, if we put it in our five year
plan and we build this middle school in five years, do we really need to rezone this neighborhood? Because in five years, they're gonna be rezoned to the new school. Can we live with, you know, 70 kids over capacity for a couple years? Because I think the community would probably rather deal with that situation versus the yanking back and forth between zones. Something else that that we've talked about multiple times too is needing to make sure that we're communicating with our county commissioners what we need, not what we think will
be approved. And if my personal opinion is we should be buying a piece of land, building a school, and renovating a school every single year until we get caught up. I'm sure that that isn't going to get voted through and happen, but if we're being realistic about what our needs are, maybe that needs to be in there so that when we have some of our joint meetings, that's something that we can discuss and they can understand what this need looks like. Because again, if we start renovating a school every year, it's gonna take us over
fifty years to get back to that original school. I've said that multiple times. Building a school, one a year at this point, if all of our middle schools are almost at at or over capacity, we already are over capacity again at Sures Creek Elementary, like, we're we're doing a great job. RSP has helped us do a great job. I think we're doing the best we can with what we've been dealt. I just think that maybe some more discussion is needed on how we wanna continue to move forward to help prevent some of the things that we've learned from thus
far. You have our response to that. Is that okay? So I've so a couple and I agree wholeheartedly with those points. I think Tuesday's meeting with our county commission will be very telling. In this budget cycle and what I'm hearing a lot from our funding body is we have funded gratefully so very we have a great relationship with them, is that they have funded $340,000,000 of projects. But that now it's time for the county to look at infrastructure for a jail, and that's where the funding needs to go, not to the school system. And so I've been I've been told that point blank, and so that is the
battle we're up against even getting funding for the high school coming forward. And so I think I have to, I have to realize that conversation when I go in Tuesday, that it is an election year, a reality of a tax increase. A tax increase is easier to argue for students than it is for inmates. I don't know another way to say that. I don't like that politically, but that's that's an easy way to state that. It's easier to blame a to blame a tax increase on a school system than it is anyone else because everyone has to be educated.
I don't like that, but we're gonna be in a battle just to get funding for our high school. But the more we can get the commission on involved with that but we do have to realize how much they have. They have funded more the last three years than they've ever funded for us. But the reality is they are out of debt capacity and unless they do a tax increase, they're not going to risk their strictly bond rating, because that is a huge thing to have between two or three different rating agencies. I don't know if it's two or three at this point, but it's it's it's three. And so they've they've either got to do a a tax increase to fund both
the high school and the jail. And I was just weirding to be talking about at a board meeting, but it's what's upcoming in the next six months of the requests Or they'd have to risk that because they don't have the debt capacity. And so I'm trying to build support for the high school on Tuesday first. So I just I just you know, this is just my opinion. I think it's our response Point of order, madam chair. I'm sorry. Responsibility. Point of order, madam chair. Yes. I'm sorry. Thank you, madam chair. I'll be brief, mister Hahn. I'll go back to we we have a very good relationship with our county commissioners.
We're we're doing very, very well with our state representatives, but where we really need the help is at the city and the municipality level. Because they're the ones that approve these big neighborhoods, and if they would just do a moratorium for a couple of years, no, no big building. I mean they can still make the plans and everything for it. Or if they I was speaking with the developer in Williamson County the other day. He said, I wish I could come over there and develop some. He said, because we give land when we develop. Imagine that. They get when when they buy the land, they give land to the school system
when they develop. Why are we not asking for this? Why are our cities not asking for this? That's the third leg to the stool. So, you know, I'm not trying to throw any shade at anybody, but that's where all these big subdivisions, six hundred and eight hundred subdivisions are being approved at at the city and the municipal level. So that's where we need we need the help if they would just slow the growth. I get it. They want the tax money. But essentially, they're getting tax money on the back of our kids. And they're the ones that either have to suffer through the overcrowding or suffer through the rezoning.
So thank you. Yeah. Sumter County is doing a pause, so it can be done. Yes, mister Moore. My apology, miss Sharp. Your your jacket got in front of me. I couldn't see. You know, my my, it's just my opinion, but I think it's our responsibility to tell the county command county commission, This is what we need. This is what we got to have. Leave it up to them to make the decision. We don't need to make that decision. We need to tell them, look, we got to have this because it's not gonna
go away and let them figure out a way to do that. And so, I think, you know, just, I think we need to approach it in another way. And so I don't have to answer. You go up there with them like you do. But I agree. I told him I was still coming with that request. When I was told we won't fund it, I was told I told him I'd still ask. Yeah. So Yes, please. Yep. Mister Tittle. Yeah. I mean, the numbers are here. So taking the Yeah. I mean, we we have the numbers. As far as, what I mentioned earlier.
Yeah. You know, if you look at 27, 28, yeah, there's a lot of utilization. That's why I'm saying we should put like, maybe a 104% or 105% limitation. So we do have some room. But if you go out to on this concept let's go back concept one. Go to concept one and you're looking at twenty, thirty, 31. You have +1, 234567. Seven of those middle schools are over capacity. You go back to concept two, and this is twenty, thirty, 31. You're gonna have three schools at over capacity, and we're hoping to have another middle school online by that point.
Obviously, we would need one. So I do think, again, shutting down the enrollment nearby is gonna be beneficial. And not doing anything is just going to make it drastically worse. So there's still some considerations to to put out there and to be thinking about. But, you know, again, we're doing everything we can up here at this board. I do believe that we are unified on this front and that we are trying to do we're just trying to catch up with the growth that we have. Hey. And we this board, so at least that and then we have some new members
here, but they were, part of the some of the process as well. But since the last three years that I've been on this board, we put 2,000 come 2026, we'll have 2,000 high school seats that we have added since then. We'll have 1,100 elementary seats, 1,200 middle school seats. We are we're doing everything that we can, but our toolbox is not big enough for the job in front of us. And so we are gonna either have to think outside the box, which is where I'm talking about shutting down this enrollment and put some pressure back on these developers,
because listen, a developer can sell a home by being like, you're gonna be in this school zone. Guess what? You remove that, and that becomes an issue. So I'm still on board with that. I'm still on concept two on both of these. Of course, I'd I 100% agree, and we've talked about our five year plan planning back in the fall. We gotta have middle school. We gotta have a high school. And right if that gets gets done, we still need another school. Just like mister Harvey said, we must be building each year. Every year. Yes. And so that's, you know, it's unfortunate.
I don't know what's going on with the county with with the other items that they have, but Yeah. We're here to look after students. I real quick. Yes, mister Sullivan. Doctor Sullivan. And that does get us back to where we were twenty or two year 2000 to like February. We were opening a school every year. And that's kinda where we are as far as either addition or school. We at the high school approved hopefully this year. We need to then ask for the next school the next year. And so that's what our trajectory has been. So we just need to continue that. Agree. Agree. And Rob, you have spoken to our county commissioner.
Right? No. It's Tuesday. Tuesday. So you have not done that in the past. Okay. No. And it is budget and health and ed, so I expect some interesting Oh, yeah. Can I give you one visual I think that will help you? If you go back to page nine, where did this all begin? And so you know our consternation through this whole, page nine. Yeah. So if if we look at where we currently are with the boundaries, right, so this is why we're saying we need to make some changes.
We still have the reality in 2728 when you go down to that bottom row. Look. We're at 94% utilization. Best practice would be in some of these buildings where they're growing as we hit '85, '90, move to '95. We have a mechanism in place where that's why we're moving kids. But if you look at me, this bottle of water, we're we're basically I took two swings out of this. Right? Well, not swings, two drinks. But you see there's a little bit of emptiness in here. This is how we have to move everything around and we don't have any space
and that's our challenge. We can't do the things that are best for kids because we don't have the space and that's what we're trying to advocate. Mister miss mister Rosales. This is a current this is based on the current zone. Right? Correct. With what's proposed. Can we look at the one that we voted on November 2023? The rejection for that? I mean, Ken, I can bring it up. I was gonna so you guys were not off by very much in 2023. They can't pull it up right now. I just pulled it up online. Blackman Middle was projected at seventeen thirty one.
Instead, they were seventeen seventy six. Rockvale middle was projected at sixteen eighty three, they're sixteen thirty two. So basically, it's 40 kids at Blackman instead of at Rockvale. So We were still high either way. We are, but the that time, you have to remember, we have to go with the will of the majority of the board. And at that time, it was five to two. Mister Rosales and mister Young voted no. But at that time, it was the will of the majority of the board to keep Blackman Middle at twelve thirty, but Rockville middle at 1,500.
And so that's what and that I think mister Tidwell mentioned it. I was going back to the minutes. To approve the middle school zoning boundaries is presented with a change to add. It was Mandarin Court to Stewart said the new middle school evaluation of new enrollment trends and attendance zones to occur at least nine months before implementation. And that's what we're Right. Well, that that confusion brought a lot of confusion when we say we were gonna go back and look at them nine months prior. I just think moving forward, because we are growing, the data is evolving, and I assure I don't think it's in a good habit or practice to vote on something
two years in advance, especially when the numbers were high. That's just my 2¢. Anything else? Any any questions or comments? Okay. Thank you, sir. You've done a Thank you. Wonderful job and Godspeed next week. Yeah. We're meeting at 05:30 at the courthouse, if anyone's available. Tuesday at the courthouse, 05:30. It is our traditional our traditional Thank you, Bob. Normal health and education meeting. And then budget is going to, be there as well. We have a budget amendment, hopefully, that will pass on Thursday.
It'll be part of our normal agendas, which the normal health and education meeting. But then we'll get into Rob's presentation. I expect lots of questions about the data, especially from some members of, one of the committees or both of the committees rightfully so. But about are these needs actual and I do think the the board will get to see where the building utilization question is coming from because that's truly coming from the commission of we expect you to use your seats before you ask for a school. Mhmm. So I think it'd be good for us to be there. Yeah. Okay.
Next, we have, proposed resolution to repeal Peckham. This is a resolution that, mister Tidwell has proposed the board. This is a resolution requesting the Tennessee General Assembly to repeal the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act, otherwise known as PECCA. So whereas in 2011, the Tennessee General Assembly enacted the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act, otherwise known as PECCA, found in Tennessee code annotated title 49 chapter five part six, and whereas PECCA replaced the former collective bargaining framework with a system of collaborative conferencing,
And whereas, while the intent of PECCA was to create a statutory process for communication between local boards of education and teachers on matters of employment and practice and in practice, the law has resulted in significant administrative burdens and legal disputes. And whereas PECCA has created a framework that often fosters conflict rather than collaboration as it was intended to do. And whereas other local school districts across Tennessee have incurred legal expenses due to lawsuits that arise from the implementation and varying interpretations of PECCA.
And whereas legal disputes involving PECCA demonstrate both the limited enforceability of the law and the reality that districts incur unnecessary litigation costs without producing meaningful gains for employees, and whereas failure to agree on terms leaves issues unresolved and contributes to frustration, mistrust, and potential litigation, And whereas, even when agreements are reached through PECCA, the resulting memoranda of understanding are only binding if approved by the Board of Education, demonstrating that the process
offers limited practical benefit and has not produced meaningful gains for employees. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Rutherford County Board of Education request that the Tennessee General Assembly repeal the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act in its entirety. So that is the resolution that, has been proposed the board take up. Any cons? Questions? Comments? Okay. Thank you, sir. Do you wanna go with the next one too? That's you too, sir. So, the next thing deals with that transition academy.
A a real estate a piece of real estate's come available that may be suitable for a transition academy in North Parkland County. So this item is the school system has been looking to potentially add a transition academy on the North end of the county. A house of parcel which appears suitable for the transition academy has come on the market at three hundred Maple Street in Smyrna, and a contract has been negotiated for the purchase of property. The negotiated purchase price is 750,000. The contract has a sixty day inspection period and is contingent on approval of funding
by the county commission. The contract terminates unless the board gives seller written notice that is electing to proceed with the purchase of the property. The house would need to be inspected during the inspection period to confirm its suitable suitability for the proposed use. The motion is to approve the execution of the contract for the possible purchase of the property at 300 Maple Street in Smyrna, Tennessee. Mister Reed, would it be okay if we, let miss Ralston and he come up and speak to just how many kids this would service and what exactly, explain to
those new members on the board and probably some of us that are listening online what transition academy is. Sure. Thank you. I love talking about the Transition Academy. The Transition Academy serves students who are 18 to 22. We have one located right now right, next to MTSU. We actually rent it through MTSU and the Wesley Foundation, and it serves 12 students, has one teacher, and three, educational assistants. They go out into the community. They work on grocery shopping, meal prepping, really those transition skills in order to work
and live in our community as active community members. The house in Smyrna would have another program. I think that's what you guys are talking about. I'm not gonna put words in your mouth, but adding a program, which I would like a lot. And then we would serve more students in that, in that home as well. It is a larger home than the one that we're actually renting right now at MTSU, so we could potentially have more students, in that program. Right now we have, so our transition academy, our transition services, again, ages 18 to
22, we have transition academy project search For both of those programs, the students must complete one successful year of work based learning. So right now we have 91 students who are eligible, to apply and interview for those positions. We have 54 referrals right now for both of those programs for the 2627 school year. And then that is for project search and transact transition academy. So right now. So we have we have a lot of kids who are interested and we have
two fantastic programs that not all the counties in our state have. Can I ask you real quick because, you went out and looked at the property as well? I did. Did you find the building suitable and in really good shape and what were the positives that this building had as well? Well I was also a history teacher and it is absolutely gorgeous. The hardwood floors and the woodwork, just speaking from that were like just drop dead gorgeous. But then second, it is a large space. The rooms are very large. They are very applicable to a large group of students or adults.
It has office spaces on the 2nd Floor. There are a couple of things, and I'm glad Mr. Lee is here. He also went out and explored the property as well. There are a couple of things that would need to be done. The owner did take loving care of this property, so it has held up very, very well. And the large kitchen space in the back that was added on for a type of catering or culinary, classroom, is very suitable to having a large group of students in there working on meal prep and things like that as well. Did you want mr.
Lee to speak about? Could you add anything to that? And what what what specifics would be? I think there's a ramp that needs to be installed. There would be some minor things that would need to take place, but it's there's based on my inspection and I didn't put on my coveralls and crawl up under the house. But I did look through it fairly, closely. It's in good shape. And it has a It's got a large yard. It has good parking. Mhmm. It has good street access. It's in a it's in a good location neighborhood wise. An outside space for possibly for a garden as well.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Any questions? Miss Maxwell. Yes. I have a couple questions. Thank you for, bringing this before us. I really appreciate that. Love what the transition academy is. Love to see it expand. It's awesome. My questions are primarily, about the property. I don't know if it'd be better for for Jeff or not. I'm not sure. Jeff, you can pop up if you need to. But have we got are we going to get an appraisal? Is that part of the second step of us approving to move forward? Has already been We can we can obtain as if the board wants appraisal to be obtained, we can obtain an appraisal.
Okay. And what are we currently paying we're renting from MTSU. Right? For the transition academy? It's 1,500 a month, I think. I believe it went up. So Brian's gonna have to pull that during we're gonna have it during general discussion. Okay. Alright. Yeah. I was just curious what that is. I mean, again, we'd love to see the program continue to move forward. And I'm just wondering, you know, if we rented it, how long it's gonna take us if we just rented the the building from the of course, they're probably just wanting to sell this particular building.
But I'm saying if we rented a similar size building as to what this is, what that would cost us in rental a month, and how long it would take us to make back that $750,000. And whether that makes more sense because what if the program expands again? We wanna get into a larger building. I don't know. That's that's why that's the line of questioning that I had. So I'd love to get the facts of what we're currently renting out. Yes. Part of I know that when we talk to the commission, my for a funding aspect sorry. For a funding aspect, we would probably look to take it from fund balance to fund the building. Whether that comes from we should get outcome funding and hopefully bonus funding, based on
performance that'll be released next week. I can't discuss yet. But, that funding should be available. I'd rather take it from fund balance. I know when I talked to the commission previously, our finance director about leasing, he prefers for for us to purchase, because it affects bond rating. So Interesting. I don't know why that's just too much for those purchase things. And I don't believe the the owner was interested in in in renting it or No. The property is on the market for sale, so they're wanting to sell the house. Yes, miss miss Darby.
Mister Lee, I know we had talked about the potential of using I can't remember which Smyrna School it is that we had extra land at for our transition academy. I think we talked about it last year or the year before. Can you speak a little bit to, I guess, I don't know, cost wise if it would be beneficial to use land we already have or if the house that's already built is a better deal? I would think we could on land that we already purchased, we could potentially build something maybe larger, you know, for maybe the same price, but I haven't done a
cost analysis between the two. But I would think that we could build something on one of those pieces of property, and I hate to use that, instead of working with something that's our we could make it our own. Mhmm. The the and but we did look at Smyrna and we also looked at, a piece of property at Whitworth, Buchanan. We looked at two different locations. Would it be possible for you to put some numbers together before Thursday or is that too fast? Yes, ma'am. I can do that. Okay. Thank you. Miss Maxson?
Yes. Miss Tickle. Miss Ralston. Of those two, if we were to look at this as another option, and maybe we're doing a custom, as mister Arvia suggested, a custom build out for the specific needs. Of those two particular land options, which would be better, Smyrna? Or Whitworth? Is there I'm sorry I'm putting you on the spot here. You might need to think about it, but I'm just curious. Well, I mean Smyrna both are located in Smyrna. The land that he's talking about as far as Smyrna Middle School or are you talking about Wyndham as well? Versus Smyrna. Yeah. I mean, they're both they would be very equal to me because there's not, in
Murfreesboro, in the center of Murfreesboro where we have the Wesley Foundation, we do have transportation. There is the the rover or whatever it's called now. We don't have that in Smyrna nor would we have that at Whitworth. We provide vans, for our students to get around in and so that would be it would be equitable both ways. Okay. To answer your earlier question, our current lease for the Wesley Foundation is $2,100 a month. 21? Yes, sir. Awesome. Thank you. Anything else? Yes, mister Vaughn. And and and sorry being a new member I'm not totally up to par with
this, but this is a group of individuals that have aged out, but they can continue we can continue educating them and help the transition to adult life smooth out. That's the idea here. Right? Yes, sir. Alright. And ideally, you're serving twelve students now at the Wesley House? Yes, sir. How many students could you service at at this location? It's a larger house, so I would say anywhere between 12 to 20. I was looking at square footage of it on the on the tax card. So but how many people have you had apply to?
Right. For next year for next school year, we have 54 referrals right now. They're doing the application and interview process in January for next school year. So so this building would only service maybe a third of that population? Yes, sir. Now that those 54 referrals, are also for project search, which is our, group that's located at the embassy suites that it's very work based learning. It's right before they get a job. Right. How many how many are in that? I'm trying to get is this building like if if we look I'm trying to
get out of you long term wise. How does this fit into the program? Or is this a Band Aid approach? Is or as Ms. Darby said, are we better off looking at building a building for you guys that we can grow into that can be utilized better? Is this the only building that has been looked at, only location looked at? Those are questions I've got. You know, when we decided to buy the McFadden property, we knew we had to buy the McFadden property. Property. There wasn't another location. But if we're out here shopping and looking for different properties, I'm just trying to
you know, is this the ideal piece of property? Is this the ideal building? Or are we better off engaging, mister Lee and his staff, you know, to build you a building that we don't have to modify? That that that's what I'm trying to get Absolutely. To the bottom of. I really appreciate you guys even taking the time to talk about it and talk about expanding our program. I am open to whatever you guys decide as far as either this building, which is a very unique property, as it was once a school, I believe.
A private school, so it does have some unique pieces to it. Or mister Lee also builds beautiful buildings as well, and I would be happy, with either or. I'm just very excited that you guys have this on the table to discuss and talk about expanding our program, and I can make whichever you feel like work. Yes, miss Rosales. Thank you. I've been to transition academy graduation like twice. Mhmm. And it's amazing. Mhmm. Tour the the current facility that we're using for transition academy at MTSU.
And what I think that the instructors have said to us, into miss and to the chair, missus Claire, is their vision and mission of wanting to grow the program and add more children more kids into this because I've seen the results of it, the fruits of that's come out of kids that are going to the program and the need. There's a need. I will be curious to see if we have land available and if we are able to I mean, I'm for whatever, to be honest with you.
If 750,000 buyer, this house is great. Awesome. But if we can use that same money with land that we already have, and it's we're not that's just sitting there, and we can put a transition academy and it can grow. We can have it add more kids to the program. I understand. Instead of doing 12, we can do twenty, twenty five. I don't know. I'll be curious to see what that will look like. Yep. Okay. I believe the board, it's been probably two years actually made a motion and approved using the land at Smyrna Middle and Wentworth for the the property.
But I'd have to go back For the transition academy? Yeah. And what happened after that after we voted on them? You said that we would have to wait on funding. Yeah. So this is But if we're gonna pay 7 if we're looking at $750,000 to buy this house. So you can do either or. Then why can't we use that money in something that we've already approved? Yep. You can do it. If we've already approved that motion, why we're not looking into that? If we found money for $750,000 to buy this I'm for what? I'm not trying to knock either side. I just want this program to move forward in in whatever way. So if we're willing to pay $750,000 for this and we put an emotion for
something, why are we not looking into what we can do with that $750,000 for the property that we already have? And and it can be bigger. Yeah. It don't go either way. Yep. If it can be bigger Don't go either way. What are our needs? Exactly. Miss Darby. Yeah. Miss mister Darby. Miss Maxwell, when we talked about this, I think when we voted on the two properties, we really liked the idea partially because it it got one on both end of the property. North end and one on South. So just just for clarity's sake, as we discussed this property, if this property were to come to fruition is the intention to continue the Wesley Foundation House and this
property? Mhmm. Okay. Yeah. We yeah. This was this was not an either or. It was supposed to be I just Like I said, a north end and a south end. Right. And and I'll just be honest with you I don't know that we can build a property for 750,000 or less. No. I don't believe so. It's gonna cost us way more in Money has been an issue. It's been the prevailing issue of why we haven't done anything up till now. We wanted to do something a couple of years ago and we continued. We've 12 spots. I'm sorry. It just breaks my heart. Every year some kid is going to stop going to our schools who could continue
because he didn't get into Project Search or he didn't get into Transition Academy. That's how passionate some of these kids are because they are ready to go. My own nephew never came back because he didn't get in because he wasn't chosen. And if we'd had more spots, he would have been. Oh, I don't think And so that's what breaks my heart because, you know, I I'm all for buying and building, but I just don't know that we can get the money for this. Well he's gonna mister Lee's gonna get us numbers. 750,000 sounds a whole lot better than 2,000,000 or 3,000,000 and having to do design
fees and all of that. So But miss I agree with you. The only reason why I said what I said about the property went went because I thought I heard mister Lee say that we could take 750,000 build something even bigger. I thought I heard that. If I misheard that then I apologize. Well maybe I'm wrong. Did you Mister Lee can we build something that That Maybe we could build something with the other $50,000. Could we maybe get his numbers together for Thursday to answer that question? But I thought he said even bigger. If we could even do roll the tape.
It's just Roll the day. That's what started the whole thing. But take whatever we can do, we can build whatever. Okay. Or whatever. Miss Sharp, did you have something to say? Yes. Thank you. I'm familiar with this building. I'm a I'm familiar with the owners. And this building is 4,600 square feet. And it has been a school before so it's already ADA compliant. The doorways are open. This would allow us if we the board if the board will to purchase this building to start something probably early next year Mhmm. And not have to build.
I don't know I mean 4,600 square feet is great. It's got this, it's two stories. It doesn't look like it's that large from outside but there is considerable office space. There are two kitchens in there and then there's a room in the back. They can make candles or wreaths or anything to, sell, you know, and turn that into work based. And it it's a it's in the nice neighborhood for reference. Yes, it's very safe. It's a dead end street And like I said, it was Lancaster Christian Academy before if anybody knows where that is.
Or if you know where the pinnacle is on Lowry Street at the almost at the roundabout there, it's directly behind those brand new apartments that they they went in. And the family really wants something like this in in that building. And I think with it being a turnkey, mister Lee said, there were very few things that we would have to do to actually occupy the building, if that would be the the board's will. So thank you. Thank you, miss Ralston. I appreciate it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have safety and we have the mapping project.
Yep. So this is a mapping project to meet the state law requirement, TCA forty nine six eight zero five four. Quote is $212,290 being paid out of the school safety grant. And this is by collaborative response graphics. We will have an executive session right afterwards to discuss this in case the board has any questions since it is around, safety and mapping. Yes, miss Sharp. What is the what is the what is the Safety. Mister Lee and Patty, is there any way that we can put something in the contract that if this is not compatible with our systems that it voids the contract?
Because all these people, when we buy all this stuff and we're happy to buy it, but you know about the radios, they're not compatible. You know, we find out down the road that they're not com you remember the radios, they're not compatible with other things. This says in here that it's compatible with some of the other systems. So I wanna make sure that that happens before even if it's in the contract. Yep. We can look at that. I can get you for Thursday. Next we go to instruction. This is Orton Gillingham training for title one school. So this is, I guess, phase two for the spring.
And so this is January and February 2026 paid for out of title one funds for Orton Gillingham. And we do this multiple times a year with our ESL teachers, special education teachers, and academic interventionists, but is that a title one federal funds. Next. We have NOVA Smart Academy k eight. So in accordance with board policy 1.902, an agreement's been drafted between Rutherford County Schools and NOVA Smart Academy k eight. Purpose of this agreement is to articulate the rights and responsibilities of each party funding, administration, and oversight outcomes and more. Agreement will be effective for ten years unless it's otherwise amended or revoked for board
policy. Exhibits of this agreement include the RCS performance framework, a preopening checklist detailing the school's responsibility prior to the first year serving students and a list of approved waivers from the Tennessee Department of Education. Charter application was freely approved by the school board can be viewed in its entirety on our website. Have they, found a potential site? Do you know if they found a site yet? K. K. Is that in Smyrna? Yes. Okay. K. Any other questions? Okay. Next, we got legal. This is policy adoption second reading of two readings, and so these would go into
effect on the hopeful passage on Thursday. Policy 1.703, school attendance zones and exemptions. Policy one or 3.206, community use of school facilities. Policy 4.601, reporting student progress. Policy 4.605, graduation requirements. Policy 6.204, attendance and nonresident students. Policy 6.701, student solicitations and fundraising activities. Comments or questions regarding that? Okay. Next, we go to financial matters. Yeah. The next one's a little strange, so I'll explain it after I read it. This amendment is to increase general purpose fund one forty one budgeted expenditures and decreased
fund balance in the amount of a $175,854 to account for the fiscal year twenty four twenty five charter schools final true up. This was not a budget amount in the fiscal year twenty four twenty five budget due to not being able to determine the increase in ADMs and the actual revenue and expenditures for that fiscal year. This will be potentially a reoccurring budget amendment every fiscal year because it's extremely difficult to be able to determine actual numbers for every charter school in developing the budget. It's required to be amended from fund balance because this is payment to charter schools
from the previous year students revenues and expenditures. So let me explain that in English. We get a true up in October, the final true up. We have to work with the comptroller's office because it is prior year students with prior year's money. So we have to go into fund balance cause it's prior money. The, whether it is an LEA LEA authorized charter school or charter commission authorized charter school, students generate per pupil expenditure. We know what that amount is, what is budgeted.
And so we know what that average per people expenditure, let's say, it's $10,700. That's what the county commission says they're gonna give us in revenue. We know the last couple years, our revenue has come in above that. So we've put $10.12, $15,000,000 in fund balance. That increases our per people expenditure to about, let's just say, $10,900. That extra $200 per student is then owed to the charter school for the number of students that they have served. It's impossible for us to know that until the books are closed. And so I Brian and I have talked about it, we've talked about it with
Michael, we've talked about it with the comptroller's office. We have no way of having any idea what that final number is gonna be from a funding aspect. So we'll just come every year to that true up to go into fund balance because it's a previous year's amount. So Miss Maxim? Yes. So basically, this is just, it's something that's gonna happen year after year as long as it's set up this way. We're just gonna be able to give them what's theirs, but at the same time, it's happening a little bit later in the year than we'll apply. Alright. Yeah. They'll get the whatever budgeted, the normal, but whatever.
I hate to say extra money sounds bad. Right. Whatever additional revenue that is not budgeted, whether investment income, sales tax, property tax comes in additional that goes into fund balance. The, students served at the charter school generated those funds as well. So they get the additional $2,340, whatever it happens to be per student. But because our budgets and our audit doesn't close till October or November, that's when those numbers are going. And so we don't really have those numbers until Yes. We you get the true up on October 31, I believe, when we got when we got it this year.
Yes. Thirtieth and October 31. And it can go both ways. It can be either we have to we have to owe that money or else, you know, they could be less ADMs and less expenditures, so it could be less. So, I mean, it it could go one way or the other. We may not have to come with a budget amendment next year if the numbers aren't aren't as great. So Yeah. Just depends. So I hope they're not as great. That means revenue didn't come in as high. So Okay. This these next two or the other two items that would be on health and
ed and the budget for them to consider. Next week, health and ed for sure will consider these two items. Budget does not have to vote on these. I I there's not a preference if they do because they're both be will will be in session, but budget meets again on January 8. And so if budget doesn't vote on next Tuesday, they will vote on January 8 because their commission meeting is January 15. So it doesn't matter either way if they consider these items. So this one is fund one forty one budget amendment. We put them together and not knowing what the board would do on with the
other property. This amendment is to increase general purpose fund one forty one budget expenditures and decrease fund balance the amount of 75,000 To fund the deposits of earnest money and appraisal of five McFadden properties and the 300 Maple Street Smyrna property, this amendment will transfer money by decreasing one forty one thirty nine zero zero zero unassigned fund balance and increasing board of education account seventy two three ten seven fifteen land in the amount of 75,000. Okay. Any questions regarding that? Okay. Next 13. Transportation contract termination, bus two twenty and one thirty, Pursuant to section 8.1
of the Rutherford County Board of Education bus contract, transportation department received an email notification on 12/03/2025 from Brenda Stem, the daughter of James Stem, for bus routes two twenty and one thirty requesting voluntary termination of the contracts with the board. Based on previous board approval, there would be a return of insurance type and funding for in for insurance to RCS for both routes. Board attorney will request to to notify the estate of this requirement. Mister Lee, will we be able to handle some of these routes that have been turned in? And we've already got we'll be able to cover They will go in our normal order. Once y'all voted to terminate, then they will be made available to contractors.
And you don't have to think there's gonna be any problems? I would never use the term don't have any problems. We we have, we have, opportunities every day. But, they will be offered. I think they there there's some contractors out there that would like to have these routes. I only ask because this is we've had several of these this in the last couple months. And we're just now getting started, with our new route awarding process per the new policy.
So we've gotten through one. We've got a couple more to go out. So we're we're we're just now starting to work through those. Okay. But this the mister Stem passed away, and that's the reason I put the caveat in there that mister Reed would have to work with the estate to get the stipend money returned because he did pass away. And Okay. I don't know how that's gonna work out, so that's why I put that comment in there. We may or may not get those funds back. Okay. Miss Maxwell? Yes, mister Goodmore. Mister Lee, how many open routes do we have currently?
Any idea? Four that I'm aware of. This would make six. We've actually had a pretty good run. No kidding. You know, most of the ones that we've had come back have been taken. In fact, the reason we're sitting on four is three of them have been waiting for the new process to get started. We've been covering them so we could get everything worked through. Great. That's On your on your table tonight, and I'm sorry, since we're talking about routes, that is mister Johnson and his staff, we've we've taken our new policy because some of our contractors were having difficulty on how it worked because it's completely different.
So we took that policy that was drafted in this room and put it in a matrix that we hope hope they can follow. Hope this is helpful to you guys so that you can also follow it as well. I think it's a great Doctor Solon? Yes. K. Are we gonna go over this? Can we can you do you mind covering it right now? I appreciate this a lot. I've had some questions about it. I don't know if we can put it up or not, but I'd just like for it to I wasn't planning on it. I was just handing it out to you to let you know that we'd send it to contractors, but I'll be On that. Is Thursday okay? That's fine. That's okay. Thursday. Yeah. I just like for it to be on record so I can reflect back, show
people to come back and look at I know you're sending it out to them as well, but just a lot of questions on this recently. So this is straightforward now. It's very straightforward now. And I think they were it's it's not the way we've always done it. Sure. So so anytime it's not the way we've always done it, it's difficult. But, yes, I'll be glad to talk. I'll bring I'll bring the policy 3.4 that's on our website as well, and we'll read it and go through this at the same time. I would appreciate that. Thank you. Not a problem.
And you guys are gonna start saying I've asked mister Lee and I talked about it. I talked to mister Johnson today. You guys are gonna start seeing a lot of mister Johnson. He's been with us for a couple months now, and he probably feels like ten years, but we're gonna start letting him kinda lead the department. I mean, he has been leading, but really kind of start seeing his, stamp on it. Great. So I do want to say it hasn't been smooth sailing doing it the way we've always done it either. So anything's better. Yes, mister Vaughn. Also too, can you give us an update Thursday maybe as far as the we
last month, we had voted to, not pay the contractors that had not turned their routes in, the descriptions in. Could we get an update maybe? I can do that right now as well. Okay. We're down to one contractor who has 18 routes. Here's the here's the conundrum and I'm just throwing it because we won't I'm not looking for a vote. This is for your information because this is the way the dominoes fall. Tomorrow is the tenth, and that is when we, the transportation department, has to give
the county the route information for them to cut checks for the month of January. That check covers January through the January 10. December through the January 10. December through the January 10. They will get checks probably around the nineteenth of the week right before Christmas is when they will pick up their checks. The instruction of the board was that we withhold the funding until we get it. This particular contractor with 18 routes would mean they won't get a check for any
of those routes. So be it. And I'm fine where we sit. If they were to come after the tenth and say here's your route descriptions, it's gonna be difficult for the county to undo their check process. So it's a very real possibility that they don't get caught up because we do give them their funds, it's just delayed when they receive it, till the January. So that it could be sixty days. I just don't want y'all to get a phone call saying, hey.
I turned it in on the twelfth, and I I'd like to get my checks because the courthouse is probably gonna tell us we're not gonna do a special check run. So so Yeah. Just wanna make sure everybody understands that. Mister Johnson. Okay. Yes. Please. Please. Put up to the mic. You wanna come to the mic here? Here. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Just wanna say that that was a, big problem. And my concern about that whole issue was I did not want the drivers not to be paid. So what I did was I picked up the phone. I called these two, contractors, told them what was needed.
One guy brought his in the same day. This other gentleman, I told him that if he wants to get paid, he need to have his in by no later than Thursday of this week. He promised he would get them in. So tomorrow, I would follow-up so that we don't we don't have this problem. Right. Trying to stop it before it becomes a real issue. No. Thank thank you for doing that because I knew last month when we took action that there was three or four or five or something. I forgot them. There was it was it was actually two. I guess I was confusing contractors with the number of routes that we didn't have the descriptions on. So there were several routes, but just two contractors.
So we're one down, one to go. Alright. Well, good deal. So but everybody's on notice. So That is encouraging. The board action helped, I suppose. Anyway, thank y'all. One quick thing while we're still talking about buses. In the past, it's never it was not in policy and it was not in the contract, but it was practice. If a contractor surrendered a route let's say they had multiple routes and they surrendered
a route during this school year, they were not eligible to apply for another one. No. It was it the mechanism and the reason it was utilized that way, if you had a cherry of a route that you wanted and it came up, you would come turn one in so that you could get the other one. It's it stopped that turn one in just to get another one so that we were just repetitively doing it. That's not in policy anywhere, and it's not in the contract.
I think we would like to continue that practice and maybe we need to put it in policy at a later date. I would like for you all's opinion before we continue with that institution. Because if we begin to allow it, it's gonna let they're gonna be able to turn routes in to get other routes. I'm hoping that with the picker wheel, it will cut some of that down because they're not gonna know that they're gonna have opportunity to get that route like they did in the past. So I think there's a little more likelihood that maybe we don't run into that
situation like we had in the past. But anyway, if you think about that, if you got a question about it, give me a call tomorrow. Maybe we can get some direction on Thursday. Basically, a way to try to to game the system to get more preferable routes for your areas. Yep. Yes, mister Botte. Well, I'd follow that up with this. Once mister Johnson's got his running gear up under him, I think, probably after the first of the year, this spring, early late winter, early spring, maybe we need to look at updating policies, and we could bring that to the policy committee at when
when we how often do we meet? Four times a year? Yes. Four times a year, and our next one is scheduled for February 8. So possibly, we can talk about it in January then? And and if there's any recommendations that y'all would like to make, we could bring it up at the February meeting. Be glad to. Let's shoot for that then. Miss Maxwell. Thank you. Yes, mister Tidwell. Still bus related, but not necessarily on that same exact topic. Are the awarded routes public information?
So you know that which contractor is driving it each route. I know that you guys have that information, but is that public information? I've had some contractors ask me that. Of course, there's always accusations, previously, former mister Johnson got on here, of, you know, their gaming system or so and so's tricking the route. So is is that public information that they have access to to know who's driving which route? It's not published anywhere. If they were to call in and if someone was to call in and ask,
who has the contract for bus and I'm gonna pick a number 200, we can give them that information. But is it published anywhere? No. It's not required to be. Okay. Just curious. Doctor Sullivan. And I probably wouldn't from a safety standpoint recommend it. I don't necessarily know if I want people's names and their bus numbers out so that people could track buses and all. It's a strange world we live in. Yeah. I stand from the contractor standpoint. And that's yeah. That's an it's interesting concept. But it is all public record anyways. Correct. Yes. Anybody can see it. So it's just we're making it a little bit less difficult to get that information.
But I don't know. I I don't have an opinion on that. That was a question that was asked to me. So I'm curious. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. Alright. Next we have central We have central magnet bench request. So this is a request to install a bench at central magnet, supporting world languages. And it's being donated by MTSU School of Concrete and Construction at no cost cost to the board. Where are they going to put this bench? Out front? Or They've got a couple, and then there's a location on the packet that's, part of it. Okay. Okay.
Next. Yet another Gaga ball pit. And so it's been a couple months. So this one's at Rocky Fork Elementary School at a cost of $9,513.75 at no cost to the board being used by school wide fundraising funds. Okay. Next, we have director's uptake. I'll have Thursday. That'll be Thursday. I don't believe you got anything right now. Just to clarify, so miss Rosales, you talked about seventh graders. You meant rising eighth graders, current seventh graders. Yes. Yeah. That's what you Yes. Yep. I sent out what you meant. Sorry about that. Yeah. Rising eighth graders. I meant The current rising eighth graders who are seventh grade current seventh graders today.
Perfect. Mhmm. Yep. Next we have general discussion. Does anybody have anything they want to bring? Yes, miss Sharp. Got some good news. I have two sponsors for our health our nurses. One in the house and one in the senate. So I'm waiting for, I'm gonna follow-up with Chairman White because I'm not heard back from her. But we do have two of our Rutherford County representatives that have already said that they would sign on to this. Great job on that. The nurse the nurse's, funding. That's funny. So and also Jazz Fest, we're having a meeting tomorrow for some Jazz Fest, so we'll have some updates probably Thursday.
Okay. What were the dates for Jazzfest again? First and second. First and second. First and second. First and second. Miss Maxwell? Yes, miss Rosales. Okay. My apologies for this. So I just wanted to go back a little bit to the discussion about rezoning the elementary school Because we did get an email about the pre k programs at Walter Hill. And doctor Salva, can you speak into that about the pre k programs? And just to know, I subbed today at a pre k class today.
I absolutely love pre k. I want to be pre pre k teacher. Yes. So let me hit a couple things on pre k. So one, I apologize for any miscommunication as far as timelines. So we have two pre k programs. So we have integrated pre k, which is typical and students with, have typical students and students with disability have been identified. And then we have voluntary pre k. And so our IPK or integrated model is one that is required federal, federally. Our voluntary pre k is one that is funded largely from, state department.
But we we try to operate a lot of them in conjunction. So we talked about earlier the placement of those programs have not been at the board's, discretion. They can if they wanna be. We've historically placed them where we had open space. VPK likes to be across the county, but also in high income, high needs areas. And so I know we're trying to go back to the North End a little bit, trying to find space looking to be. But I did wanna address one of our common questions has been about IPK or
integrated pre k. We've had to make a change based on guidance from the state department. So our IPK program traditionally has had typical, is what we've called it students, who were peer models to be with our students with disabilities. And so I'm just gonna read now, send this to the board and we're gonna send it as a parent update as well. So they have three questions that cover it. Why are general education students not permitted to enroll in the comprehensive preschool program? And so that's the question, the answer. Comprehensive preschool is specifically designed for children who require access to modified content as outlined
in their individualized education program, IEP. Because general education students do not require modified content, they should not be enrolled in a comprehensive preschool program. They go a little bit further and discuss kind of how, some some other districts have been operating. Prior to the 2526 school year, LEA school districts may have enrolled children without disabilities in comprehensive preschool programs. Exactly what we did in IPK. Are LEA's required to notify families retroactively that their child was enrolled in a special education program? To notify families retroactively that their child was enrolled in a special education course with modified content? No. LEA's are not required to notify families retroactively of their child's enrollment in the comprehensive
preschool program. However, moving forward, LEAs must ensure that the comprehensive preschool program is used exclusively for children with disabilities or for those in the eligibility determination process who require access to modified content. So only students with disabilities or students who are in the process of being identified as being served with disabilities. And so that is a change for us and that is not how we've operated. So just to dispel the numbers, that's nothing anybody, no board member, nobody at the district level, that is strictly, from the state level.
They go on and say if an LEA is found to be non compliant for enrolling children without disabilities in the twenty six-twenty seven school year, what corrective actions will be required? If an LEA is found to enroll children without disabilities in a comprehensive preschool classroom, the LEA must take immediate action. The LEA will be required to immediately notify families of children without disabilities and notify them that their child is not eligible to attend any longer. Provide written notification to all affected families, unenroll that child immediately, submit evidence to the department that that child has been unenrolled. And so it is no longer an option for us to, enroll students in that
program. So So we don't we can't do the peer model? Peer model. Yes. And that is, strict. We've had a couple that is a state department guidance. I don't know that there's been a change anywhere other than there's new updated state department guidance. And we're not the only in district impacted, but that is, to give doctor Ross and her team, we've all tried, but it is there's no way to work. Mhmm. And then I think you guys are here based on what's happening in Walter Hill. Correct? Can you Yep. Since we didn't really talk about it, can we please just talk about what's happening
over the Walter Hill Yeah. Zoning and then just the recommendation? Yeah. So I recommended so we talked about Walter Hill and Wilson a little bit. There were some neighborhoods originally that were moved back in '20 I don't remember. 2018, 2019 that we took from Wilson to Walter Hill. There are some That was previous boards many years ago. Regardless, eventually the board is going to have to consider Walter Hill will become overcrowded with the current zones. That is several years away.
As I mentioned earlier, we were doing rezoning. We have talked a lot about not doing this every single year. So when Rob and I met, we looked at going ahead in any area that we knew that was gonna require rezoning, Going ahead and trying to tackle that. In investigating that, we realize we have two pre k or four pre k programs there. Once the dust settles on rezoning, we may have to look at all of our pre code programs anyways because of this IPK change. And some of the, the differences that places on some schools that may have only
IPK or VPK and what the, the load that places in our schools to to try to be as fair and equitable as possible. So, no decisions about moving all four programs versus two versus two, but realistically, we are gonna have to try to move something If the integrated model stays the way it is. And I, I do not hear anything from the state that they're willing to change that. They are starting to get some emails from parents. So sometimes the state appreciates emails from parents. That Change some things. Yeah. So right now, as you see, we're not making No.
And that will any decisions to move those four programs. But because of the change of the state, we are gonna look at all of the programs we have in the county. And that will potentially impact programs anywhere in the county. Yes. Yep. Just wanna bring this to the conversation just so that we can Pre k has been moved unfortunately around. We have had them in different places. We moved a lot of them to John Coleman Annex over the years. Then as John Coleman Annex kind of moved away, we moved the preschool programs, 10
of them were more away, and the virtual school over to Holloway. So we have moved different programs throughout the years. But as we look at numbers, we are going to have to get more traditional classrooms, at Walker. Yeah. But for this what what what the board is going to be doing on Thursday, when we're excluding Walter here Walter rezoning Walter Hill area to Wilson is not going to automatically remove those four classrooms out of Walter Hill. The pre k classrooms. Correct? That'll be on me. Sorry. I can get that at me. I just wanna get that clarity.
Yep. Thank you so much, doctor Sullivan. You guys have worked so hard. You and Rob worked really hard in this. I'm If I live in painful. If I look at another neighborhood node to count individual kids and houses. Yeah. Well, this is very painful. Like a three week break from counting on student nodes of how many kids go somewhere. So Well, it's very, very painful. I do not like rezoning. I don't wanna revisit rezoning again for a long time, for elementary school and middle schools for a while. But thank you for working on this. We the board voted and you guy you Rob did to those guidance and then
the board voted based upon the guidance and priority. So thank you for all the hard work that you both have done. I'm sorry. I'm always that person why. Do we know why? And this might be miss Ralston might know. What's behind the potential to change things regarding our prince our preschools and integrated preschools? What it's what Somebody's new interpretation. Anytime you have anybody in position, they can have a different interpretation. So Okay. Yep. Okay. Is there anybody else that would like to bring anything forward?
If not, miss Darby? Don't forget we need to go to