e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e Johnson here miss Maxwell here M mcer here Mr
Mullen all here Mr Wells here Mr chairman here Mr chairman you have 10 voting members present I declare Quorum is present and we are duly convened and first what we'd like to do is offer our sincere thanks to Dr Patrick Davis vice
president for Stanton teat and extension campus blue oval City and to Dr jacen rainy president of tat Jackson this morning I did follow your recommendation I got up I drove by blue oval City it is a massive building and just shows how
important what you're doing here is to be able to fill those jobs one of the things we used to do is silo K through 12 ired Workforce we now look at things P through2 pre preschool through the
workforce and I think this is a good example of how we're melding that by you hosting us here and we would like to hear any words that you might have thank you turn it over to you so good good morning again I'm jqueen Rainey and I am the President of
tat Jackson in this amazing facility here in Stanton and we're just so thrilled and just so grateful that you had an opportunity to be with us um on yesterday and today um we are we're just excited about the opportunities ahead
with this blue oval initiative our Partnerships working with our K through 12 um schools we're we're gearing up for a a brighter and a bigger Workforce and the opportunities that we have um with our community um here is is Limitless so
we're just thankful and grateful that we have the opportunity um to be here and to actually host and and be a part of our community and across our other Educators across the state of Tennessee and so we're just thankful I hope that you all have had um a productive um
first day and I hope the second day is productive as well thank you thank you since we are in the eth congressional district this is represented on our state board by Mr Larry Jensen I'll ask you to say a few comments uh thanks for
for coming over to the western part of the state just it's what we're the room that we are in and the place that we're in not I said yesterday appreciate you doing just make sure you drive up there and see what's going on uh the first is ask K the
second is forward and uh just exciting we're trying to figure out how we get kids from all over West Tennessee up here with opportunity for uh what we saw yesterday in that tour and I just appreciate y'all being here and come
back soon and often thanks Larry and I couldn't go without a special thanks to Katherine Johnson for what she's done and working to put this thing together it's taking several hours she's got a staff that's help her and so but we' like to
[Applause] give this time I'd like to ask Dr Sarah Morrison to give us overview of the workshop we had yesterday well I can't help but add on to that thank you to kather because I've seen how much she's done and how many uh things she's had to
move through these out of town meetings take a little planning and we're so grateful for the partnership with teat here the folks who helped but Catherine we thank you as well because it's not been a a small undertaking um um we had a very full wonderful day yesterday for those of you that joined us uh we
started with a two-hour tour of the teat and blue facilities which was remarkable um I think I thought I had an idea of what we were walking into and it really just blew my mind what's what's happening around here and opportunities that provides for this region and for our state for our students and families
that will be able to take advantage of these programs and the workforce education Workforce connections that are being made here on this uh campus we had some excellent Pres presentations after that uh we heard from U Memphis Shelby County and cogia and the Department of
Education around a pilot program in the school turnaround space that's been underway for several years and particularly we heard from two amazing principles from Memphis Shelby County who were able to speak to the work that they've been leading and the results that they're getting for students in some uh really challenging situations in
the schools in Memphis so that was really a standout presentation yesterday we also spent some time um with Christy Brown and David lard from the Department of Education walking through uh not only the summer programming and the tutoring and some of the impact that those programs have been having across the
state and the results that we're beginning to see but also the teap data from this past um school year and looking at at our results as a state then we had a really robust conversation as well um with board members and uh again Dr David lard and Jonathan chriswell from the Department
of Education around the opportunity charter schools and accountability framework that will be coming to the board at a special called meeting in December uh so like I said it was a very full day really robust discussions uh a lot of learning and look forward to another great day
today thank you uh any other board members like to make any remarks at this time well I would like to recognize a special person who's been with us for some time now and is going off to finish law school Leana shuo and if you would
come forward uh liliano is a law student yeah come on up here this way we're going to this way we're gonna I'll walk around too is a law student at Belmont College and she has how much to go Lon four more months four more months four
more months and she's uh actually GNA be uh moving to St the St Louis area here shortly but uh you've been a great attribute to us and we'd like to give you a certificate and get we'll come around there
[Applause] [Music] nobody can hear me right um and I've just had such an incredible experience working with y'all working with everybody thank you especially to the legal team Ryan Todd Danielle Rachel Taylor um Tisa and Alex of course
they're not here today but Alex was an incredible supervisor and everybody on the legal team helped me learn so much um I'm really passionate about education law and I was really a great experience to work with and you know experience and learn from everybody and especially you
know Katherine and Bri my first friends at the board I'm just really thankful for yall and for everybody that I've met along the way just thank thank you all for an incredible experience um I've had such a great time with the board I was so happy when Alex asked me to St on in the fall and I'm just great for all of
you and I'm not gonna talk anymore because I'm definitely gonna cry but just thank you to everybody thank thank you so [Applause] much we'll move on into our agenda first
I want to remind presenters to identify themselves by their title and position for the for the record when presenting and also remind presenters that the use of acronyms or jargon should be explained so that all tennesseans whether here or watching on TV will understand what we're talking
about first item on our agenda are consent items we have four items under the consent item the adoption of the agenda the minutes for August 16th board meeting teacher licens or discipline settlement approvals which have already been addressed and state board training
advisory committee member appointments is there any action that board members would like to take it this time yes Mr chairman I would like to request that item 4 q be bumped from the consent agenda say that again item four under
teacher lens your discipline actions letter Q okay so item four Q this is one of the items that we'll be taking up under uh uh item four to be moved
out any other suggestions with no objection then uh when we get to the uh teacher license distribut item items four we will pull that out as a separate item any other changes to the adoption of the
agenda or the items of consent if not can I have a motion then to approve the consent item with this modification Mr Wells Mr Wells MO is there a second Mr Holt seconds any further discussion all in favor then for accept accepting the consent items with the
change made by m Maxwell signify by saying I I approved opposed motion carries thank you next item are report items first item on the list are State Board vegucation member reports this is
an opportunity for us to uh share the activities that we've been doing doing since our last board meeting and I think there have been a lot of activi so I will open this up to any board members who would like to yes Mr hon Nathan James and I were able to do a
day in the districts thanks to his arranging this we met with uh the director of schools there Ricky enman and he took us to two different schools there's nine schools in that District there's according to the 2022 status
there were 20 00 lost my number here 22 something students across the nine schools what made this County so unique is that one of the schools we went to Frank Hughes it has a prek through 12
all under one home and that they had like 279 students they graduated 19 last year but a very warm um Family type of community and then when we went to Wayne County that
school they had three married couples actually teaching in the school which is kind of unheard of um we met with the teachers at Frank Hughes we met with the students at Wayne County and it was just a great experience for me it was my
first day in the disty so I want to say thank you to Nathan for setting it up and just y all ever get to go there it's it's worth going and the families the people the students the teachers they were all very warm and welcome it was a great
day thank you Mr Johnson those days in the district are very important and it's when you get to see what's going on and why we do what we do thank you for that other reports many other board members yes Mr Wells so I too had a had a date in the
district and uh you know thanks to the staff for setting it up uh it's one of those things that I think it's maybe the one of the most impactful things that we that we do um but you know I know the staff gets frustrated it's always hard for us to find a day to take out of our
schedule but you always walk away um you know very impacted so we went to Murph Boro City schools and and uh Mr Hol and Dr Maxwell joined uh which was great to have them in my district and to be able to brag but we were at Black Fox
Elementary um with uh Dr Duke and I tell people this all the time I mean he is an absolute rock star um I love having him in my district he's somebody that I definitely go to for for advice on things but um we had we had probably the best student panel that that I have that
I have had yeah Dr feels the same way it was it was they were just they were so engaged um I even U even told my 13 year old when I got home I learned more about uh their education than I do his because he gives me three words every day when I ask him how how it went um but it was it was just a really great
uh great day and another thing that I really noticed was when Dr Duke opened up uh he talked about his vision uh for the school system and uh things like that then when we talked to the principal you could tell that she had taken his vision and
puts it into her daily her daily life and and um you think well that that's pretty easy for a principal to do but then when we talked to the teachers uh you could tell they were taking his vision as well um and so that just that really stuck with me um it's a great
School uh in a great District with a great superintendent staff um so it was really really really great um and then another thing that I've done it's a little bit of uh I guess state board and then also I sit on the governor's rural education fund uh board as well and so I was able to go to the SS Foundation 25
year uh anniversary and um I think that's that's something that uh the things that the SS Foundation does with edding counselors in in the schools and really having an impact every day on them to set them up
for postsecondary is absolutely amazing and I told Dr Morrison at some point I would love for us to to hear from them and I just think the Symmetry that we have uh would would be really really good so thank you so much for letting me take that time thank you Mr Wells anybody else yes
Mr Jensen go ahead Chris um Ali set up a visit in Knoxville about three weeks ago and we were I think Dr Maxwell and bons in Jordan we all got to visit Emerald Emerald Academy
a charter school and also Knoxville prep and it was just it's amazing experience and I feel like I'm so blessed because in my teacher role you sometimes get tunnel vision and there's just not opportunities like that where I'm at to see a charter school and we definitely
deal with issues with that so it was really interesting and um Emerald Academy they were just rock stars we got to see a lot of teachers and they all really cared and the principles there and they had people the community come and just brag about Academy and it it was I was really happy to be able to
have that experience awesome thank you Mr Jensen uh we had uh Governor Lee came to Memphis and darl and I were there we' invited him down to come see the uh kingsberry Career and Technical
education center and he it was really interesting because he was very very engaged in touring around talking to the kids uh and I have a picture of him which I'd be happy to share with you of him underneath a
truck with the kids not on the ground but up on a lift and he's there talking and he was totally engaged with those kids to he about asking them questions and so I just thought you know at 16 or
17 years old and you're in a automotive training class and the governor of the states underneath that that has to have an impact and the programs there we have four of those uh centers primarily in um
the vice Chairman's District but we do a lot of stuff together because we're we work with the same school system so I I just it was a really wonderful day of of his engagement but probably more
importantly the in interaction with the students just really fine and encouraging to watch thank you Mr Jensen anyone else Mr chair Vice chair cin Mr Jensen didn't tell you that uh he
was my boss 20 years ago so I just go wherever he tells me to go um had the opportunity to visit um Beacon College Prep in Memphis which is a charter school really large English
language learner population uh spent a half day with their leadership team and one of the questions I asked them was um if I could take a message back to state board and and other folks at the state what would you uh what would you want us
to share and so they said that um social and emotional learning is really uh a big issue um when you consider the past four or so years and everything that um that young people have gone
through especially in the early years as they um you know come from being at home and transitioning into a early learning environment in Elementary School uh that uh they come with a lot of um issues
that need to be addressed so I wanted to share that but it was a great day uh and had an opportunity to learn a lot more about their new leadership team and the great work that they're doing uh also about a month ago had the opportunity to serve on a panel for
score where they released the quality credentials framework model that they're suggesting where we can hopefully align across the state around um opportunities to prepare young people for work
opportunities that align with their learning and that can point them in the direction of economic Mobility uh so we'll make sure that that report gets distributed to the board members and also had an opportunity a few weeks
ago to join staff and uh chair eie and Dr Morrison in meeting with the group of students from vanderville who were wanting to know more about the state board and how it operated so it's been a busy couple of months thank you any
others Mr chairman yes Mr mhow I just want to add a couple comments to what Miss Mur said a second ago in fact we we had such a strong showing that uh I think I was told at one point that if we had one more member we were gonna have to give notice of the meeting because it was it was so well attended um it was a
great experience uh quick shout out to Steve Diggs and Hannah Hopper who hosted this uh that organization and its sort of sister organizations has made a huge impact on the Knoxville Community um specific to education uh they're in their I think their 10th year they're now for their 10e renewal as a charter
school and one of the things that we tried to convey to Steve and his team is just how grateful I'll speak for myself how grateful I am that Emerald has done such a great job setting a standard and uh proving out the concept uh and in
fact proving it out so well you know there they up until just recently they were the only Charter School in Knox County and they really um I think again just did a great job of setting that that that standard and in fact did it so well they have a weight list of 200 plus students uh you know it
was a little it was eye opening for me to hear just how much demand there is for what they offer and uh we got a chance to talk about some of the constraints and in fact some of the constraints that are pertinent to some of the content we're uh even considering
now and that being facilities just not having enough room to uh service the kids that U that are U that are in need and that are wanting what they have to offer so Steve did a great job hosting us and just wanted to uh highlight that
they have they've really been a standard Setter for us thank you Mr M yes Miss Maxwell so I had the opportunity to join Mr Wells and U staff and Mr Holt at the
Black Fox Elementary it was a a fabulous visit thank you for allowing me Warren to to come along um I really have to shout out to Dr TR and principal Tiffany uh strovel she is doing a fabulous job and it was just very inspiring all of
the Committees that we met with uh the children it was just a great day also I did get to join Mr mullauer and Mrs mcinturf and bonie in Knoxville with Emerald Academy and Knoxville preparatory school and it was a very informative visit they were very
welcoming and I appreciate the staff and faculty there and also I was able to attend the teacher of the year ceremonies in Nashville that the Department hosted and I because I truly believe in recognizing our outstanding teachers and the things they do and uh
chairman eie and our director Sarah was there also and so I appreciate that opportunity and thank I want to thank the department they did a very nice job recognizing our teachers thank you uh yeah I'd like to add on a couple other things too um
executive director and her family and my wife and my granddaughter and I got to attend scores first 15-year celebration at Senator Frist farm that was pretty exciting place and and score is one of our collaborative organizations that we work very closely
with um also attended the nasby uh annual conference in Louisville Tennessee and Louisville Kentucky thank you there is Louisville Tennessee my my brother-in-law lives in Louisville Tennessee Louisville Kentucky thank you
um and the excelin Ed National Conference in Oklahoma City that one had some outstanding speakers Dan Heath was a speaker he wrote a book called Upstream talking about the importance of moving Upstream to the problems that you have to actually get to the root cause
of the problems and how you solve them uh and then uh Nathan James and I served on a panel at Cleveland State Community College that was uh put together by Senator Adam low uh with Dr Linda cash
and superintendent from Bradley County and the superintendent from Cleveland City Schools and it was a Q&A session uh sort of Rapid Fire uh was broadcast over radio and I thought that was a very helpful discussion that we were able to
talk about what we're doing across the state of Tennessee um and then uh with Vice chair cins and I we are serving on The Fast Forward Summit uh committee put on by score for their next upcoming Summit is
it February coming up in February so I encourage all uh participate in that again just some of the examples that we do serving as board members when we get out in the state with our constituents
that's where the action takes place that's fun things to do and while we do what we do so thank each one of you for participating in those activities okay next item is um educator vacancy report oh let's see
take it back Tennessee early literacy ass set educator past rate report Mr Christy wall good morning Christy wall assistant commissioner uh for the Department um over academics and instructional strategy wanted to um brief you on the
Tennessee early literacy assessment report that has been um shared from the Department with you all previously uh as a reminder the purpose of this report uh is to communicate the first time Pass rates of applicable candidates on the tennessy early literacy assessment also
referred to as the Tila I'll try and refrain from using that acronym um but this is pursuant to TCA 45 495 5619 section d uh the assessment is to ensure that all educators are adequately trained on
foundational literacy skills beginning August 1 of 2023 also um to ensure that the Tennessee literacy 6X act requirement um that endorses teachers to teach in grades kindergarten through three and instructional leaders to complete this
foundational literacy skills assessment or professional development in order to acquire renew or Advance their license if you recall the department launched uh this assessment following State board's approval and communicated the assessments availability to our
different stakeholder groups both in August and September of 2023 across those various groups the assessment uh test Educators knowledge of foundational literacy skills standards and the passing score was set at an 80% pass
rate um the assessment aligns to educator preparation providers foundational literacy standards and the empasis of the use of highquality instructional materials this assessment is uniquely uh designed for Tennessee Educators and teacher candidates if
you'll recall the the Tennessee literacy uh early literacy assessment is not a substitute for any required assessments found in State Board of Education professional assessments for Tennessee Educators policy 5105 but this is one option for certain
Educators to meet the requirements of the Tennessee literacy success act again to acquire renew or Advance their license the assessment is free to test takers and Ed prep providers and uh test takers can access the assessment um as
many times as they as they wish um in looking specifically at the report page six illustrates the different reporting categories of the Pass rates for educator candidates you'll see a column that's listed as other
you'll see a column that's listed as outof state licensed Educators you'll see a column that references Tennessee Educators renewing or advancing their license their current license excuse me and then also teacher uh Tennessee teacher candidates seeking lure again
this information is self-reported based upon the test taker who's engaging with the assessment included in the report 28 EPS are represented in the data um but only 10 EPS um had 10 or more
users EPS must have at least 10 users for the Department to share the data to protect users data privacy you can see um the EPS that had at least 10 users uh that engaged in the assessment that is listed in the
report again I mentioned that test takers can access the test multiple times and it's free of their to their use um the first time pass rate for our teacher candidate seeking lure is listed at a
39.2% pass rate you can see that if they attempt the assessment more than once it bumps up to a 60.8% pass rate I will also call out that this assessment alone is one of two Pathways to meet the Tennessee literacy
success Act requirement there's the Standalone assessment which this report encompasses and includes and then there's the training pathway the training is asynchronous modules it's available on our website um and and we have current teachers aspiring teachers
leaders and others from out of state that are able to access that training and content on the Department's website data obtained from the assessment demonstrated in overall firsttime pass rate of 40.2% in total
because there are multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge of literacy instruction some individuals elected to abandon or complete a different literacy assessment or perhaps the training pathway either through the early reading training module one or the secondary
literacy training module one which contributed uh to the pass rate the Tennessee early literacy assessment is one of two approved Pathways to demonstrate compliance with the tenness literacy success act Educators have the option of the assessment like I mentioned previously or the training
Pathway to meet these requirements the department will continue to monitor the participation of uh the data that's coming in through this assessment again this is the first year of implementation um and so this is our first formal report to you all um after
it's been implemented but we will continue to monitor participation and Pass rates um and review assessment data and report to stakeholder groups as needed happy to take any questions on this particular report or the item in general
questions I I have a couple of questions um so 40.2% pass rate first time and after they take it multiple times only 60% pass rate um seems very low to me and
would seem like it has some imp implications for our teachers in Ultimate classrooms I know there's another pathway they can take but can you help me understand why only 60% of the people after taking multiple times can pass the exam yes chairman that's a wonderful
question U we were a little surprised when the data came in and was evaluated after a full year of implementation um you know the the department uh Works cross functionally and collaboratively across the human capital team that supports our Ed prep providers as well as the academics team that support
teachers in the field and the implementation of the Tennessee literacy success act um you know we will continue to um invite and include Ed prep providers into our convenings our regional opportunities for learning and deeper um implementation practices
around those new foundational literacy skills standards um it's difficult work and we are realizing this and and very cognizant of the data we want teacher candidates to be successful we want teachers to be successful and so the areas of support and communication and
guidance that we can connect both to our teachers in the field and our teacher candidates coming in from our Ed prep programs needs to be tightly aligned and very seamless and so ensuring that there are opportunities for Ed prep providers to engage in Regional convenings our
Statewide literacy conferences things like that to deepen their knowledge will in Hope turn practices and more deeply embed the foundational literacy standards that have been implemented thank you and how do we know this other pathway is as effective uh as
as the exam pass pathway another great question um in terms of the content that's offered through the training it's deeply connected and focused on the use of high quality instructional materials and a sounds first reading approach um in the
early grades and so the training seems to be um an area where some of our um test takers that are only accessing the test alone are missing some understanding pivotal to foundational literacy skills and implementation and
so um you know we've heard and received feedback around the value of the training although it's an online module it's highly engaging and we've gotten some really great teacher feedback around the content um that is in the training and and the research backing around the science of reading and the
sounds first literacy approach um and so the the training is is very helpful to cover perhaps some of the gaps in knowledge and awareness and understanding that we might be seeing in some of this the assessment alone
statistics thank you other questions yes M mcer to possibly answer some of your questions it's a very rigorous test I mean it's it's very difficult when I took it I was still teaching first grade and if I had me I was in it every single day but there are teachers that um four fth grade teachers
just don't teach literacy so it was you know it's pretty difficult so they really have to study for it but I think it's very beneficial thank you very helpful yes Dr Wall do you think it would be foreseeable in the future that our EPS embed some of this training I know their
coursework is very packed as it is but if we embedded some of this in like our high school social studies and Science and Mathematics uh courses and Majors that our students pre-service teachers major in if we embed some components
there would you foresee this helping uh for our preservice teachers that's a wonderful question to take under consideration and work with our our Ed prep um providers and our support team at the department to consider I think that that's a wonderful
suggestion worth exploring thank you for that other questions or comments thank you thank you next item is Educator vacancy reports Miss Brooke Amos good morning everyone Brooke Amos
assistant commissioner for human capital I'm here to share about our annual teacher vacancy data as we are asked um annually to share about our educator Workforce shortages this data can inform State policy
decisions as well as advanced planning for districts and education preparation providers I'll share a few highlights from this report and then I'm happy to take any questions that you all may have our report highlights data from the 23 24 school year District vacancy data is
self-reported data data shared on emergency credentials is reported by the department districts reported a total of 1,434 vacancies with an average of approximately 10 vacancies per District the Statewide vagrancy rate for
2324 was just under 2% English as a second language World languages special education and prek were identified as critical shortage areas based on the proportion of vacancies to overall positions of the state being over
2.5% in addition to the over 1400 vacancies there were just over 5,000 individuals on permits and 946 endorsement exemptions commonly called waivers issued this represents
about 10% of the total teaching position in the state for which vacancy data reporting is required 63 of our districts reported zero vacancies and 11 districts had zero emergency credentials issued happy to any questions that you
all may have questions from Theus I've I've got a a couple of questions um first this excellent report uh Trends over time are a little startling particularly the numbers on endorsement exemptions and permits
so you know the way I read the report our our numbers are low for vacancies because we are up in exemption and permits are we doing anything to address that in the future yes sir that's exactly right we've seen
relatively stable numbers of vacancies those within the a, 1,400 range but we are seeing the number of waivers endorsement exemptions those have increased um by about threefold and the numbers of permits have increased um by
about 150% over the last three years I will say in conversation with our district leaders they are saying that what they're really focusing on right now is how they're able to support those individuals coming in on permits and
what that pathway looks like one of the things we are thankful for is the work that we have done with the board to create a pathway to lure for for those individuals coming in on permit so individuals who come in on a permit after they are on that permit for two or three years are able to transition to a
limited license given their effectiveness and then move on to a permanent lure pathway so that's one of the pieces another piece we've been talking about we had a meeting last week with our um directors of schools who are focused on educator pipelines is what
support looks like for those individuals who are on those emergency credentials and then some of the data from our research partner TI and this follows National Trends as does the uptick in emergency credentials is that the individuals are less effective in year one as folks might anticipate but that
by years two and three their performance is looking on track with other individuals in the profession thank you yes Mr cins just one question on the um point you just
made relative to um the permits so we um at least in Memphis Shelby County have had a big issue with um folks on permits getting to the end of their three years and not having
completed their requirements and we've had large I mean hundreds of people uh just vanish from the teaching population is there anything that governs what a district
has to do along the way to and I know it's a personal responsibility of course but from the district perspective is there anything that governs any requirements for the district to sort of prod or hold those folks
accountable during that period where you don't get to the end of the three years and you just have this attrition year after year after year and um and these vacancies remain high yes that's a great question so I
think we have a twofold we have a twofold um issue there one is that we do find that individuals on permits especially in year one do have higher attrition than other individuals in the workforce I think one of the things that we are cognizant of
is that it is a local decision at that point whether the individual is paired with a mentor and we also know that individuals care with a mentor have a greater likelihood of retention so I think that's something that we are aware of and are are also trying to communicate while also recognizing that
uh we're ensuring that there are enough qualified mentors for the individuals who are required statutorily to have one so that's one two is that we also know that the the timeline of individual staying in profession that up until year five we're seeing the greatest um
attrition just in general so if we can get folks into years three to five that's a key area if individuals are in years two or three that's when that transition to the limited license happens they do have to have those higher LOE scores of four or five um but
that's something they can work with our department we have Regional licensure consultants for each of their grand divisions and they can connect with them and we'll make sure that those folks are aware of what that transitional piece looks like for those folks and then they would have to do some completion of EP
at that point but that's sort of the trajectory for those folks we're kind of combating a few different headwinds at that piece but really if we can keep folks in those first few years their efficacy improves and so their retention outcomes
further questions than oh I'm sorry M Mur this might be a tailor question later but on the flip side of permits and like emergency endorsements I want to make sure that the traditional teacher that's
wanting endorsements has an just as an e easy easier path Pathway to get to those endorsements so right now um I've kind so a teacher that has a sixth through 12th grade endorsement that has a license already um can do assessment only for basically
any content six through 12 but a k through six teacher even a sixth grade social studies teacher cannot teach eighth grade social studies without doing a coursework and a test and that's thousands of dollars so I'm just I'm trying to figure out a way to make it
easier we've got 6,000 um emergency credentials being used but you've got actual licensed teachers that aren't getting credentials because of the expense yes and I'm going to to tlor he's going to tell me if I said anything wrong at this point just come over here
um yeah so that's where we do have the endorsement exemption allowability um and then we're fixing it on policy yes she's giving me the no that's going to be fixed on policy and then an endorsement and then in our departmental guidance okay so is it still an
emergency exemption or is it an actual traditional way of so it's both so one will be it is allowable through waiver process currently and then we are bringing a policy change today yes Miss
Johnson when we were at day in the district the director of schools questioned he said he was under the um understanding that a teacher could teach one subject out of their content
area but only for two courses and he didn't understand why well if that person can teach two courses why could they not teach four courses even if it was just one content area outside of their
endorsement okay I am gonna let Taylor answer this one and she will introduce herself it was it was causing them more difficulty in having teachers cover classes good morning Taylor re senior director of relation CH yes so this is
Department guidance that is created from what is written in rule um and then also defers to policy so I'm actually bringing the few items that I am bringing today would um address these uh but we must effectuate policy first before we can
change Department guidance because the department guidance has to defer to the policy and so there are certain things that are in policy that we are bringing before you all uh to vote to put the uh decision point back with
the department and and both of these items are are one of those thank you thank you other questions thank you Miss amus next item is a 2024 master plan report Ali Reed
good morning Ali re director of Engagement and accountability for the State Board I'm presenting the 2024 master plan annual report uh this report is designed to publicly display progress towards uh annual progress towards the
goals set in the state board's master plan and um within the report you will see outcomes from the 2024 year as well as actions of the board and the work of head in each of our four strategic Focus
areas which includes literacy postsecondary and career teachers and leaders and engagement and accountability happy to take any questions questions for M Reed I have uh one comment first
outstanding report obviously we didn't meet all of our goals this year um some of those goals tie with working closely with the Department of Education and um I think it would be very helpful uh
with the Department if we can get together sometime and just uh look to see how we can align our goal of what your strategic plan is I think that's important I think they're pretty well aligned but I think that we ought to look there and see what we can do to
obviously meet the the goals that we have is there anything we ought to be doing differently anything the department needs to do differently as we try to you know meet the overall goals for the students so I think that would be helpful any other questions or
comments thank you Mr Reed that finishes our reports next item are the automatic teacher lenser Mr Todd Madison and Alex good morning uh Todd Madison Ryan shanan associate councils for the board
uh will'll be presenting first off the automatic lure actions um state law board rule required the automatic revocation automatic permanent revocation of an Educator's license for certain criminal offenses and classifications set forth in law these
individuals have either been convicted of one of the specified criminal offenses or their conduct meets the classification as determined by DCS as such we recommend the approval of these automatic actions that it yes sir for the
automatic so we have a recommendation is there a motion then to accept these LIC your actions as recommended to us so mve Mr mull moves Mr Jensen seconds does require roll call
vote are there any questions for Mr Madison before we start Mr Griffin Would you please call the RO Mr cin hi M auberson hi Mr H
hi Mr Jensen M Johnson Miss Maxwell I miss mcer hi Mr Mullen hour hi Mr Wells hi Mr
chairman hi Mr chairman you have 10 eyes motion passes thank you next item are teacher licens or discipline actions we usually deal with these in Mass on our consent agenda uh on this agenda isn't listed that way so
I'm going to ask first board members they have any of these cases they would like to pull out separately following that then I would ask ERS consent to consider the remaining items I do know that we need to take up item D
and Campbell up separately to accommodate her request to address the board which we will do does any other members have any requests that they would like to do Mr chairman I just want to remind you of item Q pardon item Q item
Q so we'll pull item Q which is Brenda Brenda Smith out separately any other items to pull out separately if not then uh pursuant to action 3.1 of our board
meeting policy I ask unanimous consent to place all teacher license or discipline actions except items D and Q on a consent agenda is there any objection hearing none and they are considered the teacher license or discipline consent agenda we will now
hear from our legal staff and I'll entertain a motion on the consent agenda we have a motion do we have a second second Mr melar Seconds any comments from our legal staff no comments if none of those then
all except for items D and Q uh for supporting the recommendation signifi by saying or this is a roll call vote right yes roll call vote Mr cins hi M oberson hi Mr
Hol Mr Jenson Mr Jensen i m Johnson hi M Maxwell hi
m m hi Mr M hi Mr Wells hi Mr chairman I Mr chairman you have 10 eyes motion passes next in we'll take up the two items separately uh be Helen Campbell thank you Mr chair P Danielle
Nellis Deputy general counsel for the board we have miss Helen Campbell before you all today Miss Campbell is here present with us and come forward at this time Miss Campbell is requested to speak before you and followed all the proper procedures and U Mr chair you grant her
permission to do so per hour um procedure she would be allowed for three minutes let me frame the case briefly for you all she is requesting restoration of her license this board revoked her license in February of 2023
revocations generally stand for a 5year period so in a traditional sense she would not be eligible to have her license restored until February of 2028 if my math is correct uh the revocation was based on underlying conduct during the 2019 2020
school year where Miss Campbell and another educator dragged the child some 500 to 600 feet is my understanding through and this student was a special education student uh through the school the board did revoke her license based
on that underlying conduct as well as a violation of TCA 495 413 and 495 417 however Miss Campbell did submit significant amounts of information regarding
the things that have happened since then uh since the revocation the actions she's both taken personally to get herself in a better place to return to the classroom she also submitted some 18 plus letters of recommendation with her packet as such the staff and the case
Review Committee which is made up of this board staff does recommend restoration of her license thank you Miss Campbell would you like to address the board have three minutes good morning members of the state board thank you for this
opportunity to speak my teacher and administrator licenses are both currently revoked from an automatic revocation due to my pleading no contest to a child abuse charge my record has been expunged and there is no longer a basis for my license to be reved as I speak to you all today it's been
1,842 days since my arrest for this charge the charge of child abuse was initially dismissed because there was not and there never was proof of an injury DCS also dismissed the claim due to not meeting their threshold of what was found to be child abuse unfortunately there is quite a complicated story about actors at the
local school board where I once worked that wanted be fired and this was their way of accomplishing this I do realize that what I did on November 4th 2019 was a mistake and will never touch a child again this day is the biggest regret of my life the events that unfolded after
that day have changed me forever due to the trauma experience with my arrest treatment from the local school board and its Personnel the unimaginable cruel comments on social media and the treatment by the DA's office I have been through months of counseling and medical treatment I worked tirelessly with my healthare providers to find appropriate
medicine to treat my trauma and sought counseling services to recover in addition to all that occurred with my criminal charge I was personally sued in the midst of all this I lost my mother to terminal cancer after being her full-time caregiver for 10 months I settled the civil case and took a deal from the da so I could care for my
mother in her last months I say all this to plead with the board to reinstate my licenses I've been profoundly punished with all that has occurred I have worked very hard to Define who I am now and I am not the same person I was back then but I still have a great love for working with children this calling has not changed I want to find ways to help
children in my church and community so I can honor my mother's memory she loved caring for children and helping those in need and fulfill what I believe is my calling in life I am also thinking long term there will be a day that I'm a grandmother and I will find great joy in volunteering in my grandchildren's classroom and being an active caregiver
in their lives I don't want to revoke license to impede my ability to enjoy my role as a grandmother or a servant in the community between losing my mother and the this discipline with events that followed these five years have been the most challenging of my life I realize that my actions have long lasting
effects on not only myself but all those around me I have a new understanding of how to handle difficult situations and I want to be role model for the Next Generation I realized that my revocation was not official until February 10th 2023 but in reality this punishment and inability to utilize my educator license
began November 8th 2019 over five years ago I implore you all to reinstate my licenses I want to put the past behind me and focus on a bright future that allows me the opportunity to help children in need and nurture children as they grow I'm here today to show you all that I am not only incredibly sorry and
deeply regret and deeply regretful for my mistakes but also worthy of your consider worthy of your consideration to have my licenses reinstated thank you for your time today thank you we have a recommendation from the staff is yes Mr
shair we would recommend restoration of Miss Campbell's license thank you so we have a recommendation for restoration of the license does the board wish to take action so moves Mr moves to reinstate the license is there a
second Mr Holt seconds Is there further discussion yes Vice chair cin thank you um so um I will support the restoration so I'm going to start off by saying that but
um a lot of what we've heard um and I empathize and sympathize with your situation circumstance a lot of what we heard is um about you but on the other end of this situation is a
child who was impacted by these actions which sound extremely aggressive and um and hopefully that child through whatever means of
understanding or therapy or parental consolation can get over that probably traumatic experience that he or she had and um you know as a parent of a child with
special needs I want to um make sure that I'm on the record of stating from the perspective of a parent and having had a child who went through something similar uh not as egregious but
something similar from a person entrusted to educated that there's no excuse at all for that action we all are are worthy of
redemption in second chances but I place the emphasis on thinking about hopefully how that child can overcome that experience and be comfortable going back into a learning environment and trusting the folks who are supposed to
be nurturing and educating him or her and often times with children with special needs others interpret their actions and their behaviors through the lens of what they
might interpret for a typical child and sometimes those children are not in full control neurologically behaviorally and otherwise and so if we're interpreting that child's actions whatever they've done or not
done that is a deficit and an indication on our part that we have some growth to do and some learning to do and some needed training to better
understand how to manage and deal with those types of situations so again um over the course of time and um it sounds like you're very remorseful it sounds like you have um a
number of supporters that would like to see you back in the classroom uh when you do go back into the classroom assuming an affirmative vote here I hope that you will have that child's experience that you're
dealing with or or working with at the Forefront of your mind so thank you for appearing here today and sharing your side of the story and um again hopefully you can take all those factors into account when you go
back into the classroom so thank you Mr cins Mr chairman yes Mr melanau thank you I made the motion um mostly because I believe in the process and I believe in the work that our staff does here um in investigating and
evaluating and considering what can be very complicated situations like this and they made the recommendation to restore so I wanted to start by supporting that um I have one very simple question for you miss Campbell if you put yourself back at that moment in this moment what would
you do differently just rapid fire what would you have done differently in that situation I would have done everything differently um I would have called the child's mother to come pick him up from school and I would have called for our Crisis
Prevention team to come in and help with their deescalation and not taking matters into my own hands and I am I know that that was a mistake and am incredibly
incredibly regretful of it and um I I have every day to think about that now and I do think about it every day and how to do things very differently as a mother as a wife as
hopefully an educator again um it has I I I messed up big time and I I get that and I understand that there have been lasting consequences to that so I would do everything very very
differently thank you other questions Mr chairman just a comment I I intend to support it however like Vice chairman cins we have 20 plus people on this list
today and this is the one part of what we do that is very difficult uh you're dealing with people's lives and their livelihood but as Vice chairman cin said we're also thinking about
children first and foremost and I just I I trust our staff our little staff for their recommendation but I just want to underscore that this is an issue that we shouldn't have 20 people on this list
today uh and I regret that's the case but it is a fact of life and I I just just want us to make sure we're clear in our Communications with folks who get on this list that this is a very serious matter and I I appreciate you
being here today and stating this but I I I want to communicate Beyond The Four Walls of this room that this is a very very serious matter to be in front of this board uh and ask for a reprieve or
restitution or whatever and I I I hope we're not setting a president uh that says you know just go and make a case and they'll reinstate you because but I do I think the staff recommendation they've looked into it I know deeply and
I defer to that recommendation and appreciate y'all's work to to deal with this thank you thank you Mr any other comments last yes Mr cin yes uh just one last comment I would um really encourage
you once you're back in the classroom to use this experience to be um a mentor in situations that you might observe and um apply some wisdom to some
folks who may not be fully aware or who need some guidance on what they should or shouldn't do or how to handle situations so hopefully your EXP experience can avert situations of a similar nature from happening in the future so thank you thank you Mr cin any
other comments yes um Mr chairman I would just like to go on record to say that this is truly an unfortunate situation I appreciate things that Mrs Campbell has done uh past the incident however as an
educator of 33 years I also know that well before 2019 we've been trained how to hand situations and this situation does seem to be an extreme situation and I am having to look at the student first so I
just it I appreciate our council's recommendation however I've studied this closely the last two weeks also and I just wanted to explain why that I will not be uh voting for The restoration thank you m
Maxwell any other comments Mr chair if I may make some clarifications for the record here yes um we are recommending let me backtrack first and foremost we thank each of you all for your feedback our job as your staff is to provide recommendations But ultimately the decision does lie with
each of you and your wisdom your decision so we appreciate your feedback I want to clarify the recommendation which is written here is restoration with stipulation Miss Campbell if restored by this board will have to take restraint professional development in restraint training so she will not
reenter the classroom um without having the appropriate supports in that way also because she is placed in the record I will note that she has completed conditions necessary to have her criminal record expunged that's not something that we would put
forward first uh that information is certainly available to you but because she's put it in the record today she has completed those conditions to allow for her criminal record to be exped thank you other comments Mr Griffin Would you please
call the RO Mr cin hi M oberson hi Mr H hi Mr Jensen hi Miss Johnson hi M Maxwell
nay M mcer hi Mr MO hi hi Mr well hi Mr chairman I Mr chairman you have nine eyes motion passes thank you Mr chair M Campbell we uh do hope you've
learned from this experience and you'll take this back and be the educator we know you can be thank you next item is U pulled out Brenda Smith item Q yeah the board's recommendation for Miss brend Smith is a formal reprimand have
you to take any questions or comments Mr chairman um the reason I asked for this to be pulled is that um given the situation I feel that the recommendation of a formal reprimand does not rise to the level of action
that was taken by by this educator thank you do we want to uh talk a little more about why we don't think this is the level based on that the incidence certainly uh speaking
generally first oh excuse me is this better at all all right uh speaking generally so board staff on the case Review Committee receives information evaluates that information then makes this recommendation based on
the information we received for this educator the recommendation from the case Review Committee was the formal refand um we would have looked at uh employment history any kind of mitigating information that the educator would provide statement context anything like that uh information from law
enforcement all that kind of stuff Mr Mr chairman Mr Hol so is as a matter of precedent when we have teachers who have a who bring a loaded gun to school and and let it leave it in in a handbag um in a room
where they're not present anymore I I share Dr Maxwell's concern on this is this something that we're saying sort of as precedent that you can do that and not have any sort of consequence to your license other than a reprimand and is that something that we
have said before or is this kind of breaking new ground on the circumstan in the Pres we set sure I'm not I'm not sure if I can speak directly to the presidential value um admittedly this is not a type type of thing that really happens that often um having said that
the board is welcome and free to project recommendation and propose an alternative sanction that I can and will then take to the educator for consideration for either acceptance or rejection possible move on to it
and yes Mr H go ahead um and and what would be sort of the next level or two up above historically for of a formal refand sure so um that would be suspension or reputation um kind of a
subsection or subset under suspension could be a retroactive suspension uh which would not take the educator out of the classroom but would be on their record and do I understand correctly this educator is already out of the
classroom anyways she was non-renewed but I think from what I was able to say I think she may be staffed at another school now and do you recall I'm sorry I'm looking through the the papers for it um when the incident occurred so if we were
to do a retroactive um some sort of retroactive consequence what whether that would result in the teacher being suspended like what what do you know when the incident
occurred looks like the incident occurred on March 28th of 24 thank you Mr chairman Mr M thank you gentlemen just a couple quick questions I just want to highlight and ask you to confirm my
understanding of the facts here um Miss Smith in this case she has a handgun carry permit which depending on when she obtained that would have at least meant that she went underw a background check uh it may have also included uh some training again kind of
depending on when she might have obtained that handgun carry permit uh your file indicates that that handgun carry permit is valid correct yeah I believe so yeah that that was some information I she submitted the school district okay um my
understanding is that when confronted with this issue there was she did not object to it she didn't resist it uh it it appeared to have been I'll call it an honest mistake um and that she peacefully cooperated with
everyone who investigated the matter is that your understanding well yes she she submitted a letter uh expressing apology for okay and then from a from from a procedural standpoint my understanding is that um the particular interaction
here requires the board to uh take some action in other words we can't take no action is that correct I think it's it's within your discretion to whether to take action it certainly is grounds that arises to actionable conduct but there's no
requirement that that action be taken okay so the floor to kind of use that as a as a as a a way to sort of describe the range the floor is we can do nothing uh up to a maximum of something and what you have recommended is somewhere in
between is that correct yes okay all right thank you and what I'll build on to answer your question m h about setting a president each one of these cases is looked at on a case-by casee basis so while we do provide you know um
historical context for a lot of these recommendations it doesn't tie the board to that particular recommendation so um you are welcome to to go outside of of those cases that we've had similar previously just just because everything
is evaluated Case by case so there are you know unique factors of each case mitigating and and non- mitigating so just wanted to clarify that uh if you were to vote for the formal repr today it's it's not essentially tying your hands for few future cases to go outside
of that Mr sh yes sir just a second Danielle thank you so in Miss Smith's case thank you all for your comments there was no conviction generally guns are prohibited on school property
there's an interplay between both state and federal law in regards to who can and cannot have firearms on school property in this situation Miss Smith was charged under the state statutes however after review by local
authorities her case was dismissed she does have a carry permit it's unclear to us whether that is an enhanced permit or the regular permit we would need to dig into that a little deeper that matters because when you're dealing with gunfree school zones there is a car a carveout
regarding the enhanced permits versus just the regular carry permit I give all of that background because we have brought this case to you all on a theory of negligence that is that she did not act in a reasonable manner there was a
potential for harm so we are not moving forward based on any criminal convictions charges or actions but based on the fact that she did have that loaded weapon in the faculty bathroom we did consider that the risk of harm was significantly low in this situation and
the remorse as has been outlined by my colleagues here so I do want to make sure we're clarifying that for the record this is one of the very few weapons cases that we have brought before this board and to my understanding the prior cases have dealt with weapons that have been uh generally on school property but not as clear that
was within the school building so it may have been on a parking in a parking lot or somewhere else which is distinct certainly from bringing into the school but I do want to make that clear for this board that we are moving forward on this theory of negligence or other good
cause as it's listed in our thank you Mr NIS Mr M thank you thank you Mr chairman um two two questions one my understanding is that the purse was found in a faculty area it was not found
in a classroom as an example um would you consider there to be a distinction in terms of the negligence theory in this case would you consider there to be distinction between finding a person in for example a faculty classroom versus a kids class or a faculty Lounge versus a
kids classroom every inquiry that we do is fact intensive and I think generally speaking I believe we would consider the location of the weapon and it's ability to be accessed by students as we're making that uh determination okay thank you and then the second question
is if we assume for a second that this is an enhanced carry permit which um involves addition training scrutiny would that would you find that to also be a distinction in in sort of considering a
negligence cause here let me kind of speak a little more generally and not to that specific statute when we have situations that implicate criminal charges we understand that criminal charges if somebody's to be convicted carry a significantly higher burden
Beyond a reasonable doubt that does not prohibit us us from looking at the underlying conduct in our rule where our burden of proof is lower and so even if she is not convicted or even if someone was we could still consider that
underlying conduct under our rule under a lower burden of proof and we see that in several cases um outside of the criminal context as well yeah and and just to be clear I'm not um questioning the burden of proof as much as I'm just trying to understand if if the if your
the staff's concern the staff's recommendation is based on NE a negligence theory in this particular case if a person in order to receive for example an enhanced gun carry permit has to reach a higher bar you know more background checks or more
training etc etc my assumption is that um that person's actions will be viewed as less less negligent just because of the training and and background checks etc etc as compared to someone for example who either has no P
car perit at all or has the handun care permit that's not enhanced would you agree I think I can comparably say yes we would consider that as a factor when looking at the cases okay thank you thank you for being so informed on this as well it's great to
be able to just ask questions great get great answers Mr Wales thank you Mr chairman so I have two questions I guess two different people uh so Dr Max why um I have Defence for you your experience and so
um do you have a recommendation on what you would do and I you can maybe think that through or what you recommend for for us to do um you can think that through my next question so Daniel I I don't know if you're equipped for this one or not but let's say if if a parent
had done this um how would we have done that how would we how would that been handled obviously wouldn't have come to us but uh and then also student had done this um what what I worry about is
uh bringing a gun on campus is a very big deal and so I don't want us to uh you know lower that expectation in any way um and I am someone who pretty much conceals every day uh at my office and so I understand how mistakes can be made
when you're used to doing something like that but um uh that bringing gun on campus is is is is very very serious de so um kind of struggling with both of those those two things if I'm understanding your
question correctly is how should we view those three uh stakeholder groups so first and foremost we only have authority over teacher licenses so we're looking at disciplining the teachers's license and the conduct that would call their license into question or or call
you know require for it to be disciplined the statutes as I understand them discuss non adult or non-student adults is how they phrase it in the statute about who can or cannot have weapons on campus and so those carve outs are really specific in the state
statute and forgive me for not having it up in front of me um but there are certain situations in which a non student adult can have a weapon on campus it is um off the top of my head there are exceptions for having an unloaded weapon going through to hunting
grounds having permission to hunt uh and different things like that and we can certainly circulate that information to you and the board once we conclude here uh and then there is an interplant with the federal law of course and so if a parent were to bring it on campus we would not we but the uh law enforcement
would look at it through those through the lens of those statutes if a student brought it on campus similarly there are statutes that dictate the behavior of students and what isn't is not allowed to be on campus and so as Dr Maxwell has pointed out certainly the penalty is
significantly greater for a student bringing a weapon on campus but our rule in line with the criminal statute that's been carved out recognizes there is a distinction between an adult who has a weapon on campus and a child who may
have a weapon on campus there are in our rulle specific reference to giving juveniles handguns and so going back to Mr mh's Question if for some reason an adult were to supply a weapon to a juvenal there would be significant criminal penalty and and there will be
revocation under our rule of their license I have a question um student I mean a teacher we now allow teachers to bring guns on the school are they required to notify or do they not
typically notify the principal someone on the staff that they have a gun I am actually going to defer to Mr James who has extraordinary familiarity with that statute but I do want to say the board does not participate in the permission given related to Educators
who are able to be on campus with weapons my understanding is under that statute there are many many safeguards put in place including communication between multiple local state stakeholders and training in order for
an educator to have a weapon and uh no you're fine I was I was going to say if see if there's anything else Mr James wanted to add to that besides the very stri stringent uh requirements that were put into the statute I think our general counsel
wants to say something I'm happy that thank you and and I'll defer to Mr James as well um Rachel sup general counsel um for the C board I appreciate all these um really great questions and and certainly understand and uh take
seriously the issue here uh as my team has presented this phas a lot of really in the weeds um regulations at the state federal and sometimes even local level um that we have to consider on a case-by
casee basis for each one of these uh handgun related cases and what I would like to to offer to the board is if there's any additional clarification or further discussions that we should be having to discuss uh these recent
changes that have been made um on a lot of these gun laws I'm happy to kind of provide any additional context we can discuss it um at a workshop presentation if that would be helpful however we can best you know get that information to you so that it's clear what the rules
are as as applied to students versus parents versus teachers um but it is is it is pretty in the weeds as my team has um conveyed I hope so I want to continue the conversation um and I'll defer it to Mr James for anything else
Mr M M Mr chairman there there's uh obviously there was a lot of attention paid to recent statutory changes which would authorize a a superintendent of schools to in
conjunction and after extensive training uh to to allow a teacher to carry a weapon if that teacher asked to do so the principal endorsed it the super intendant requested it and the sheriff or the chief law enforcement
officer approved it after extensive training so so that's very very much a different sort of circumstance than what you have here but if you watch the news on it you wouldn't you wouldn't get all of those details in so I I would suggest
that you know even if it was a a 20 minute conversation we had at our next uh Workshop it might be good to have a a detailed kind of you know 101 on that statute yeah I I think you know
obviously there's some training that the districts need to be sure that they do but I think under this case uh correct me if I'm wrong but this teacher had not notified the front office that they were carrying a gun is that correct that is
correct and to be very clear that this case before this board does not in any way implicate the recent uh changes by the legislature in the statute involving Educators carrying weapons she in her statements indicated that she forgot it
from the evening before and express her great remorse for having left it in the in her purse and and fortunately she left it in a teacher Lounge but if she had left that purse in a classroom and had forgotten it and a student had happened to get a hold of it so the fact
that it's in the Teachers Lounge to me doesn't make any really difference the fact that it was on school property was not the school system had not been notified that she was carrying on school property that gives me a lot of concern
certainly yes Miss Maxwell so Mr chairman if I can reframe maybe my concern here so I do feel like she's very remorseful I I think it was an accident that she forgot that and I appreciate all of my fellow board members comments
about this um I think because she was a had a gun caring permit it calls into question though when you go through all of that training you know that you are responsible for that weapon 247 you know so that's why that I feel that a formal
reprimand is just not does not rise to the level and I also want to add I I was taught from a very young age to respect Firearms um those are stories for other times uh very positive stories um but
it's is just that I I think that the level of of action needs to be a little more than a formal refand possibly you know some type of suspension a retroactive
suspension I don't think this was intentional but it could have also unintentional things often turn into very bad situations so I just wanted to clarify thank you Dr Maxwell and this
body is always welcome to reject any recommendations that are made as you all have the final say and and a board member can represent a suspension recommend a suspension if they so desire
um yes Miss Johnson just a quick question did the fact that she did not receive um criminal charges have anything to play into the decision that is recommended and why did she not why was she found
not guilty of criminal charges or am I or am I asking too much my understanding is the charges didn't go for they so and so she was never there she there was no con conviction at all related to the so she
was never charged she was charged and she was arrested and then the case was eventually dismissed I I in reviewing I don't remember seeing any narrative around why it was dismissed and that often doesn't come with court documents I will say that we consider all factors
related to a case when reviewing them and making the recommendation thank you other questions yes Mr I have a clarifying question I'm I should have done this beforehand I'm looking at it in real time right now section 39-1 17-
1309 of the Tennessee code which is the criminal offense section or possession of firearms on school property and it's not the simplest code section and I don't want to step beyond my Lane here to do my own legal analysis right now but I'm not seeing in here having any
type of permit being a defense to having a loaded weapon on a school campus outside of in a person's vehicle that is correct whether enhanced or not and so I I guess there's a question of you know
whe whether a prosecutor decides this is worth Prosecuting someone to try to send them to prison for a classy felony for up to six years versus the obligations that we have to ensure that there are Educators that we feel comfortable with in classrooms and on school campuses so
I I see those two things as a different a different analysis of should this person be locked up for some extended amount of time or should we impose some sort of consequence beyond the formal reprimand on bringing a weapon on the SCH property so I want to be very clear
that the state statute does not make that distinction but there is a federal statute that does make that distinction and then the state statute does um refer to the um portion that outlines what
would be required for a an enhanced gun carry permit and I forget exactly the interplay there but I believe you are correct and as I said earlier because the way we view it is because the burdens are different we are not prohibited from taking action even when there is not criminal um when when there
are not criminal charges and so we do believe we're still able to take action I will note that the state criminal statute as far as um the delineation between the um conviction class it is an E felony only if that person's intent to
go has the intent to go armed whereas simply carrying and possessing it would have been a be great thank you I'll take this opportunity to I guess respond Mr H I agree that it
doesn't have a technical application in this case the reason I was trying to sort of highlight that was that as I understand the staff's recommendation is based on a theory of negligence uh and and and that brings into question I think um to to what extent is the
person's competency and understanding what they're doing create a dangerous situation and I would suggest that if someone is totally unfamiliar with Firearms if they have a criminal record if they kind of create a list of a lot of things if if if that were the case
here then in my mind negligence is like kind of it really supports at minimum um I think a claim of negligence if on the other hand it's someone who has undergone training if they've had a background check they don't have a criminal record etc etc all the things
that would be required for them to have a handgun carry permit under under current law then in my mind it would um you certainly a mistake was made but you to what
extent how heavy is that weight on the scale and I think someone who has that background who has that training who's more aware to your point it doesn't make it okay but it it it would suggest that that the negligence is is less
likely to lead to bad outcomes because they're just they do have training and they do have Etc that that was so I think we have a couple of options here uh we could go ahead and we could vote on the recommendation we
could alter the recommendation or we could ask our attorney to go back and relook at the situation um personally I have I have real heartburn which is giving a u reprimand
for anybody bringing a gun to school unknowingly known by you know by the administration and um so I guess it's up to this board do you want to vote on this motion is there a
motion to uh amend the motion or do we want to table the motion and ask for a recommendation from yes M Mr James Mr chairman at this time there there's no there's been no U motion to approve the
Stafford Place of awaiting a motion by a member thank you CH one last question for our staff so if I'm understanding you correctly um Miss Smith is currently teaching somewhere in the state of Tennessee that is my
understanding yes I believe she okay so if we do anything if we revoke her license for example we would effectively be removing her from that classroom instantly correct that would remove her ability teach but the option on the table right
now Mr mhow is not to revoke her license understand okay I just want to be my understanding is that the what you're recommending is a reprimand which would allow her to continue teaching teaching but it would formalize it would formalize the fact that that she made a mistake and it
would sort of put uh at least at least educator at least administrators in the state of Tennessee on notice that this had happened in the past uh but it would allow her to continue teaching as she currently is whereas if we revoke we're going to immediately pull her out of that
classroom thank you I'm going to move that we table this uh to the December meeting and ask our legal council to look at the situation and bring back a recommendation I'm not ready to vote on this recommendation certainly am not
ready to approve what was recommended to us uh so I move to table that closes off any discussion if somebody seconds we have a second to the table all in favor second all in favor
for tbling this to come back in December with additional information signifi by saying I I oppose motion carried thank you thank you Mr chair that brings us to the action items
break oh yes that's right we do have one more uh we have to take action on those items that were not pulled we have recommendations on each one of those is there a motion to accept the recommendations as presented Mr cins moves is there second
second I'm sorry second okay second by Miss Maxwell any further discussion this requires a roll call vote Mr cin hi M Roberson hi Mr Hol hi Mr
Jensen M Johnson hi Miss Maxwell I miss mcer I Mr mol now hi Mr Wells hi Mr chairman hi Mr chairman you have 10 eyes motion
passes let's take a 10-minute break it is uh 10:38 we'll reconvene it we'll say 1050 e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e 3 minutes 3 minutes e e e e e let's reconvene ready to go to items on first
reading first item is Educator licens your policy can we please have a quiet yeah we're ready to go I know we all want to get out of here if we can uh items on first reading educator licens
your policy Miss Taylor re good morning Taylor Reed senior director of lure for the Department Tennessee State Board of Education educator lure policy 5502 outlines General lure requirements including application and duration of LIC lies
professional development points and endorsements this item revises the validity period for professional level licenses from no more than 7 years to no more than 11 years to align with recently passed changes to the educator relation to rule 0520 d23 in accordance
with chapter 105 of the public acts of 2024 this item establishes two new endorsements provisional integrated early childhood education bir through K and provisional integrated early childhood education prek through three
which will allow out ofate Educators and current Tennesse Educators who have not yet obtained these endorsements to teach in a special education classroom for up to three years while working towards completing requirements for the continuously renewable version of the endorsement this item also adds an option for educators to obtain
additional endorsements through coursework only requirements removes specific grade bands from allowable district flexibilities and allows the department to determine applicable endorsements and flexibilities the Department of Education recommends acceptance of this item on first reading
the SB staff concurs with this recommendation happy to take any questions thank you we have a recommendation from the Department is there a motion well we got to get a motion on the table so get it on the table then we
can officially discuss all right SM mov so moves is there a second Dr Maxwell I think Miss Max Dr Maxwell second it okay now you can ask your question sorry I may have J jumped again earlier but can do you have any idea of
what will be assessment only because according to the document right now and I know you have to wait for us to approve the policy change so can you kind of talk to us about that yes so at the request uh we have been working with program teams to expand those options
however I believe the more the the better way to answer your question would be there are areas where it would not be applicable such as special education unless the educator holds a special education endorsement on their current license and that is just to align with
Federal prohibitions um so an example like you mentioned earlier that a k6 teacher would currently could not add Middle grades that that flexibility would occur with these changes uh however we and we are in the process and
on track to complete that guidance U much before the timeline of me bringing this on Final reading before you all in February however we should not publish that guidance because we would not be able to operationalize it currently and so there will be a lot of expanded areas however there will be some areas where
it would not be developmentally appropriate and a lot of those aligned with special education uh notably okay perfect thank you so much absolutely other question yes Miss Maxwell just to clarify so if you had an educator that had a 4 through eight Ela
license they would be permitted to take the assessment to gain High School lure yes so this item actually would allow three Pathways there would be an assessment only pathway for applicable endorsements there would be a coursework
only pathway for applicable endorsements and there would also be a coursework and assessment option if one of the the two prior Pathways would not be available in the situation that you're speaking about we do anticipate that yes a 4 through eight Middle grades teacher even though those are retired endorsements of course
so teach the license remains active they would be able to choose either the coursework only or assessment only Pathways to obtain uh certification in those areas if they don't hold a major in the content area and which at which point they'd be able to add the
endorsement any any other questions we have a motion in a second on first reading for educator Li policy 5502 all in favor saying I I oos motion carries thank you m
re next item is Career and Technical education core standards Mr de n good morning Deborah null assistant Commissioner of college Career and Technical education presenting on first reading for the Career and Technical education course standards TCA
49-13 302 A8 authorizes the State Board of Education to approve all academic standards and adop rules and policies governing courses of study in the public schools additionally state board rule calls for the State Board to adopt standards for each subject area grades K
through 12 the standard review policy 3.09 requires the Department of Education to review the Career and Technical cor standards at a minimum of every three years the approved standards are are to be the basis for planning instructional programs in each local
school system this item includes devis course standards for the following CTE uh career clusters which is the Education and Training the two courses that are listed there are early childhood education careers one and early childhood education careers 4 it
also includes new courses within the following CTE clusters which is a brand new one it's our energy and sustainable resources which is a new Career Cluster I do want to note that this was done um in really strong collaboration with the
governor's newly appointed tenant nuclear energy advisory Council so we did um really collaborate with that Council those members um and we also um collaborated with some postsecondary and some secondary teachers in creating this in your supplementary packet I believe
there is a letter support that we did um provide as well from that Council the four courses are foundations of energy fundamentals of clean energy fundamentals of nuclear energy and an energy practicum another nuclear cluster was
our marketing and research analytics and we've got three courses within that we have the marketing research analytics one two and also a practicum course the high school CT courses have been created an update updated based on the revised
framework of the CTE career clusters and with educational feedback that align more closely with industry and postsecondary needs industry Partners secondary and post-secondary Educators have all reviewed these um new and
revised standards additional feedback will be solicited between the first and final reading and the recommendation right now is the Department of Education recomends acceptance of this item on first reading and the State Board of Education staff
concurs with this recommendation happy to take any questions we have a recommendation uh on first reading is there motion to accept the recommendation Vice chair cobbins moves second Jensen seconds questions
comments I would say that I'm delighted to see the one on energy particular in nuclear energy being from Oakridge you know I think this is in line with the efforts of the governor to make Tennessee the energy state of the
of the country the nuclear energy state of the country so glad to see that one come through other comments or questions if none we have a recommendation Motion in a second for Career and Technical education core standards all in favor
signify by saying I I opposed motion carries thank you Miss no next item Fine Arts academic standards Christi wall good morning again Christy wall uh Department of Education assistant commissioner for academics bringing on
first reading uh Fine Arts academic standards TCA 491302 A8 authorizes the State Board of Education to approve all academic standards and adopt rules and policies governing courses of study in public schools additionally state board rle
0520 D 01-03 d03 subsection one calls for the State Board to adopt standards for each subject area grades K12 the approved standards are to be the basis of planning instructional programs in each
Local School System state board standards review policy 3209 requires the State Board um to review all sets of academic standards at a minimum of every eight years the Department of Education conduct stakeholder Outreach during the 2324
school year to recruit subject matter experts from the following disciplines within Fine Arts Dance Theater media art Visual Arts General music instrumental music vocal music and music theory these
subject matter experts convened in March of 2024 to recommend the revisions to the Fine Arts standards the subject matter experts included representation from elementary through High School Educators District in instructional supervisors and adjunct professors
districts also submitted input to guide these recommendations and best practices from professional organizations that were Iz throughout the revision process this item includes revisions to the current standard document and guidance on K12 Fine Arts standards and
the changes in summary include a revised introduction to align with proposed revision throughout the standards revisions to language across all disciplines to increase Clarity and precision clearer differentiation between grade levels for some
standards inclusion of standards for a fourth High School course in Visual and media arts for congruency with other Fine Arts disciplines inclusion of enduring understandings and essential understandings in theater and dance again for congruence with other Fine
Arts subjects removal of some very specific examples to provide more flexibility in instruction the department will solicit additional feedback and public stakeholder input between the first and final reading of this item pursuant to
TCA 49- 1-39 the state board will submit the proposed changes to the education committees to the House and Senate prior to the final reading these standards changes are anticipated to go into effect during the 2028 2029 school year
uh with that the Department of Education recommends acceptance of this item on first reading and the State Board staff concurs with the recommendation I'm happy to take any questions we have a recommendation for Fine Arts academic standards is there a motion to accept
that recommendation Mr Wells moves is there a second Vice chair cin seconds questions yes Mr Jansen would you help me understand why this doesn't take or sounds like some of it takes effect
immediately but then the says 28 29 school year I just need clarification on that yes sir so the review started earlier in 2024 um by the time that this item comes for first reading and then final reading we want to ensure that um
updated standards and guidance are in place and ready for for roll out to districts and implementation as it falls in line with with the review um of required standards revisions these items are actually overdue for for standard
revision and implementation um and so the recommendation is to to give a bit of prolonged time simply because this item is coming to you all on first reading during the mid midpoint of the Academic Year for this for this particular
year other questions I was glad to see the standards uh change like dance which provide more flexibility to the teachers very positive we have a motion in a second to
accept on first reading Fine Arts academic standards all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries thank you m wall next item individualized education accounts rule 052011 one-2 0304 0608
n10 fa waves good morning I know you've all heard it at least twice already but as a lifelong resident of this area welcome to West Tennessee I'm Farah Williams I'm the senior director of the esa and the
Ia programs TCA 49104 and the iea rule 052011 outlin the student eligibility and participation requirements of the iea program in order to align with the
requirements for non-public schools as well as to provide additional Clarity in select program areas this item proposes the following revisions to the Ia program rules the reference to criminal background checks is revised to cross refence refence in align with the
existing approval requirements for non-public schools the current criminal background check requirements in the rule for participating iea schools are duplicative for interested schools and current Partners this past week govops
heard similar changes to the esa rule in light of govops questioning about the maintaining of Records around criminal background checks and our desire to ensure the safety of all students as well as for clarity there might be slight revisions to these rules between
first and final read with the intention of the Ia rules mirroring the esa rules department and state board attorneys will work together on those adjustments additionally a deadline is added to the return of iea participation
agreement documentation for timely program implementation financial accounting and accurate enrollment without that signed participation agreement IA funds are not able to be loaded into accounts therefore it is a
required document to complete program enrollment for preciseness this item adds language to specify the minimum amount of the annual award that must be expended each contract year to avoid funds being withheld in the next
contract year this item adds additional options for fi I'm sorry for financial verification to clarify requirements for schools interested in or currently participating in the iea program currently the rule states that a school
must submit a shity bond to demonstrate Financial viability this item adds the option for participating school to also submit a certified public accountant letter or federal tax return form to verify Financial
viability this item also removes references to expense reports throughout the rules to align with how participating families currently report extended funds each account holder May report expenses through a quarter uh throughout the quarter and upload
supporting receipts these are reviewed on a rolling basis and reviews are completed prior to the next quarterly dispersement of funds therefore any reference to a one-time quarterly expense report is not applicable to the current program
implementation finally the language around the appeal process is edited to clarify the overall process and deadlines the Department of Education recommends acceptance of this item on first read the SB staff confers concurs
with this recommendation does anyone have any questions we have a recommendation for individualized Education counts Rule 5 0520 0111 02346 08 and 10 is there a motion to
accept this Vice chair cin moves is there a second second with a comment Mr mull seconds and M mull you have the floor thank you just a quick question what stakeholders do you intend to engage
between now and final read most of this work to my understanding will be among our department and state board attorneys uh to make sure that we are clarifying everything everything that is um
questioned about any of that maintenance of Records okay um I guess the the the yellow flag not a red flag just a the yellow flag would be making sure
that uh the people that represent some of the for example the the participating school what it referred to as participating schools just making sure that we understand the burden that for example getting a shity bond might place on them whether
or not there's other ways to accomplish the objective but without adding more layers of paperwork financial burden um record checking etc etc um would you mind just following up with me between now and second reading on on how
we're at least getting somebody else's eyes on this and getting their sort of boots on the ground perspective absolutely and just to clarify the the rule as currently written is the one that requires the shy Bond the changes or the the edits that we're suggesting
would allow two additional ways for schools to demonstrate that Financial viability so they could have a a statement from their CPA or they could submit their tax information without having to go to the expense of that charity Bond yeah okay great yeah so and I was just kind of skimming that section
again some notes and thank you for that clarification I guess to extend the question further this describes these as as as minimum requirements which means that there's any number of other requirements that could be imposed at a later time to
include you know things that that might very well be viewed as burdensome so again if we could just get their eyes on it I just want to make sure that we um are getting industry perspective if you will on this particular issue understood we can do that we have an advisory
Council that could actually help with that okay yeah you just let's let's talk after the meeting then other questions Mr cins just want a clarification on the uh removal of the criminal background
check so when the rules were written many years ago for the Ia program the rules around criminal background checks were not called out explicitly in that non-public rule that non-public rule has gone through significant revisions since then so we are only aligning what we are
requiring our participating non-public schools to submit or to to maintain aligning that to that rule that the nonpublic schools already has in place we don't want to be duplicative or put any other burdens on our
schools other questions we have a recommendation and a motion for first reading on individualized education Council rule all in favor signify by saying I I oppose motion
carries next item graduation substitution policy Miss Christie wall Miss Rob good morning again uh chrisy wall assistant Commissioner of academics Tennessee Department of Education bringing to you on first reading graduation sub subtitution policy
3103 the state board's graduation substitution policy 3103 allow outlines allowable course substitutions for graduation uh requirement credits this item proposes clarifying the allowability of using a course
substitution to satisfy one graduation requirement and El elective Focus requirement the department and State Board of Education have provided long understanding guidance to leas that students may use a course substitution
to satisfy one graduation requirement while also counting the course towards their elective Focus for example a student may count a course in the graduation substitutions policy as a substitution for a required math credit and use the course to meet their
elective Focus such as an AP elective Focus or a CTE program of study this item codifies this guidance in policy to provide clear expectations for leas students will soon be require will will
still be required excuse me to meet all other requirements of the diploma type including the minimum number of credits the Department of Education recommends acceptance of this item on first reading the State Board staff concurs with the recommendation and I'm
happy to take questions on this item we have a recommendation on graduation substitution policy 3103 is there a desired action from this board Vice chair cins moves is there a second student member Miss everon second
very good you like that idea of changing graduation Poli any questions no questions all in favor then for accepting graduation substitution policy 3103 as presented signify by
saying I I oppose motion carries thank you Mr wall next item high school policy 2103 Mr Michael good morning Michael derline Deputy executive director of policy and research with the State Board the high school policy Builds on the academic and
instructional requirements rule setting forth instructional requirements for high school students this item aligns with two recently adopted changes to that rule including one related to mathematics so removing the requirement that students take math in four years of
high school replacing it with the requirement that they can do so in three years but still have to take four credits also changes that were made to align with um requirements for eoc's reducing the percentage by which a student uh eoc's count for their grade
from 15 to 25% down to 5 to 15% with that happy to take any questions you may have we have a recommendation I'm going move to accept that recommendation since this math thing is something that I had pushed for so I'll make the motion to
accept as recommended high school policy 2103 is there a second our student member seconds questions comments I think this continues to show how we work closely with uh schools and
with our students and listen to our student members on providing value added as well as providing options and opportunities for our students so I think this is very good any other comments or questions no comments or questions all in favor then for accepting high school
policy 2103 signify by saying I I oppose motion carries could I can I make one change can I change and let her make the motion and I second it I don't know how we do that but sure M Mr chairman you you could do that
by asking unanimous consent that the record reflect that all right I'm going to ask for unanimous consent that Miss alberon makes the motion and I do the second that you say without objection all favor signify by saying I iose thank you good
motion all right that finishes our uh first reading items we now move to our final reading first is professional assessments for tenness educator policies 5 105 Miss Taylor Reed good morning again Taylor Reed senior director of educator lure Tennessee
State Board of Education professional assessments for Tennessee Educators policy 5105 outlines General assessment requirements as well as pedagogical specialty area content and foundational literacy skills assessments this item proposes the following revision to section three specialty area content
assessments identifies the national evaluation series NES 815 educational leadership as an option for reactivation of an instructional leader license clarifies the education of young children assessment code 5024 under the early development in learning prek
through K endorsement as an applicable assessment upon lure renewal for job embedded candidates which was inadvertently left off the early development and learning prek through K endorsement and adds the previously approved special education foundational knowledge assessment code 5355
assessment to additional special education endorsement areas to reflect changes and assessments provided by the vendor and includes corresponding acceptance dates there have been no changes to this item since first reading the Department of Education recommends acceptance of this item on Final reading
the S staff concurs with this recommendation we have a recommendation for Prof professional assessments forcy educator policies 5105 is there a motion to accept on Final reading Mr Jensen moves Vice chair cin
second Is there further discussion no further discussion all in favor for accepting professional assessments for Tennessee educator policy 5105 signify by saying I I oppose motion carries next item let read educator LC
rule Taylor Reed senior director of lure Tennessee State Board of Education educator LC rule 052 0-23 outlines the license types issued in Tennessee and Pathways towards lure sections D point 03 through d08 govern
the issuance of various educator licenses and section-10 outlines the requirements for instructional leader licenses this item proposes revising educator license rule 05203 sections
-.3 -.5 d08 and- point10 to amend degree requirements for lure issuance to include institutions with regional or national organizations recognized by the council for higher education accreditation known as Chia or the United States Department of Education
USD proposed revisions would also allow an individual holding a degree from a nationally accredited institution recognized by Chia or us doe to be issued a license provided all other applicable requirements have been met corresponding revisions were approved to the permits rule -12 on Final reading at
the state board meeting held on August 16 2024 state board SE hel a rul making hearing on October 8th 2024 to collect public feedback minor typographical and formatting changes were made on Final reading that do not impact the substance of the rule the Department of Education
recommends approval of this item on Final reading the SB staff concurs with this recommendation we have a recommendation for educator license Rule 0520 d023 03058 and 0.10 is there a motion to
accept Mr so moves is there a second Mr well seconds any discussion this is uh a rule which requires a roll call vote Mr cins
I miss oberson I Mr H Mr Jansen Mr Jansen I can hear you I miss Johnson
I miss Maxwell I miss mcer I Mr Molen hour I Mr Wells I Mr chairman I Mr chairman you have 10 I motion passes thank you next item is
Educator preparation rule 0520 0204 0408 and .1 M Brook M Mr Michael derine assistant Commissioner of human capital with the Department this item will be jointly presented with my
colleague the Tennessee State Board of Education educator preparation rule 0520 02- four outlines the educator preparation requirements in Tennessee and approval of educator preparation providers EPs and Specialty area programs the sections being addressed
today govern EP approval EP Admissions and requirements for clinical experiences for EP candidates this item proposes to amend the approval of EP Rule section-4 and admission to EP rule section 08 to include Regional and nationally accredited uh recognized
accreditation organization recognized by the council for higher education accreditation Chia or the United States Department of Education us doe to be Chia recognized an institutions accreditor must meet the Chia standards for recognition for us doe recognition
and institutions a creditor must demonstrate that accreditation standards are enforced effectively the US doe primarily recognizes accreditors with programs leading to certification as opposed to degree granting programs uh my colleague will present on the
remainder of this item thank you Michael derline Deputy executive director of policy and research with the State Board additionally there are recommendations before you related to clinical practice and clinical mentoring uh on October 16
2024 the board and Department staff held a lure review committee meeting during that meeting we received significant feedback from them on this recommendation essentially they would like to move to a place where edtpa is removed for all clinical practice
Pathways the recommendation before you reflects a desire to improve clinical practice AC or I'm sorry clinical practice across the board so not just with the internship clinical practice pathway so uh there are recommendations related to the observation tools that
mention have to use and the frequency of observations that must occur during clinical practice uh in February we will bring additional recommendations to move forward the recommendation to remove the edtpa assessment with that happy to take any questions you may have we have a
recommendation is there desire for this board to take action your motion I make the motion M Maxwell moves to accept is there a second M MF seconds
further discussion yes just a comment Mr chairman thank you all so much for working on this um I appreciate that very much also because of the rigorous clinical practices that our universities will ensure that our candidates are
participating in I think something we need to think about because there are other Pathways students pre-service teachers coming into our state because we we need all the help we can get as far as recruiting teachers um I think you know in the future we may need to
look at the clinical practices that our future pre-service teachers are receiving from other lure programs that's a great point Thank You other comments or
questions no comment or questions we have a recommendation a motion in a second for Education preparation rule 0522 040408 and10 this requires a roll call vote Mr
Griffin Mr cins hi M oberson hi Mr H hi Mr Jansen I Miss Johnson i m miss mawell I miss mcer hi Mr hi Mr Wells
hi Mr chairman hi Mr chairman you have motion passes thank you next item is State approved textbooks science Mr Hayden Shad has prepared a final uh list of textbooks and instructional resources
for Section d science TCA 491302 A9 states that it is the duty of the State Board of Education and the state board has the power to prescribe the use of textbooks and other instructional materials based on recommendations of the state textbook
and instructional materials quality commission for the various subjects taught or used in conjunction with Public Schools TCA 496 2202a requires the state textbook and instructional materials quality Commission prepare a list of standard
additions of textbooks and instructional materials for approval by the State Board of Education for the use in public schools in the state TCA 49622 n1a also provides that the commission
through its chair May appoint an advisory panel of expert teachers and other experts in each subject area or grade level to advise the commission on textbook and structural material selections the chair of the commission
led the advisory panel application review between October 20123 and March 2024 during the march 2024 meeting the commission accepted applications to F an advisory panel consisting of science
Educators their applications were scored by both the commission and subject matter experts at the Tennessee Department of Education they also approved the scoring rubric for material focusing on three categories first Publishers had to provide Tennessee
standard alignment guides second materials had to cover 100% of the state's standards to align with chapter 990 of the public acts 2022 and third materials had to meet 80% of the quality indicators outlined by
the commission the panelist conducted independent reviews between April 26th and June 28th 20 24 these reports were disseminated to the commission members during the July 30 2024 meeting
Publishers who wish to appeal the initial decision made by panelists had the opportunity to resubmit their revised text to the commission during August and September 2024 following first reading by the board in August 2024 the commission met
again on October 2nd 2024 to hear publisher appeals to the initial panel reviews and consider any public comment written or verbal there were no Publishers who wished to speak regarding their appeal and the commission received no public comments either written or
verbal all Publishers who did submit an appeal to the commission during August and September 2024 upon re-review and scoring by expert panelists were recommended for approval on October 2nd 2024 the commission voted 9 to one to
approve the recommended list before you today for Section D science textbooks and instructional materials this item presents the final science textbooks recommended by the commission for approval by the state board upon final reading the Tennessee textbook and instructional material quality
commission recommends the approval of this item on Final reading and the SBE staff concurs with this recommendation I'll be more than happy to answer any questions we have a recommendation to approve state approved textbook section
d science is there a motion to take such action Vice chair cins moves is there a second Miss Johnson seconds are there any questions no questions I'll improve all in favor of approving state approved
textbook section D on science signify by saying I I opposed motion carries thank you Mr shed thank you next item district and school operations repeal school safety rule Miss Lor Paisley good morning thank you Mr
chairman uh good morning everyone I Lori Paisley assistant commissioner of the coordinated school health division at the department this item proposes repealing State board's school safety rule 0520 d01 -02 D30 as the requirements for
school safety are law and there is no need to duplicate them in rule through the support of Governor Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly the state has made unprecedented investments in school safety and the requirements for school safety are included in the save act the
save act establishes specific and consistent requirements for districts related to providing a safe School environment including the formation of district and school safety teams and requirements for the development of comprehensive saf safety
plans furthermore this rule contains requirements for districts to conduct at least two earthquake drills each year if the district is within 100 miles of the New Madrid Vault line previously state law required districts within the New
Madrid fault line Zone to conduct earthquake drills and required the State Board to promulgate Rules to effectuate This requirement the requirement was removed from law in 2018 and therefore state board rules on earthquake drills for
districts within the New Madrid fault line zone are no longer relevant or necessary state board staff held a rulemaking hearing on October 8 2024 for public feedback there are no changes between first and final reading the Department
of Education recommends acceptance of this item on Final reading the State Board staff concurs with this recommendation thank you m Paisley We have a recommendation on district and school operations reping school safety rule is there a motion to accept
this last year cin smov is there a second second Mr mow second any comments or discussion want to make it clear we're not repealing safety it's already in in the law so want people get ideas reping
safy if none this does require a roll call Vote Yes yes Mr Darnell Mr Darnell sorry that's all
right m oberson i Mr Hol hi Mr Jensen I Miss Johnson hi Miss Maxwell hi Miss mcar hi
Mr Mullen hour hi Mr Wells hi Mr uh Mr chairman hi Mr chairman you have P eyes motion passes thank you next item is health education core standards Miss B thank you Mr chairman Lori Paisley assistant Commissioner of coordinated
school health division at the department TCA 49-1 d302 A8 authorizes the State Board of Education to approve all academic standards and adopt rules and policies governing courses of study in the public
schools additionally state board rule 0520 01-03 D31 calls for the State Board to adopt academic standards for each subject area grades K through 12 the approved standards are to be the basis for
planning instructional programs in each local school system the State Board recently approved revised health education standards at their November 3rd 2023 meeting chapter 571 of the public acts of 2024 PC 571
amended TCA 496 1304 a13 to require Family Life curriculum to provide instruction on the detection intervention prevention and treatment of Internet crimes against children involving sexting sex extortion and the
exploitation of a minor technology safety standards were included in the recent revision to grades 6 through eight health education course standards however grades n through 12 health education course standards do not include technology safety this item
proposes new standards to ensure that students are instructed on internet crimes starting in the 2024 25 school year in accordance with PC 571 this item also proposes grammatical and Technical corrections to the grades
K through five and grades K through excuse me grades 6 through eight standards that do not change any content between first and final reading additional technical Corrections were made to the grades K through five and grades 6 through eight standards that do
not change any of that content the Department of Education recommends acceptance on this item on Final reading state board staff concurs with this recommendation we have a recommendation for health education Court standards is
there a motion to accept this recommendation Mr Wells moves is there a second second M Alberton seconds Mr chair yes Mr comment so um recognizing bullying
identifying establishing a process reporting bullying and so forth that exists in K through 5 it exists in the 6 through 8 curriculum I didn't find it in the 9 through 12 curriculum uh is there a reason for that Omission
yes thank you for the question and we've talked about this before but when it when there's something like bullying taught in K through 5 and 6 through eight each grade level you build upon that and in high school there are areas of health education that must be taught that are not taught to our lower grade
so they have a little bit less time to do that however that is included and it may seem a little Broad and vague but excuse me in the 9 through 12 in the area of relationships I don't know if you've looked at that but that is included in that
instruction okay I I may have missed it I I searched for that keyword specifically and couldn't find it in the 92 yeah bullying wouldn't be specifically mentioned and in human growth and development at the high school level there's a lot of instruction on
relationships personal relationships okay um I'll follow up with your team on this one thanks thank you any further questions we have a motion is second to uh approve health education course
standards all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries thank you m p thank you next item academic and structal requirements for motion of retention rule 0521 03.16 Dr Jennifer
Jordan think it's green now good afternoon Jennifer Jordan assistant Commissioner of special education and student supports um the State Board promotion and retention Ru 05201 03 3.16 outlines promotion and
retention requirements for K8 students there also details Pathways to fourth grade promotion for third grade students who score approaching or below in the ELA portion of the teap in accordance with TCA 496 3115 this item revises the rule to align
with two pieces of legislation passed in the 2024 legislative session the first um revision is chapter 829 of the public of 2024 BC 829 authorizes a parent or guardian of a student enrolled in
kindergarten through second grade to elect to retain the student in the student's current grade if the student has a documented academic or behavior delay and the parent or Guardian believes that the retention may be beneficial to the student PC 829
requires the State Board of Education to promate rules to define a documented academic or behavior delay a the rule defines a documented academic delay as a student who is receiving tier three academic interventions through the
response to instruction and intervention framework and who currently has a student intervention plan in the area of math or reading or an individualized learning plan for characteristics of Dyslexia also known as ilpd B the rule defines a documented
behavioral delay as a student who is receiving tier three behavioral interventions through the response to instruction an intervention framework and it currently has a student intervention plan for Behavior the second part is chapter 989
of the public acts of 2023 PC 989 amended TCA 496 3115 to include a conference pathway for students who do not demonstrate adequate growth on the fourth grade ELA teap beginning with the students in fourth grade in the 2023 24
school year a conference pathway May be convened for fourth grade students who are required to show adequate growth on the fourth grade elat cap to be promoted to the fifth grade but do not demonstrate adequate growth PC 989 requires that the conference include the
following categories of participants the students principal Ela teacher and parent or Guardian a majority of the categories of participants required to be present in the conference are required to make a recommendation to promote to the student to fifth grade
with tutoring supports or retain the student in fourth grade this item updates the rule to align with BC 989 state board staff held a rulem hearing on October the 8th 2024 to collect public feedback the department also shared the proposed rule with special
education directors um RTI Square working groups school psychologist and with the students with disabilities advisory Council for feedback between first and final reading revisions were made at the request of were members to add a requirement that the Lea or Public
Charter School notify in writing that the parent or guardian's request to retain their student is confirmed the Department of Education recommends approval of this item on Final reading the SB staff concurs with this
recommendation we have a recommendation for academic instructional requirements promotion and retention rule 0521 03-16 is there a motion to accept the this recommendation Mr Hol moves is there a second Turf seconds is there a
discussion Mr chairman yes Mr H um I just noted um this is this is very minor but I was just reading through the the the new language in this version of the rule but changes that were made between first and second
reading in subsection uh six C in the red line and it looks like there may be just a minor typo that hopefully we can just fix as part of approving the rule um assuming that's what the board chooses to do um it the
red line says following a timely request made in accordance with paragraph six this rule by of the parent or Guardian I think this rule should just be after the word bu so in accordance with paragraph six sorry of this rule by the parent or
Guardian instead of this rule by of the parent Guardian so just a little good good catch other questions I just want to thank the department for responding to the previous request of this board regarding this language thank
you any questions or comments no questions or comments and we're voting on academic instruction requirements motion retention rule 05201 0316 which requires a roll call vote Mr
Griff Mr cins hi Miss oberson hi M Mr H hi Mr Jensen hi Miss Johnson hi Miss Maxwell hi Miss mcer hi Mr mullenhour hi Mr
Wells I Mr chairman I Mr chairman you have 10 eyes motion passes thank you next item is academic instructional requirements universal student screeners and state adopted Benchmark assessment
rule 05201 3-15 is there something we need to talk about Miss Mr chairman we Mr Holt found that uh typographical error but the body
didn't take action to authorize its correction um so I I think what we would need to do is uh we could take a separate vote to instruct staff to correct the error that that that he found but if if we didn't do that the
authority wouldn't be there to make that change all right Mr Hol didn't identify a change uh you want to move that we make that change yeah yeah thank you and and I'd like to move just to have that type rep error corrected by the staff in the version of the rule that's been
approved by the board second Mr mull hour seconds yes sir further discussion that can be by Voice Voice vote it's a rule on Final I okay I'd be safe about it go ahead Mr Griffin call this is to
make the change that Mr Hol recommended Mr cins hi M erson hi Mr Hol hi Mr Jensen hi Miss Johnson I miss Maxwell I
miss McIntyre hi Mr Molen hi Mr Wells hi Mr chairman hi Mr chairman you have 10 eyes all right so that made the change do we have to vote again on the rule sir you uh the just instructed the staff to make that correction I think
you're fine thank you next item is academic and structural requirements universal student screeners and state adop Benchmark assessment rule 05201 0315 Dr thank you Christy wall assistant
Commissioner of academics uh Tennessee Department of Education this item is coming before you on Final reading the universal student screeners and state adopted benchmark assessments rule 052 20- 01-03
D15 outlines requirements for local education agencies and public charter schools to annually administer approved Universal reading screeners to K3 students in accordance with the Tennessee literacy success act the rule also effectuates requirements of the
Tennessee learning loss remediation and student acceleration act regarding the use of benchmark assessments to identify priority students for summer programming and pre and post test requirements chapter 639 of the public
acts of 2024 PC 639 amends the Tennessee learning loss remediation and student acceleration act to remove the requirement that leas and public charter schools administer a preest in summer learning camps after school mini camps
and learning loss Bridge camps as such this item updates the rule to remove references to the pretest to align with the with the update to PC 639 state board staff held a rul making hearing on October the 8th of 2024 to
collect public feedback minor edits were made to the legal Authority citation of this rule the Department of Education recommends approval of this item on Final reading and the stateboard staff concurs with the recommendation happy to take questions on this item we have a recommendation for academic
instructional requirements universal student screeners and state adopted Benchmark assessment rule 05201 03 .15 is there a motion to accept these Chang final read Vice chair cins moves is there
second Miss Maxwell seconds are there any questions no questions this does require a roll call vote Mr G Mr cins I miss oberson
hi Mr Hol hi Mr Jensen hi Miss Johnson hi Miss mcart Miss Maxwell I miss mcer I Mr mullenhour I Mr Wells I Mr chairman I
Mr chairman you have 10 eyes motion passes thank you Dr Wall next item residential mental health facilities rule 0521 20.25 Scott good morning Mr chair and board members my name is Scott intermill senior
director for idea and non-traditional education programs in the division of federal programs and oversight State Board of Education residential mental health facilities rule 0520 d0120 d02 through d05 outline requirements for the
admission of Tennessee public school students to autate residential mental health facilities in compliance with TCA 493 370 TCA 49 337b requires local education agencies to allocate state and local funding to out ofate residential
mental health facilities when certain conditions are met public chapter 884 of the 113th General Assembly enacted in the 2024 legislative session made the following changes to the conditions for the admission set forth in TCA
49337 first remove the condition that residential mental health facility serves at least 15 Tennessee students per school year here second remove the condition that the student has an active individual education program at the time the student is placed at the residential
mental health facility third remove the condition that the student be enrolled in and have attended a Tennessee public school for the full school year immediately proceeding the student's placement at the facility and instead requires that the student be enrolled in and attending a Tennessee public school
at the time of the student admission to the facility public chor 884 also added a requirement that the students parents be residents of Tennessee at the time of the students placement in the facility the state board approved an emergency rule of these revisions at the July 15
2024 special called meeting state board staff held a rulem hearing on October 8th 2024 for public feedback there have been no changes to this item since first reading the Department of Education recommends approval of this item on second reading the State Board of Education staff concurs with this
recommendation and I'm happy to take any questions thank you we have a recommendation for residential mental health facilities rule 05212 0.02 through 05 is there a motion to accept these recommendations so moves Mr melar moves
is there second Vice chair cin second is there any questions or comments Mr M yes sir thank you Mr chair I'll try to unpack this quickly uh this I raised a concern a few months ago
and in summary the way that this rule is written uh some a child who's in obious Memphis and uh in Mountain City as the extreme a child who's living in Memphis uh might find themselves in a situation where you the only available facility in
Tennessee that has the capacity to provide the care under this rule is in Mountain City and therefore they would have to either um go live in Mountain City uh or um or find some other you know find some other means they would not be
able to for example take advantage of a facility that's just across the border um you know half an hour from their home under under this particular rule it's my understanding stop me if I'm mistaken in this in digging into this and trying to figure out like how much flexibility do
we have as a board to try to address this issue because you know the concern being a family that doesn't have the resource needed to care for a child might very well find them sit find themselves in a situation where they cannot access out ofate facilities
because one bed is available on the other side of the state eight or nine hours away in digging into this and in looking at the legislative history and um I appreciate the staff helping me kind of do that deep
dive I conclude at the end of the day that I I think it would be an overreach on the part of this board to um to change to change those requirements I don't like it I think it it has the potential to leave a child or a family
or more um sort of left out but I think we also have to be very disciplined as a board about giving deference to the legislature and not finding ourselves getting ahead of them so um that's my comment my question is
um are there any bills coming up in this next session that you think might U we might be able to um either attach an edit to or or is there legislator that that might have an interest in U
revisiting the law that essentially ties our hands behind our back in addressing this particular issue sir um I'm unfamiliar with any of your bills that we can attach um I could defer to legal or our the general counsil for that information okay okay so I'll work with our team and
see if there's maybe an option but um I want to basically raise the flag and say I don't like it I think it's I think I think we're going to leave some people I think some people are going to fall between the cracks I'm not suggesting that it's intentional on the part of the legislature um but but we would need to look to them to fix it so that we're not
overreaching sure if I could just provide some clarity Clarity to your comment I know you mentioned that if there if there was a parent um seeking some um help for their student and there was that available across state lines maybe 20 minutes away um that's going to be a decision that's
going to be made between that parent that position and where that placement and there's nothing preventing a parent from placing that student across the border where that facility is closer it just wouldn't meet the criteria set forth in this statute and stateboard rule for the allocation of funding we
don't prevent the parents from making that decision because we don't have a seat at the table sure so so to restate what I understand you to be saying uh they can go they could pay for it out of their own pocket of course they wanted to get care but but the state funding
that would be available to one student under one set of circumstances would not be available to this student uh simply by the mere fact that AED is available on the other side of the state yeah that the laa maintains enrollment um depending KL code is the code that we
use for students plac out of state so that ala where that residency enrollment is maintains continues to collect that funding right and then again if it's a student with special education and an IP they would work to maintain that tap
responsibility as well no okay all right well thank you for the opportunity to speak to that I'll I'll I'll get with Nathan on this later thank you I think that's a good comment Mr B I yesterday we I recall you heard
about something that uh has allowed people uh from Tennessee can do something in Arkansas within a 50 mile radius or something like that I can't even recall what that one was but I think the point you're making is a legitimate point that ought to be looked
at any other questions so we have a recommendation and motion in a second for the residential middle facility Hills facilities rule 05201 [Music] 20235 this requires a roll call vote Mr
Griffin Mr cins hi Miss hon hi Mr Hol hi Mr Jensen hi Miss Johnson I miss Maxwell I miss mcinturf I Mr Molen hour Mr Wells hi Mr
chairman I Mr chairman you have 10 eyes motion passes thank you next item is Middle grades policy 2102 Deborah null assistant Commissioner of college Career and Technical education presenting on Final reading of the Middle grades policy Tennessee State
Board of Education outlines the requirements and expectations for students in grades 5 through eight chapter 979 of the public acts of 2022 expanded access to Computer Science Education to ensure that Elementary middle and high school students are
prepared for evolving Workforce needs in addition to requiring computer science coursework department provided professional development and a new computer science endorsement pathway for educators PC 979 requires starting in the 24 25 school year that middle school
students take at least one course of Computer Science Education that includes instruction for at least one grading period during the one full school year of their middle school career chapter 693 of the public AC of 2024 amended the law to clarify that the middle school
computer science course requirement applies to students who enroll in the lowest grade offered at a middle school starting in the 2425 school year this item revises the middle school grades policy to add the middle school computer science course requirement so
that the policy now aligns with the law there have been no changes to this item since first reading the Department of Education recommends approval of this item on final reading and the State Board of Education staff concurs with this recommendation we have a recommendation
for Middle grad policy 2.12 on Final reading is there motion to accept this recommendation Vice chair cin moves is there a second Mr Johnson seconds further discussion no discussion all in favor
for accepting Middle grades policy 2102 signify by saying I I oppos motion Carri thank you next item is no Career and Technical education course stand great good morning again der assistant commissioner College Career and Technical education presenting on
Final reading for the Career and Technical education course standards this item includes new and revised course standards for all 16 CTE career clusters including elective courses and Middle School career awareness
exploration and career advising and planning courses this item also includes new courses within the following CTE career clusters agriculture food and natural resources Human Services and information technology between first and final
reading the department solicited additional feedback on the proposed standards the public comment period for the standards was from August 23rd 2024 through September 23d 2024 between first and final reading
minor revisions were made the Department of Education recommends approval of this item on Final reading and the State Board of Education staff concurs with this recommendation thank you we have a recommendation on Final reading for career in technical education course standards is there a motion to accept
this recommendation Vice chair cins moves is there a second Mr M hour seconds the comments or questions I would just say that um I really like the content of the courses
particularly the the stem how it focuses not only the technical skills but also the durable skills critical thinking teamwork and include the work-based learning opportunities no other questions all in favor then accepting Career and Technical education course standard
signify by on Final reading sign by I I opposed motion carries thank you next item State identifi reward schools Mr David L good afternoon chairman e members of the board I Am David L assistant commissioner for assessment
accountability and research and I'm very pleased to present to the board an item related to the state identified 2324 reward schools in accordance with TCA 49 91602 the Tennessee Department of Education is charged with prevent presenting to the State Board the list
of reward schools for the 2324 school year reward schools are those that have an overall Federal accountability score equal to or greater than 3.1 out of a possible Four Points which corresponds to earning an A in our federal accountability system um the calculation
is based on a wide variety of indicators which include TCAP scores Improvement in TCAP scores relative to goals the calculation of of TCAP growth via t-boss English language proficiency chronic absenteeism graduations rates and already graduate indicator the
calculation is based on the performance of all students at the school but it's also calculated for various subgroups racial and ethnic categories students with disabilities English language Learners economically disadvantaged students and then a weighted average is calculated overall um out of,
1691 eligible schools 377 schools earn the reward designation this year which is about 22% of schools that were eligible in the state and is very consistent with what we observed last year um schools have had an opportunity to verify all the data that was used in
this calculation um and district offices have been provisionally uh made aware of these designations on the 19th of November um obviously pending board approval they will become official and the department will send letters to each of these schools this afternoon um and a
public press release will come out from the department now aning their reward status um so with that the department um recommends approval of this item on First and final reading the State Board staff concurs and happy to take any additional questions we have a
recommendation for State identified 2023 2024 reward schools is there a motion to accept make the motion Dr Maxwell moves is there a second Miss oberson seconds is there a discussion just congratulations to those
all in favor for approving the state identified 2023 2024 reward schools signify by saying I I opposed motion carries next item State identified um thank you chairman you members of the board I'm David L
assistant commissioner for assessment and accountability research and I'm also happy again to provide or um to share an additional item related to State identified 2324 exemplary districts in accordance with TCA 491 602
Tennessee Department of Education is charged with presenting to the State Board a list of districts that receive the highest rating in our accountability system or the exemplary District rating um the calculation of the district accountability system is very similar
some minor differences relative to the states many of the same indicator data is included and it's rolled up in the same way and that we evaluate both the performance of all students plus the performance of individual subgroups and then calculate weighted average of the two um there are 10 districts that are
identified as receiving the exemplary status um and if chairman e you concur I'd be happy to read them into the record um they are Alcoa City Schools arlingon Community Schools Bell City Schools Clinton City Schools C Colville
City Schools Dayton City Schools Jackson County Schools Lebanon Special School District mil Special School District and veld in County schools and so with that the department recommends um approval of this item on First and final read in the State Board
St have a recommendation on First and final reading for the exemplary districts is there a motion to accept Mr Jensen moves Mr Wills seconds any discussion outstanding to these districts says they're doing something
right that's great we'd like to celebrate that no other comments all in favor then for accepting the exempli district list signify by saying I I opposed motion carries thank you next item Dr thank you
chairman David L assistant commissioner for assessment and accountability and research and I am presenting an item related to the state identified 2324 districts in need of improvement in accordance with TCA 491 602 the Department of Education is charged with presenting to the State Board list of
districts that receive the lowest accountability determination also known as districts in need of improvement um the overall calculation is based on all the same uh data and it's calculated in the same way that I've identified previously and that it's calculated for all students it's rolled up for
individual subgroups a weighted average is calculated the only thing that is unique to this identification is that instead of identifying a district or a school that earns a letter grade we essentially enforce a cut off here where we're only identifying districts the bottom 5% Statewide in terms of overall
performance so we line up essentially rank order every District in the state in terms of this overall accountability measure and we grab the bottom 5% there are 10 districts that were identified as being in need of improvement in this year and so with that said the department recommends approval of this
item on First and final read and the State Board staff concurs I'm happy to take any questions we have a recommendation for listing of the districts in need of improvement is are a motion to accept this list Mr Wells moves is there a second
second Mr M second are questions or comments I've got a question so obviously these are the bottom 5% um what are we doing to lift them up in the future so they come off this list
they're always be a list of the bottom 5% but but what can we do to uh help help improve these schools um I'd have to defer to some of my colleagues I'm I'm more on the analysis end of things and and less involved in
the support piece of that so um I would defer to my other colleagues in I mean we're we're definitely looking at school turnaround as a major priority coming into not only this next legislative session but just something that has
always been kind of elusive not not for Tennessee only but for all States um it's just very difficult we saw a great presentation yesterday um so we're really trying to think better about how we can you know provide those supports and resources and then of course we also
have our collaboration with the State Board um staff um with um really trying to think about what what how we can address some of these issues in the hearings that are going to be you know there's a result of the accountability conversation so this is definitely high
on our too list and um you know sometimes it is just a matter of just ensuring they have the right supports and resources and all those things necessary and and it's just something that we've been really we've been talking about a lot so yeah the turnaround team was here
yesterday good thank you and one thing not asking for it now but what might be helpful is obviously this list is done every year how much does this list change is you know the one ones that are on the bottom 5% do they move up and and
obviously I mean you could be 50% you know and still be in the bottom 5% if you're even at this level so it would be helpful to know how much this list changed are there certain districts that are more challenging than others or certain schools or whatever that might be helpful to
know that's an item I'm sure we could follow up on um I know there are some districts on this list that have been on the list in the past but not entirely uh there has been some turnover on the list this year because I mean we want to celebrate those coming off the list just like
we're celebrating the reward schools Etc so and chair I would say the the use of the mechanic of the bottom 5% the intent of that is to focus resources predominantly right we're trying to only make sure we're identifying schools that truly in greatest need and we can focus
on martiall support where the need is greatest on the evaluation side of things we're continuing to monitor that we want to make sure that that to be a meaningful number and we're not just catching a district that might actually be serving you know producing great results for their kids but we're catching them because we're using that
percentage mechanic so it's certainly something that we attend to over time thank you so we have a motion uh and a second all in favor then for approving the state identified 2023 2024 in need of improvement district list signify by
saying I I opposed motion carries thank you Dr next textbook and instruction materials labor request Houston County Schools Founders academic algebra one geometry algebra two precalculus and calculus statistics and before she presents this
is Miss Brianna Summers of the State Board staff this is her first presentation to the uh state board for an item and I will say that as long as you've been on the State Board we've been really impressed with what you brought to the board and look forward to you
bringing many more go ahead thank you chair eie uh good afternoon chair e and members my name is Brianna Summers I'm the director of policy and academics at the State Board um and I have the last item before you and your afternoon so I'll be brief but
it is a textbook and instructional materials waiver request for Houston County schools for using Founders Academy for multiple high school math courses uh Tennessee code annotated 491302 charges the State Board to prescribe Tech T books and instructional
materials based on recommendations from the textbook commission a perfect example of this was the item you discussed earlier for science textbooks uh additionally TCA 496 2206 authorizes the State Board to approve or deny waiver request uh for
leas that would like to use instructional materials or textbooks that are not on the list um this process is fur further outlined in our textbook Rule and in guidance on our website um the State Board originally approved a waiver for Houston County schools in
2021 upon opening a virtual school um this waiver is to renew those existing subjects and add calculus and statistics as they build out their Virtual School based on subject matter feedback from the Department of Education uh
application updates conducted by Houston County Schools uh and other rural criteria the State Board staff recommends uh approval of this item on First and final reading to be in effect until the next math uh textbook adoption cycle happy to take any questions that
you have thank you we have a recommendation is there a motion to accept the recommendation Mr Wells moves as our second I was really trying to think of some hard questions to ask we need we
need Know M M will you second first I'll second okay now you can ask your hard question question any questions um [Music] so they're asking for a a
waiver uh are they not able to use the textbooks that are already approved great question um they did when they first in 2021 um opened their Virtual Academy they started with a textbook that was on the approved list and found um that it wasn't supporting students in
the way of their specific virtual environment so that's why they made the request in 2021 and so then this waiver will continue until we adopt new textbooks obviously when we adopt new textbooks in the future we will look to see for
textbooks that are good for virtual environments exactly you're reading my mind Sher eeve that is on Michael and I to-do list great thank you any other questions all right we have a recommendation on textbook and instruction material waiver request
Houston County Schools Founders Academy all in favor signify by saying I I oppos motion Carri well done thank you any other business Mr chair chairman I have one
actually two requests go ahead I would like an update at our next workday on AI and just sort of get a feel for where we're headed what we're thinking from the Department and what issues are
around that without being exhaustive in this I just I'd appreciate an update the second thing is in light of our teacher discipline I would appreciate at in a similar environment a overview and I sort of hesitate to make
this request because I don't want it it minute detail but just an better understanding what the training regimen is uh with regard to the things we discussed in the teacher discipline just a yeah where where the is it occurring
at the EP is it at the district level is the school level I just would I would I'd gather some more Comfort if I understood the the breadth and depth of it without not a deep dive I'm asking for I
just want to get a sense of where it's occurring good good comments Mr any other yes Mr M just had a procedural question uh in our last meeting in August we had item five M as
in mother this is the Charter Schools rule uh that as I recall passed on first reading and I was looking forward to seeing it on Final I was just wondering when that might happen might ask that our general Council speak to that we discussed this yesterday at the workshop that was the
presentation and we decided to defer the the rule to a later meeting but U our general council could clarify we'll let you know the timeline sure U Rachel supe general counsel um as Dr Morrison uh said we have
decided to uh bring the rule in December at a special called meeting as an emergency Rule and that way it'll be in effect throughout the application process for these Charters and then we will also bring a uh permanent rule on
Final reading um as soon as that is complete we're incorporating you know some public feedback and addressing the few last minutes questions and and then it'll come back before the board okay thank you so so just to clarify the the special called meeting in December that I guess has been sort of percolating in the last
week or so that is to address this particular item it'll address the emergency rule related to that item it'll also be when you vote on the accountability framework for opportunity CH schools and then as our general Council said we are still figuring out whether we'll be able to bring the permanent rule on Final reading at that special call meeting or
if that will come in February so there's several kind of related parts to the opportunity Char School area but happy to talk offline to to make sure you're clear that sounds like a party okay thank you that special called meeting is Wednesday December 18th is that
correct that is a virtual meeting yes Mr Wales and I think are we also going to talk about the um disciplinary action that we rolled is that in the so I'll confer with our our Council on that we'll either we'll probably bring it in February at the regular scheduled meeting but um we're
still figuring that out in will report back any further items for discussion yes Mr com just want to say thank you to uh Dr Morrison and the team for bringing us here to this destination I think it's been really informative to see how
industry and education uh can collaborate and create opportunities for Tennessee so thank you for bringing us here and thank you to uh tat here and for for um all the hosting
that they've done and for their tours and I think we can see a real collaboration between industry and the schools and k312 so since it's a season of gratitude I'll I'll again jump in there too and I want
to thank um our board members first and foremost for the time that you spend in this really important space and this work um to travel for these meetings to spend the time prepar in preparation for these meetings and all the items that are coming before you that affects students and families across our state we are really always grateful but
especially this time of year um and also to our Department of Education staff not only for the collaboration and partnership but your willingness to travel for these out of state meeting or out of town meetings I think it is really valuable I think it's really important that we do this and I'm glad that this meeting has been such a success in terms of the the Partnerships
and the uh the work that we've been able to see at this campus but also recognize that it is an extra um ask of our team and the Department's team so thanks to everyone who was traveling for this meeting this week any further comments no further comments the meeting
is adjourned