001Good evening. We will call the meeting to order. This is the April 21st, 2025 meeting of the Williamson County Board of Education. Board members, we will begin by recording attendance. Please do so on your devices. I could hear it, but I'm not sure everyone else could. There are 11 members present. Thank you. All right. We will now do our pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence. The pledge will be led by Grayson Beasley. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. may be seated. Next item on our agenda is items of particular public interest, which is our public comment period. We have 17 members of the public who have signed up to speak.
002each person will be given a minute and a half, 90 seconds for your comments. I will call the first two people and I'll call two at a time so the second person can be ready. So, we'll start with Angela Frederick, followed by Jenny Davis and the time will be on the screen in front of you so you can keep keep track of that. Thank you. Good evening, board members. Since the last time I spoke at this podium, a lot has been discussed in the community and amongst teachers about your decision to approve a textbook that most teachers didn't vote for in the committee process. I won't belabor the point beyond saying this. It is disappointing that you chose not to reconsider this vote after the mountain of feedback you received. It is also disappointing that
003several of you chose not to respond to teachers from your districts who contacted you with concerns. I want to emphasize that teachers are professionals trained in their fields who want the best for students. Despite our disappointment in your decision, we will use the STEM scopes textbooks that you approved. We will ensure that students are taught the science standards laid out by the state of Tennessee. We don't wish for there to be animosity between teachers and schoolboard members. We have the same goal in mind, which is student success. Please work with us and seek our feedback as we move forward into the 2526 school year. Thank you. Thank you, Jenny Davis. followed by Hillary King Woreren. Good evening. I stand before you today in front of all of these people and my two children to tell
004you a story about the decision you made. Since your vote, an estimated 171 community members have taken the time to email this board, including 81 teachers who who work directly with our students every day. Of these communications, an overwhelming 148 individual people representing 86% of all of the emails received has have expressed opposition to your decision and requested reconsideration. Only 25 people or 14% supported your choice. These numbers aren't just statistics. They represent the voices of parents, educators, and community members who care deeply about our students education. I was particularly troubled to learn that one board member stated, "We finally have a board that is willing to reject recommendations and move forward with the schoolboard plan. Thank God." This comment suggests that rejecting expert recommendations was the goal rather than selecting the best educational materials
005for our children. A board that takes pride in dismissing the professional judgment of our educators is not serving our community well. When 86% of concerned citizens, including those with class burn classroom expertise, oppose your decision, I urge you to listen, reconsider, and demonstrate that you value both community input and educational expertise. Thank you. Okay, followed the next speaker after Miss Woren is Reagan Gman. Go ahead. Okay. Hi, my name is Hillilary King Woreren. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist as well as a mom of two. I actually attended Williamson County Public Schools from elementary through high school. I have to say I am discouraged and alarmed to hear that we have school board members claiming to know the values of the majority in Williamson County and using that implied value system to vote against
006teacher recommended textbooks and curriculum. Tonight, as we discuss AP psychology text, I feel very compelled to share due to my background and life experience. for members of this board to imply that textbooks touching on important topics such as LGBTQ plus populations do not reflect our values in Williamson County is a large misstatement. We have over 200,000 Tennessee residents who identify as part of the LGBTQ plus population. This number continues to rise each year. sorry. Roughly 50% of those who identify in this population suffer from depression and anxiety with LGBTQ plus young people four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. Did you know that LGBTQ young people who found their school to be affirming reported significantly lower rates of attempting and/or completing suicide? The comments and broader decisions being made about certain topics
007such as these going against values in Williamson County is sending a grim message to youth and their families who are trusting this community, trusting schools and teachers to be a protective factor for their children. Should I stop? Please. Okay. Thank you so much. Reagan Gman followed by Kim Harris. I think there's going to be a theme today. Hi, my name is Reagan Gman. I was born and raised in Franklin, Tennessee. As a matter of fact, I was born in this building that we're in. I graduated from Franklin High School and both of my parents are Williamson County school teachers. One retired and one currently. We all know that we have a fabulous school system. According to the Tennessee Department of Education, we have the highest TCAP scores in the state. We have the highest composite
008ACT score in the state. We had 85 merit scholarship finalist this year. Tennessee's public school system in Williamson County has been the crown jewel as long as I've been alive. And if anybody asks me why that is, I can give them 2,363 excellent reasons why. We have 2,363 teachers in our school system. They break their backs every day to educate our youth. My father who teaches AP level courses, he takes time before school, after school, even on the weekends to make sure these kids are successful and he is one of many teachers that do this. So my ask of this board is to trust these teachers. If they make a recommendation to you, take it. Uphold what's written in your own Williamson County School Board education philosophy that says, and I quote, to request the
009advice and support of the citizens of the community and the professional staff. In a time when coming together is so important, I ask you guys to please support our teachers and be a benefit, not a barrier. Kim Harris, followed by Sarah Robinson. Good evening. As a parent of a child in a Williamson County public school, I've been deeply interested in the process of selecting a new textbook since I learned about it last fall from an email from my kids school. So, first of all, I want to thank the committee that spent so many hours and so much of their energy reviewing and reading material to make a recommendation. What a privilege it is that we live in a community where teachers, parents, schoolboard members, community members care so deeply about the future of education in
010our community. And part of that care is demonstrated in an oath that all of the voting members took before participating and weighing in on a recommendation. The oath reads as follows. I do hereby declare that I am not now directly or indirectly financially interested in or employed by any textbook publisher or agency and that I will not become directly or indirectly financially interested in any of the proposed contracts nor in any book nor in any publishing concern handling or offering any books of other publications to the committee of which I am a member for the listing and adoption. And I do by here promise hereby promise that I'll act honestly, faithfully, and conscientiously, and in all respects will discharge my duty as a member of the committee to the best of my skill and ability.
011As we move forward with this selection, as well as any other textbook selections that come forward, I would like to request that all members of the committee, both voting and non-voting board members, are asked to sign and commit to this oath. Given that the non- voting board member of this committee made the recommendation to diverge from the rest of the committee's selection in favor of the textbook ultimately selected, we should ensure that the utmost ethical practices are followed and have that board member sign the oath as all of the other committee members did. Thank you. Sarah Robinson followed by Tony Cotto. I thought have I would have three minutes so I apologize for speaking really fast. hello, my name is Sarah Robinson. I was born and raised in Franklin, grew up going to Williamson County
012Schools, and currently an elementary librarian in the district. I am here to voice my concerns for the changes to policy 4.403 pertaining to the addition of the mature materials list. I want to start out by saying thank you to Donna Clemens for meeting with me last week to discuss the policy and my concerns. I wanted to remind the board and the public of the things that WCS already has in place. We've always worked to have age appropriate books in our libraries. Our library collections are posted on each of our schools websites. There is also a policy in place for parents to inform the librarian of the book titles they don't want their child checking out. A few of my concerns are as followed. If this goes into effect July 1st, since librarians are not required
013to work over the summer as 10-month employees, there will not be a list for parents to review to make an informed decision for next school year. I ask if this is passed to please allow us to have this year to start a list, if any, and then to place it on Skyward next year as an opt out in order for parents to make an informed decision. Lastly, the wording mature is very misleading. It makes it sound like we have R-rated materials in our library. Please allow the librarians to determine a better suited word. As WCS educators, we strive on not only building relationships with students, but with families. There is and will always be open communication and transparency between us and our stakeholders. Our goal as public school librarians is to get books in the
014hands of our students and foster the love of reading. Thank you for your time. After Tony Caldwell is Ashley Webster. All right. Good evening. I asked to speak today primarily regarding your vote for science textbooks at last month's meeting. Let's be very clear about the facts. The majority of the board decided that your knowledge and judgment are better than that of our professional educators. The fact that you did not seek to understand our teachers recommendations or have a rep from the board at all or even most committee meetings demonstrates either incompetence or a willful disregard for the committee's recommendations. As I do not choose to believe you are incompetent, it is clear to me that the majority of you very intentionally decided to ignore what our professional educators recommended and further you decided to impose
015your personal and/or partisan ideologies on our students. My ask is simple. Please represent the voices of the vast majority of Williamson County parents. Please work to seek out our voices, not only those of a very small but loud minority groups. We do not want you to ignore the recommendations of our professional educators. We do not want you to tell our librarians how to do their jobs or to ban more books. We do not want you to make more books harder to read by imposing opt-in requirements for selected books instead of allowing opt out options for the minority of parents who want to limit access to books for their kids. Instead, we want you to show trust and respect for our teachers, our professional educators by listening to and showing proper difference to their recommendations. And
016we want you to trust our librarians to do their jobs and to let our kids read books that teach them about the diverse world that we live in. Thank you for listening. Is Ashley Webster here? Okay, we'll we'll move to Amy Cook followed by Vivian Cook. So, so far we're at 100% because we have two more coming in with the same agreement. but I'm actually here today to talk about the fine arts for elementary school this time. So I thank you guys so much for all your attention for the middle school fine arts and now I want to just focus on the elementary. So this year my daughter has had the opportunity to be in a school play Willy Wonka and she's on the yearbook staff, the run club and inspire crew and lastly the
017choir that y'all heard today. Sorry I'm loud. And I just want to say we have the best teachers in the world and they just don't get paid what they're supposed to get paid. So I'm just going to go off script because I only have 48 seconds left. But Miss Napier, she is the most amazing human. She's probably your best employee in Williamson County Schools. And she makes about $2 an hour when it's all said and done on the yearbook staff. It is just ridiculous to me that we could have middle school and high school yearbook staff making more than the elementary kids who Vivy's great, but she's not going to be able to do all the different things that the high school students could do on the yearbook. Yet, they get paid the least amount.
018I don't think that's fair. But I also want to say most importantly, our teachers, they did not have to sit on that committee. They did not have to review those books. They did that because they know the best interest of our kids. And I have two middle schoolers now that are going to be taught from a curriculum that none of my kids teachers wanted to speak on. So, thank you. Good evening members of the school board. My name is Vivian Cook and I'm a fourth grader at Milk Creek Elementary School. First, I want to say thank you for all the support for your fine arts supplements for middle school teachers. Now I need to talk to you guys about the elementary school. This year I had the incredible opportunity opportunity to be in the school
019play Willy Wonka. I'm also in the yearbook staff in the run club and inspire crew. And lastly the choir. I have the best teachers in the world and they put so in so much time. They do so much for our school and I want to make sure they are treated like superheroes they are. I know firsthand how much time I spent participating in these activities and I know they spend almost the same amount of time if not more outside the time they've spent with us to prepare. For instance, I've spent approximately 20 hours for the yearbook, but our director has spent up 574 hours and come to all of our school events, which is a lot of time. This equals $2 an hour. That's not okay. I also hope that you will listen to our
020teachers when they are on committees because they know what's best for us. They inspire us every day and it's important that they feel supported. We trust our teachers. Thank you for our your time. Thank you so much. the next two, Carrie Bernard and Genevie Pos. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Carrie Barnard. I am a resident of Franklin and mother of two school-aged children. My husband and I moved our family to Williamson County for the impressive public schools six years ago. We have grown increasingly concerned with the school board's actions as of late. Last month, in an entirely unprecedented move, the majority of you voted to override the science textbook selection for our K through8 students. I would like to thank Eric Welch and Melissa Wyatt for voting with our teachers and
021ultimately for the students. While I recognize that many of you have teaching experience and advanced degrees, not a single one of you is currently teaching in the classroom. I find it astonishing that after learning that the science textbook committee, which I would add is significantly larger and arguably more qualified, came to a different decision than some of the school board members, that many of you continued with your vote. Our teachers are fantastic, and the decision to override what they view as the best way to help our children to succeed is irresponsible, and I urge you to reconsider your vote. Not only did many of you vote against our teachers, you also ignored Williamson County School's leadership. To quote Dave Allen, "Curriculum having additional technology resources doesn't mean that it doesn't have the resources without the
022instructional technology." The most telling data in this entire discussion is that our middle school teachers who only teach science, not a single one reference stem scope science as their choice. Your vote to replace the teacher's top recommendation with their least recommended text is a slap in the face to the teachers of this district. In closing, I urge you to reconsider your vote. Your decision will have lasting consequences on teacher and staff morale in our schools. Hello. Mine my vibe is going to be a little bit different up here, but all right. Per Tennessee state standards, schools must teach students to develop explanations that are based on evidence and free from bias, as well as consider trade-offs among possible solutions when making decisions about issues for which there are competing alternatives. While we actually do support
023the decision on stecopes because I thought we all wanted less screen time for our kids and to pick a curriculum that was actually proven successful. And I know our people aren't here, but trust me, there are a lot of people that also support that decision to reduce screen time for our kids. All right. what we are concerned about a bit is the extreme bias that was in all of the curriculum that was available to choose from. examples of that would be global warming is a fact. All green energy is good. All fossil fuels are bad. Evolution with no possibility of intelligent design. All vaccines including mRNA safe and effective. Human impact on environment and population growth inherently bad. Eating meat bad with no discussion of sustainable farming, gender ideology promoted. We are not asking that
024these topics not be a part of the curriculum, but that the competing alternative is also presented. The only way that we'll be able to do that is through supplemental materials. Our goal is to ensure that these materials that counter the extreme bias taught in our classrooms make it there. we should be we should be encouraging a love for science and not creating activists for globalism. With the president's recent executive order ending radical indoctrination in K through2 schooling, we believe this falls in line with federal guidelines as well as state standards. Thank you. Oh, don't be rude. Let's please let's please respect every speaker. the next two speakers, Robert Jackson and Emily Paisley about there. thank you chairman, members, and superintendent Golden. My name is Robert Jackson and I'm a teacher of United States history and
025economics at Centennial High School. I am here today to speak in favor of what has we have done since 1982, but has recently somehow at the state legislature come up for question again. our 14th amendment to the United States Constitution is absolutely clear that all persons are entitled to equal protection of the law. It's not yet before you and I hope it never comes before you. but should the state pass this measure, which would give school boards the ability to ban a child or charge tuition because of a decision that their parent made when they were just a little kid to bring them here and now they are undocumented. That is unconstitutional. It's immoral and it's against our traditions. If a teacher were to punish a student tomorrow because of what they thought that their
026parent did that night before, you would fire that teacher. In the same, our state should not punish students for what their parents did. And I hope that question never comes before you. And I hope the state does not pass that measure. Good night. Is Emily Paisley here? After Emily, we'll have Otis Halbreight. Hello, board. Emily Paisley here. I'm here to discuss the 4.403 policy review request. First, I think that all the library material points probably need to be tabled or continued. There's a lot of information there to go over and divulge. but most importantly, well, not most importantly, but one of the things is when filing complaints about library materials, it was already established in 2022 that it was unnecessary to include all 265,000 residents of Williamson County as potential participants to file a complaint
027about a library book. Okay. Our I understand about taxes and everything. I get that taxpayers. I'm a taxpayer. Our school faculty and employees are already bombarded with the complaints from people who actually are connected to the schools. This request is a mere attempt to open the floodgates for a political campaign to modify and mold learning materials into something that should be offered at selected private schools or homeschool programs, not in our public schools. Which brings me to the 2025 adoption of the AP psychology materials. It is my hope that this time the board will acknowledge the time, effort, and intellect that has gone into the selection of the committee members. This is a college course with college age material. There is no basis to limit or change the suggested materials which provide the necessary knowledge
028required to obtain a psychology degree. Okay, know that you have to have this information to get a psychology degree like my son is getting from the AP course he took time. Thank you. The problem with going this late is everybody takes your stuff, which is really rude. Like I had a list. Okay, so real quick, I'm Otis Halbreight. I'm the one who sends you the really long emails with the cited links for ease of use and junk like that. I was on the site textbook committee. It was unanimous and the reason was frankly simple as most of you read. it's the only one that aligns with the national standard. The new exam it changed. That's why we're having to do it on an accelerated pace. That's why it's 80. It's frankly not that interesting. This
029is the same book I used in 2009. Okay. During the Bush administration when we I first tried to register and I had to get weight listed as a senior. It is very old. It is not that interesting. Several of you have responded back to me. It's not that complicated. A lot of y'all are concerned allegedly about some community values which is represented here. There are some currently a minority, but it is what it is. I would remind you that the state has already got a law on these alleged controversial things. They have to opt in. Over the two or three years, I think I've had less than five kids opt out of couple hundred. not exactly a large amount. Wilson County is currently referencing us in a kind of negative way. I don't want to
030be beat by William Wilson County. Like we're Williamson County, we win. We're the better W County. and if you need help on parliamentary procedure, I noticed a bunch of you all talked about that. I do Yig. One of my other YIG people is in here. If you need the motion to reconsider the question, I have Dr. Jones from Vanderbilt. He when he died seated me his Robert's rules of order and I'm happy to give it to you. Let me know if y'all need anything. Thank you. Our last two last two speakers, Carolyn Brown and Becca Ripley. Hi, I wanted to thank you for providing some transparency in the curriculum review process. It sounds as though there's a step missing where the board could talk more with the committee that made the decision, you know, the
031teachers recommendations because there's a disconnect there. However, this process also needs to be improved because curriculum decisions are costly that necessitate a multi-year commitment and should allow for an enhanced communication during the public review process. This year's curriculum contains materials that are no longer being pushed, such as gender theory and dire effects of climate change. Instead, a common sense approach where differing scientific theories and opinions are encouraged to be tested and discussed. The new science and psychology curriculum ought to reflect this approach. Recent data shows appears to show that anxiety and depression in our youth is skyrocketing. genders, dysphoria, neurodeivergence, and econ eco anxiety, which is a new term I just learned about, are common concerns being addressed by clinicians and teachers in our classrooms. For example, the Lancet volume 5, issue 12 states, is
032a research team we were disturbed by the scale of emotional and psycho psychological effects of climate change upon children of the world. the number who reported feeling hopeless and frightened about the future of humanity. We wish these that these results had not been quite so devastating. I would encourage you to implement supplemental materials that are optimistic. Thank you. Thank you, Becca Ripley, our final speaker. Well, first, I didn't just because I didn't sign up to speak about the ongoing textbook stuff. I just want to because we got a minute 30 tonight, say thank you to all my fellow speakers tonight for spelling out what the vast vast majority of all of us parents, employees, etc. are feeling about how things went. So, thanks everybody for saying that for me. I am a parent of two
033WCS students and I'm here out of concern about the repercussions of HB793 and SP 836 which seek to seeks to disenroll students without acceptable residential documentation. I respectfully request that y'all adopt a resolution or otherwise proclaim that you will not eject students from our Williamson County schools or charge them tuition if this bill becomes law, which obviously we hope it doesn't. undocumented Tennessans pay over $900 million in taxes. Disenrolling an undocumented student is not going to result in any decrease in funding for our LEA. But then they can turn around and charge a disenrolled student $7,000 to read them to what was once a free a free education to which they were entitled. Oh, it went really fast. so all students do have a right to free and appropriate public education and it would be
034a devastating mistake not to show continued support for all students. How can we teach our students the important of kindness, acceptance, and inclusion if the adults in leadership position promote hate and divisiveness? This is the time to show our community demonstrabably believes in unity and compassion and education. Thank you. All right. I want to say thank you to all of our speakers. especially to Vivian. Thank you for your courage and speaking to us. All right, we will move on with the remainder of our agenda. the next item is to approve the agenda for this evening. Can I get a motion and a second? We'll do this by voice vote. It's already there. Okay, we got a motion and a second. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Agenda is approved. Next item is approval of
035the consent agenda. we'll handle this the same way. You see the items listed on the consent agenda. any motion in a second. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. Any opposed? Consent agenda is approved. And with that vote, let me read off the items that are approved as part of the consent agenda. Approval of the March 17, 2025 schoolboard meeting minutes. Board policy for second reading 4.206 homebound instructions. Approval of facilities use fee schedule. Approval to replace casework in the reception area at Crockett Elementary. Approval to replace basketball lockers at Fairview High. Approval of Mil Creek Middle softball storage shed. Approval to replace the monument sign at Oak View Elementary. Approval to install a lighted sign on the wait room at Page High. Approval to install exterior lights at Page High. Approval
036to install bleachers at Ravenwood High. And the recommendation for field trip fee requests. Next item on the agenda, communications to the board. superintendent report. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I want to reiterate what you shared in thanking our public speakers. there's a lot of value every month in hearing from our public speakers and the diverse thoughts that they have in our community. And I'm going to reiterate what you what you mentioned regarding Vivian and her sharing with us. Vivian and some of her classmates actually sang before the board meeting. and we don't actually start the broadcast while we have those student productions but very much thank our students and the excellent job they did. with that we are in late April and this is a time for testing time for TCAP time for
037end of course tests and the AP courses are coming in just a little bit. and that is a big deal. But I want to mention to you all as a board in the audience one of those items that I mentioned at the work session, which is really just some specific comments about our excellent teachers. And you all as a board know that when we have these conversations, we talk about our teachers knowing the standards and knowing those standards in depth and having the capacity to work together as teams to teach those standards and the complexity of those standards. and when we talk about testing, we don't panic and worry ourselves when it's time for testing because our teachers have been doing that work all year and preparing our students. And more especially, we've been focusing
038on student learning rather than teaching. In other words, when teachers present an excellent lesson and the students, not every single student understood that standard, they're going to spiral back. they're going to make sure that those students have that opportunity to to learn, especially those standards that they're going to need to build on as they grow. And I just gave you a very very short synopsis of Williamson County success right there. The combination of our teachers and our students working together. So, thank you parents, for coming to Williamson County, because of that excellent reputation. But we know it's more than reputation. and it takes that constant effort every day by our students. related to that, this is also a time of the year for celebrations. And tomorrow night, I wanted to remind everyone in on the
039board, we are having our shining apple awards, which is our thank you to our volunteers of the year from each school. each one of our schools selects a volunteer of the year. Now, I'm going to mention something that I typically mention at our Shining Apple Awards. I'll usually tell the volunteers who are in the audience an approximate amount of dollar value that we get from our volunteer work. and it's incredible. And I'll mention that tomorrow night, at least as close as we can get right now, Rachel, without actually receiving those financials yet this year. But I'll say something along these lines. But we can't measure the time. We can't measure the effort of our volunteers, of our parents and our grandparents and our corporate support without what accountants call inind support to help us be
040successful. We could not be as successful as we are without the help of of our volunteers. in addition to that celebration tomorrow night, of course, graduation is coming up in a month and I know you all as board members have have committed to to to those opportunities you have to to attend those graduation ceremonies. It's a practical impossibility for us to be at every single one. but but those are those are great times. Also, next week we have a thank you scheduled to our graduating seniors who have committed to the US military. And I felt like it was worth mentioning this again from our work session. last year we were notified by 36 of our graduates that they were had committed to the US military. This year so far we're aware of 39. based on
041the data that we've seen nationally and a percentage of our students who are committing to the US military, we are operating at about twice the national average of our students committing to the US military. The military itself is substantially less than 1% of our total population in this country. the World War II is the most modern example of the highest percentage, but now it is substantially lower. and it reminds me of that old quote from Winston Churchill in a different context. Never have so many been thankful to so few. And I grossly violating his quote. and so I encourage you to look that up, if you don't recognize the way I butchered that quote. Winston Churchill actually had one American parent and one English parent. never in the course of human history have so many
042oh, something like that. but but we have we have a very few number of Americans protecting us in that substantial way. We very much appreciate those folks and again we will be thanking our students for that commitment to take care of us here here at home. with that I want to transition to some more celebrations that are coming. Carol Birdong every month shares with us state and national awards for our students and our faculty and Carol will now share that with us for April. Superintendent Golden and school board members, spring is certainly a time for celebration, especially here in Williamson County schools. So, we have a lot to celebrate and a lot of it this month is based on the performances of our career and technical education students and through their student organizations. So, not
043many times are we able to honor our middle school students because they don't have that many opportunities to compete at the state level. But let me tell you about Paige Middle School and the Tennessee State Future Farmers of America. They have been named the state superior chapter under the guidance of Tommy Green out there. And then we have the aronomy state champions Sebast Sebastian Abrazo Parker Darnell Preston Lauder and Luke Mundy. And the highscoring individual in the state for FFA junior high aronomy, Sebastian Agrazo again. And we have the state champions at page middle of the quiz. And this is you. These are your quiz team members. Harper Green, Killian Carrie, Toa Lamoda, and Jack Piva. And high-scoring individual in the state, quiz winner, Harper Green. So, now we're going to go across the road
044to Paige High School. And their advisor is Shana Butler, and they have been named the superior the state superior chapter for the state of Tennessee. FFA and then FFA state degrees. Y'all, this is the highest achievement you can get at the state level. And these students earned it. Kinsey Anderson, Cila Castro, Aiden Flot, Jeremiah McDonald, and Greer Quick. FFA state champion in poultry production proficiency. Yes, that is alliteration. Abigail Bernie. All right. Now, we're going to go to DECA, the Distributive Education Clubs of America. And guess what? The Britwood High School chapter, DECA chapter under the direction of Lisa Montgomery is the chapter of the year. Also in duo and individual awards, Cali Constantine and Elena Fields earned first place in entrepreneurship team decisionmaking. Allison Hul and lodging management series. Lucy Wyatt, I believe you
045all might know her in human resources and management series. And then we have Anna Riley in marketing communication series. We have male Jacobson in personal finance literacy. Nicholas Lam Masters, principles of entrepreneurship from Franklin High School in DECA. We have Taylor Grant and Dorsa Tihiri in first in roleplay for financial services team decisionmaking. Justin Anderson is their advisor. Izzy Bitterman and Katherine Reva David first in roleplay for hospitality and tourism professional selling. Also from Franklin High School, Maline Carico first in roleplay for principles of business management and administration. Did Williamson County Schools win everything there? It does seem like it. Over at Paige High School and the DECA competition, Khloe Lee and Mahi Nandre integrated marketing campaign service. Paige High School again. Sam Ross retail merchandising series. Did I mention Tristan Brown is their advisor?
046If I didn't, I did. And if I did, I did it again. So, we're going to go to Ravenwood High School. This is Shirinat, Nara, Andi, Adia, Praep, Koshik, Satan, Kar, and they are your business growth plan winners. Their instructors are Brian Stuck and Jennifer Do. In the category of business finance series, Hansa Donna Doula and Vivon Rakon Lee. And in business services marketing services, Jeanvi Vashita. and in business solutions project Akos Ashwin, Vhambusa and Sean Humar. And also continuing on from Ravenwood in buying and merchandising operations research, Rahan Kileroo, Shakar Kusimancha and Chi Whoops, sorry, flipped too fast. Cheetah Nyingala. And then in entrepreneurship series, Ana Vic. And now one more from RA, a couple more from Ravenwood actually. Financial literacy project. SashaKumar and Samuel Michael in integrated marketing campaign event. You see what
047I mean about I think we won every every one. Manushri Classic, Ashley Kvala and Savannah Pointer. And in international business plan, Isan Kana, Arno Ma and Yang Patel. And in quick serve restaurant management series, Arian Chatanya. And now in health occupation science association this is a tricky word for me folks patho physiology Joshua find Franklin High School I hope that was correct Emily I'm not even sure what that is but Emily Orbison is the instructor there and I'm sure she has taught Joshua Fine quite well. So in medical spelling we have Tom's Furl and in pharmacy science we have Liam Witcop all from Franklin High School. Then we go to Paige High School and this is Sophia Smith who earned first place in behavioral health and the Page advisor is Sarah Statseno. And then in
048dental technology we have Arushi Mouri. In clinical specialty we have Lily Espell. And also from Paige High in clinical nursing we have Ella Orangino. And in biomedical debate, Alen White, Monacoic, Ally Hamilton, and Bailey Whit. Over at Ravenwood High School in HOSA, Health Informatics, we have Sean Kumar. Michael Gerlock is the adviser there. Now, we're moving on to something that I absolutely love, and that is the National Speech and Debate Association state champion winners, and they will go on also to the national competition. All of the career and technical students also get to go on to national competition over the summer. But this is Wally Sedar and Joseph Johnson, Brentwood High School. They won in public forum debate. Their coach is Matt Grimes from Nolanville High School. Jonathan O'are coaches Brandy Weaver and Eve Frell.
049This is Armen from Summit High School, one in Lincoln Douglas Debate. Christina Crutcher is their the coach at Summit. Another thing I love is the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. And here are your state, actually state and regional winners. And this is Sophia Andrews from Brentwood High School. One in two categories, y'all. Best fiction and best photographer. And they compete not only in the state of Tennessee, but several a couple of other states as well. Sloan Ashworth is Sophia's teacher and also David's teacher. and David won in best animation and special effects. At Franklin High School, Vashe Rubenoff won for best commercial and Carrie Thompson is the teacher over at Franklin. At Fairview High School, Anakah Crow and Asaya Brown won for best public service announcement. Rob Gregory is their teacher. For best
050editor, Garrett Pevor at Independence, Matt Ballser is the teacher at Indie. And for best non-fiction, Kaden Powers at Page High School, Dave Halt is their teacher. And you thought we were done, but we are not because we have won first place in the state science bowl, y'all. This is Ravenwood High School's team at Gabrielle Lada, Alexandra Jenna Collus, William Ryland Hoskins, Aiden Young, and Brain Young. And then as far as student spotlights go, spotlights go, this is Shayla Carrera from Franklin High School, and she won the Tennessee Association of School Librarians bookmark contest for the state. So, we are just well represented all over the place. So, now we have a few staff members that we want to recognize. This was Matt Grimes. and he's over at Brunwood High School, and he was named the
051Tennessee District National Speech and Debate Association Assistant Coach of the Year. and then in sports, this has been out there a minute, but it's time that we recognize, as the board Will Hesser, I know Will appreciates the photo, is showing him in his true form. He was named the 6A head coach of the year from the Tennessee Football Coaches Association, Wills over at Ravenwood. And then Sean Temple won from Page High School won the 5A assistant coach of the year from the Tennessee Football Coaches Association. Woo! Y'all, I'm done. Congratulations to everybody. Thank you, Carol, and Mr. Chair. U I do want to thank a number of our principles who are here tonight. Josiah Holland, Robert Bour, Julie Sparrow, Drew Perry, Trent Satderfield, Chris Butler, Jen Schwarz, Pam Vaden, Amanda Fuller, Paula Weights, Lynn Sawyer,
052Katie Hill, Shane Pantal, Shelley Kofall, and Sarah Lamb. Thank you all for your commitment to your students. May better to say which one they're not here. Is that it? That is my report. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And congratulations to all of those who were recognized tonight. Okay, we will move on to a board chair report. The only thing I'm going to mention is what I mentioned at the work session on Thursday, which is and this is mostly for the benefit of the community. those who are here and listening, the Jason and I have decided to form a technology screen time committee. we'll be rolling that out starting hopefully with our first meeting in May to look at issues surrounding how we're using technology in the district. the use of personal devices, cell phones, etc.
053screen time, all those things that members of the community and the public have been raising as as concerns and members of the board have been raising as concerns. So that comm that committee will be made up of parents u members of the administration teachers faculty so it'll be a well-rounded well balanced committee that will get input from a cross-section of our stakeholders so more to come on that all right we'll move on to unfinished business and this is the approval of the AP psychology textbook adoption committee's recommendation Mr. Golden. Thank you Mr. Chair. this is the un unfinished business item from last month and I want to especially thank Dr. Allen and Ashley Flood for a really good presentation with a great detail at our work session especially related to the changes in the AP
054test for this particular course and the formatting of the particular textbook that is the recommendation of the textbook committee which is the Meyers textbook. so I just wanted to make sure you all just had that reminder. certainly open to any discussion you may have related to that. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. So we the floor is open for discussion, questions, comments. All right. I see none. And I'm taking it, Mr. Golden, that based on your comments that you and the your team recommend the committee's recommendation. Yes, sir. I do recommend approval. Okay, we can proceed to a vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, the recommendation is adopted. And thank you to the work of that committee. Item number seven, new business. we have several items that we'll be
055voting on that are related to the budget. First item is approval of general fund. This is for 2024 or 25 the current budget. Approval of general fund amendment atmos donation of $4,000. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a donation from Atmos Energy Corporation to support our literacy volunteer program. Do recommend approval. Can we get a motion and a second on that? Thank you. Any questions or discussion? All right, let's proceed to a vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. That item is approved. Item number two, approval of general fund resolution 05.25 25 letter grade bonus in the amount of $4 million. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a letter grade bonus that we've received from the state. we've actually already received it in this budget year. So, this is actually
056a move from the from one line item to the other for accounting purposes. But I did want to specifically mention that Senator Johnson told you all at your meeting just before the legislative session that he was going to find a way in the current budget year to mitigate some of the impact of the fiscal capacity indicator that nets out to Williamson County schools. Well, Williamson County as a whole sending more funds to the state than they receive back. So, I do recommend approval and thank our legislators for their work. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. That resolution is approved. Item three, approval of general fund resolution 05.25 reclassification due to new account code $10,119,750. Mr. Golden. Thank
057you, Mr. Chair. This is a an as stated an accounting change based on the state recoding some items for our instructional coaches. so that is a required line for accounting purposes. I do recommend approval. All right, we have a motion in a second. Any discussion? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11. Yes. Zero no. Resolution is approved. Item number four, approval of central cafeteria fund resolution 05.25, 25 Central Cafeteria excess fund balance in the amount of $2,80,92752. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the resolution related to excess fund balance. More specifically, the federal rules are that our central cafeteria fund cannot have a an account total in excess of three months at the end of its fiscal year. We have actually not raised prices for our school lunches since 201718 if
058I'm not mistaken. 1819. so the intent is to use these funds to to do some renovations and some improvement in our cafeterias. Do recommend approval. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Mr. Galorth, Mr. Chair. brought up a couple of months ago and just wanted to to ask you to revisit with these with these excess funds as we have them an updated POS system and the ability to to address the allergens and the and the notification to outward of our menu items outside of of the of the food line. so the reason why we have such an excess balance is because our kids buy all the alle cart items and so that's that started and it kind of overfunded everything during and I did I figured it out during co when
059everybody was getting their their lunches for free but we still had these like astronomical revenues and it's because people are buying all of the whole grain Pop-Tarts and all the other stuff. And none of that, all that stuff shows up as snack on the on the POS system. If you ever look and see what you paid for, it says snack. and nobody knows what. So, a parent has zero visibility in what their kid is buying with their money that they just swipe. They put in their number and outcomes of, you know, an endless supply of of stuff. And I and I get that it's not it's not all ne it's like healthy junk food. but it's not it's if if parents knew what their kids were buying or had the ability to control it they
060would they might they might do something different with their with their money. but I really think especially in light of, you know, having these large amounts of of excess funds, I would really appreciate us looking into ways to make that more transparent and just as a safety perspective to to keep kids with allergies from being able to to consuming something that might be harmful to them. Thanks. Thank you for that thought, Mr. Galborth. and we are constantly look looking for ways to communicate with parents just that little bit better. and we are working on that. there are also from time to time some changes at the federal or state level. For example, there's a bill right now related to a particular red diet that's in some foods etc. So we will continue to work on
061that. Thank you. Any additional comments? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes zero no. That resolution is approved. Item five, approval of capital projects fund intent to fund 05.25 asphalt roof and HVAC in the amount of $12,153,000. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And if I may, items 5 through 8 are related to items that we have on our 5-year capital plan that we take to the county commission for for maintenance and renovation projects. This particular one, as you mentioned, asphalt, roof, and HVAC repair. Mr. King gave you some detail of the particular locations where where we propose to do those those projects. This will upon if you all approve go to the county commission to the budget committee and then on up as they analyze all all our requests on an
062annual basis. Okay, we have a motion in a second. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, do recommend approval. Thank you. We're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. All right, that is approved. Next item, approval of capital projects fund intent to fund 05.25 for security technology in the amount of 13,815,425. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Likewise, security technology requests for our five-year capital plan that in includes items such as taking the next steps for our safety and security with respect to access control in addition to some cyber technology protections. Do recommend approval. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I think it might be useful if we could ask Mr. King to say again what he said Thursday night about the three-year plan for all the schools
063being captured in this project. Yeah, that's a great idea. Thank you. For context, Mr. King. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, sir. this is part of a three-year project that we have. Actually, it started before that the outdoor the access control for out all our outside doors that has been complete. We've started last year into this year all the inside doors. this year, last year you approved phase one. We'll get 15 schools done this year. if this budget passes, we'll do 15 more this coming year and then the last 15 the following year. So yes, it's a three-year project to get our all our schools updated. And Mr. Chair, if I may, one of the comments that we had at the work session is student safety is an ongoing effort that will never stop. that we
064will constantly be working on finding ways to to improve how we how we protect our faculty and students in our buildings. Thank you. Any any further comments? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, that item is approved. Item seven, approval of capital projects fund intent to fund 05.25 Hillsboro K through8 renovation in the amount of $3 million. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. this is the first step, Mr. King, if I'm not mistaken, on on work towards doing some renovations at Hillsboro. it's a it's a number of items to get that started. We do an analysis of our building, set priorities building by building, and that's reflected in our 5-year capital plan. All right, we have a motion in a second. And Mr. Cash, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr.
065King, will you give us an idea for the viewing public? when's the last time actually both these schools have been renovated? Thank you, Mr. Cash, for the question. Yes, sir. Hillsboro was not built in 1981 and there's been no renovation. There was one addition of four classrooms that were done but no renovations and Grassland was 1986. Thank you. I think it's time we got busy with these schools. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Any additional questions or comments? Hey, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. That item is approved. The final budget item for tonight is item eight, approval of capital projects fund intent to fund 05.25 Grassland Middle renovation in the amount of $1 million. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Likewise, this is the startup for the
066renovations for Grass Grassland Middle. Mr. Cash asked Mr. King the year 1986. It's that's basically 40 years by the time we get to work on that and just visualize a building that's 40 years old. We have a motion in a second. Mr. Galworth. Thank you, Mr. Chair. it's our last budget item and I just wanted to I just wanted the opportunity to ask Miss Miss Farmer if she could if she could just give us a an update of where we are on the on our budget gap overall. Sure. So, un unrelated to this, but kind of related to the capital project. Would it would it be okay if we voted this item and then had that conversation? Would it be okay? I don't if we as long as we can. Is that's fine. Yeah. Okay.
067So, hold that thought. Miss Farmer. any other questions on this particular request? All right. Seeing none, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. That item is approved. Okay, Mr. Gworth, I'll recognize you again if you had any further questions or if we want to just go straight to Okay, as we have left it, the last meeting we had was a joint meeting with the county commission budget and education committee. And at that point in time, the gap we had was right at $12 million. That is where we stand today. Next Monday, we will have our next meeting with the education committee. And then on Tuesday, we will have another meeting with the budget committee as they follow up. At that point in time, we will get more guidance from them as
068to what their perspective is on what that gap looks like, if that's something that they feel that they can help closing to close or not. So again, $12 million gap at this point. Kick you in the face next month. When do we expect those four intent to fund items that we just approved to be voted on by the commission? we're not sure. exactly when they mo might vote, but representatives of the county budget committee asked us to bring these to them just a little bit earlier than we typically do so they can analyze all those funding requests for the entire year as they're analyzing our operations budget. I will say traditionally the county commission will fund some of these larger capital projects through through other funding besides their traditional annual revenue whether it's by bonds
069or sometimes fund balance that the county government has. I have a I it's possible that they might defer some of these to a to a later time, but they will be voting on our operations budget and our annual capital request. They're scheduled to vote on those in June. If I'm not mistaken, June 20th, so I would say June 20th at the earliest. And it's possible some of these capital requests could be voted on a little bit later. And that raises one more question. And when should we expect to be voting on any revisions to the budget prior to them having that final vote? We would anticipate that next month after we've met with the bud the budget and the education committee and get their guidance back to us. Then we will come back with to
070you with any revision that we feel is needed. And Mr. Chair, if I may, since since this these questions came up and we talked about this in detail in our work session, but since Mr. Galbreth mentioned that our projections for revenue compared to our projected expenses in that $12 million gap largely represents us paralleling an expense that county government has planned for a pay raise for their staff members. when we started this discussion many months ago and county government made a proposal for for pay increases, we knew based on our state revenue that we would need some additional help from county government to actually do that. our projections include that we do have sufficient funding or will have sufficient funding in our budget now for the step increases that are built into our pay scales
071for both our teachers and our classified staff. But if we are to give an additional pay raise beyond that, we project that we will need some additional funding from county government. All right. Anything else before we move on to the next item? Okay. Item B under new business board policy for first reading. This is policy 4.202 child find and special education. Mr. Galbreth, you want to share out from the policy discussion and subsequent discussions and also Miss Osbrooks, if you want to weigh in. Sure, I'll I'll start on this one. this is basically the there's two items with child find and then the new law regarding parent guardian notification access to certain documents that are reflecting new updating for new laws. and so well the second one is a new law. The first one miss
072Brooks the child find I'm not sure that's new but we're updating it anyway. Right. So, so as long as we're looking at the policy, we kind of did a fresh look and realized that it's a good time to add the, the child find component. the last section that's in green, if we can if we, if we're looking at the, at the at the document, there was a there's a proposed section on on service delivery logs. for for the purposes of this of this reading. we kind of highlight it, put it put it in green in parentheses and said said that we're not we're not voting to approve this language, but we will we'll we'll continue the conversation at our at our next policy meeting and for for a vision for for second reading. All right.
073Thank you. With that explanation, can I get a motion in a second to get this on the floor for discussion? Thank you. All right. Any any questions or comments on this language on first reading? as has been pointed out, this was discussed in the policy committee and at work session. but we can certainly take up any additional conversation tonight if we need to. Mr. Welch. I just want to double check. So in the green is not being voted on tonight. You said right. Okay. Thank you. It's being moved along to the to the next policy meeting for further discussion but not being adopted. Anything else? Any further comments? I do recommend approval to move this forward for further discussion. All right. Thank you. All right. With that, we will vote on this item on first
074reading. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. All right. That item is approved on first reading and we will take it up again at policy meeting in May. U next item is board policy for second reading. you'll recall this was pulled off of the consent agenda at at the request of a board member. this is policy 4.403 on library materials. Mr. Galver. Miss Osbrooks, I'll turn it over to you for comments or explanation and then we can get it on the floor for discussion. So, Dana, if you don't mind, I don't want to I don't want to leave anything out on on this one, but Okay. Okay. For if we could Oh, it's not on the board. Can we move the library materials policy down on our screen to the right here? Okay. So, board
075members, on the second page about line 21 through 25, there was some discussion at the work session. And during that discussion, you may recall I mentioned that there was legal guidance, attorney client privilege gu guidance that had been sent to you from Lisa Carson, our litigation attorney dealing with this specific provision. The question has been asked whether this provision should be removed or whether some other language should be placed instead of this language. As we discussed during the work session, there is a recent I believe two 2024 US middle district court case. in that particular case there was Knox County was involved and they were following a state law. They had however a provision in their policy that gave them some discretion and based upon that discretion. they were not victorious in saying we are
076simply following state law. Therefore, we should have the same immunity that the state of Tennessee has. That when when we updated this policy last time, that lang that case existed and the language was placed in that in this policy because of this court case. that court case is still good law. As I mentioned, it is the district that we are in. and so the recommendation of Miss Carson and myself is that this language remain in the policy as written. The only change that we are recommending is changing the verb become. It was becomes to became. If I if I may, Mr. Chair, Miss Osbridge, you're referring to lines 21 through 25 on this particular page. Yes. Thank you. And just for clarity, the language in blue plus the two words in red, I believe there's
077two individual words in red. well, let me back up a second. The language in blue is what was adopted on first reading, and is now back before us for second reading. The two the two words in red are new, to this policy b since that last since the first reading. Since the first reading, yes, I believe. we changed I we changed those at a policy meeting. I can't recall if it was during the first one or the second one, but that language was agreed upon. The only it may have been the first one because at the last policy meeting we I made the change which is an editorial change down in line 33 mature reading reading is struck through and materials. Okay. So for for purposes of getting this on the floor, I need a
078motion and a second on the language as as written currently in front of us. Okay. Thank you. So we're now open for discussion or questions on the policy as written and as drafted in front of us currently. Mr. Cash, thank you, Mr. Chair. I've got a question. do we anticipate state law changing because of one court case that's going on in Did you say in our district? Dana. Yes, sir. The court case it does not let me be clear doesn't have anything to do with library books, right? but yes, it is in the US middle district. It has been decided by Judge Krenshaw and it is that decision that we are relying on when when this language was drafted u the last time that we updated this policy. Well, when when we pass laws, the
079legislation when they pass laws, do they anticipate them changing like this? I don't know. So I don't know that they anticipate them changing as we have discussed previously until or if a state statute is challenged it's deemed to be constitutional in the case that I'm talking about there was another law that was challenged. The court found that law not to be constitutional. That is that's why that case is important to us is if at some point in time the law is challenged and it's held not to be constitutional. We don't want any discretion. We want it clear in the policy that automatically we won't follow that provision. I will remind the board and we may not have mentioned this Thursday night there is not a case pending regarding this legislation in Williamson County. There is
080a recent case that the ACLU filed against Rutherford County's school district. so there is a potential challenge out there, but not for Williamson County. So, so we know there's going to be challenges, but what this does is immediately if there's a case against a library book for instance, and it goes to litigation and everything that automatically our policy is revoked. Yes sir. If I exactly what it means, if I may, Miss Osbrooks, is it the whole policy or that portion? It would just be that portion. The definitions in A through G would be the would be the portion, just those provisions, not the entire policy. So, so basically we're just going back to the old way of doing business as far as A through G. Yes, sir. But only if it is struck down. Well,
081we'll see what the board votes, but I can't vote for that. Thank you, Mr. Galbreth. So Dan, I So my perspective on this is we're we came up with this language directly out of the state law. And so part of our part of our desire to like so we could be sued from from either side, we've been sued from from either side of this argument. So in order to stay in order to make sure that we win a lawsuit which is which is my first priority. So if we if we are sued like I would I don't want to pursue any litigation. Of course we might not pursue it. We but I don't want to go forward with anything unless we have a chance of winning. And if we if we do get sued, then
082if we've got the state law as part of our policy, then then the then whoever then the plaintiff is going to sue us and the state and we're going to one of our defenses is, hey, you can look at our policy, that's fine. But if we did this and all we were doing is relying on the state law, then they're going to go to the state and hopefully get us free and clear. It's like, hey, go go go to the state. you want you want attorney's fees if we if we end up losing like talk to them like so we're we're not making any any determination of the constitutionality or not of this law but if it's ultimately if if Rutherford or somebody else if they if they say that it's unconstitutional or if they
083if if some judge strikes it down then what that would give us is so it immediately comes out of our policy and at our next meeting then we can go and edit whatever they did whatever that judge didn't like about it, then it just immediately comes off instead of taking a process or or make it and say, "Well, we may go back and like it's just gone and now we've got we you know, in two more months we'll have the new revised wording based on whatever they're ruling." So, it's not I don't I don't think it's going to be gone forever. it's just going to be gone in a way we more than likely they're not going to strike down the whole thing. and they're just going to put some put some guard rails around
084it or what? Like, who knows? I they could strike down the whole thing. I don't know. But so that's the that's the purpose is just to make sure so if we can just protect ourselves and we just get it kind of on the auto delete track and then we just have to finish it. Miss Clemens. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I actually was planning on talking about something else, but since we've gone down this path, I was the one who I understand the importance of this language. especially after our discussion at the work session, I had just made it the paragraph I suggested was should these provisions be eliminated or expanded? You know, I wanted to add not just eliminated but also expanded that no matter what we would follow the state law. But at the
085end of the day and at the work session, I realized it really this paragraph and I apologize to my board members for bringing this up in the 11th hour. I just happened to notice because the red verb was in there and changed. And so but at the end of the day, this paragraph doesn't change the functionality of this policy. And I think we've worked really hard on this policy. And so that was so my apologies for bringing that up in the 11th hour that I noticed it. but again, I don't think this paragraph is going to change the functionality of this pal this policy. So, but I also wanted to address because I talked to you, Superintendent Golden, today because, I met with the Hunter's Bin Librarian and really, oh, so fun. Y'all need to
086go visit your elementary libraries. They're beautiful. I just had such a good time. and I apologize. I've had some family things going on. But I wanted you to reiterate what we talked about the mature reading list and the language because in the policy it says the mature materials list. Can you just kind of Sure. Thank you. that. Thank you. Thank you for that. as we've been going through this policy with some board member recommendations for what's in the policy termed as mature reading list. we had multiple conversations with our librarians at different grade bands. One of the specific concerns that was raised in our discussions with our elementary librarians is what an what an ordinary person might think of when they hear mature reading list. and we shared that with you all at the policy
087committee. and the essence of what we talked about was what some what some adult outside the school system might think of as mature reading is not anywhere near what is in our elementary libraries. and so we discussed making sure that we and our librarians had had the capacity within the parameters of this policy draft to give different language that's more more detailed and more accurate a more accurate description of what content might be on a list for the for for this. Instead of just captioning something mature reading list, we might put something that has a has a better descriptor for elementary. For example, there's not going to be profan, you know, that profanity in any of our elementary books that's described in the policy. So, the key to it from my perspective is a reference
088back to that policy committee meeting where we shared that detail. and Dane, I'm going to use the phrase I hear sometimes from practicing lawyers, legislative history. that gives us that that capacity and discretion to give a better detailed description for parents when you know when and if this board this board passes this policy. Can I follow up with one question? I don't know. I noticed my request to speak went off. and then will since we talked about having the mature materials list be cohesive districtwide, you know, for the elementary band and for the middle school band, where will will parents be able to access that on the website? Where where will that be compiled? we will have it available for anybody to click on at any time u from from school to school. Now, some
089some schools have particular books and others don't have particular books. So, those I don't foresee that they will ever be exactly identical, but I know the board had some discussion about making sure our librarians talked about common books. so, so that we expect to have that available for anyone. Another item that we talked about as we were brainstorming how to apply this is again from our conversations with our librarians related to that question of optin versus opt out. and our library leads shared with us that was a key component of of their concerns related to an earlier iteration of this draft. So, our plan at this point is to to to have a notification. and we're working on the possibility of having a required cell in the enrollment process where someone is not opting in
090or opting out, but just saying yes, I understand with some detail that we talked about already related to the content. Yes, I want my child to have access or or no. And I'm going to add this. No matter what is in the policies, over and over again, our librarians emphasize the importance of conversations between parents and the librarians. they've talked about that constantly because things can change for children from time to time. There might be, you know, they might have suffered a loss, for example, and they might need to have some some some more in-depth discussions with with the professionals in in the library. So, I gave you a little bit more than your question, but I thought it was important to emphasize that. Dr. Driggers, my question has to do with the timeline. If
091we get a lawsuit and it goes to the chancellor court, then it goes to the appellet court, and then it goes to the Tennessee State Supreme Court. What happens to our policy in the years that it takes for this to work up through the legal system? I think that's either a Miss Osbrooks or Mr. Cook question. I mean, do we suspend it temporarily waiting for a final? If if if the legislation is held to be unconstitutional from the district level, it's unconstitutional until it's appealed. Okay. Okay. So you're should it be held unconstitutional at district level that language will be removed automatically whatever is unconstitutional and the rest of it will be if it's able to will be applicable. Okay. Okay. And that will continue all the way through all the way up to the
092Supreme Court should it get there. Oh, I'm finished. Thank you. Okay, Miss Wyatt. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to piggyback on Mr. Golden's comments. I think the most important thing we've discussed at policy meetings and work sessions regarding this policy is encouraging parents to reach out to librarians with their concerns. I agree with previous statements that parents know their children and their experiences best. So, a direct conversation with our trained librarians is most helpful. For our parents, if you haven't spoken with your librarian yet, your teacher or principal can connect you. Direct conversations are most effective against distrust and misinformation. I will vote against this policy because the protection it could provide does not outweigh my concern with limiting access to books. Right. Any any additional questions or comments? Mr. Beasley. Yes. Thank you,
093Mr. Chair. Just for clarity, we have the individual that if we do get into a lawsuit that's going to step up and stand in the gap for us, our litigator has sent a email that's recommending this policy as written. Is that what we're voting on now? Yes. Okay. And Mr. Golden, do you do you recommend approval of this policy? I do recommend approval of this policy with two caveats. One, that our librarians have that professional judgment that we talked if it's written into the policy and we've talked about at policy committee. And two, that it contains that language in lines 21 through 25. Excellent. Thank you. Okay. Any further questions or comments? All right, we will proceed to a vote on this policy on second reading. The vote is eight yes, three no. All right,
094the policy is approved. I think it just all good. All right. Item D, approval of 2024 25 teacher bonus from the state. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. the state of Tennessee through the legislative branch passed a law that our teachers will get a $2,000 bonus. I want to give a little bit of detail. Number one, they don't have every detail worked out. That's my detail. second, more specifically, the plan that the state has is to give a $2,000 bonus to this year's full-time teachers who are spending more than half of their time in direct instruction to students, fund it in next fiscal year's budget. So they they will still be working on making sure that they have identified every single teacher who based on the legislation ha has a has a has a right
095to that and I and we will be giving them uploaded information. We don't know exactly when the funding will come but we know that it will be sometime after July 1st. So what that means is we will have some retirees who will receive some funds in the next fiscal year. and new hires for example will not receive that. so I do recommend approval of this resolution which is another required part of the process to allow the state department of education and the funding body to to fund it once they identify all those individuals. Thank you for that explanation and recommendation. We have a motion in a second. Any discussion or questions? Mr. Welch. Thank you. I'll be voting for this just because our teachers deserve the bonus. That's rather clear. But, for the record, I
096just want to state this was an attempt at a bribe to get our teachers on board with vouchers. They wouldn't do it. So, now it's blackmail. either we have to sign off on this or our teachers don't get it. And it's just unfortunate that we have legislators that don't care about public education in the state with the governor level and at the state legislator level. I will be voting for it just because I don't really see a an alternative that doesn't shaft our teachers, which I'm not going to do. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Final comment, Mr. Chair. we are required by state law to have this in place by June in order to receive the funds. Okay. Thank you. All right. Do recommend approval. Thank you. We are ready to vote. The
097vote is 11 yes, zero no. The resolution is approved. Our final item on the agenda tonight is tenure recommendation of the superintendent to the school board. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We make this annual request of you based on the Tennessee tenure law. starting in 2011, the Tennessee tenure law was changed from what many of us thought of as traditional tenure, which is you worked for three years and you rehired your tenur to a process by which teachers continue to be evaluated based on their statebased evaluations. And the key components of what constitutes tenure is actually in the memo that Vicky Hall, our assistant superintendent for human resources, included in there. and I won't share all that detail because it is in writing in the board packet. I do recommend approval of the Tennessee
098tenure recommendation law. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Mr. Galborth. Thank you, Mr. Chair. there is u there's an individual on this on this list that I can't bring myself to u to vote for, but I don't want to I don't want to vote against the other individuals who I'm sure are qualified and and worthy of of moving forward with this with this tenure. So, just wanted to explain my vote of of sorry, my abstension vote. Any additional comments? Okay, with that u explanation and recommendation, we are ready to vote. The vote is 10 yes, zero no one abstain. The recommendation is adopted. And that brings us to the end of our agenda. thank you for everyone's participation. We are adjourned.