Williamson County Board of Education Meeting - February 20, 2023

001well good evening everybody and welcome to the Williamson County school board meeting February 20th 2023. I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order now and we'll first start by recording our attendance board members we have 12 board members present thank you so much and tonight we're going to have Josh Brown lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance in a moment of silence you guys can be seated thank you Mr Brown and I'd like to say thank you to our deputies we have Mr Mark Gorman and George Hassan thank you so much for being here tonight so the first thing that we do at our board meetings is welcome our public and we have 11 members of the public who've signed up for speaking tonight each member gets three minutes to speak and

002you'll be able to see the time up on the screen I believe it's going to be up in front of you as well so you can kind of guide yourself but I will call up the two individuals at the same time you don't have to come up when your name is called if you're the second individual just so you can be aware that you're going to be coming up next our first two individuals are Corey Martin and Jeff Stewart Mr Martin if you want to go ahead and come up and you do not have to State your address I've got those on file go ahead hi my name is Corey Martin I'm with one Wilco I just wanted to say that it was striking to me to be in this room last month and see

003the students that came up here and recite some of the racial incidences that had been happening recently and all while we're sitting and standing underneath a county symbol that has a symbol of racial hatred on it and I understand that's outside the purview of this board obviously and there are efforts being taken to correct that and also efforts to thwart that correction but I would like to encourage the board today to take a small yet significant anti-racial act by naming the new Spring Hill Elementary School Amanda H North Elementary School I thank you so much for your service to our community and for your time thanks thank you next we have Jeff Stewart and following Jeff we have Quinn Williams hi my name is Jeff Stewart I'm also here with one Wilco I'm not going

004to use the full three minutes I may give some of it to Ms Williams but I'm I'm here also in support of the naming of the new school Amanda H North Elementary when I first saw the recommendation for Mr Warwick I was really excited I confessed I had never heard of Mrs North until that time and I think it speaks to the value of having someone devoted to learning and teaching our history as Mr work does I thank him for his efforts I think it also speaks to the value and the importance of the names that we put on these buildings and we don't get too many opportunities to name one and we want to be really thoughtful we don't want to waste those opportunities when they come I think by now everyone on the

005board is familiar with the qualifications that Mrs North brings and so I won't recount all of them but just a couple of things that I really wanted to point out that stood out to me it's an opportunity to name one of our schools after someone who is not only devoted and really accomplished educator but truly a heroic Overcomer of immense obstacles and a shining example for all of our children in this community she served the children and families of our community with distinction during a period of shameful and unconstitutional segregation of public schools persevering until Williamson County Schools were finally forced to integrate in 1967 which was 13 years after school segregation was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of this country she not only taught the children of Williamson County well but her own

006children who on went on to be teachers themselves as did their her grandchildren one of whom Mrs Quan Williams currently serves as principal of Creekside Elementary it's a really exciting day and I trust that we're going to get the right outcome but my one disappointment is that there has been any consideration given to sharing this honor with a horse the horse may also have some distinction in its career but I was pretty shocked when I saw the recommendation of the committee to consider this I think very ill-conceived mashup of the name of one of our most distinguished Educators and a horse I think it's it's a measure of disrespect that we should be very very careful about particularly with a woman of color in this community and I hope and trust and pray that we'll

007get a unanimous vote tonight thank you so much thank you Quinn Williams and then Jody Smith good evening my name is Quinn Williams to superintendent golden Mrs Durham board members and District staff I stand before you on behalf of Amanda H North's family we are grateful and appreciative that her history contributions and Legacy has been told and heard by many my grandmother was a strong woman who worked tirelessly to make sure that black students in Williamson County were educated before segregation she was poised positive and persistent Amanda H North was a woman of great integrity that instilled in her family the value of education and being kind to one another we hope that you will see that the lady she was and what she stood for aligns with this district and the community we are

008ever so humbled and honored that her name has been submitted and is now one of the finalists in The naming of the new school on Wilkes Lane for us it is befitting that her history is told this month as we celebrate Black History her story is Black History which is also Williamson County History thank you for considering her name for the new school on Wilkes Lane thank you we have Jody Smith and ravita ramen Juan thank you so much for your service to our families and our children in our County I'm Jody Smith this is my first school board meeting and I just wanted to propose that the new public school on Wilkes Lane and Spring Hill be named Amanda H North Elementary we know why we're all here I'm also with one Wilco and

009I'm just learning about Mrs Amanda H North she's a woman who served as a teacher and principal in Williamson County for nearly 40 years she worked to build an exceptionally supportive environment for students by maintaining competitive standards and fostering a culture of fairness Integrity diversity and accountability at Williamson County Schools and you know she embodies the values of Williamson County Schools I was kind of thinking about all of those things as well looking at her Legacy it's just incredible now deceased over a decade she began her Legacy of leadership in a one-room schoolhouse outside of Franklin in the 1930s she later served as the principal at an all-black Thompson Station School nurturing a high standard of Excellence for her students later in her career She was transferred to Evergreen school where she served until schools

010were finally forced to integrate until 1967 which was a full 13 years after the U.S Supreme Court ruled School segregation unconstitutional and I just I believe as do many in this room that the close proximity of her service as an educator to the Wilkes Lane school as well as her exemplary Life and Legacy as a Williamson County educator and many other reasons make her the best choice to be honored this way and I also do not believe it is fair to her Legacy to ask her to share this honor with a horse thank you all so much next we have ravita Rockman and Denise andrejak Addie I want to thank you for the work that you do and the difficult choices that you have to make on behalf of our students but today the choice

011to name the school on Wilkes Lane is one of the easiest tasks you will ever have there's no contest between naming the school Amanda H North Elementary or North Star Elementary Amanda H North Elementary is the only way to bring honor to miss North's Legacy that WCS is still benefiting from today from the impact to all students in WCS to Value the honor as the first black woman the first school named after a female principles whose impact can only be inspiration for her dedication resilience and her steadfast Devotion to her students and her community let's be honest the horse star pointer was accomplished and he's already received his recognition with a historical marker on Columbia Avenue if you insist on Star pointer having a presence at the new school someone suggested allowing him to be

012the school mascot which would be a great way to honor him but please allow Miss North the individual honor and the respect she so deserves our community at Community acts that she not have to share this honor with an animal when her impact reaches far and wide to many lives she impacted please vote for Amanda H North as the name of the Wilkes Lane school thank you next we have Denise undershak and I'm sorry about mispronun pronouncing your name and then Alessandra Colson is next I thank the school board for encouraging me to speak out tonight and I concur with the Williamson County historian Rick Warwick of the name Amanda H North Elementary School for will on Wilkes Lane in Spring Hill while I have no children or grandchildren as students here I have many

013young friends that I care about in Williamson County Schools I appreciate the school board's philosophy I'm including the community here tonight and contributing to their learning experiences I also appreciate the board of education's policy of setting goals for Education diversity that takes into consideration the diversity for the student population which is likely to continue to grow in the school enrollment as a school enrollment has increased 180 80 percent 108 percent within the last 20 years as a black educator dedicated approximately 40 years to a predominantly black students Amanda North meets the criteria of place residing in Tennessee and Legacy to her students The Tennessean has reported that the Wilkes Lane School will relieve the crowding and both the Longview and Heritage schools resulting in a more neighborhood experience in each of the three allowing students

014to walk to school for Amanda North herself would pick up her students who head too far to walk and no school bus her authenticity to her calling as educator would certainly reflect the Williamson County school board's own rules for naming a facility as an individual with the Williamson County that would reflect the Williamson County Mission the vision the core values and the beliefs today so I concur with the nomination of the name of Amanda North Elementary School on Williams on Wilkes Lane Spring Hill Tennessee thank you next we have Alessandra Colson and khalida Perkins hello my name is Alex Wilson I am a third grader and will be going to the new school on Wilkes Lane next year I'm asking you to name it Manta H North Elementary this is our opportunity to do something

015extraordinary and name it after a woman who was a teacher and press and principal in WCS my two sisters and I will be walking in there next year and I can't think of anything more inspiring than having it named Amanda H North Elementary thanks thank you thank you next we have khalida Perkins and then we'll have Marie felhauer good evening as a fellow Williamson County resident I was moved to hear about the legacy of Miss Amanda North she's the product from the same alma mater as I Oprah Winfrey and so many other great tennesseans share that is none other than Tennessee State University formerly known as Tennessee agriculture and Industrial state Miss North comes from a family of Educators they have served and still serve as Educators and principals I too share the same family

016history of serving as I'm sorry I said I too share the same family history of Educators as many of my family served or currently serving as teachers principals as well as professors so it is in My DNA for me to be here it is my pleasure to to share this stand with so many others to ensure that we remember the Williamson County Mission as it refers to Miss North and that it is to deliver exceptional service through education best practices and teamwork this is why many of our children are in the county as it is noted to be the best County for education in Miss North exemplified just that she did it alone and without any horse to help a horse is a horse of course of course a horse is to be groomed enjoyed

017written and perhaps raced allowed to run free they are often celebrated for their Swift speed prowess as pets and as a form of transportation we can celebrate them we can name them tame them parade them and even work them at one point in history enslaved people were listed alongside horses as property collateral and items of value to slave owners Folk we do not honor horses as human beings they do not build schools educate our children or deserve a place of honor as does a human being especially not one of the caliber of Miss North that horse named star should stand alone and have a place to call its own perhaps an equestrian facility but in but it ended the same area as Wilkes Lane if you want to give honor to the star horse Miss

018North was real she has a legacy that still shouts out her name say her name neither her name or Legacy should be tarnished by suggesting a place of honor with a horse surely we have not dehumanized our fellow citizens to point that we feel it fair or ethical to put her as the same status as a horse what kind of example are we providing our children I asked the question of the person or people proposing the name change to share their rationale for even making the suggestion for the name to be changed in the first place did one think Miss North's name could not stand alone is there an inherent or conscious concern about naming the school after a black woman surely I would think there would not they were not thinking rationally about it

019whomever you are you're minimizing her name to the status of an animal and ignoring North's Humanity in the great deed she did for this community thank you thank you our final three speakers are Marie felhauer Kate keys and Laura cleeman good evening Madam chair is that correct Madam chair in Williamson County school board members my name is Marie felhauer I'm a recent transplant from Southern California a small town named El Segundo where I served as a planning commissioner for eight years and on the city council for four years I also just retired from the Los Angeles Police Department serving over 25 years and I retired as a lieutenant too I'm here this evening to speak to you on behalf of moms for America I recently attended a Gala in Florida with my husband and my

020dear friend Karen Lovelace who is a long time resident here in Franklin and at that Gala we were afforded the opportunity to meet a woman named Kimberly Fletcher who founded moms for America we were so inspired by her that we decided to form a Williamson County moms for America group and I wanted to introduce what moms for America stands for briefly it is to empower moms promote Liberty and raise Patriots I'm going to read you the preamble to the Declaration of mothers written by moms for America the Declaration of mothers is a proclamation to the nation declaring the principles we want upheld and promoted in our society Schools and Government and communities it is the voice of mothers who stand for truth respect God treasure family and cherish Freedom committed to nurturing and advancing these

021principles in their home communities and through their votes I just want to let people the women of Williamson County who are moms or future moms or grandmothers to know that they can reach me at Marie at HH curations.com or on my cell at 310-529-5919 and of course you can always go to momsforamerica.us thank you for the opportunity to speak thank you and next we have Kate keys all that you do for our community I believe that part of providing an excellent education is teaching subjects from a broad range of perspectives historically our educational system has not done a great job of this we have tended to tell the stories of one group of people from one perspective this has had negative effects in our on our understanding of the world and our place in it

022individually and collectively another key ingredient to a positive education educational experience is to inspire our kids to be their best selves it is inspirational to see the accomplishments of people who are like ourselves I'm better able to imagine that I can do great things when I see and hear stories of the great things other women have done and that is why I feel so strongly that our newest Elementary School be named for Amanda North for too long our society has honored the accomplishments of only a small percentage of our population we need to broaden our perspectives we need to honor the accomplishments of people from a broader cross-section of our population so that all students know they are valued and valuable our job is people who care about our children is to honor the contributions

023of all our best citizens Amanda North is clearly one such citizen please show my children and all of our children that we value the qualities Mrs North exemplified dedication to her profession contribution to her community and a commitment to inspiring future Generations please name our newest Elementary School Amanda H North Elementary thank you and our final speaker is Laura Clayman I'm here to speak to the book reconsideration decision I want to thank the Committees for their hard work and the time spent forming those recommendations as you consider your vote please place a premium on students First Amendment rights parents know their child best and know what is appropriate for their child especially in high school where some 9th and 10th graders are more mature than some seniors and vice versa systems are already in place

024that allow parents to restrict access to mature material for their student s First Amendment rights should not be obstructed by age-restrictive barriers please vote to allow parents to be the decision maker and support students First Amendment rights by not creating a restrictive access age limit thank you thank you and thank you to all of our speakers who came to talk with us tonight we really appreciate your feedback and that you took the time out of your evening to come and talk with us next on the agenda is the approval of our agenda for tonight board members if you will we would like to accept a motion to approve Mr ha and Mr welchio second thank you we'll go ahead and cast our votes your vote is 12 yes 0 no thank you we just approved

025our agenda for this evening and next on the agenda is approval of the consent agenda I didn't thank you Mr Mitchell and Mr Cash seconds that board members we can cast our votes your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you and with that approval we have approved that January 2nd or 17th 2023 School boarding meeting minutes the board policies for second reading field trips report cards and grading systems and vacations and holidays the recommendation for field trip fee requests the approval of the e-plans title III immigrant Grant the approval of e-plans resilient communities Grant the approval of Sr 3.0 public plan for remaining funds addendum 2022-2023 the approval of the safe return to in-person instruction and continuity of services plan addendum 2022-2023 and the approval of town of Thompson's Station request for utility easement

026at Independent high school next agenda item is Communications to the to the board and Mr golden thank you madam chair and thank you those of you who spoke at our public comment it was a really good discussion and I appreciate the thoughts you put into it and I've got to call out with a special thank you to our third grade student for for sharing her thoughts as well well thought out thank you board members I do want to give you in the in the audience here a reminder of our discussion from our work session we in the superintendent's report talked about two main efforts that we're going through right right now one is the math book adoption process we've spoken to that over the course of the number of months dating back to September October

027this coming month March is the scheduled adoption time so I encourage you to be thinking about that I know many of our teachers are they've reviewed the books they're continuing to do that and again we will come to you with a recommendation in March after so many months of that discussion and update second we spent some time introducing to you our vision and plan to to invest in College and Career Technical education with an Innovation Hub that investment is from the state of Tennessee in this current Year's budget from the governor 15.5 million dollars for for for an innovative plan that Innovative plan from us under the leadership of Dr Jeremy Qualls includes specifically an Innovation Hub our plan is to place this Hub next to Franklin High School's campus we are taking that request

028to the County commission for their review and approval next month for a long-term lease for some of the cheek Park property that's immediately adjacent to what currently houses are entrepreneurship and Innovations Innovation Center on the north side of Franklin High School's campus I am very excited about where we're going with finding a way to build on our EIC our entrepreneurship Center to the next take it to the next level so that students can come to an Innovation Hub and engage in some of those College and Career Technical education programs that we've been dreaming of so I encourage folks to to look at that finally I do want to mention to you that in addition to your items on the agenda night we are going through our strategic planning process we have had three broad Community

029meetings based on regions we have two more coming tomorrow night we'll be at Fairview High School in the cafeteria if you come to the Fairview High School visit I encourage you to pull in to the front side of the building which which which is actually the back side of the building so more specifically the side that actually is on Highway 100 we're going to do to the cafeteria so that would be the easiest entrance for you on Thursday of this week we will be meeting at Mill Creek Middle School for the Nolensville area discussion of our strategic planning process both of those meetings start at 5 30. we'll go from 5 30 till about 7 o'clock these are interactive processes where you as community members get to share your thoughts get to share your dreams

030about where Williamson County can be in the next five years so I strongly encourage participation in that and in addition to those Community meetings we're continuing to meet with stakeholder groups we have a PTO president stakeholder group scheduled we've spoken with a number of groups including student leader groups Etc so looking forward to that process as we aim towards a May decision for the board for our next strategic plan so with that quick update on the superintendent's side one of the really great things we do here in Williamson County is celebrate student and faculty and staff success at the state or national level and it seems like every month we have something to celebrate with our great work and our amazing students so with that Carol Birdsong if you will share some student and staff

031spotlights thank you superintendent golden I sure would love to do so and we have many many students from many many schools to celebrate this evening we are going to start with the Tennessee State Civics essay first place in grades three through five category from Trinity Elementary School Lisa Tucci her teacher is Stephanie perfect and you might have read about her and InFocus and if you did not please go back and read about her now we're going to talk about theater and the Tennessee theater Educators Association has named their All-State performers and Tech folks so we're going to start first with Centennial High School and Valencia Acosta she has been named Allstate in acting her teacher is Megan Hargrave from Franklin High School also Allstate in acting Tatum Lander and Melody Brooke Myers Victoria Capps is

032their teacher from Independence High School Emily e banks Abram Knott and Tristan Valdez again Allstate acting Becky Williams is their teacher from page high school vismaya chanapa and Anna Tate Allstate acting Michelle Tripp their teacher and from Summit High School Amaya weekly Annie rice is her teacher and Allstate acting once again now we're going to move to Allstate musical theater Centennial High School Abigail Levy Savannah gray seminar and Celeste Phillips Megan Hargrave again their teacher also in all state musical theater from Independence High School and folks we have two slides here very talented students at Independence High School Sawyer Curtis Emily e banks Abram not and Luke Pearson and Zoe Phillips again Becky Williams is their teacher also from nolansville high school Allstate musical theater Whitney reamer Laura Lindsay is her teacher and from Summit

033High School Emma dolberry and Kyla Jones Annie rice is their teacher and now I'm moving to Allstate design and Tech Ryan zarneski from Brentwood High School David Moody is his teacher and I'm going to put in a Shameless plug if you guys don't have anything to do this weekend head on over to Brentwood High School they are doing Footloose the musical it will get your toes tapping and then Allstate design and Tech Zach Rackley Centennial High School Megan Hargrave and I'm going to also give a few more Shameless plugs because it is musical theater season in our high schools y'all Centennial High School now these these next three shows will start March 2nd Centennial High School is doing Beauty and the Beast page High School is doing nine to five and Independence High School is

034doing big fish lots of great theater and if you all have not taken in one of our high school or middle school shows well you're just missing out so I encourage you to do so congratulations to all of our students and staff thank you all right thank you thank you Carol and Madam chair that is my report thank you Mr Golden and thank you Miss Birdsong I just wanted to say thank you to Mr Brown for hosting the work session in my absence I heard you did a great job and got everybody out on time in new business this evening we do have some school board budget items the first item on the agenda is the approval of the central cafeteria fund Amendment supply chain assistance first award thank you thank you madam chair this

035is the first of two awards from the USDA for local education agencies related to the purchase of of foodstuffs and the impact of food chain supply issues so do recommend approval of this award thank you do we have a motion Clemens a second Supriya any discussion on this item okay if not we can cast our votes your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you and with that we approved the central cafeteria fund Amendment supply chain assistance fund first award second item for approval is the central cafeteria fund Amendment supply chain assistance second award thank you madam chair likewise this is a request for approval of an award from the U.S department of Agriculture for for our food service department related to food chain disruptions thank you and do we have a motion for approval

036Mr Welch and Mr Brown open the floor for discussion on this item if no discussion we can move to a vote your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you with that the board approved the central fund a central cafeteria fund Amendment for supply chain assistance second award next we'll be looking to approve the capital fund Amendment intra category transfer Cox and wakes thank you madam chair this is a request for additional funds from our contingency fund actually our rural contingency fund to allow for completion of the projects on Wilkes Lane and Cox Road do recommend approval thank you do we have a motion for approval Mr Mitchell and Mr keckins any discussion okay let's move to a vote your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you with this vote you approved the capital

037fund Amendment into a category transfer for the Cox and whites for 580 000 next on the agenda is the capital fund Amendment intercategory transfer Mill Creek Middle South by field thank you madam chair likewise this is a request out of the rural contingency fund this time to build a softball field adjacent to the baseball field at Mill Creek Middle School so that both girls softball and boys baseball will have fields on that campus do we have a motion Mr Pria and a second Mr Beasley thank you any discussion okay let's move to vote the vote is 12 yes zero no thank you we just approved the Mill Creek Middle School softball field next on the agenda is the general purpose School fund Amendment for disproportionality from idea thank you madam chair Warren year three of

038U.S Department of Education disproportionality plan and this is a request for funding 207 356.85 out of federal funds into these specific lines for that purpose do recommend approval thank you do we have a motion Mr ha a second Mr Priya we'll open the floor for discussion okay no discussion we'll move to a vote the vote is 12 yes zero no thank you with that vote we approved the general purpose School fund School fund Amendment for disproportionality from idea next item is general purpose School fund resolution for nursing enter category transfer thank you madam chair through the mapping of nursing services in our schools we have a need to move some funding from contracted services to the salary line for nurses for a part-time nurse to fulfill those physical needs for our students do recommend approval

039we have a motion Mr Mitchell in a second thank you Mr Brown open the floor for discussion okay we'll move to a vote your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you we passed with that full approval general purpose School fund resolution for nursing enter category transfer the last item under budget approvals is Central cafeteria fund resolution for Central cafeteria excess fund balance thank you madam chair this is kind of the opposite of what we typically think of when we think of funding the U.S department of Agriculture has a requirement that school lunch programs at the end of their budget year shall carry no more than no more than three months expenses and any excess is to be used to put back into the program this 3.3 million dollars represents that funding from our last

040budget year and we asked for approval so that we can put it into food service equipment it's a pretty substantial repair and Replacements of food service equipment and some some improvements to the kitchens and cafeterias across the district is the plan recommend approval we have a motion thank you Mr Pria in a second Mr Welch thank you open the floor for discussion Mr Brown situation I'm just curious over what period of time will these repairs and Replacements take place how long do you anticipate that taking I mean I think it's great that we have the funds and I know it's much needed I'm just curious about that thank you for that question we intend to encumber the funds in this fiscal year I would like to look to Gary Anderson to speak because it's interesting

041we mentioned supply chain in the context of food service for some of these for some of these equipment purchases there's a possibility the supply chain might extend beyond this fiscal year and so Mr Anderson if you would any any detail you'd like to share with that now there is the opportunity for us to place orders and stuff but as superintendent golden said we're not sure they can deliver when we need them the USDA is fine with us as long as we have put it in motion and moved on because they recognize the supply chain issues as you found out previously when they gave money for our food requests so it will be done as quickly as possible we have things already in the world we are ready to start placing the orders but we're not

042sure when suppliers can deliver them so the purchases will be made contracts will be committed to we will encumber all the funds within the next I don't know a few weeks to a month or so and then the deliveries will come over time thank you any further comments or discussion okay we can move to our vote the vote is 12 yes zero no thank you with this vote you we approved the central cafeteria fund resolution for Central cafeteria excess fund balance next item on the agenda is the approval of the 2023-2024 family tuition rate Mr golden thank you madam chair annually we take this request to you and you make a decision on the family tuition rate and this recommended family tuition rate based on the per student general purpose operating budget for the current

043year actually happens to be 68 dollars less than last year's budget we do recommend approval of that I do want to specify that this has no impact on the children of of our employees who are out of County you may recall that last year we established that tuition rate much lower than the per pupil general fund expenditure that's at two thousand dollars for the first year and under our sop it drops 500 a year until it's no charge for students attending the fifth year for our full-time employees do recommend approval of this annual rate for those occasional times where it's needed for people who run the process of moving in the district or seniors who move out and complete their career here at WCS thank you and do we have a motion for approval Mr

044Cash in a second thank you that is Mr Wimberley and do we have any discussion Mr Welch Olin can you clarify for just for anyone listening that even though we have an out of County tuition right this does not mean that anyone out of County can attend Williamson County schools and just pay the tuition thank you for that we serve any student who lives in the county who who chooses that service for Williamson County Schools we do not have a provision in our board policy to allow for out-of-county students with two exceptions one is Children of full-time employees who live out of County can attend and pay a tuition rate to those who are who are in the process of moving in have a non-contingent contract to move in during the semester can start their

045can start their at the first day of school provided again they are they are moving in per that contract during that school year the process we go through with that is they pay the tuition when they move in during the school year that tuition is reimbursed to them a final possibility on the back end of a career is when someone is we do have a provision in policy that students can complete the school year in Williamson County Schools if they move out so it's someone might move out over say the winter break they can complete the school year and pay a semester's tuition for that so this tuition rate is very particularized specific instances within our board policy any further discussion all right let's cast our votes your vote is 12 yes 0 no thank

046you and the board just approved the 2023-2024 family tuition rate next item on the agenda is the approval of the school fees annual agenda item Mr golden thank you madam chair there's a long-standing process in the state of Tennessee for what's described in the code AS school fees these are requests that we can make of parents pending board approval that are truly just requests for donations Tennessee calls them fees but for any Services during this during the school day for instructional purposes every resident of the state is entitled to a free public education so I want to emphasize that what you were proving here if you do approve it is in essence a specific request for donations to the schools for those items that are specified in in these requests there's another piece of this

047that includes fees for extracurricular activities those can be charged as a condition of participation and what we are asking of you is to approve those for the request for donation typically called fees plus the fees for the extracurricular activities I want to mention one final thing in this description are ptos and our booster clubs make a big difference in this context as well there are so many pieces of of of what it takes to run a public school system this is a small piece I believe it's a needed piece where we are right now but in truth our booster clubs and ptos support us 12 14 15 fold what we receive from these fees so I do recommend approval thank you do we have a motion Mr Welch and Mr Haas seconds we'll open the

048floor for discussion Mr Mitchell thank you madam chair is it required does it require board approval for any other requests for donations from the schools so the law in this instance requires Board of approval of these fees because there's a specific code section to it and I'm looking to our attorneys if I misspeak please correct me that there are other laws for fundraisers and those laws require approval for any fundraiser for on behalf of a school or even on behalf of a PTR booster club to be approved by the superintendent or designee I have designated Dr Julie oyer as the approver for any Elementary fundraisers and Dr Lee Webb as the approver for any secondary school fundraisers but so the board does not have an obligation to approve every fundraiser but you do have a

049responsibility to approve fees fundraisers do not have a specific goal or item that they're raising funds for is that also pretty much just delegated to the assistant superintendents of the respective schools we do have a process we have a form that boosters and ptos fill out it specifies the nature of the fundraiser the purpose for the funds typically what I see is the boosters or ptos will have a particular purpose and then they will address in their plan what to do if they have excess funds so every every specific request for a fundraiser includes their plan and it in in that possibility that they might bring more often will go into to to to the pto's funds so that they can make additional purchases I do want to invite Dr Webb and Dr oyer to

050share if you have any additional detail then answer to that question one last question if I might Madam chair are in is every school required to attempt to collect these fees or is there do schools have the opportunity to opt out of this structure thank you for that question these are the maximum possible fees that may be requested for any particular class or any particular School short answer to your question is no the principles do not have the obligation to request any of these fees they can opt out so they can absolutely decide we're not going to collect fees these fees within within their specific school that is correct thank you Mr Mitchell Mr Galbraith thank you madam chair so Jason we've we've talked about this before but from a from a budgetary standpoint if

051if we were to if we were to identify enough money to because for to replace the fees I think Miss farmer said you know approximately 1.3 1.4 million dollars from from the voluntary fees at Midland High School is what I'm is what I'm referring to not the not the extracurricular fees but my because my goal has been for a while and will continue to be to to for a couple of reasons to take the go get closer back to to the free education to reverse the change that was made back 15 years ago in a recession to come up with some additional funds where we prior didn't require these fees and now we do for the people who are in elementary school we're not talking about 25 per child we're talking about you know 30

052fifty dollars a hundred dollars per class for each of your kids as they get into to middle and high school and so it's it's fundraising that's done at the beginning of school it's a distraction for our teachers as we're talking about ways the things that we can take off our teachers plate asking for money from our parents should not be on our teacher's plate and what in any way shape or form so we have transitioned away and done a good job of making sure that these things are in fact voluntary Jason can can remember a couple of situations you know five or six years ago where you know where grades were being tied to these things and I mean teachers were you know were conveying that if they didn't get enough money then they wouldn't

053be able to provide you know all the activities or or what whatever at the or the class so none of that is true and so what I'm looking to do is to identify as we as we find out more about our the revenue side of the budget and I'm trying to understand what the appropriate way to to handle this is I don't have a problem with the with continuing on as we as we as we are today but if and when we do identify money to to replace These funds Jason would it be I don't I don't think it would be appropriate to to amend this in a on it and have a contingency set forth so if if we if we find the budget if we find the money in the budget then we

054just amend this at the at that time is that would would that be I just heard from Mr cook you said yes to that so the answer is yes but I'm going to speak practically if this was not if this was treated as a separate budget request each one of these requests from Individual schools would compete with other budget requests I'm just going to tell you where we are right now I'm we're going to have to cut some items and so would these survive budget cuts over the course of that I don't know because we haven't addressed it in that way from a strategic standpoint I think you're right that that from a fundraiser perspective could we make a treat this as a pure fundraiser and just have no fees there are possibilities where we

055can make a substantial change in in how we do this long term but again if if the if the thought is if there's 1.3 million worth of this request how can we get 1.3 million if it was through our budgeting process those items would compete against all other all other needs that are brought to us through the budgeting process appreciate that I guess there's there's never there's never going to be a point in time where where we're going to make a decision and say hey this million dollars is that something's going to be more important that something's always going to be more important than this million dollars it's just once you once you create a fee it's impossible to get rid of a fee so it just comes from a from a principal standpoint are

056we gonna are we gonna give this money back to the parents and what we know they're going to do is the ptos and the boosters are going to go solicit these these These funds and this money is still going to go to the to the schools a large part of it and I suspect if we kind of transition and make it into a fundraiser we could probably figure what what could result in is that we could raise more than this 1.4 million it's just not going to go to pay for paper and workbooks it's going to pay for the extras that our boosters and our in our ptos often get we often have a lot of things at our schools because of the boosters and ptos that we wouldn't have otherwise that's that's the opportunity

057cost that we're that we're missing out by by continuing to to do this nickel and diming so I just I hope that it becomes somewhat important to the board to take this principled stand I'll I'll continue to to try until I can convince y'all so thanks thank you Mr Galbraith okay we have no more discussion we can cast our votes your vote is 10 yes two no so with those 10 yeses we approved the school fees which is an annual agenda item and the next item item on the agenda is the approval of the Encore summer 2023 enrichment program fees thank you madam chair for for a number of years our elementary schools and you can see the specific locations on this memo have had an encore program which is just a great summer experience

058for our students this is different from the summer school that we've been talking about so often it includes a some some instructional elements in the July window of time for students to come enjoy enjoy some time at their school so this fee is for that program and do recommend approval for this Summer's program thank you do we have a motion Mr Hall and Miss mcclemons thank you any discussion all right let's cast our votes vote is 12 yes zero no thank you board with that we approved our The Encore summer 2023 enrichment program fees and next item is a set of board policies the first policy for review is first reading of the school attendance areas zoning and non-residents thank you madam chair this board policy 1.703 School attendance series is one of our more

059detailed and complex policies the proposed changes for first reading that start on page two include in describing in in detail the new law for which we just applied the second year for open Zone schools plus we are adding some elements that you all decided were appropriate in our most recent rezoning and that includes some additional some additional Provisions related to Rising 7th graders Rising 10th graders as as they are rezoned so do recommend approval of this policy for first reading and it will go back to the board policy committee for second upon your approval thank you do we have a motion for approval Mr Beasley in a second and Mr Galbraith any discussion okay let's move to a vote the vote is 12 yes zero no it's approved unanimously the School attendance area zoning and

060non-resident students for the first reading next first reading item is the use of Internet thank you madam chair based on a change in state law and a TSB recommendation we've brought for first reading a use of the internet policy that actually has a companion deletion policy that we'll hit in just a minute and there there are some elements that we discussed at the work session that we're going to have a little bit more detailed discussion on related to teachers responsibilities outside of school but beyond that for the purposes of this first reading I do recommend approval so that it can go back to policy committee for discussion prior to second do we have a motion for approval Mr Mitchell in a second by Miss Apria any discussion on this item let's cast our votes your

061vote is 12 yes 0 no thank you and the board just approved the first reading of the use of the internet and the next policy is in relation to that item we just approve it's the deletion of the use of electronic mail thank you madam chair this is a first reading for deletion of this again as I mentioned this is a companion policy I would not recommend deletion of this if the prior policy did not pass but do recommend approval as a companion to its predecessor do we have a motion for approval Mr Welch and a second Miss Clements any discussion okay let's cast our votes notice 12 yes zero no thank you and this one will just be deleted if we approve the use of the internet policy upon second reading thank you and

062that's the deletion of the use of electronic mail policy and the final policy related item is the first and final reading of purchasing policy thank you madam chair there's been a change in the law for many many years frankly I don't know how many years the Baseline for for purchases that require at least three competitive quotes but don't require a full published request for bid window was at twenty five hundred dollars the state law has changed that to twenty thousand do recommend approval of this for first and final reading based upon an editorial change reflecting the law change do we have a motion for this one Mr Mitchell and then miss a Prius seconds thank you we'll open the floor for discussion no discussion we will move to vote your vote is 12 yes zero

063no I think you have 12 votes to approve the first and final reading of an editorial change on purchasing policy next item on the agenda is the approval of reconsideration committees recommendation for the following library books speak Perks of Being a Wallflower the Field Guide to the North American teenager and where the crawdad's seeing Mr golden thank you madam chair a few months ago in 2022 a parent made a request for reconsideration of a number of library books and use of books in our in a curriculum setting after that initial submission the law has changed and so we have had a policy change so I want to make sure you know that we initiated a committee review per our board policy at the time the request was made for these for these four books the

064policies changed including including some committee detail but the responsibility for a final decision has shifted from the committee to the board for library books that committee made decisions related to curriculum requests that this parent made that can can be appealed by the parent we discuss it at the work session that the parent accepted the decisions of that committee we provided you with a copy of that decision but ultimately this request came for for these four library books and it is submitted to you based on a recommendation from the committee and Mr McNeese actually if I'm not mistaken has a copy of the of the memo with the recommendation of the committee posted and certainly open for it to be placed on the floor for any decision you have to make do we have a motion

065from the board to approve Mr Wimberley and the Mr Welch seconds and we'll open the floor for discussion okay we have Mr Brown thank you madam chair I think it Jason it could be useful going back to the work session discussion on Thursday for the for the benefit of those who we're not watching who may be watching tonight to hear a little perspective on how the complainant ended up responding and reacting to the decision that were made by the committee I think that's important context and maybe also a little bit more on this is more on the curriculum side but it's for context I think it's important that some of the decisions that were made by the committee on the curriculum aspect of this that were not ultimately removing the books but making some adjustments

066or modifications to when those books were presented at certain grade levels I think I think that's helpful for a lot of people that I've heard from who are concerned about some of these kinds of issues to see that maybe the recommendation itself while the recommendation is to leave the books in place in the library there were some other things done that actually were in my view meaningful to acknowledge the concerns that parents were raising in this particular case one parent but I know it's broader than that thank you for that Miss Willie Dickerson chaired that committee and with boards permission I'd like her to come up and speak to those two questions number one the complainant's reaction to the committee works and she has direct information related to that in second a short description of

067the committee review of the curriculum concerns I've kind of lost my voice so I hope it doesn't go away during this presentation but we did have a parent complain about the instructional part of actually five books but they only requested four of those books to be removed from the library I committee was made according to your board policy at the time we had several meetings most of them were in person even though we did have two that were Zoom meetings we had a hearing when we actually spoke with the complainant we also listened to the teachers and I will tell you as part of the curriculum part this was an attempt and I and I'll now that I'm live I'll say it in front of everybody as the executive director of secondary school I am

068very proud of that group of teachers and I would love to have either one of those teachers teaching my child because this was a unit in in the course of study that they had had for two years I think it's two that students had not really engaged in it was a unit on Misfits and this example given in the textbook was a 34 year old man and that turned to bugs it was kind of weird but kids did not relate to that unit so the teachers the team of 10th grade English teachers at this particular School met during the summer to try to do what they could to engage kids and they had a list of 22 books that they were not going to really discuss in class but they were going to be making

069some analogies the students were going to be making those analogies and answering some questions about misfit they met to narrow the list to I think they told us they got it to 15 and then eventually they got it to eight books that kids could choose from they sent emails to parents of that of that of the students in their 10th grade class asking them and suggesting this was an excellent opportunity for you to meet with your child so like the book books that you wanted your child to read narrow them I think each kid could list three books their top three priorities and they were going to place the kids in groups to have group discussions and group projects and things like that and the committee asks the team of teachers how many parents objected

070and only one teacher told us that they had two two parents that wanted their kids to read specific books and what they did as a group of teachers they didn't embarrass the kid they didn't do any of that they just put those kids on those books and the student never knew that their parent wanted them to read that particular book but it was an opportunity to for parents to have said so from the front end the complainant likewise the students have an interactive notebook that has a lot of additional information about the books parents had an opportunity to look at that the committee suggested that they'd be a little bit more specific because when it says objectional content that means different things to different people so the committee made the recommendation to the parents that

071they'd be a little bit more specific so parents know exactly what that was and so when we met during the hearing the teachers brought in samples of students work and it was really good the parent also shared with us that it was a hard decision for him to make as a family whether or not to do that even in his own household they didn't agree on if he you know if he had the right to tell me as a parent what my child should read and so but he thought that he just needed to press on and when what we did with the books there was one book and where the Crawdad sang that we said that the committee agreed that it was not you a young youth book it was rated as an adult

072book and we found one I think review that said it was a young adult but most of them said it was an adult book and that we felt that one should be in a 10th in a 12th grade curriculum because of the maturity of the book and I would tell I told you all and so I said again it was my favorite read of the books and some people some teachers even shared that they would like to do that book teach that book to 10th graders and there were some parents that actually wanted their 10th graders to read it so that they could have that discussion at home about that book there was another one a book that we felt that she in all of these books I didn't say that to start with all

073of these books were books of choice they were not the primary texts and we said that one particular book Wallflowers shouldn't even be for 10th graders shouldn't even be a book of choice in this kind of assignment because of the objectional content you had to wait to the very end of that book to get whatever misfit mean and why they would have that one on that list but so we talked to the teachers I've since talked to the teachers the ell Specialists and they in our meeting reflected on the books they said it was the first time in and since they taught this unit that kids were really engaged to this in the unit and enjoyed it they made some they reflected on their assignment they listened to what the committee recommend and they're going

074to do a little bit different next time for that assignment but they still would probably give Kids Choice and give parents an opportunity to speak and it's part of our report we also put in there the report about the process that Librarians go to we had a it was a very Lively committee we enjoyed meeting we called ourselves the book club we didn't always agree on every one thing but we came together as one and that was the decision from the group it was unanimous and the library book as far as the library the way the policy read the first in the old policy it was the decision of the committee for the instructional part and the committee made that decision and we've since shared it with TLA teaching and learning department and everything and

075the library book we thought long and hard about the wording of the way we stated it in our committee I don't have it in front of me but it was it was you know our committee felt very strongly about the way we worded it and don't see it up here I think I see it on the screen over there but I don't mind that without the guidance that the state was supposed to give us that never came that we felt that all those books should remain in the library and not be removed from the library Mr Dickerson if I may I want to give a little bit of detail to her last comment she mentioned the language that's there that states without having clear guidance on how to determine the quote-unquote level of objectionable content

076or age-appropriateness that would dictate the removal of a book the committee recommendation is the following at the state level there was a directive that the state textbook Commission give direction after the law was passed to date there has been no direction and I'm looking at Miss osberg's for a double check they have still not given that direction so that's a reference to to the legislative expectation that there'd be some re direction from that textbook committee and it has not yet been received the only update that I have your corrector is no actual guidance there was an NPR article that ran that apparently there's draft guidance that has been leaked so trying to get hands on that we'll see what it looks like I mean and I just want to say how much I appreciate that

077explanation you gave it on Thursday as well but I really thought it was helpful for everybody who may not have been watching to hear that I didn't talk about you did a lot of part of what you asked about the complainant he did send an email he had the 15 days in the old policy to appeal and he sent the group an email thanking us for the work because we all had to read the book because you couldn't make a judgment or I felt very strongly we shouldn't make a judgment on a book but if you haven't read it and so he thanked us for our work and he was satisfied with what the committee did on the instructional parts of the books to me it's just a great example of how the process should

078work and a person had a chance to raise a concern committee put thought into it spent time on it I thought it made some really thoughtful and important recommendations as you as you cited moving something from 10th grade to 12th grade it just shows me there's flexibility in the process and there's a willingness to acknowledge those concerns when they come up so I really appreciate your explanation very helpful thank you thank you thank you both Mr Cash I don't know thank you madam you were on push that button again yeah okay now now speak thank you madam chair and thank you Miss Dickerson and that committee I think it was run well and it's a fantastic job but I still feel that we're going to get more and more complaints for reconsideration I think we're

079going to be having these conversations in many different areas and I personally feel that the age of 18 is when we allow our children to vote we allow them to buy cigarettes we allow them to buy magazines at 18 years old and I think we're forgetting that in the school system sometimes I believe we need a writing scale for these books and in hopes of bringing more parents awareness of what the children are actually reading is one thing but with a rating scale and I don't know what that would be something like the movies but if a child still excuse me still wants to read a book all we need is a parent signature at least they are well aware and I know we send out I've got them on my grandchildren that were reading

080this book so if you have any problem let us know but still if with a rating scale for library books and some curriculum items all we have to do is say hey if this is what you want your child at 16 to read along with 12th graders then sign the paper and I think it's something as simple as that it gives them an opportunity to do it rather than bringing this all to a reconsideration process which is a long process and a lot of hard work and a lot of work for our teachers and administrators so thank you thank you Mr Cash Mr Mitchell thank you madam chair Mr Golden just and I wanted to understand and clarify something I heard in our work session that this in this particular example the complacent commented that

081he personally had not read any of the books that he was com he was bringing up is that a do I did I understand that correctly I'm seeing a nod from Miss Dickerson because she was actually directly involved so I don't want to speak for that this particular parent was wanting to have all these books removed but yet had not bothered to read it himself and it was my understanding too that the reason for these particular books being raised was based solely on a list coming out of Florida is that no that question is no that was not the all right thank you very much thank you Miss Clements see now yeah I am I was on the other committee that we'll be talking about next and I just want to thank those who were

082on this committee I know that it is a lot of work especially with this many books and so I really appreciate everybody's effort on that with that being said I I can't support some of this because there are a couple of books that have some rape scenes forced oral sex and a rape of a girl that had too much to drink at a party and they're just some heavy heavy things that we are putting on our children and our youth and I'm a little bit troubled by some of the things that might be an implicit message that we say by having these books available in the library again I just go back to we have we're giving heavy things to younger children and then we wonder why we have a mental health crisis we wonder

083why we are dealing with the things that we are dealing and I would venture that we're putting too much on the kids and I can't support this having it available for all the grades and I just feel like we need to really be careful about what we put in front of our children and we're accountable you miss Clements and Mr Galbraith so I guess to thank you Mr Brown for for just a for acknowledging that we I mean first of all we took we took all of the took every one of the complaints very seriously it was it was clear there was there was no question as I think the complainant largely pulled online reviews and did some did some research there but but the reviews were largely accurate the issues that they raised were

084predominantly the ones that we that we saw and talked about we weren't really driven by that but it I mean we everybody's everybody's attention was drawn to to the same passages or themes of the of the books I think the speaking to to perks and crawdads specifically the and going back to to the you know these could have easily been books that somebody could have could have brought before us in red passages like some like a few people did at a at a board meeting a year ago I feel like you know it's it's easy to it's easy to look at that and say oh that was just one one passage and taken out of context and you know and I can assure you in this in these two books especially any any passage while

085while taken as an individual passage yes but but definitely wasn't out of context in in these cases and so it was it was actually the context in which the book was read and it was pretty pervasive from a from a content and I would I would say the objectionable content is our is our standard and that's what I spoke to on Thursday night I really really want to get to a point where we can can come up with a criteria for for evaluating that objectionable content right now there's there's this it's it's just very intangible there's no there's no defined guidelines and I and I hope to be able to and I will be bringing this up to to see what we can do to push that along because I do want to have some

086some guidance that we can approve and even in the absence of something from the state but we're gonna we're gonna have more and more of these and I and I want to feel comfortable that what we're putting forth is meets the to to quote one of the one of the laws that governs the use but to meet the community standard I think we do have a an obligation to the of for the books that we're putting forth in front of in front of students I think we have some some amount of of stamp of approval that were that we're putting on those books and were implicitly if not explicitly saying that those are that these are books that we approve to for for our youth to read and so and I got I did get

087it did get an email talking about the these books and they were you know there are several their movies on several of these and they're all largely PG-13 but I want to and I and I agree with I agree with Dan we need we need some kind of way to evaluate these books I don't know if it's a rating system or if it's or if it's some other criteria that we can use but but I can assure you that the because I've watched a couple of the movies after I read the books and the movies take some some poetic license and they if all I can say is on perks in particular and crawdads if if they describe the scenes in the movies in the way in the manner in which they were described in

088the books they would not be PG-13 and so the PG the books are unabridged and unedited the movies take out certain parts or or position scenes in a in a way that gets them the PG-13 audience that they in the rating that they need so these are these are not PG-13 passages and so which which in essence would would make it any one of these passages would make the movies not PG-13 and therefore the books are I think are too mature for for our audience and so I'd like a 100 support the decision that we made because I agree that we don't have the criteria to evaluate but I really really really wish that we that we had that we get more concrete because I want to start to First have our have our Librarians

089with with some guidance to evaluate these things but then for us as we as we get these requests I want to be that be able to do that too thank you thank you Mr Galbraith Mr Welch I want to start by just echoing something Miss Brown said just thanking the committee or thanking both committees for the work that they did on this obviously this takes a lot of time and effort to put in there it's it's important work and especially so with Miss Dickerson's committee the adjustments well the adjustments made but but also just the discussion of the process which was a teacher recognition of the literature being used was not up to par it was not making that connection with the teen audience of finding Alternatives given those alternatives to the students to to

090vote on along with their parents making them partners for warning of them just all together how it should work so even though we're here right now I think still you know kind of a great job with that by by making a district parental partnership and in finding the best Solutions you know for the kids I'm also struck here as we're talking about this by kind of the dichotomy that we have of of the two biggest things that A legislature has been pushing one is student literacy to the point where if a if a young child doesn't pass a single test on a single day given standardized high stakes test they run the risk of being forced to repeat a grade and we know that repeating grades can lead to not finishing High School we've seen

091the statistics on that and we're combining that with the other big push that the legislature has given us which is making it easier to to ban books and remove books and stop children from from reading books especially challenging literature so maybe I'm alone in that but that just seems kind of an odd mix for me of these two big pushes that we currently have going on of we need to improve literacy and we need to get more books out of the library at the same time first I say I want to respect the rights of anyone who finds the books objectionable and does not want their child or children to read that book have contact with it by all means I think that's something that we do respect and that we need to continue to

092respect those particular views even if we disagree with if we're strongly disagree with on the conclusions they get the respect that you know that parent has the right to view that and there's a lot of books like that I can think of friends who use the Harry Potter books for example friends in one extreme who who absolutely will not allow their children to read those and others who can't wait for the new ones to come out or the movie to come out and they're dressing in character and going to the midnight show and who's to say you know which of us which of them is right on that at least in the state of how they choose to raise their own particular child sorry I'm thinking how I want to we don't have a lot

093of guidance on this I guess that's one of the things that I would sort of say we've brought up these reasons you know if it has objection language or hard conditions so I would ask I guess the first thing is that now the standard that we want to go with do we want to use hard language or hard conditions as the standard if so there's going to be a long list of books that we're going to have to start removing from the library one of these books came up because an individual who does is Mr Mitchell alluded to does not have children in the system did not read the book who was part of a group out of another state saw a list and then decided based upon someone else's opinion in another state that

094we should remove that book a which is an odd process and so now we're deciding upon that based on that are we deciding based upon what is it the language is it the situations again if that is what we're going to decide are we just going to decide it only when someone brings it up if no one actually complains about it is it okay to to leave it in there if it has those materials or if we truly object to this and we say that this is the standard then there's probably a whole lot of literature long cherished literature books that I read and I can think of and my children have read and everything else that we need to go ahead and pull out and along with that I think about you know we've

095we've had this phrase parental rights and I think everyone here currently on the border who has been on the board in the past two years I've heard speak of it parental rights and all spoken in a very positive manner so I ask each of us individually not as it pertains to classroom curriculum which we miss Dickerson's committee made those adjustments because it was literature being used in the classroom and very appropriately so but here we're being asked about pulling it out of the library so I asked the question of of individually what right do you or I or or we have individuals to tell another parent that they don't have the right to have their child read that book or if they do want to allow them to read that book that we're going to

096put barriers in place for them that they're going to have to opt in that's going to go through these things in order to get those books honestly that's I think in a lot of cases that's the same as just saying no I don't disagree in fact I do agree with the concept of if you don't want it we should have some tools in place there should be some things that you can go you can opt out of it but to put the onus on the parent or you've got to go and approve something simple as a book A book that has already gone through review processes that has said supports the mission of Education all of these books here that have been reviewed everyone yes it supports the mission of Education with it they are

097appropriate it's kind of that subjective disagreement of whether or not I would want it for my child and again that's great decided for yours but I'm going to say don't decide it for mine skim through all these books I've read some read the sparks notes read materials of it I'll be frank I don't have an objection to any of my I would not have my kids are old I can read whatever they want now they don't care on my opinions but at the high school level I would not have an issue of them reading these books and I will admit I'm much less bubble wrap in in My Philosophy to raising my kids if Park's language was an issue I well I couldn't let them go fishing with Grandpa for example but I respect people

098opinions of people that don't but I think the flip side of that coin is we need to respect the other individual side the majority of our parents the majority of our viewers read the books and said these are okay and we need to respect that as well and not put the barriers in place for them to get those books from there hesitate where to go down this road but I'm going to we also talk about hard situations in the books assaults and other scenarios that occur the hard Awful Truth is some of our students will experience those in their lifetime I wish it was not the case I think we all do in fact I would say just on mere statistics I would imagine that there's people in this room right now that have experienced

099many of these similar incidents when we take that away from them allowing to read that we take away the ability to be armored in advance of it for lack of a better term you don't have to go back too far I can certainly remember in my lifetime where the victim of a sexual assault or something like that was someone often viewed as they had done something wrong themselves as someone who should feel ashamed themselves when we bring some of these things to life and we talk about it what we do is we're talking about these are real life scenarios and we control it in a way that we say if you are ever happens to you are not you have not done wrong here you have not supported it I'll wrap it up I'm sorry

100yeah I think that's important and I think we do disservice to our children when we start doing those things if you can show me literature where any of these harsh conditions are presented in a positive light I will be the first in line to say yes get that out of there I think in every one example these harsh conditions are shown as to sort of as character development as things that happen to people as things that can be overcome as things that are not right it's things that can change society in a positive way and again it's not something that I would have from my children so I would have a problem with any of us saying that I as a parent or anyone else's parent who feels similarly does not have the right for

101their children to access that literature if they choose to do so thank you Mr Welch Mr Priya I just wanted to say that I agree with the recommendation of the committee and appreciate your work on this and I hope as we all do that I trust the professional Educators and Librarians to do what's right and partner with our parents to make sure that students have access to the best and most appropriate material for them but that's that's what their job is that's what they're there for I don't feel it's our position to start restricting access to books in the library just because it's a it's a very slippery slope and then the last thing when the Librarians presented last year it really struck me when they mentioned how I think this is what Eric was

102kind of alluding to at the end there reading this traumatic experiences in the safety of your own home or in your school where you can experience them without experience the actual trauma of them can develop empathy and build character and really give them a an opening for a conversation with a trusted teacher or family member to on how to deal with those things so I don't necessarily think it's always a bad thing those what does it say thank you thank you Mr Priya and Mr Brown here a couple of things have stood out to me since we started this discussion and it really goes back to miss Dickerson's presentation what's even stuck with me since last Thursday was when she said it again tonight it reminded me that in the curriculum discussion she brought up

103the words books of choice that those were not required reading of those students but they were books of choice and therefore they had I'm interpreting what she said a little bit here that maybe the committee felt like they had the flexibility to then make some decisions that they might not have made or could couldn't would not have made had it been a required reading choice parents were involved in the process parents got to help their students and their children select the books to make decisions if they wanted to read them or not that seems to me to be very similar to what we're talking about here with library books I mean by definition library books are books of choice and whether we like it or not the state law now puts the burden on us

104to make a decision that we didn't have to make before so I'm going to ask the question I guess of council would be would we be within our rights to say that stopping short of actually removing the books from the library that we could require in these four books specifically that parental approval will be required before those books were checked out osbrooks can you answer that for us I can so there is case law that would disagree that would be appropriate under the first and 14th Amendment there's a case not from Tennessee but from a neighboring state involving Harry Potter books and it that what what they did in that particular case was require a permission slip prior to accessing the book from the parent and that District Court held that was an infringement upon

105the students First Amendment right again not a case directly on point in Tennessee but that case is out there it has been cited over 40 times in different districts so that is something I do want the board to be aware of when you are considering that as a potential response follow up on that Jason or council do we do we know of other districts in the state so far that have made any decisions to per that law to remove books or to make modifications like the one I just mentioned I'm not aware of any it's possible there may be one out there miss osbrooks actually is yes there are at this point districts within the state of Tennessee who have removed library books I'm not I'm not aware one way or the other of curriculum

106because remember our curriculum which which while Mr Dickerson said it is a book of choice it is still part of the curriculum so there is a different standard there from the library book legally so the track the we're not getting the same traction or the same coverage on what's happening with curriculum like we are with library books across the state but yes there are districts who have at this point removed library books in Tennessee from their shelves Mr Brown were you speaking to the Restriction question you had asked or well I was speaking to removal or or any any restrictions short of removal so I am not aware they have been full removals I'm not aware in Tennessee that there have been any restrictions on grade level or age of library books that has not

107hit my radar what's the view as to whether removal would be construed as a worse infringement if you will on a First Amendment right than a restriction I guess I'm Fielding that one too so I'm so the Courts at this point have not looked at one to be harsher than the other the courts have determined both a removal or restrictions to access so just even asking for parental permission in several cases has been enough to violate a student's First Amendment right and 14th Amendment right so I'm I'm not aware of any case that says restriction versus a grade level a restrict a restriction of a grade level versus removing the book one is quote unquote worse than the other they have considered both to be violations of our students rights sorry for the continued questions

108but I think this is important it's the first time we're dealing with this it's going to be the first of many I think so what what did the court in those instances determine was the remedy when they decided it was a violation they put the book back on the Shelf that was it that was the end of the well it so different cases had different outcomes and I don't want to get too far into procedural the case that I mentioned regarding Harry Potter it was to put the book back on the shelf and allow any student without having to get parental access first to check out the book that District just is an aside has the same had the same process that we do that would allow any parent to opt out of a library

109book so that was already the case I also do want to point out that case also talked about the fact that child could get the book from the public library and in fact even owned some of the Harry Potter books at home and with those facts The District Court still find it found a violation procedurally there are a couple of cases that were motions for summary judgment so they were sent back to the trial court and I can't tell you what that trial court did because that was not part of the record but of the cases that was a that was found to be a violation the book went back on on the Shelf I'm not aware and obviously a expense that isn't talked about would be time and the litigation expense because the that

110was quite a Hefty price tag all right I'm going to ask one more sorry well I wanted to add a little bit if I'm not mistaken you're not aware of any cases that have addressed the Tennessee law the age-appropriateness materials Act of 2022 at this point that is correct I'm not aware of any cases that have been filed challenging that law that's that's the one with the language where the determination is to be made for the appropriate appropriateness of the age and maturity levels of the student who may access the materials correct and that's that's that's one of the key areas that Mr Galbraith mentioned is that you know we're we're at the early stages of this discussion and so there is a little bit of a of the unknown there is but I will

111point out in our policy that we do set out expectations for our Librarians as well as ex of what should be included in library books when they are selecting those library books and it's the same the same language that we've had in there in our policy for years so there is some guidance not maybe about what is or is not age appropriate although I would submit again there is guidance in our board policy regarding age-appropriateness and the maturity of our students okay I wasn't going to ask this but to that point what is a practical matter what does that mean though in terms of what can be done about maturity and age-appropriateness so in our policy when we're looking at the process of reviewing Library materials and this is also you know state law materials

112are suitable for and consistent with the educational mission of the school materials are appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access them the determining factors will be based on an assessment of any mature themes or contents I.E violence sexual content vulgar language and we also have in our policy materials contain literary literary historical and or artistic value and Merit those are all pieces from either state law or federal law U.S Supreme Court the Pico decision regarding the literary historical and or artistic value and Merit so there is some guidance and again I know we were anticipating additional guidance but there is a place for us to start those discussions I'm thinking back to the presentation last year from The Librarians which was very informative but I remember asking a question

113of them about and it's this it was only to represent I mean it's certainly not representative of everybody but the question was posed about you know in your in your career have you ever run across a book you know as a librarian have you ever run across a book that you would have deemed be to be worthy of removal from the from the circulation and the answer was no I feel like that's kind of where we find ourselves is that most in most cases the decision is going to be that we're not going to remove it for whatever for professional reasons literary reasons what have you and then ultimately it comes back to this board to make a decision again based on the state law and the absence of guidance it's up to us to

114come up with something and I think we're kind of floundering a little bit trying to figure out what that is I hear you on the legal issues I'm inclined to make a motion that these four books be subject to some kind of parental approval and maybe we make it contingent upon there being some further guidance from the state until we get sort of further guidance from the state and we can revisit it but I feel like it's you know I've heard Jay's comments about the content I've read some of these books some of the content in question it is heavy it is very mature I go back to this I know curriculum's different but I go back to the principle of the parental Choice books of choice if we have the ability to Shield students

115from something that they shouldn't be getting their hands on why wouldn't we and if we have the ability to also allow anyone who wants it to get access to it I don't feel like that's a restriction on their ability to get those books so I'm struggling a little bit with this but I feel like that's where I'm leaning and I'd like to put that into a motion unless unless I'm told that we can't do that motion to the criteria on whatever yeah so the motion would be to agree with not removing them fully from the library but with these specific books in question to have a requirement that parents approve before the child can check the book out proper motion okay so currently we have a motion on the floor to amend the current recommendation

116so it would simply be that the board would be voting to approve that the parents would have the opportunity to approve these four books requirements I'm sorry go ahead requirement what it is the requirements so what will happen is what your motion is that you want to restrict it unless somebody has a parental permission slip or or something like that right yeah so some kind of affirmative either permission slip or rental permission or no permission yeah it's a valid motion so restrict access to the four library books in question with without parental permission and that would be just to something administrative and operational we would have to address as a district if I may Madam chair I'd like to ask Miss Glenn what she wrote down to describe the the motion laughs if there's not

117a second yet I just want to make sure we Define the motion before Mr Brown amended the motion to restrict the four books in question to have parental permission would that require permission for rental permission okay well if I may if if if I understood Mr Brown's motion I jotted down as as he was speaking he said to not remove them in their entirety but have approval for from parents prior to checking them out or was it reading them prior to checking them out unless there's some other better way to say checking them out some other more official way to say that is that a valid motion have a second to Mr Brown's motion and this you would be seconding the approval from parents prior to checking out any of the four library books Mr

118Galbraith seconds that so we'll now clear the I can't think can we clear these but save save those in line no okay so we'll have we'll open the floor for a discussion at this point on this specific Amendment Mr Galbraith my second my request back to to Mr Brown would be just based on the based on these books I would I would limit the I would limit the Restriction to only perks and the crawdads book the other the other two I think as the as the committee from a from a curriculum standpoint we said we said that they were actually appropriate for for for use at the at the at the 10th grade level in curriculum for for optional books and so I really don't think I wouldn't I wouldn't but I wouldn't say that

119all four of these are equal so from a motion standpoint if you're willing to to amend it just to those two books and amend the amendment once so we honor you in favor of this amendment to your Amendment we're actually being a Wallflower and where the crawled edging we have a motion and a second on the floor to approve for the board to approve approval from parents prior to checking out perks and where the Crawdad sings now we will continue the discussion and we're at Miss Cleveland okay thank you I'm a little hesitant about this for a couple of reasons number was if we're just saying checking out of the library so basically they can come in during their reading periods and read it you know if they wanted to they can come sit in

120the library and read it the other is we're still we at some point when Mrs Dickerson was talking about the emotional well-being of the students and sometimes these books exposed to them that they're not alone I think Eric was Mr Welch was talking about that and so if that's the case and I'm just going to give you a scenario and it only takes one student we think about all students if there is a child that has gone through something traumatic whether being bullying whether sexual abuse or whatever if there is a book in that library that they can go and feel safe to read and that they're not alone would that child actually go to their parent for parental permission and that's what bothers me about that because they could be somebody that you know

121they can't go to their parents and now they're restricting them from the library so that's where my hesitance on this so I'll have to vote against that thank you Miss Cleveland Mr ha thank you along the lines of Miss Cleveland asked has staff or console had an opportunity to evaluate this amendment prior to tonight yeah sir other than what I have previously I mean it's very similar to to the case that I've previously mentioned Mr Hoffman may give a little detail we do have a process in place if I'm not mistaken the librarian spoke to a year ago where parents can request of librarians for specific titles not to be checked out by their children that's a little that's different from this structure especially and I took a lot of comfort in that presentation and

122the professionalism of those people who have have reviewed the books that are in the library and that procedure that they have in place to re respect the concerns of parents so let me throw out a use case here if we had an 18 year old student a 17 year old or an 18 year old student who's a high school senior and they wanted to read these books but they did not get a permission slip turned in from their parents under this amendment would they be able to read those books I understand any of that would be no that under this amendment language it would require parent permission even an 18 year old student well if you would speak speak to 18 year olds so an 18 year old student yeah that is a complicated question

123I'll try to give you a not so complicated answer maybe an 18 year old student could check out that book without parental permission if that student has either been emancipated or we do have a process that our students go through that they are making decisions at 18. not every student does that some students continue for their parent or Guardian to make those decisions so it is possible an 18 year old student would still be seeking parental or Guardian permission because that is how they operate with every decision if that I see a head nod so I think that made sense thank you I'm concerned about the context of the First Amendment rights of the students potentially being infringed upon with this and I don't take that lightly when we're talking about that and hearing that

124guidance from Council so thank you thank you Mr Hall Ms Supriya yeah I understand the struggle there Josh it's hard to think this through but I feel very comfortable with the fact that we already have the opt out and I think as we've been discussing this and especially with the amendment to the amendment that Jay brought forth we're kind of getting into that slippery slope of restricting things and having to draw the line for our personal beliefs where the parents and the students may have a very different line to draw and so I just I think we have to be careful and I would prefer to just use the opt out that we have for parents and let people have access to the books unrestricted thank you Mr Priya Mr Cash thank you madam chair

125I agree with Mr ha to a certain extent but going back to a rating scale these books would be open to you know students that of that age group I mean that this that can be set up we just eliminate a lot of these arguments and it is in our court right now what we want these children to read and what we don't because the state's not stepping up to the plate I've got a question Miss osbrook was I to understand you to say that parents infringe on the students rights basically that parents infringe that parents parents can't really can't infringe on their rights in school so in other words parents don't really have a say in some of these other lawsuits no sir I don't recall saying that okay so what J Mr Brown

126is suggesting is very appropriate not based upon the case law no sir well going back to case law then a parent signature for a child to read a book should not be against the law so the difference is a parent saying to the librarian my child cannot check this book out the court found that to be appropriate the court did not find it appropriate for the school district in that case the Board of Education to determine that the child's should have to seek parental approval prior to access to that book that was the difference so if we did if this board came up with a rating scale for books that would be fine with the law not based upon the case law appropriate age-appropriate no sir I don't agree with that proposition so this amendment

127is would not be legal based upon the case law in another state they have held that it was a violation of the child's first and 14th Amendment rights yes sir you know until until we get this straightened out I mean we have people come in here and read from books that was totally gross a year ago and it doesn't matter where or who brought this up it was still disgusting as a matter of fact we muted it this is what's going through our school some of these books may not seem appropriate to some parents and may seem appropriate to others my thing is these children are minors yes I'll ask that I guess point of order here got a question or a statement then go ahead and just wrap it up for us yeah I'm

128I'm just what what we what we need to do is we need to find out for sure if we can allow our parents to say yay or nay to a book that's all and we shouldn't we shouldn't allow a student to go in and take a book out and start reading it and have the parent find out later it's this is just putting it putting it up front rather than on the other end this the process is has is great the teachers and principals and the people on these have done a fantastic job but we still need something in place to protect the children they are minors and we can't get a straight answer as far as case law goes whether it's this state or another state and we can't get a straight answer out

129of our own state so I do support Mr Brown's Amendment right now thank you thank you Mr Cash Mr wimbley several things are a couple of things actually we're talking some very complex and even controversial subjects right now it seems to me that we're not going to get them resolved tonight I don't think we should resolve them tonight we need research on case law we need guidance from our professionals we need a lot before we could do this and so I would suggest that I would ask that you withdraw the motion and then let's direct our superintendent to do whatever we think is appropriate so that we can deal with this appropriately and intelligently that's one thing the other thing if your intent is to keep these books out of the hands of children out

130of students we can do whatever we want you can get these books anywhere and you can also be assured that if we put stipulations on these books that their value will increase in fact I've heard it said that certain that authors like these discussions because it drives up Book Sales I would also say that I don't think all of us have read all of these books and I've read them all one of them I never understood what was going on and saw the movie I never understood what was going on the other was one of the wittiest books I think I've ever read and if I could only quip like those high school kids could you wouldn't roll your eyes with with my wife's comments anymore so I think that we need to step back

131and do whatever we need to do tonight to to deal with this properly and I'd have to ask the question is there a reason that we have to vote on this tonight if I may speak to that I'm just going to be blunt I like your idea Mr wimbley I was thinking that a lot of the same things when you're speaking to that I think about what we discussed at the work session and then the depth of this discussion now very different very different discussion so I would like to double check with Miss osbrooks on one point and then ask Mr cook a question Miss osbrooks is there is there anything in the law that requires a particular date for the board to make a decision once there's a recommendation from the committee no sure

132there is not it would be appropriate under our policy state law if this if we wanted to table this or move it to another month thank you for that and you your last comments preface my question of Mr cook Mr cook if it's the Boar's desire to have a deeper discussion about this prior to a vote what's the appropriate method to achieve that motion to postpone to a to whatever date you want to postpone it to the motion be made while we have a motion absolutely I can make a motion that we postpone this to a later date let's do it my birthday no for the next meeting or meeting Afters go ahead I may make a suggestion let if if we're going to have some time and potentially even an interim meeting I would

133suggest two months from now if we're sitting here in February March April I changed my emotion to recommend that we deal with this and defer postpone just table it first and then that's a different motion that will that will probably kill it because then there has to be an actual act to bring it back on the table where we've got to postponement it's going to be on the agenda in two months so the current motion on the table is by Mr Wimberley and it's the motion to defer to the April board meeting do we have a second Mr Mitchell so now we can clear the board to speak on this motion this is to defer this decision Mr Brown so can can we get or can I get clarification on the actual practical way in

134which the opt out the current opt-out process works so and so to put it more specifically if a parent were going to proactively go and opt out their their student from any of these books in question what would they have to do currently may I raise the point of an order that really the only thing we should be discussing correct well with respect Elliott my question gets to Rick's motion because he's asking to delay this and basically essentially cut off the debate on what we've been talking about so I'm trying to understand before I vote on his motion what the current opt-out procedure is so it is germane in my opinion okay so the other motion is below this one we resolve this motion then we can go back and discuss the other one based

135upon what we vote on this motion then we're done if it doesn't pass you go back to the motion demand okay and if I may we have another one right behind this one Miss Cleveland I think we've kind of got off the tracks here we have four books here that went through committee the complaintant was satisfied with the solution and we're debating what are those books stay in this is from what my opinion is they I thought it was already resolved and the complainant was okay with it and respected the committee's decision and so my feeling is why are we delaying these four books now I know I think what we're discussing is we need to have a process there's no question we're discussing and debating about a process but are these the books we're

136starting the process with I don't understand why we can't just go ahead and vote on these books knowing that we are in the future are going to have to develop a process I just think we kind of I don't know it just seems it's already been agreed if I may Madam chair speak to that there's a there's a motion to amend that underlying motion and the depth of the discussion with the motion to amend triggered questions about particular case law case law that was that was that was outside our circuit yeah but but may have an impact that the depth of that discussion leaves me concerned that you all may need a more in-depth conversation with your attorneys about what this means there's 45 50 years worth of case Law related to boards making decisions

137on library books and I'm concerned that if a it that if you make a decision on that Amendment which then if passed would affect that underlying motion that we discussed in lesser detail at the work session we may be coming back facing a more difficult situation another potential issue that I'm going to ask Mr cook to study is the extent to which boards can have attorney-client privilege discussions on issues like this that are that are outside the outside the for Golden getting direct advice from an attorney superintendent golden there would my opinion would be at this point there would be enough information for an attorney-client meeting based on a Potential Threat of litigation I'm finished sorry thank you Mr Welch thank you to Rick's point about authors who love these discussions I would remind everyone

138that the book Mouse quickly became the number one selling book on Amazon and almost unattainable at some points because our colleagues in another school district decided they would respect Mr Wimberley I don't think this should be delayed I think this should be removed the motion on the floor is to defer against the comments pertinent to the motion on the floor so I don't think the motion to delay we should be delaying it I think it should be removed this was not this did not follow our procedure long established where we don't surprise our colleagues we don't surprise our staff with Motions like this in lieu of discussions we went from Banning four books to well okay well just the two of them here in about 10 seconds we're discussing whether or not it complies with

139state law and federal law we're not sure about that we're not sure how it should be handled we don't know the standards this is the very definition of putting the cart before the horse here of we want to ban these books and we can't really Define why if a parent doesn't want their child to read these books they don't have to read these books right now today they can make that request and get it blocked that is possible already they can see all the books their students are reading they can restrict any books so we already have the gist of what this is doing in place this is expanding it well beyond the scope of that and it's doing it in a way that none of us here have had an opportunity to discuss the

140ramifications among ourselves or with professional staff including legal staff thank you Mr so Mr Welch just to clarify you were just comment you are not making any type of emotion okay thank you thank you thank you okay alrighty Mr Brown what would be the Practical effect of delaying until April which is the motion on the floor as far as these four books are concerned I can speak to the practice I think I can speak to the Practical there's a recommendation right now from the committee that that you all leave the books in right so we would continue as we have been since this request was submitted was it I think October if I'm not mistaken since this request was submitted in October pursuant to our board policy with the review for the request for reconsideration

141the library books remain on the Shelf so Mr Galbraith I appreciate Rick's motion I fully support it I think if we if it if it does pass I would I would just respectfully based on our based on our Port policy I would ask the board members to to review especially the two books that were up on on Josh's motion if not all four just because the and that and Dana can you can well I don't I don't want to ask a question on a turn but I would I would like to I would like Clarity if we can after the after the meeting if it passes just Clarity on our on our current policy and what what it would require of us so right now and I just want to seek some clarification too this

142motion to defer to the April board meeting is this to defer the original motion original motion okay and which would wipe the amendment so we are then moving on after this if we approve this to item G on the agenda which is a different topic so right now what we have is Mr wimberley's motion to defer this agenda item to the April board meeting we have a second by Mr Mitchell we've gone through our discussion and it is now time to cast a vote on this item that we are voting to defer so a vote Yes would be that you support deferral to the April board meeting yes I recommend approval your vote is nine yes three no with this with these votes this motion did pass and what we voted to approve is that

143we will defer the recommend recommendation of the reconsideration committee for the speak Perks of Being a Wallflower the Field Guide to the North American teenager and where the crawdads sing and we will have a recommendation presented to us in the work session in April so that we can have a vote in April and if I may Madam chair my first step is going to have a conversation with the attorneys about scheduling an attorney-client meeting if that is within the scope of what Tennessee allow a law allow a law allows did I say that properly Tennessee law allows thank you everybody for your active participation in that clearly not an easy topic okay our next item on the agenda is approval of the reconsideration committee's recommendation for the library book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close thank

144you madam chair I want to make sure we do this right what you've been talking about this these last few minutes is extremely important it may be the most important burden the state has ever put on you and so to that I would recommend that you do the same with this item that you just did with the last and defer it to a date and certain to our April regular board meeting so we need a motion to approve Mr Golden's recommendation that we defer this to the April board meeting do we have a motion Mr Beasley do you have a second Mr Brown okay and do we have any discussion yes sorry this per Mr Golden's recommendation we will if if approved we will defer the approval of the reconsideration committee's recommendation of Extremely Loud

145and considerably close and Incredibly Close yeah you're going to need a motion to get it on the table first and then a second and then you can do the referral so we need a motion to get it on the table yes apologize got it all right so backing up really quick we do need to get a I guess we need to clear that yeah okay Mr Mitchell motions to approve the initial recommendation Mr galber Seconds thank you thank you thank you and then okay okay I've got Mr Galbraith as a second okay thank you then we need to open for discussion and we would need to open the floor for discussion and somebody could move at this point to amend Mr Mitchell did we defer this motion to the April board meeting okay Mr Mitchell

146my motion is that we defer this recommendation that this motion my motion until April it a motion to accept to second that okay so misopria seconds any discussion we have Dan Mr Mr cashewan tooth thank you madam chair I was just wondering if it wouldn't be for everybody to benefit to bring in a an outside attorney to to help with the description and all the legalities it seems like we keep going over the same the same legal issues and you know it just we don't we don't have answers so I was wondering if that's if that's something we might look at we can discuss that as the executive committee that's fine thank you okay now I think we are ready to cast our votes on this amendment to defer to April your vote is 10

147yes two no with this approval we did pass the motion to defer the decision to April regarding the Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close library book our next item is the approval of the naming of the new elementary school on Cox Road Mr golden thank you madam thank you madam chair I know that Tim McNeese is pulling up the memo related to Cox Road this particular committee that included staff members school board members from the area and County Commissioners from the area made a recommendation based on priority as you see Arrington Elementary School Patton Elementary School and Arrington Creek Elementary School in that order I'm going to wait on a recommendation pending your discussion and Madam chair ready for a motion to put this on the floor do we have a motion Miss Cleveland I like

148to make a motion to recommend Arrington Elementary School do we have a second Mr Welch so the motion on the floor is for Arrington elementary school do we have any discussion yes yes sir yes it may I remove my second yeah yeah let me do that as I think would be more appropriate for someone who represents that area to make that absolutely okay do we have a second Miss Apria thank you do we have any discussion screen thank you okay all right Miss Apria I'll just say it was a really enjoyable experience serving on the naming committee for this school and we had a really great discussion about all three options and I am really excited about the choice that Miss Cleveland has provided as a motion so thank you well the weekend cast our

149votes your vote is 12 yes zero no plastic and with that unanimous vote we have a new Elementary School named Arrington Elementary School foreign agenda item is the approval of the name for the new Elementary School located on Wilkes Lane thank you madam chair the committee has the proposed names there in front of you they do they are not prioritized based on this committee report but I would like to suggest to you that if you choose to honor Amanda North that the motion specifically State Amanda H North it I'm going to add a little bit of my thought on this as your superintendent there is a tradition and precedent for individuals who are deeply involved in the school system to have their middle initials WP scales and Fred J page so whoever makes the motion

150if that's your choice I do request that you add the h do we have a motion Mr Mitchell new school in Spring Hill Amanda H North Elementary School fantastic and I would like to second I can't I can't okay I can't I can't second I can't second as a chair Gary okay Mr Cash seconds I can't second but in my head I do so because I was on the committee so yeah all right so now we can open the floor to discussion so first off I want to again thank the committee for all this I know this is hard work but it's also enjoyable work from from what I understand the ability to get in and dig in the history and everything else and so we thank the committee for their contribution on this I

151know when I got the two names I saw the North Star name and I was I really like the North Star name I hope we can recycle that for future I saw it I thought you know it's the brightest star in the sky it's it's it has been used for navigation for since the dawn of of mankind it's it's aspirational there's a lot of good things about that name and it didn't really appealed to me and then I read the description of it and I kind of went oh no I like that name for the name the North Star but I like it for a future High School I mean obviously we are a future School obviously we have a clear winner in the house for this one and I like it in a lot

152of ways I think it's nice to have learned the history of Miss North in the process and as I was looking at that I kind of Googled the name for definition of a hero thub's good a person who is admired or idealized for courage outstanding achievements or Noble qualities and I thought yeah this qualifies and not only just qualifies a hero but it's it's a local hero and it's an education hero and how appropriate to hit the trifecta for one of our schools last couple years we've seen a lot of our heroes being torn down both in the public space and here locally as well I think some of the heroes in our curriculum from you know a man who marched on Washington to a little girl who was the first to integrate her schools

153and attacks on it and for me I'm not saying that everyone feels this way but for me at least this is a way to repudiate those attacks and say you know Our Heroes matter our history and our values matter and you know we are not a perfect Nation by by any stretch of the imagination but we are a nation that holds certain ideal qualities in which we were formed upon and We're a nation that can get better and can improve and can recognize and ideal our and someone who May initially have been treated in such a way that they were not allowed admission into one of our schools here we are today that we're naming one of our schools for that very same person for very Noble reasons so I'm excited about this and I

154appreciate my colleagues for making the motion and again for the committee for coming up with that name Mr Welch Mr Mitchell thank you madam chair when we were as part of the committee when we were talking about this you know one of the things that kind of hit me about Mrs North's story was that for a woman in the 40s to ascend to a leadership position speaks a lot because it real that really was not what happened in the 40s for a for a black woman to ascend to a leadership position you know just speaks to the to me the intellect the passion for Education the love for children the respect that the community must have had for this lady you know because there was so many barriers for women alone on top of on

155top of the segregation of the schools at the time too so I'm excited that we can we can recognize this lady with by naming a school after her and I'm excited that her family is here tonight to see that happen and I all right Madam chair your suggestion in the Committees was that we that we commission a plaque kind of that they would hang in the school explaining Mrs North's history and who she was and what she did and why this school is named after her I think is a something that I hope Mr Golden we can make happen as well because it's it's not enough I think to just name to to put a to to put her name on the school I think we need to make sure that everybody entering that school

156has the opportunity to read her story to read her story as well so thank you and I think it's last thought up my head here is that I think it's just so it's really kind of neat that we're doing that during Black History Month as well I think Kenneth speaks as well that because she is absolutely part of Williamson County's history Mr Beasley thank you madam chair am I good now you're good all right so thank you again for allowing me to speak you know I'm I'm sitting here because I'm a definitely an advocate for children I'm an advocate for educators and so this is definitely a perk of sitting in this seat to be able to vote for Amanda H North Elementary School it's a privilege and an honor and I think it's one

157of the greatest Honors that a person could obtain so this is a very special night and I'm almost emotional about it and so but anyway thank you that's it thank you Mr Beasley Mr Cash thank you madam chair Miss North represents a totally dedicated person and we have dedicated people from all Races but you can just look in this room and see where that dedication LED with our principles that are now working grandchildren of this woman the impact she's had on the Natchez Community as a whole all down through the years if you look at the history she's a totally dedicated servant and believe it or not we have many many of those in our school system today that can carry on just as everyone in this room is doing and it's just one of

158the things about Williamson County schools that a lot of people don't understand is teachers are called teachers are called it's not all about money money's good but it's not all about money it's a calling it's a calling to have to look at children and listen to their stories every single day and some of them you just want to cry for the children in that burden that's laid on your heart day in and day out for children it's a calling and Miss North had this and she showed it for 40 years and it sure has rubbed off I'm proud to vote for Miss north thank you thank you Mr Cash Mr Hall thank you madam chair I just wanted to make a couple of quick points I'm I'm very happy with the history lessons that we

159get in these processes and the fact that as as others have pointed out it's kind of cool that the school that's in the South part of the community will be named North so that people will be prompted to ask about her and but in addition to that you know this is this is a school that's going to last many many many generations of students so really really has a lasting impact and I do thank the committee for their work in pushing forward this choice and just for everyone's edification too the Committees are tasked they have to come up with multiple recommendations so you know as as things have been as there's been some concern about the choices presented I just wanted to make sure that everybody understood that the Committees are required to come forward

160with two or three options and I do appreciate that we have this one thank you thank you Mr Hall Mr Wimberley compared to a couple of other things on the agenda tonight this is an easy one thank you to the committee and thank you to the public who have been persistent in reaching out to us I may Madam chair I've appreciated the discussion of History too and it reminds me that we are stewards of what came before this work was here before we arrived on this Earth this work is going to continue after we leave it's obvious that Miss North grasped that and was an excellent Steward of what she had I see that as a charge to me personally and I know many of our faculty and staff see that too that we have

161that responsibility to be good Steward so I'm I'm very it's it's a strange combination of prep being proud and humble that you all have had this discussion and are about to vote on this decision so thank you thank you Mr Golden I think we're ready to cast our votes your vote is 12 yes 0-9 and congratulations we have another new Elementary School Amanda H North Elementary School and with that we are adjourned oh okay