Williamson County Board of Education Meeting - March 27, 2023

001good evening everyone and thank you for attending the Williamson County board meeting we're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order and we're going to start with recording attendance we have 11 board members present thank you and Mr Brown will be here he'll be just a little bit late our I want to First acknowledge Deputy Randy Purcell thank you so much for being here with us tonight and we're going to start the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and Board member Miss Clements is going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and she's going to follow the pledge of pledge of allegiance with a moment of silence but she's going to start that moment of silence with the short prayer and acknowledgment of the victims of the Covenant School short shooting today

002as long as the board members do not have any objection to her doing so thank you one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right your word tells us that you comfort the Brokenhearted your brokenhearted tonight Community was brokenhearted and you just ask that you'd be close to those breathing families of the victims amen thank you all you can be seated first item on our agenda is items of particular public interest this is where we invite members of the public to come and speak with us each member of the community is allotted three minutes and we have here nine members of the community on the agenda tonight are I'm going to call these members up in orders in order of the sign ups in pairs of two you can just be ready

003if your name is called second the first person on the agenda is Lindsay Hornick and the second is Harper Fitzgerald so miss Warner can come on up and you'll notice that the time is up on the screen for you to pace yourself thank you yeah okay go ahead thank you hi my name is Lindsay Hornick and I'm a senior at Franklin High School being that this is the end of my senior year I have to ask how do you expect us to go into college without having read mature things how do you expect underclassmen to eventually take AP classes without being prepared for mature conversations High School is supposed to prepare us for a real world a world that isn't protected by the Wilco bubble Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran fower is

004a 911 story written through the perspective of a nine-year-old boy this novel is especially important because current high schoolers were not yet born during the 9 11 attacks this novel therefore allows us to empathize and understand grief however this novel is being challenged for sexual content let me ensure you that if high schoolers are wanting to look up sexual content it's just a Tap Away on their phones I can bet you that teenagers see more graphic content on Instagram or even in their spam emails than they have ever read in a high school library book this year at 18 years old and adult I had to have my mom sign off for me to read beloved for my outside reading circles and my AP Literature class beloved by Toni Morrison if you haven't read it

005is a novel about the physical and psychological stresses of slavery and it took me to emotional places that I had never been before it had an immense impact on me and my friends who read it with me this book also has themes like mother-daughter relationships Community love and grief which is especially important considering the horrific events of today all of these things apply to real lives and they will be used in college level courses so today I'm asking you to hear us the students I'm asking you to be an Administration for the students instead of one for the parents thank you thank you next is Harper Fitzgerald and then Haley Jaworski hi my name is Harper Fitzgerald and I'm a junior at Franklin High School I am against the Banning of books and believe the

006content that this county is attempting to ban must be discussed I understand the desire to be involved in your children's education however this is public education and it is wrong to Bar other children from content that you personally deem inappropriate educating educating your child on personal values should not block them for personal exploration in a safe environment Banning books for violence and sexual content is a gateway for Banning books that just that you just blatantly make you uncomfortable sorry conversation can then lead to productive discourse if these topics make you uncomfortable then I think you should explain that to your child instead of taking them away from everyone in my sophomore year during the Holocaust unit we read the book Night by Ellie Wiesel the novel has similar content to some of the books you

007all are attempting to ban the questions and conversations that spurred from this book were crucial to fully comprehending the history and importance of the matter not only are students able to build a stronger understanding of what others have gone through but students can gain empathy for the victims of these events through learning about horrific events us students can better understand first-hand accounts and perspectives these topics must be talked about in an educational and Safe Way Banning these books would prevent that from happening here Haley Jaworski and then Joel hello my name is Haley Jaworski and I'm a senior at Franklin High School and I am 100 against Banning books in our public high school libraries the library should be a place where kids feel safe and free to explore it is not a place that

008the school board should be restricting and censoring shouldn't we try to expose our children to sensitive topics while they're still under our roofs a safe environment and can discuss the content with trusted adults rather than waiting for them to be blindsided by it when they're off in the world barring students from reading books simply because they contain content that makes you uncomfortable is selfish and it puts our students at a disadvantage as they start taking AP IB and college classes where mature content will be discussed my AP Lit teacher always says that if you're reading and come across something that makes you uncomfortable your first instinct cannot be to ignore it or censor it you have to ask yourself why the author felt the need to include it and how it contributes to the overall

009meaning of the work this is critical thinking I attend a high achieving School in a high achieving District I know there are many students like me who have been reading at a 12th grade level since third or fourth grade kids who may get bored with books written for their age group would you rather we read books marketed as adult with slightly mature content that we're going to encounter anyway or that we don't read it all because that's the alternative thank you thank you Joel Bascom and then celise Hicks Jean leaguer thank you yes after him thank you mine was about transparency on Ela and I was going to tell my story a little bit and and so I think it's interesting that this is all happening which is a good example of like what I

010had to go through because I didn't know what my kid was reading my kids in sixth grade so I wanted to know and so I went to the ELA teacher and she's like it's on schoology so we tried messing around with that and couldn't get to it and the other dads and that I'm friends with you know girl scout dads we're like trying to figure it out and then went to the we go to Hillsboro so principal Bohr he kind of brought in the ELA District lady and then she I ended up with Miss Jenny Lopez and she was awesome so she understood it she's like let's figure this out if you actually go under scope and sequence you'll see that it just has topics it actually doesn't have the books I believe they actually

011just opened it up for the secondary to actually see what the readings are so she did that and so my apartment kind of goes to what you can see how much frustration these kids have like I'm talking about the transparency not the content is that we just don't see it so as parents we don't see it and then like I went to him and I said what's going on he's like well you find a book let me know it's like well you should be able to see it you know you're you're in here so it's just that question of like why is it like I don't want to be here I don't want to be doing this you know like but why did I have to go all the way to miss Lopez to find

012out what is going on and she was great but like whose job is that you know it's kind of my question because this is what happens you know as people get frustrated about what they're reading and honestly I read that your email today about them about the shooting you know you look at that and it's about feelings and you can see the emotion that comes from these kids but like parents are like that too you know we don't know what's being taught so like just the transparency piece of it like that email I was like this could almost be put as like an Ela email like here's the resource courses that you've got so at least you can have a conversation and I can have a conversation with my kid but when we're blind on

013so much of what's going on like I just question like who whose job wasn't because it wasn't my job to get with Miss Lopez to do it but you all work together in transparency and I can't believe how much of a deal this is Ela is a the third rail we know that so then to not have transparency on it like I think really need a question like let's take a step back and say we got to help parents and the kids see what we're reading so that we can all work together thank you thank you Elise Hicks gen linger and then after Solis they will have Workwell Jen liger a tag team Duo okay so I guess I just wanted to start because I've I've been so emotional I had a whole thing typed

014up but today was a bad day and I just wanna just say that I'm so sad that three kids lost their lives today and as as a mom it's just it's just a rough day so my husband is going to tap in here before I start crying my condolences to the families and friends who may have been connected to the heinous acts that happened today however this act proves that violence knows no gender it is not sexist in the way it chooses the mindset of people around the world boys and girls have thoughts of violence and many are prone to act upon those thoughts we can no longer be pacific in how we deal with the intentions of violence the bullies can no longer be masked by the sentence and FERPA that delineates privacy mm-hmm

015that sentence goes and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records this is the statement that causes the victimization of the victim once again the school has used FERPA as the blockade to provide any information that would allow the parents of the victim any peace of mind the student that was the aggressor is allowed more protections at the school than the victims of their actions parents of school-aged children should not have to wonder if the school is doing anything to protect their child the school has taken the FERPA act and tried to use it as a shield to yield any constructive progression I was not asking if the bully was expelled I was not asking if the bully was given some sort of out of school

016suspension I was not asking about the bully's consequences I wanted to know what concise plan of action that would allow me to feel comfortable in the school's response to such a hateful note instead the sentence mentioned above blocks me from that comfort I was looking towards the school to Aid in my efforts to put in a no contact order instead that same school sent me on goose chase that would eventually lead to an SRO who could care less about the predicament FERPA is used to as a slate of hand or distraction to keep parents from getting to the core of the issue which is the protection of our children it was never intended to protect bullies the rule of FERPA is well intended for parents who are trying to get the best of their children

017but has been Twisted for insidious tactics to keep parents from understanding exactly how their child is being protected the silliness of the situation is nine times out of ten the victim knows the aggressor so protecting the that information is useless and baseless the victim if the victim decides to share the name as said previously you only victimize the victim and their family I know my son didn't have any classes with this young lady I know they did not share the seating on the same bus however that knowledge was mine before I had the first meeting with the school officials because I speak with my son and provided the answers so providing me an email that says the same thing to me does not fill me with any kind of satisfaction that you have given any

018type of thought into how you want to make sure today and we will continue to be on the news if bullying is not addressed so thank you next we have Jeff bork and then Corey Martin hi I'm always afraid I'm going to hit my head on these monitors my heart is heavy as well thank you for your words I do want to thank anyone in the room who's had anything to do with the safety precautions of the buildings themselves in Williamson County today I took great comfort in knowing that those were in place so thank you I haven't personally read the four books that the county has been recently evaluating it's my understanding that there is content in them that some parents wouldn't want their kids to read and I get it I'm a parent

019of three Williamson County students and I know the frustration that comes with the never-ending questions especially from my middle schoolers can I watch this what about this please don't look at Common Sense Media Dad please just let me watch so it's hard on the nerves I understand but I get to make those choices for my kids it's the same with our school libraries if I don't like that my child can check out a particular book I contact the librarian of the school and have them restrict my child from checking it out when I'm 100 not okay with is the creation of Pathways and precedence where other parents who have different parenting Styles and World Views than I do and who have not been hired to check out books that have already been systematically vetted by

020the professionals our schools if hired to do that very job I'm grateful that the committee did their hard work and decided to keep these books in the schools however I believe that such committees are a complete waste of The Limited energy and time our elected officials have to deal with the much more pressing issues facing our schools I would bet that if you talk to students and teachers about how much time this elected body in our Administration is spending on this subject they would stare back in disbelief at the utter disconnect between this whole discussion and the actual problems that they face in the classrooms every day I'm all for increasing parental involvement in our children's education when my middle schoolers read something that opens their eyes to something different or alarming about the world

021they talk to me about it I get involved I don't want my child to get blindsided out there as one of the high schoolers said I want safe environments like a story in a library book to prompt these kinds of conversations and discussions that I want to have my with my kids about these hard things so next month please do not vote to require parental consent for any books in our libraries thank you thank you Corey Martin and then we have Kate Keys as our final speaker Jeff's very tall thanks Madam chair since last month I read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and it was not as I suspected a book about how my four-year-old wakes me up in the morning it was in fact a book about trauma and at last month's meeting the

022books that you discussed seem to have that theme in common trauma you guys even talked about it without really even without naming it you talked about how it was a benefit to the students to experience these traumatic events vicariously through literature right and how it allowed them to process this trauma in a safe environment through literature in their home or in their classroom with folks who care about them and love them in a safe way personally I have not experienced trauma like these characters have I mean nobody gets through this life unscathed but like these fictional characters have gone through some some special kind of hell our neighbors up north off of Hillsborough Road experienced a fresh hell today a fresh hellish trauma I have some friends who are counselors they're on site to help

023the folks who are victimized by this trauma to help them process this and I'm grateful for their service and these counselors know how to communicate with these traumatized people because they have experienced this trauma vicariously and sometimes personally but that allows them the experience to be able to communicate with these trauma victims more effectively and more efficient more effectively this may seem like a topic switch but it's not a promise I'm really glad that we offer foreign language classes in our in our schools they offer our students words and experiences to be able to communicate with other folks in this world who have had different life experiences than them these books do the same thing it gives them words it gives them patterns to follow to be able to empathize with folks who've been through

024these traumatic experiences and we know that changing to a an opt-in situation instead of an opt-out situation is tantamount to a restriction so I would ask you please do not restrict these books thank you thank you our final speaker is Kate case our hearts are really heavy tonight you all serve and we all gather here month after month to ensure that we are doing our best to keep all the children of Williamson County schools safe and prepared for their futures this is the task we must continue to keep before us and be mindful that we should always have the same sense of urgency about it that we are feeling this evening to that end I wanted to address the suggestion that arose during last month's meeting and has been the topic of so many comments

025tonight requiring parental permission for four particular books I share the desire to protect our children but I do not think it is the responsibility of this board to limit my children's access to information the point of education is to provide as broad access to information as possible it is my job as the parent to help my children make sense of what they learn that's my job ideas may be difficult but I do not believe they constitute the kinds of threats from which we need to protect our children we have a process in place by which books can re be reviewed we followed that process it worked I love a process it is not possible to create a system by which every book can be evaluated and rated we have attorneys on staff we don't need

026to hire more I guess there are many different ideas about what is required to keep Kids Safe some that seem obvious to me or clearly not shared by many because school shootings like the one in Nashville today keep happening I think all our kids are safer when they know that they are valued and cared for no matter who they are or how they dress or what color skin they have when all children know that the adults in their lives actively care for them when the adults are willing to have conversations about difficult things then they feel safe let's not spend more time trying to protect our children from books or from the more difficult pieces of our countries and our world's histories let's keep our children safe by providing safe stable nurturing communities and by

027letting them know that it is safe for them to talk to us about everything thank you to everybody who came to speak with us tonight that concludes our public comment section of the agenda a next item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda thank you what's up Mr what Mr Welch okay Mr Haas seconds thank you any comments from the board oh it was Mr Hall thank you okay hey Mr Welch okay we can cast our votes your verses 12 yes zero no thank you and with a unanimous vote we approved the agenda for the evening next item on the agenda is the approval of the consent agenda do we have a motion Mr Wimberley and Mr Mitchell Second Step motion do we have any requests for comment okay let's move to vote

028your vote is 12 yes 0 no thank you with the with the votes we approved the February 20 2023 school board meeting minutes the board policies for second reading 1.703 School attendance areas zoning and non-resident the 4.406 policy for use of the internet the board policy for deletion for second reading with the use of electronic mail and the recommendation for field trip fee requests the next item on the agenda is Communications to the board Mr golden thank you madam chair and thank you board for being here and I want to thank the individuals in the audience for being here as well especially for the speakers tonight students especially board members I think you know we've had many conversations every time one of our students speaks to us it's it carries some weight and some power

029so thank you students for sharing I do want to emphasize in that context that our all our websites do have a link to our library books and all the library books can be found at each school's website communicating every item that every teacher teaches continues to be a work in progress and sharing those in the both on the website and through schoology and through conversations between teachers and students and I want to thank the folks for making comments related to the decisions that you all will be making in August I mean in April regarding regarding those items that you discussed last month but ladies and gentlemen what is really on my heart is the tragedy at the Covenant School on the campus of a Covenant Presbyterian Church just a few miles from us it's it's

030it's consumed so many lives and it's consumed ours the education family feels that loss and it's it's Weighing on us it's it's a fear that we work on and think about every single day and I know that those individuals who experience that direct loss to date have have had those same thoughts and our heart goes out to them and I thank you all for the prayers that you've been sharing on behalf of those families who've suffered that loss in light of that we had some items on the agenda some of our students staff and school spotlights for some celebrations and I'll just tell you it's not appropriate for us to to celebrate tonight many of our families are suffering loss from the from the close relationships they have with some of those families who've lost

031children lost loved ones in in that school shooting and so with that I'm keeping my message short tonight certainly encourage you to go back and look at our work session but that just reminds you of of the love that all Educators have for for the children that we serve and ask that you all again continue to keep those families in your prayers and everyone who chooses to serve children so with that Madam chair that's my report thank you Mr Golden and I could not have said it better myself so I will not thank you very much and I will skip the board chair Report with that as well next item on the agenda is new business the first item for new business is the approval of the 2023-2024 school budget Mr golden thank you madam

032chair the first item is the general purpose School fund just as a reminder we have a responsibility under a private act for Williamson County to provide our proposed budget to the County government before April 1st we go through this process with our budget we have presented at the work session and actually about I think two and a half three weeks ahead of that we sent you an email with some details of the general purpose school budget for the first time in the 18 years or so that I've worked to some degree or another on the budget on paper right now it includes a deficit just as a reminder it's because we're switching the state is switching its funding formula from BEP to Tisa and this is the first year Tisa is a new model that's

033based on student funding we know that a lot of it depends on how much funding actually gets placed into the state share we are told by the Tennessee Department of Education that they project they will let us know the projection for how much the state will fund this budget by May 1st we have a responsibility to get the budget to the commission before April 1st so we do have that budget that we discussed in more detail at the work session and thank you all for the questions you've asked related to it I certainly opened any questions you may have beyond that work session discussion we had and the conversations we had prior to that Miss farmer is here as well but I do recommend approval of the budget as is knowing that depending on what

034the state does there's a possibility we might need to come back and do some amendments perhaps in May thank you do we have a motion Mr Welch and Mr Wimberley seconds and we'll open the floor Mr Brown thank you madam chair Jason just to maybe get a little more clarity on your excuse me your previous comment if the if the budget is submitted to the County Commission and it comes back to us with their changes well maybe I should ask it differently will it come back to us with their changes or will it come back to us for us to make changes and then go back to them for a final pass so from a process standpoint the County Commission and I'm actually going to call on Bobby as well he may add some detail

035about that based on his knowledge the County Commission makes a decision on our budget as in essence a yes or no they have many they have some committees the education committee the budget committee discusses ours and other departments budgets but they are scheduled in June to vote on our budget if they reject our budget it could come back to the board for a vote potentially to amend based on based on that County Commission vote so that's the schedule they could reject it as I understand it they don't have the power to line item the budget they could just either accept it or reject it and I'm not sure your microphone works so I'm going to repeat your question I think you said in essence that we that we could based on that schedule potentially make

036an amendment even before they make their final vote that's correct Mr Wimberley Mr Golden for the benefit of people who are observing and we did talk about this a good bit in the work session what are the limitations that we were given in creating this budget also are there new initiatives in the budget and if you could also address pay raises thank you Mr Wimberley so number one County government usually through the mayor's office makes a recommendation for us and a in essence a directive to departments in County government so we're not a Department of County government we're a separate entity so every year there are some there are some parameters typically set out from County government largely through the mayor's office and it might be something like and it did include this no new

037programs sometimes that's a that's a parameter often there's a parameter related to pay raises so to answer your question do we have anything new no we do not have any new programs in this year's budget and I'll give you two main reasons why we've touched on one already it's the new funding model where it's where we're not sure about our total total funding and it's not wise to spend something based in you know until we determine where we're at but second it's more substantive we're going through the strategic planning process right now we had 18 separate stakeholder meetings and ultimately we plan to present a draft strategic plan to you in May for a vote and my expectation and my vision for this is we look at those goals that you all established through our

038strategic plan to lead the question about where we go from here so it's not the time for us to initiate new programs this year as we have those two variables mayor Anderson actually set a standard for his his County government departments to submit a proposed budget with what he described as a five percent raise in July and a two percent raise in January we studied that and we know that a big reason for that is the increased cost of living that we're experiencing the community related to housing and of course consumer goods and so our proposed budget actually includes a six percent raise in July without an address of the January 1st so if you do the math five percent in July on a July 1 fiscal year budget and two percent in January is

039the is the budget equivalent of six percent in July so we are recommending six percent in July for a couple of reasons there one is it gets the money to our staff quicker than that wait till January 2nd just the flat Logistics of managing mid-year raise our teachers are on are on a 10-month calendar but they're paid on a 12-month scale and so some of their fun some of their income is deferred just a little bit and that deferral increases through the through the school year until the summer the calculation from our payroll department to make those changes for each individual teacher is a lot of individual data entry so it's the wise thing to do is to just recommend a raise for for our staff on July 1. it's a lot of detail to

040answer your questions but thank you for the question thank you Mr Cash thank you madam chair I've got a just Jason can you do a kind of a overview where 37 million dollars more this year than than last year and I'm seeing like 15 possibly 18 million for raises and whatnot where is all the extra money going I think that's something that our constituents need to hear sure and I number one for the constituents out there I want to refer them to our work session agenda packet Rachel farmer had a PowerPoint with one slide that actually gave that detail and to answer your question here at this meeting I would like to ask Miss farmer if she would speak to that to those increases the 37 million that we have increased I'll just give you

041line by line kind of a breakdown of what that's made out of classified adjusted chart with a six percent raise was 3.8 million the professional chart with a six percent raise is 11.7 million every year as our teachers increase and experience their chart rolls with years of experience so that particular role is a 3.5 million dollar increase we also increased some lines that were not on the page Hearts themselves for substitutes tutoring supplements stipends over time all of those additional pay categories that's a seven million dollar increase Advanced degrees teachers that are currently have a BS and working on a master's or a master's working on an EDD or phc we have a 400 000 allocated for any of those that would have that bump we have existing interventionists that are currently being paid out

042of our Esser funding that would be moved into GP which is 2.3 million additions for new schools were opening two new schools and so certain positions have to be added even though we resize existing schools there's certain positions a nurse a principal a bookkeeper that every school has to have so that's 3.8 million required and growth additions again our system is still growing and so we do have growth again and that's 5.1 million and then there were some new positions or adjustments that we did feel like strongly needed to be added and that's 3.3 million operation expenses decreased by 4 million overall all of that to say the summation of that is the 37 million thank you for that Miss fireman let me give you a little bit more detail on the on the revenue

043side the property tax rate for Williamson County was at 2.22 cents back in 2021 it dropped in 2022. 1.88 1.88 and it's it's been that same this year we don't intend to ask for an increase in that rate our projections for this budget includes it being covered by Tisa and any increases in the actual Revenue sales tax increases Etc so the variable that could impact this budget coming back to you is if in fact the Tisa funding does not total a sufficient amount to make the budget balance thank you Mr going in thank you Rachel thank you Rachel thank you Mr Wimberley did you request to speak again no okay Mr Mitchell thank you madam chair as we vote on The General budget school budget I need to state that I have an immediate family

044member who is employed by the Williamson County Schools who and who will be affected by this proposed budget and but my vote this evening is in keeping with myof of oath of office to fulfill my responsibility as an elected Board of Education member and I my vote will be based upon what is best for the district thank you thank you Mr Mitchell I rick Wimberley have an immediate family member who is employed by Williamson County Schools who may be affected by this proposed budget resolution my vote on this budget resolution is nevertheless in keeping with my oath of office to fulfill my responsibility as an elected Board of Education member said for memory hey thank you thank you Miss Glenn okay thank you for your comments board members and we can go ahead and cast

045our votes no Mr Golden you recommend it I do recommend approval your vote is 12 yes 0 no thank you with that approval we did pass the 2023-24 school budget next item on the agenda is the approval of the textbook adoption committee recommendation for the math textbooks if I may Madam chair that was item A1 general purpose School fund the rest of the budget huh okay okay budget thank you madam chair we have the general Central cafeteria fund item as the next agenda item just as a reminder this is a self-contained budget that is self-funded there are no County tax dollars used in the central cafeteria fund we rely on purchases plus funding from the U.S department of Agriculture I do recommend approval of that budget certainly open to any questions you may have related

046to it of emotion Mr Welch second by Mr Pria thank you do we have any discussion no discussion we can cast our votes your value is 12 yes zero now you and that approved with that vote we approved the central cafeteria fund next item on the agenda is the extended school program fund thank you madam chair our third of four proposed budgets includes what we call Sac our extended school program fund the school age Child Care Program that likewise is a self-funded program that does not take any County tax funds it is funded by by usage along the lines of a traditional business we do have on page 63 of our of our budget line some increases in the fees largely to cover increases in expenses related to our Sac program with that we do

047recommend approval for the extended school program fund thank you do we have a motion Mr Cash in a second from Mr Mitchell thank you any discussion okay let's cast our votes your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you your vote just approved the extended school program fund or sac last item under budgets is capital requests Mr golden thank you madam chair annually we make Capital requests for for significant maintenance work for Safety and Security issues and for some of our computers and networking programs I do want to point out that we also have a five-year Capital plan that includes some of our largest projects substantial Renovations of buildings large technology purchases is purchases Etc what you were looking at today for our budget vote is our annual Capital request that tend towards maintenance issues

048such as roof Replacements HVAC repairs security camera repairs and related related safety issues and some of our smaller replacement programs for technology on the technology point I know we've had some questions related to this so I want to make sure that you all have a clear understanding starting in 2024 we project that the Chromebook purchases that we made of three three and four years ago will come up and we're going to have to replace a large number of Chromebooks those are on our five-year Capital plan the devices that we that we have included in this particular budget include smaller numbers we actually piloted that program at Brentwood middle and Independence we're gonna We propose to replace those with this budget plus some some replacement of damaged devices plus devices for growth so with that I

049do recommend approval of this of this Capital request that we will then take to the commission thank you do we have a motion Mr Mitchell in a second by Mr Pria thank you any discussion okay we have some discussion Mr Mitchell thank you madam chair Mr Golden the purchase of Chromebooks was done during during the time pandemic when we were anticipating the need to run the district completely remote and online and we prior to that we did not basically have a policy to provide technology or Chromebook for every child in the district and so we were kind of forced into that as a as a way to from my memory correct me if you think you remember otherwise but we were kind of forced into that policy basically by the pandemic itself why are we

050looking to continue the policy of of providing technology Chromebooks to every student in the district thank you for the question number one in this current budget that's not in there so I want to make sure that we all understand that for this particular vote but to answer your question more fully about Chromebooks we were headed down the road towards the possibility of every student having a device prior to covet we had actually piloted assigning a device in in this case Chromebooks 325 dollars per unit relatively inexpensive compared to a traditional laptop to all the students in independent High School in Brentwood middle you notice that we had high school and middle school in that pilot because of covid we did speed up that process I talked about down the road we hit the gas a

051lot faster than we originally intend to do as a result of of covid hitting prior to that one of the most significant regular gifts we receive from our ptos was laptops at most of our elementary schools and so there were many many laptops at all our elementary schools not a not fully one to one everywhere but we were able to fill in that Gap more quickly right now and as we prepare for next year we have started pretty detailed discussions data gathering on how our youngest grades use those devices and evaluate whether whether there's that need for us to continue to have that assignment and it's going to include some discussions with some of the PTO leaders would they view that as going backwards where they still feel an obligation to to donate devices you

052all remember we used to talk about one of our favorite in acronyms years ago cows computers on Wheels which would include racks on wheels that would be in the library and then rolled out to particular classes we've evolved some the the demands for online access even testing sometimes from the state are some issues that we're evaluating so short answer is we're not sure we're there yet with how many we're going to recommend in a year but we're going to spend this time to evaluate that especially at the youngest grades Mr Galbraith thank you madam chair Jason just I don't remember us talking specifically about about this at the work session but especially in light of the events of today I guess it's a it's a good time to reflect and ask what what kind of

053what kind of Safety and Security needs are there that we're not addressing in the budget in the in this budget are some some security cameras some some locks on on doors primarily as if I'm if I'm looking at this right but to the tune of about 2.1 million dollars I'm not asking to to increase this budget but but maybe over the course of your discussions with the with the County Commission to to see what their appetite is for I would be per I'd like to be prepared with with some additional if we if we so choose collectively the board and the and the commission so chose to to pull forward some of these things if we think we could operationalize it quicker there's no use in spending money faster than you can handle getting getting

054boots on the ground and getting everything implemented but so just interested to see what what was left on the table when you when when you looked at fletch's requests because I know that I know it's more than this thank you for that and you're and you're right by the time any budget makes it to you we've had some discussions and prioritized and analyzed some of the issues with contractors you're right it's largely it's largely camera Replacements and door locking mechanisms let me give you a couple of specifics and anybody who walks up to one of our schools sees sees this especially those who've looked at our schools the last few years every one of our schools has a camera access point with what I think of as a solenoid I know that's an ancient term

055but you just you know push the button it releases the hammer to allow folks to come in with a camera folks identify themselves show their ID we determined that they're appropriate for entry part of this budget includes increasing the locations at the of the buildings for some of those so you think about you think about high schools with multiple buildings we it we make sure that we have that camera system at every building but there are some requests to allow a more facilitated entry point rather than the doors being locked and our standard is every single door is locked and so if if a student moves from one place to another then you have somebody physically at the door to make sure that gets open that's a that's a piece of it there's an old

056saying that you can never have enough cameras and that's true for us as well so our safety team analyzes the locations some of it is replacement for the existing cameras some of it is are there any particular spots where there might be a gap in camera coverage that we want to pick up so I'm going to call on Gary Anderson just to add any any other detail one of his areas of responsibility is is school safety just to put any detail in there that I haven't answered with Mr galber's Question system interior's not in charge of microphone Heavens is on if you want to take Kevin okay thank you one of the items that's prevalent throughout these requests is nuke is updating the key fob system and recaying the buildings to get them all on

057the same type system another thing is for the traffic controls outside of certain schools that have the flashing lights is to upgrade those to solar and be able to control those through cellular phones because sometimes when there's a time change or a power outage or something some of those things don't get changed and adjusted but we will have better control over those the whole thing is built around improving the safety in our schools and most of it is internal as you know that the now the requirement from the state is the doors be locked and secured and closed and we want to make sure that all of our doors are upgraded to make sure that they can close efficiently as well so that's pretty much the what the requests are for the Safety and Security

058I guess so Jason if I if I may I mean I appreciate the color of what's that's what's that's what's in the budget I'd really like to understand what what didn't make it and what are the like if we're if we're installing we're proposing to to get doors and hardware replacement for these you know four elementary schools and three three middle schools is that a phased approach where where there are there are 15 other schools just like this that if we had more funds we could do do them all in this upcoming fiscal year rather than waiting and phasing it in our from a from a funding standpoint to short answer to your question is yes that that is a phasing system for the for the key fobs as I sit here I can't answer

059about contractors and getting that staffed but to that point we'll we'll go double go back and double check with Mr Fletcher and and see what might be available you all do know and it I know that it it jogged your mind that we do have those times where we're maxing out contractor work I just don't know the answer to the key fob question as I see here you don't mind just prepare that after not in not in any hurry but before your next meeting with the commission thank you Mr Brown thank you we don't have any fun to requests for microphones in the in the capital budget okay now here we go so Jay Jay asked my question but a little bit different question is in the event that the County Commission were to not

060fund the capital budget fully have you given thought to what you would cut and then maybe in light of Jay's question in light of the events today would that change your thoughts about what you would cut and maybe prioritizing the safety security components of the budget and to ensure that those got funded if I may let me ask you to answer your second question first in your first question second we thoughtfully work through safety on a daily basis and then of course at the at the budget side on an annual basis and many of our safety measures were put in place because we saw and we saw a need and thoughtfully work towards it over the course of time some of those you all funded that we never talked about publicly so I don't know

061that this particular event will trigger a different thought but let me tell you think about when when the tragedy at Uvalde happened most every entity including law enforcement went back and did a review of their processes we likewise did that with the sheriff's department in one particular item that was reaffirmed in that context was you go to the problem and in the bid I saw today in the news that's what happened in Metro Nashville so is it possible that a review of this tragedy might lead to some evaluation whether it's a reaffirming of our process or suggestion for something different it is possible and we will do that through a tabletop exercise as as to as to your first question I got caught up in answering your second one I've now forgotten what your first

062one was really just about whether if in the event the County Commission were to decide not to fully fund the capital request what would you have you thought about what you would cut we have not decided what we will cut because that's not the way we went about setting up the capital request we've come to the conclusion that we need this we have cut other items if they do cut us we will have to go back ourselves and have a discussion administratively as a team we will then have to take it to you to make some recommendations on where we go from here yeah so the thrust of my question was really I mean clearly every day you all are thinking through the Safety and Security protocols and really really the thrust of the question

063was more about the capital budget and items that are in there that are Safety and Security focused to maybe put a priority or a preference towards those being funded over other things if the budget were to be cut thank you thank you for that suggestion our safety analysis is quite broad in in not not specifically in a safety context but in all contexts we are competing for a limited fund so thank you for that for pointing that out yes thank you madam chair Mr golden Knight I think we've got a great safety issues in in situation in our schools but there's there's always a weak link and nothing's foolproof and I think one of the weak links when you're when you're in and around the schools the elementary middle and high school our doors being

064propped open or left open we've got technology that's pretty readily available to tell someone in the office that the doors are open I don't know if this is going to help get that passed through or you know more more technology brought in I don't know but it's probably a good time to you know reconsider that I know we do a safety checks constantly and evaluate everything but maybe it is time like Josh and Jay are saying to get this in the budget thank you for that Mr Cash the doors have been a priority we at the beginning of this year we I asked our team faculty staff administrators all operations folks to focus on three key points one of that one of those three key points was student safety and doors were a key law

065enforcement is involved with us on that as well there's always that possibility somebody runs out and sticks a rock there and it has been a thoughtfully approached issue throughout this school year I've seen some growth in that and we encourage anyone who notices those issues to report them to us and so in our sros are constantly moving around at unpredictable times actually in in and that's one of their one of their many responsibilities but that's a primary responsibility responsibility for our Administration but you're right there there are electronic systems where every single door can be can be why hired to identify that and that is something that we have been working on as they work in progress so we'll have a discussion about the total cost for that as well thank you madam chair Mr

066Golden I guess my question would be as we're talking about safety protocols that we currently have and gaps that we that are our safety department sees maybe we can have a presentation from Mr Fletcher at our next work session over where he sees our you know give us what he his risk analysis is certainly I will tell you that there are some items of our safety protocols that are confidential that we will share with you in a confidential manner we do not share publicly our full safety plans and I know you all are sitting here and you know what I'm talking about because you as board members know some specific safety items that we don't share publicly so it may be that he shares something with you confidentially and I'm and I appreciate that and

067recognize that I guess I was thinking to I know that our parents are all concerned as well in our community above and beyond just our just the parents so maybe a presentation in a in our at our work session from him or his department and staff would would also be something that could be somewhat of a public statement or a public presentation on what Williamson County Schools does to keep our children and staff safe Mr Wimberley I guess in FYI that in all all of our 18 stakeholder meetings school safety was mentioned either as a strength of the County but also as an aspiration to make it even better and defining safety in a variety of ways and this is kind of you know out of line for board meeting I think but would it

068make sense for us to approve the budget with some more money a blanket I mean just an amount of money in the capital request for whatever we may learn in the coming months I'm going to think out loud the County Commission has told us if I'm not mistaken Rachel I'm looking at you that they go to bond market they will now be going to bond market once a year these Capital requests are would be if if approved by the County Commission funded on an annual basis largely typically through going to the bond market I'm thinking about their schedule Rachel am I correct that there's they would need a bond market approach in October have to have the request from our board September for them in October and they go to bond market end of October

069or November so with that Mr Wimberley my opinion as I as I sit here right now is let us put some administrative effort into that be and be prepared to come with a thoughtful detailed approach for the for the County Commission okay thank you Mr Welch not to continue to drag this out but it seems like we've kind of taken this down the road of school security obviously you know based upon the tragedy that happened today I guess I just want to say if this take this opportunity that obviously the incident that happened the tragedy I think that crystallizes in people's minds what that event is and start thinking about what would we do and how would we react but I think it's important for us to remember that it's we've traditionally looked at this

070our security plan almost as an iceberg and the majority of that is what you don't see it's it's beneath the water that's the largest part of it and our plan the focus of our plan our ideal is not focused on what are we going to do when it happens it is let's stop it before it ever happens let's not get to that point where we have to deal with the bad things let's nip it in the bud and so with that we very much ask our parents to if they see something say something to our principals and I don't want to emphasize that second part say something to our principals don't emphasize rumors on social media and things that you heard secondhand that you aren't aware of our principles are the resource for this go

071to them they have the policies and procedures they are the ones that can make change they are the ones who can investigate and take appropriate action so by all means be a partner with them and then the second thing I want to emphasize with this is maximum convenience and school safety are mutually exclusive it's inconvenient to have to go through the front door when you're trying to drop something off around back and someone could let you in it's convenient to have to show your ID or have to go through background checks to volunteer but this is how we keep kids safe so again please partner with our principals and our building leaders as they exercise this proper Authority and these inconveniences that are acceptable in the light of what we're trying to do and finally

072threats aren't a lot of ways we talk about physical threats there are cyber security threats out there Li Unified School District had was held ransom for millions of dollars refused to pay and had 2 000 Student Records released into the dark web there's a lot of bad things that happen and we hire National and state and local experts who are aware of these things and we don't share as you said everything that we do but just because the public may not hear about things it also doesn't mean that we're not thinking about it that we're being proactive that we're not taking actions about these things we are if just if we tell you we can also be telling the bad guys that look to do us harm and we don't want to tip our hands

073so just because you don't know something doesn't mean it doesn't happen or that we don't care well thank you for that last comment it is an uncomfortable discussion I don't in any way ever want to even imply that we have this solved it is a daily daily effort and it's a human effort and it's what you lose sleep over it's what we lose sleep over it's what I lose sleep over I will tell you that one comment I've mentioned in previous public meetings is there's no substitute for people and that is very true in a safety context there is no substitute for people a few years ago well when I've been here on this my 18th year in Summerall with the district when I first got here we had an agreement where we shared the

074cost with the sheriff's department for sros and our secondary schools we now through efforts of you all as a board our safety team by the way we didn't have a safety director back then either we didn't have a safety department back then but through efforts we've added that where we have dedicated staff members working on that every single day that's that's who they are and that's what they do the sheriff's department has sros in every one of our buildings a nice thing that we've seen with a county when they did that they offered sros to Franklin Special School District at the time city of Franklin provided those sros they offered those to private schools as well the thought being that an integrated leadership driven program to protect all schools and protect all students was important

075to this County so I want to thank the County Commission you all talked about County Commission funding I want to thank the County commission for the support it is a it is a full community effort to provide safety for our students we're talking about the physical aspects of this but there's also prevention measures that you all have funded recently increased School counseling some of some of those programs to assist students as as needs arise I'm sorry just one more thing to respond to that's a great history of it and I think be an appropriate moment to recognize my friend and colleague Rick Wimberly I remember when we were doing that at first and we had half a position budgeted for it and it was Rick's leadership during that budget meeting that said well before any

076of this was in the news and the foresight to say no I think we need a full position budgeted for that and that's how we hired Mr Fletcher who is the in my humble opinion the best security officer in the state for school resources thank you all for your comments and questions we can proceed to a vote the vote is 12 yes zero no thank you and this motion was passed with the full support of the board and that was for Capital requests for 2023-24. next item on the agenda is the approval of the textbook adoption committee's recommendation for math textbooks Mr golden thank you madam chair this is the time of year and actually the time every officially every six years and for practical purposes this time every eight years where we go through

077the state adoption process for math textbooks we spent the last few months having monthly meetings and updates for you on the process it's a very detailed process that includes you all choosing a committee to make recommendations to you we having Community meetings to to review the textbooks have teachers in the content area review and make their preference known even after the state goes through the textbook selection process and I got to say this there's been a change this year at the state level in that the textbook commit commission and they have a long name but I think of it as the Tennessee textbook commission I spent a lot of time with the vendors making sure that the items that they selected for us to choose from included all the Tennessee standards I saw that as

078a substantial change from prior years so I don't know that anybody from the state will ever listen to this meeting but I want to thank them for the work they did on the front end to bring items for for us to select with that you heard the report from Miss Lopez at the work session and I do recommend approval of the of the recommend of the textbooks as recommended in the board packet Mr Welch seconds the motion do we have any discussion Mr Galbraith I want to thank the County commission for letting us be a guest in their Auditorium come on okay thank you just a point of order Mr cook if I'm if I'm going to make a motion to amend I make my motion and then it has to get a second and

079then do I get to then then I speak after that right correct okay thank you so I would like to amend the motion not exactly sure what the what the motion was since there wasn't one I assume but I'd like to amend the motion to read this way and I everybody got a copy of this before the meeting but I had to get a couple edits from for Mr cook right before that so I moved to accept the math curriculum committee's recommendations with the understanding that for the K to five for McGraw-Hill the committee did not evaluate the alignment of the social and emotional learning SEL components of the curriculum to the state Tennessee State Standards therefore staff will neither require training nor require teachers to use the SEL components of the curriculum okay so

080Mr Galbraith is has put on the floor a motion to amend the current motion which is to approve the committee's recommendation to adopt the math book math textbooks so it if it is that we need a second thank you okay Mr Brown thank you any discussion Mr galbot's mission yes okay thank you so just wanted to they'll lose me again okay I'm deaf so I can't really hear so I want to do this as we talked about this in the in the work session but wanted to to do this formally with the with the board meeting our staff Ms Lopez and Mr Allen Dr Allen have have gone through we've gone through multiple multiple discussions and presentations about this about the process and over the last two meetings directly they have addressed the comments from

081from parents from the review of the of the books themselves and I think if I'm not mistaken Jason I mean I have talked with I talked with you and I've talked with Dr Allen about ensuring that what I'm asking here is consistent with with what you and your team have really on your own have pledged to do and I just want to make sure that I'm not doing anything that you're not comfortable with thank you for the question I want to do a double check and read out my understanding of of what you described with the understanding that for the K5 McGraw-Hill the committee did not evaluate the alignment of the social and motion learning components of the curriculum to the Tennessee State Standards therefore staff will neither require training or require teachers to use

082the SEO components of the curriculum is that the essence of it so just as a reminder when Miss Lopez presented to you she lets you know that in the teacher's manual alone there were some elements some suggested or included elements didn't that of of what could be described as social emotional lesson components some of them are based on what was described as a math mindset the idea that if someone's got a concern in their in essence afraid of math there might be some techniques for addressing that and some of them might not have been that even that directly related to math so miss Lopez stated what I understand you've restated that the committee make a recommendation related to the mass standards and we don't intend to require training or provide that training nor require teachers

083to use those lessons that are exclusively in the teacher's manual so for that context we'll be fine either way if the board votes for this it puts in a in a board motion our intent regardless so as I understand it will be fine either way because what you stated is what we intend to do if the board approves the McGraw-Hill K5 thank you for that and I guess to to speak to to speak to why why I believe we should we should make this a in our motion as opposed to to requiring anyone who who had a question about about this in the future to have to come back in and actually watch the meeting or well that's the only way they could they could actually see it is to watch a work session or

084a meeting to to understand our intent I would really just like to to make it perfectly clear to to anyone who would would ultimately try to to challenge the board on this because I mean that's just where just where we are I'd like I'd like for it to be to be made clear to the public and to to the staff that this is that this is what's going to happen Jason's already told us that this is what he's directing his staff to do so we have no reason to to I don't it's not that I don't trust that he's going to do that I just want to make it very clear and if anybody comes back and says well you guys you guys approved The Curriculum by 12 nothing like they did with the wedding

085wisdom we can say yes we did and these are the these are the stipulations is a bad word but this is this is what staff said in response it's not like they didn't listen to the to the constituents Who had who had issues with this and and it's not even that they are necessarily doing this because constituents did this they're doing this because they think it's the right thing to do and I do too and I just want to reflect I'd like for the board to to join me in in doing this thank you Mr Galbraith if my if I may add a little bit of answer to that what you've articulated is what our TLA team let you all know at the work session they intend to do regardless since we're here I do

086want to look over at Dr oyer and just as a double check and to if there's any gaps in my response that needs to be filled I certainly invite them I don't think the microphone worked there either but okay please hold oh there it was no sir we will we will use the curriculum and guide our work in the classrooms based on the Tennessee State Standards and we'll our teachers will continue to build relationships and build a classroom culture that creates students academic success thank you Miss ciprina should we be should we touch it when it's time to talk or just let you control it okay so we don't need to touch our systems just in case I wasn't sure either so yeah yeah exactly okay just for the sake of clarity I wanted to

087confirm that this having this in the motion does not prevent any teachers who find it in the professional judgment to use the SEO component beneficial for their class or their students that doesn't prevent them from choosing to do that is correct as I understand it we talked about a math mindset think back to the time when you were in school did you hear somebody say I'm no good at math right because of blank so there is an element in the state standards IT addresses that so that teachers have to have the discretion based upon their particular student group based upon their particular cohort to make sure that they have an environment that is conducive to math learning so that is a key that we do expect of teachers and that they do need that discretion

088to do Mr Wimberley yes thank you madam chair now this feels like a crossover reach to me we already have the assurances of staff that SEL will not be trained or required and first of all I'm not sure what the objective the objection is to it I haven't heard from anyone complaining not to say that people haven't but I haven't heard that and it seems to me also that if we are going to put this condition on it ought to go through policy it shouldn't be an amendment to an approval I mean the board doesn't regulate through amendments to approval but this is clearly a regulation so we ought to take it through policy and I'm not sure that I'm saying that teachers have the ability to use it if they want to actually sends

089a clear message to teachers that we're not trying to tell them how to teach math although to some degree we are the standards tell them how to teach it but it just seems to me that as I understand what social and emotional learning is to make those connections between math and society and emotion to me is a powerful thing and I can't imagine what topic that we would cover where that would be more important more needed than math because students are constantly asking as I asked why are we studying this and why do we have to go through this long process to show our work well there's a reason for that but to some of us myself included I mean it just I needed some coaching on you know dealing with the emotions of math

090I hated it I kind of like it now though oddly enough but I'm 67 years old and I've learned the lessons the hard way so I just think we're overreaching here and this is not the appropriate way to do this if indeed it needs to be done and I'm not convinced that it does need to be done and I trust our senior staff who have said and effect this is what our intention is and I think one of the comments was we don't have time to train or require this because the standards are so robust of what we must do by state law so I'd ask that this motion be defeated and thanks Jay though for getting it to us in advance thank you Mr ha thank you madam chair I'm concerned with some of

091the discussions around topics like this whether it's the curriculum or books or library books where we are we have the potential to have a chilling effect on a teaching profession and our actions speak louder than our words while we may say you know we trust the professionals and we trust that staff is going to do this but we want to put this guard rail in place or we want to put our thumb on this motion essentially this is a motion to say we're going to do what we said we're going to do and we didn't do that with the budget we didn't do that with our other agenda items tonight we don't typically do that so is this for a political cover or is this for some purpose that serves the vision and Mission Vision

092and mission statement of Williamson County Schools I question whether this is necessary and I have I have concerns about setting a precedent where we add more to these things that we typically debate for hours have many many questions on and then and then ultimately it's a vote that decides it so that's that's why I will be voting no against this amendment Miss Cleveland I don't really see a problem now the logistics of it whether it should been policy or whether bringing an amendment here that I don't know I haven't given much thought about that but I think the key word is required and we're just reiterating with Mrs Lopez had already said and I think to Jay's point I think we're just clarifying it and just basically making it public and I don't think it's

093for political reasons I think it's more to make an understanding that we did adopt a math book textbook but there's a component that we didn't we're not adopting okay it's just math and I know everybody says you know just stick to math and I like the part in this it says we're not requiring it but that doesn't mean we're restricting teachers from doing anything so I think it's more of a Clarity of what we're adopting and what we're not adopting and therefore I do believe in the emotion Mr Welch thank you Rick make some excellent points with it and whether or not it's needed but if we are going to to pass it I would like to amend the motion for to to make it more clear and I would like to amend the amendment

094to change the word nor to neither and then after the word require have add the words or restrict so the last sentence would read therefore staff will neither require training I'm sorry staff will neither require training require training I said that wrong let me walk that back I'm sorry I apologize to add the words or restrict after require so the final sentence would be therefore staff will neither require training nor require or restrict teachers to use the SL components of the curriculum thank you Miss Clements is that okay Miss Clements yeah Mr Prius second did that thank you okay I just wanted to say I appreciate this I think for the teachers it gives them the latitude to make the professional call and I know that with our other the ELA curriculum that we approved

095that there has been some questions so I like that this puts us more in black and white so I do like this motion thank you Miss clints Mr Galbraith thank you madam chair yes yes your amendment to my Amendment that's correct yes so Eric I really don't have a problem with that I just wonder can can you give a little bit of thought to I don't know how I'm not sure how that reads just when it says we'll neither require training nor require or restrict teachers to use I don't know that says what exactly what I understand your thought process just thinking about the thinking about the grammar on that but require it because you're I think the thought is we will not require teachers to use it nor will we restrict restrict teachers from

096using it is that correct and you're all you're trying to do in as few words as possible Bond are I'm not sure are you asking me a grammatical question on how it's worded or or are you basing upon what is the gist of the amendment I'm asking I'm asking it I'm asking are you are you actually trying is what you're trying to say that we will not require require teachers to use it or restrict it or restrict teachers from using it is that what you're trying to say that's accurate okay because it is there a better way to is there a better way to say that than the way you did because I think you're trying to you're trying to do it in as few words as possible but it but right now it says

097require or restrict teachers to use the SEL components and I'm not sure that so by combining those two states I think what it would say therefore staff will neither require training nor require or restrict teachers to use the SEL components of the curriculum that's what I don't know that makes just grammatical sense I appreciate the thought process of it but not an English teacher but I think it's clear I mean if it if it deserves a recommendation to change it up I'm open to that I'm not yeah that's language I just I think that to Rick's point I think by doing this we send a message that there is something wrong there or we are restricting something which we are not doing and so I think this just further clarifies that it exists but we're

098not requiring training we're not making anyone doing but at the same time if the teacher sees value in using those strategies and frankly some of the strategies that we saw it personally made sense to me and I think a few others then we don't have that block on it so if there's a recommendation on the language I would be open to it but I I I worry that we're making mountains out of mole Hills at this point okay I'll I'll let somebody else try to have Wordsmith it for me as I have it written in my notes from what you said it says therefore the staff will neither require training nor restrict teachers from using the SEL components of their curriculum no no that's not what you're saying okay can you read it again either

099require training nor require or restrict teachers to use the SEL component all that I've added is added the words or restrict after the word nor and before the word require therefore staff will neither require training nor require or restrict teachers from okay okay Josh yeah Mr round go ahead yeah so I think I'm not going to put words in Jay's mouth but I think what Jay how Jay worded it when he was trying to explain Eric's intent was correct that act that adequately explains what he's trying I think he's trying to communicate which is to say the sentence would read and for it to make sense and be complete the sentence would read therefore staff will neither require training nor require teachers to to use or restrict teachers from using the SEL components of the

100curriculum I it's six one way half dozen the other to me if this is a acceptable compromise I'm fine with changing to that it says the same thing I think it's not a bad addition what you're suggesting is not a bad addition to the language it's just to make it clear what it's what it's saying and I just to add one more comment I think you know the comment's been made about the precedent we're setting or or you know calling into question teachers professionalism it's not that at all we have a responsibility to support our teachers one thing this is not doing is saying anything other than what Dave Allen and his team have already said they're doing so it's really reinforcing that but the other thing I think we have an obligation to do

101as a board at times is to think about Optics think about and instill confidence in in the community or in people who follow curriculum closely that if there's any doubt if there's any question about how something's going to go and we can remedy that with something simple that's not in conflict with what the staff's already said why wouldn't we do it I think we learned some lessons or at least I did from coming in when I did on the board after Ela and whiten wisdom that probably in hindsight things could have been done differently this process has been done very well in my opinion I've told Dave Allen that I've told Jenny Lopez that we had multiple months of meetings we had presentation after presentation we were kept in the loop it was transparent so

102this is a way to put I think another final finishing touch on the process by just instilling confidence and Maybe not maybe avoiding some of those questions that may come and certainly some of the questions that did come in the previous curriculum that we adopted so I think it's a good suggestion that Jay has brought I think the amendment is fine that Eric's added so I'm happy to support it is nodding that she is okay with the amendment change thank you Mr Brown Mr Cash thank you madam chair I just like to say I think I think we've got a great curriculum I think the state's done a great job I think Mr Allen and miss miss Lopez have went over and above to reach out to folks you know grandparents and you know just

103alumni and everyone else that came out and about to see what was going on with the curriculum I think we've done a great job there but I also I like the way Miss Cleveland you know expressed herself and Jay and Josh I think this is this amendment will be a win-win for everyone I think what we've learned from Whit and wisdom is you know it we didn't get into it enough we really didn't and some didn't appreciate it some do it's the same way with this I'm gonna summer people are gonna like it some people won't like it but I think overall as a community as a school system I think this is a win for everyone thank you thank you Mr Cash Mr Golden can we get your final recommendation sure if I if

104I may let me address one item specifically and then speak a little bit more generally to the to the to the motion there may be some choices in where a teacher goes in a particular class that's right for that particular class that might not be right for another class based on where they are in learning and understanding particular standards that are being taught philosophically I don't want us to restrict or require teachers to do something that's not appropriate for that particular cohort with that I also more generally believe that to use the phrase legislative history this discussion alone may be the most valuable thing we do because there will be a record of this discussion so ultimately on my recommendation I'm going to recommend that you all vote your conscience on this one and I'm

105going to leave it on you without a particular recommendation for yes or no knowing that we have this legislative discussion and I know what we're going to do administratively I'm copping out if that's a yeah you're coughing out okay all right is everyone clear on the amendment that we are voting for yeah I couldn't repeat that right now point of order here if I might we're voting on Eric and Jennifer's amendment to Jay's Amendment that's correct that's voting on the fir on the Second Amendment first that's correct let me read let me read what I would I blindly I don't have my glasses tonight so I'm like gonna make sure I can't do it thank you let me make sure oh gosh that's not the right prescription okay thank you for trying okay so I've

106got the component that we amended was therefore staff will neither require training require teachers to use nor restrict teachers from using the SEL components of the curriculum set capture intent yes sir yes sir and why would there be two votes because she said you had the second motion it's already on the table got you thank you okay so we will go ahead and vote on Eric on Mr Welch's motion to amend Mr galbraith's Amendment right now okay your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you so we just approved the amendment to Mr Galbraith and now we are back to Mr galbraith's motion I'm sorry as amended yes yes Madam chair is there do you know if there's any more discussion Mr thank you madam chair so relative I guess I'll make my point on

107relative to the original Amendment here as modified I'm not gonna vote in favor of it because I am of the agreement that we've gotten assurances from our staff from our superintendent and it's really not necessary for us to to document that in our in our motion thank you Mr Mitchell so what we will be voting on right now is the original amendment that states therefore staff will neither require training require teachers to use nor restrict teachers from using the SEL components of the curriculum the amendment as amended Miss Cleveland so we just approved what Eric did which is basically that amended the language Amendment so amended that first approval that you did you just amended it with those words that were given by Eric okay so now you're back on the emotion that he recommended

108okay so not it's one vote to hold thank you that's improve the whole thing I would say editorial in Mr go ahead go ahead Mr cook if I'm not mistaken after this vote there will have to be a final vote for the underlying motion as amended correct Mr Ms Cleveland did you have another follow-up question okay yeah we were voting on The editorial changes to Mr galbots okay sure Mr Beasley thank you madam chair I think my question was answered okay so we're voting two more times after this we are we will vote for the amendment right now once discussion is concluded then we will follow up and vote on the recommendation as amended as amended you bet that's right and now we are to Mr Brown so would it be useful to read the

109entire Amendment now that it has been now that last sentence has been amended so that we everybody's clear on all of the verbiage that we're voting on this is what we are so we are voting right now to accept the amendment J Mr Galbraith put forward I move to accept the math curriculum committee's recommendation for k-25 of McGraw-Hill with the understanding that the committee did not evaluate the alignment of Social and emotional learning SEL components of their curriculum to the Tennessee State Standards therefore staff will neither require training require teachers to use nor restrict teachers from using the SEL components of the curriculum voting Yes means you approve the adoption of the math textbook recommendation with this Amendment added okay if no further discussion we will yes mystery Room really if yes oh yes yes

110we just approved that yes we were voted for the editorial revisions we voted for that and that was approved now we're voting for yes yes Mr Brown so this will be the vote on Jay's Amendment and then we will vote on the original recommendation for adopting the textbooks yes is that what you I'm sorry Mr Wimberley I don't know if that's what you're asking okay two more votes on this topic okay this is to adopt Mr galbraith's motion to amend Madam chair based on the legislative history of your most recent Amendment to the amendment I do recommend approval of this amendment okay with Mr Mr Golden's recommendation let's cast our votes your vote is eight yes four no so the amendment did pass the motion did pass now we are going to vote on the

111approval of the textbook adoption committee's recommendation for math textbooks with the amendment that was just passed okay if no discussion we'll cast our votes thank you your vote is 12 yes 0 no thank you that motion and the approval adopted the textbooks for math for next year okay our next agenda item is approval of the 2023-2024 High School courses thank you madam chair you have before you a request for the annual High School course approval do recommend approval thank you any discussion oh motion please thank you Mr Welch and Mr Wimberley seconds any discussion okay we can move to a vote is 12 yes zero no thank you that was approval to approval for the 2023-2024 High School courses and the final item on the agenda is approval of the 2023-24 special course application thank

112you madam chair in addition to those three courses you just approved ancient history honors AP pre-calculus and math reasoning for decision making we do have a request for renewed special courses which includes leadership abnormal psychology honors and music industry audio production one two and three just as a reminder the audio production one two and three are at Renaissance High School for a focus area for graduation option for students recommend approval thank you do we have a motion Clements in a second from Mr Welch thank you any discussion okay let's cast our votes your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you that motion passed for the approval of the 2023-24 special course application and with that the meeting is adjourned thank you