001call the meeting to order thank you for being here for the Williamson County board meeting we're going to start with recording attendance so if the board members could please record your attendance we have 12 board members present thank you and I would like to just thank Dr for being here with us tonight and we're going to start with standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and we're going to have board member Sheila Cleveland lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a Moment of Silence is you can be seated thank you okay our first item on the agenda is items of particular public interest and a purple policy we do a lot for 30 minutes of time for members of the public to come and speak at our board meetings this evening we do have
002I believe nine members of the community here to speak to us about various topics addresses have been provided in advance so there is no need for members of the public to provide addresses live tonight and our vice chairperson Mr Josh Brown is going to be our time keeper and you will notice our new time clock so that we can actually let folks know where they are in their three minutes that they have allotted to speak there's also a new little feature on our screens here for board members and also up on the monitors for everybody in the public so you can also see kind of where we are in the public comment and if you are second in line you can just know when your time is coming up to be able to come forward
003to speak as well I'll call everybody up in twos you don't have to come and stand just know that you're the next person to come forward are and also just to let you know board members don't typically comment after public speakers come up to speak to us but we do very much appreciate that you've come to the board meeting to talk with us our first two speakers are Carol Neuhauser and Leslie swims so miss newhauser if you would come up we would love to hear from you no Miss newhauser okay we will move forward with Leslie Sims and after miss or swims sorry and then we'll have Melissa Mastin after Miss swims good evening my name is Leslie swims and I have a third grader at clovercraft elementary and a seventh grader at Page Middle
004I'm here to ask the school board to consider a zoning review for McKay's Mill and Garden Club subdivisions our school splits have changed over the last few years and have fallen below an acceptable level Allison stated at the work session on Thursday that the goal is to have a split not smaller than 30 percent Page Middle currently has a 90 to 10 percent split the 10 percent is made up solely of kids that live in McKay's Mill or Garden Club this means that roughly 40 kids from Page Middle are currently pulled each year from their classmates to attend Centennial High School roughly 20 girls and 20 boys and then they get mixed in with over 400 students at Centennial they clearly are small fish thrown into a large pond when we originally zoned at Centennial
005the split from Page Middle was around 25 percent but was reduced when some kids were rezoned to attend Legacy middle when their building opened page high was in the process of adding more classrooms so any change to zoning at that time was not reviewed I anticipate that this issue is going to continue to get worse as less kids are attending from Page Middle from clovercroft when clovercroft opened we were split 45 percent to Woodland and 65 percent to page this number has since flipped and 45 percent of last year's class were zoned to Page Middle roughly 50 kids out of those 50 kids we're seeing many families from our neighborhood move or enroll in private schools because they don't want their kids to split again when moving from middle to high school they are looking
006for more stable Solutions during an already difficult time in their children's lives middle school and high school can be very tough to navigate and having strong friend groups are very important while I don't believe these low splits were ever intended we need the district to look at them now I fully appreciate the difficulties that come with zoning and our neighborhoods are not up for a vote in the current zoning proposals but we need this to be reviewed for the rising freshman class the current zoning plans and cleanups will do very little to improve the situation for the kids currently at Page Meadow three areas were mentioned at Thursday's work meeting but only one of those is currently under construction and only expects to add 15 kids per grade in two to three years we would
007like the opportunity to discuss options for our area with the district I'm hoping the school board will put in place triggers that would keep from keep this from happening to other kids and allow for zoning changes or student options in these low number situations it is hard to be split from your elementary school friends and then to be split again in Middle School these low numbers make that an even tougher situation it is heartbreaking to see the stress and worry and it's got me my seventh grader I'm hoping that you will work to us work with us to find an answer to this thank you thank you Miss whims next we have Melissa Mastin and then we will have Stacy Cooper hi my name is Melissa Mastin and I have been in the district for
00811 years I have a degree in education I'm an avid supporter of Williamson County schools and I've spent countless hours volunteering at my children's three schools I'm here tonight to bring attention to an unfortunate zoning situation for the neighborhood of McKay's Mill and to share how this has affected my children my oldest child attended clovercroft where he was split with half of his friends it was an adjustment going into middle school with only half of your friends and but we encouraged him to take the opportunity to make more and make the best of it by the end of eighth grade my son had created a great group of friends but let me be clear from the time he entered sixth grade he was aware that these friends would go to page high and expressed concern
009of having to leave them as he had done in elementary school the end of eighth grade was very emotional tears anxiety about the unknown of what was like lying ahead instead of being excited to attend high school there was stress because we were moving to a new school with only 40-ish kids we stayed positive about the transition in hopes it would be a good one my son is currently a sophomore at Centennial and has made the best of these circumstances but it was a very hard transition it was painful to watch his personality go from outgoing to one that was timid and unsure of where he belonged the struggle lasted for several months we were lucky enough that he made his sports team so he could start to Foster new friendships he although was the
010only player that came from Paige so he still face challenges to blend into with kids who had been together for many years with the support of our family my son did his best but honestly it was a very hard freshman year this could have been avoided if we did not have the disproportionate split coming out of Page Middle I currently have a seventh grader at Page Middle now and this is just repeated itself it may even be harder because he watched what we went through with the family last year my son often is asking me how can I go to page high with my friends mom middle school and high school years are tough they're hard enough without losing their friendships and the support that those friendships provide the situation has caused many of our
011mccainal families to go to move to other neighborhoods so their kids can stay with their peers throughout High School my kids do not Embrace this idea of starting over in school but the current zoning issues have forced this upon them and we have been given no alternative options I do not want to continue to have to go to this through this experience with my next two children I feel that you have the responsibility to investigate the decreasing numbers of students that are coming out of Page Middle a 90 10 split out of any Middle School is not acceptable we should never require such a small group of kids to start over especially when entering High School McKay's Mill we need options to keep our kids together if we desire this we deserve an opportunity to
012meet together to find ways that suit all of our children thank you thank you Miss Mastin next we have Stacy Cooper and then we'll have Todd Kessner hi everybody my name is Stacy Cooper and let me just say I'm a huge supporter of yours I love Williamson County Schools I have a background in education myself I'm a former teacher I've got a Master's in psychology my three kids are in school here and I'm currently a substitute for you here welcome I jumped on that train I'm also the PTO president for Page Middle School I'm here today to bring attention to an unfair situation that has not been acknowledged in any of your upcoming zoning plans and although we're not on today's agenda I wanted to make our unique predicament relevant and keep in mind for
013future discussions my family lives in McKay's Mill and our kids are going through this multi-split situation at the elementary and middle school levels their first split from their friends at clovercroft and then sent to Page Middle but then only to be split again for high school our kids get to Middle School make friends and become proud to be part of the page Community this is our issue the page Community is strong and I'm super proud of that at Page Middle it feels like we're an extension of page High the sense of community is fostered and promoted not only through proximity but through shared Fields sports games teams facilities pep rallies Spirit functions school events and much more there is an undeniable strong bond between these two schools so it's not surprising why many kids like
014my own would want to continue to be part of the page family it just makes sense I also acknowledge that proximity wise it doesn't make sense for my case now so my request to you today is that there be more of an even split don't send our kids over to Centennial by themselves to make them feel isolated it's unacceptable to have 90 of Page Middle kids go across the street to page high and then only pull out 10 percent I'm asking you to please make this more of an even distribution but if that's not possible under your current plan of action I would like to propose that option for all Page Middle students in McKay's Mill to have the choice to attend page high school without jumping through the hoop of applying for that CTE
015program and we all know what I'm talking about I hope everyone here can acknowledge the discrepancy among our current distribution and I hope we can work together on a solution that would benefit everyone involved in our unique situation I do realize zoning is all about the numbers and it's not meant at all to be a personal preference however the distribution should be Equitable across the board for all Williamson County students and that includes my kids at Page Middle thank you Miss Cooper Mr Kessner and following Mr Kessner we have Stephen hickey good evening I'm Todd Kastner former Williamson County Commissioner I happen to be the commissioner who had the idea for the education impact fee thankfully supported by the mayor and the rest of the commission which provides a lot of new funding for new
016schools and I'm an Ardent supporter of Williamson County Schools I am not however a Williamson County Schools parent there seems to me to be some real confusion about public education public education is provided by our tax paying Society in order to foster a stable and productive Society clearly parents should have an even greater voice than they enjoy today however restricting other voices from sharing their input is wrong All County taxpayers fund our education system and have a right of citizens to share their input I currently pay about sixty six hundred dollars a year in County property taxes three quarters of that goes to the school's budget so I pay about five thousand dollars a year to the school's budget that doesn't include the additional substantial taxes I pay to the state which then comes back
017to the county to fund schools please don't tell me I'm forced to pay such significant amounts to Williamson County schools and yet have no voice regarding public education whether the topic is curriculum content funding requirements or some other element of Williamson County Schools I understand there's a recommendation by the administration to limit complaints and input to current parents but that would be another example of unelected government employees taking away citizens rights rather than restricting speech the board and administration should be seeking more input from the public including parents and taxpayers in any event I question whether we even have the legal right to implement and maintain those restrictions most importantly if they're members of the of the administration of the board that don't want to receive public input then in my opinion they are in
018the wrong jobs and ought to find different roles to better match their preference life preferences thank you Mr Kessner next we have Stephen hickey and then we have Patty Cantor good evening ladies and gentlemen the school board I'm Stephen hickey I'm the secretary of the Williamson family's political action committee I signed up to speak this evening about the proposed 4401 4403 policy changes but what I really intend to address is something much more fundamental to the health of our Republic when people ask me what's the biggest threat we as a nation face I say without hesitation that it's the death of Truth a closed border a laptop a Chinese wet Market all manifestations the same disease that appears to be affecting every aspect of our body politic in every case learned experts invested players and
019otherwise reputable sources defended and in some cases continue to defend the indefensible oftentimes questioning voices from the outside were discredited ridiculed and even censored in an attempt to maintain the LIE egregious in any case but for a society purportedly built upon the free market of ideas to determine truth this is incomprehensible in your proposed policy changes you establish a process to formally Levy complaints against text and library books that purposefully emits a significant portion of the citizens here in Williamson County you may have very well intentioned reasons for this but the fact remains that anyone who is not part of a select group is shut out from the formal complaint process and effectively muzzled from dissenting the Prophet Jeremiah castigates as foolish and senseless those people who have eyes but do not see by excluding
020most of the residents of Williamson County from having a voice in that free market of ideas you as a school board are willfully choosing not to see and therefore jeopardizing your own search for truth I strongly encourage you to reject this policy proposal and maintain the ability for every Winston County resident to Aid in the journey to truth thank you thank you Mr hickey next we have Patty Cantor and then Hunter Brown in our final speaker after Hunter is Lori Cardoza Moore Franklin Tennessee starting out with Proverbs 19 27 it says seize my son to hear the instruction that causes to air from the words of knowledge children should not be under teachings that are not biblical the Bible is our instruction manual in righteousness and is filled with the tremendous amount of wisdom and
021knowledge the public schools don't really use the Bible parents that do use the Bible will find their children will be taught one thing at home and something else at the public schools this will result in confusion children are to be taught consistent truth every subject that is taught is to be taught with a Christian Focus whether it is science geography math or English for instance Proverbs are used to practice writing the alphabet as they put God's wisdom in their heart at the youngest of age in science they learn that God is the creator of the Heaven and Earth he was the one that was there so he should know so the Bible is the foundation for truth it is the book to be used for every course when the Bible is not used you no
022longer have a Plumb line in all manner of evil is now infra infiltrating the public schools children are in very dangerous environment with sexually inappropriate materials and subversive curriculum this is what we are now reaping because we drifted away from using the Bible and the only real recourse is for that I can see is for parents to remove their children until the public schools get things squared away thank you very much thank you Miss Cantor next we have Hunter Brown and then our final speaker will be Lori Cardoza Moore my name is Hunter Brown I'm a citizen a taxpayer follower of four boys grandfather to four a couple on back order I'm here to comment today on the proposed changes to policy 4401 regarding complaints and standing The Proposal eliminates the rights and privileges of
023a whole host of parties at legitimate interest it arrogates bureaucratic control and limits forms of important public participation The Proposal in simple form only parents or current students have standing is obviously flawed The Proposal strikes me as profoundly wrong in many dimensions simple Equity accountable governance and policy it insulates and isolates the board Administration and teachers from important feedback it excludes many parties of valid interest it reflects a continuing propensity to a more closed form of governance when in fact all parties would be better served by the opposite it seems we've learned very little from the turbulence of last year it seems if we look at the proposal in simple form only parents of current students have standing it's obviously flawed and none would agree with that and yet here the policy response is we
024take away your voice your right to participate and why for administrative ease for unaccountable autonomy and inability to manage the process but we're left with a message that you don't want to hear it so you shut it down now who in the county would have no standing who would be excluded grandparents of students many relatives of students parents of young children not yet in school many parents of recent graduates most alumni notably parents who would send their children to public school but do not because of concerns over quality curriculum and governance that would include many homeschoolers and private schoolers many retired teachers administrators of the system including prior members of this very board would be excluded and lastly many of the very people who fund the school system current and long-term homeowners business owners Employers
025in the county and taxpayers who fund your entire budget please reconsider it thank you thank you Mr Brown good evening I'm Lori Cardoza Moore and I am here to speak about the unconstitutionality of policy 4401 or the proposal for 4401 in Article 1 of the Tennessee Constitution section one it reads that all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their Authority and instituted for their peace safety and happiness for the advancement of those ends they have at all times an unalienable and indefeasible right to alter reform or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper section 2 States that government being instituted for the common benefit the doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of
026mankind section 23 that the citizens have a right in a Peaceable manner to assemble together for their common good to instruct their representatives and to apply those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances or other proper purposes by address of remonstrance this school board has for over a decade assaults against parents students and tax paying citizens happiness rights and Liberties through unconstitutional unjust and immoral policies and bureaucratic decrees eventually honorable men and men men and women will wary of it and take a stand in opposition to it to treat the citizens as subjects instead of bosses is a reversal of the actual power arrangement we therefore instruct you in accordance with Article 1 Section 23 of the Tennessee Constitution as our duly elected representatives on this school board to vote to allow
027tax-paying citizens and parents of children in the K-12 Williamson County School System to file petitions to remove curricula instructional and supplemental materials as well as library books that are not accurate they are biased and reflect values that conflict with our own should you violate these constitutional rights we the people will seek redress in a Peaceable untimid manner thank you very much thank you and thank you to all of the members of the community who came to speak tonight and really appreciate your engagement we are going to go ahead and move on to the next item on our agenda which is the approval of the agenda if board members would like to discuss anything on the agenda be happy to go ahead and have you hit your button for discussion oh but first we need a
028motion thank you Eric and Rick seconds thank you now we'll open okay so we'll open the floor for discussion okay ready to vote this is the regular agenda okay thank you your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you now we will move on to the approval of the consent agenda and I will Casey do we have a second thank you Jen is our second now if anybody would like to discuss this item open the floor for discussion no discussion we can move on for a vote your vote is 12 yes 0 no thank you and with that approval we did approve the September 19 2022 school board meeting minutes we approved board policy second reading 4.214 virtual education program and 4.604 credit for prior courses we also approved the town of Thompson Station request
029for the right-of-way and easement acquisition at Thompson Station Elementary and Middle Schools we approved the e-plans American Plan act funds for individuals with disabilities Education Act and we approve the e-plans American Plan act funds for the remaining funds and recommendation for field trip fee requests next item on our agenda is Communications to the board and we'll start with Mr golden thank you madam chair and I do want to thank those who spoke at public comment and certainly respect the what everyone shares each time that we have our public comment time I do want to let you know that we are well into the second quarter of our school year and wow we had a really good first quarter it is hard work the work that our faculty and staff do to support our students and
030help them grow is very hard work and each of our staff members who commit themselves to that work are both are emotionally committed to it and I want to thank them especially I know we have a number of principals here in the audience and thank you all for coming to this meeting tonight as well at the work session last Thursday I want to give you a brief reminder of some of the discussion items especially at the superintendent's report at the work session we discuss some items for which we were preparing at a subsequent meeting more specifically we gave you a draft presentation of school zones for for three main areas the South area in large part to to open the new Wilkes Lane School in the in the Southeast area to open the Cox Middle
031School I'm sorry the Cox Elementary School Cox Road we have actually not yet named that school and then the Northeast part of the county in the nolansville area to to relieve some some growth in that area and make sure that we we address those schools that are overcrowded that vote is to be in November in between the Thursday presentation and the November voting meeting we do have three public meetings scheduled tomorrow night Wednesday night and Thursday night we'll be discussing the Wilkes Lane zoning recommendations at Heritage Elementary School at 6 PM Wednesday night will be at Sunset Middle School's cafeteria to discuss proposals related to the Nolensville area and then finally Thursday the 27th at 6 PM we will be at Creekside Elementary to discuss Cox Road and just for everyone's knowledge we presented three
032options that we hope to discuss in more depth and by the time the November work session rolls around and ultimately the November vote we hope to be able to make a recommendation to you based on the feedback we have from from our parents I will tell you also that one of the reasons we've structured it this way is because we heard from many of you and some of some of your parents talking about rezoning processes in the past asking for extra time for parent feedback especially in the context of making sure that we heard that feedback before any final recommendation was made so I hope that process works well and that especially it works well for our families I also want to thank thank the families who have spoken to some potential zoning areas that
033were not part of our proposal on Thursday night I want to especially mention one other item that comes a little bit later over the course of the school year and that is open zoning traditionally we make a recommendation in January for open zoning based upon our projections that we'll actually be working on through November and December for the for the following year come January we'll make a recommendation for that often we are able to increase parent choice based on the capacities at those buildings in that January time for frame with a deadline for a decision scheduled if I'm not mistaken March 15th I'm having a mental block now for some reason April's on my mind but it may have something to do with taxes but but I believe it's if I'm not mistake April 15th
034may be the deadline and any event we'll speak to that in January so I do want to remind folks of that also we spoke of the draft five-year Capital plan which is in response to the growth we're experiencing that again will be on the November meeting for a vote we do have some major issues tonight for vote and I mentioned at the work session that this was very much a working meeting we have two specific items related to staff and faculty pay and of course the board policies that we will address as we as we progress through the agenda more important well maybe not more important but just as important each month we celebrate the successes of our students and our faculty members and as you know each month we make it a point to
035have student and staff celebrations the standard we have for these public celebrations is a state award or higher because the amazing things our students do is just so incredible so with that I would like to turn the meeting over to Carol Birdsong who will speak to our traditional student and staff spotlights for the month thank you superintendent golden board members we are celebrating a couple of perfect ACT scores this evening Bryson Boone from page High earned a perfect ACT composite score and William parity from Ravenwood high school and then we're going to move into Athletics and we're going to celebrate some state champions from the who cross-country Champions who competed in the Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association cross-country state championship tournament recently from Brentwood Middle School these are your state champion girls class 2A Champs
036Ali Fielder Talia Williams Elise Truesdale Pally Mullen Lanae Nance Sydney day and Clara young their coaches are Nathan Cummings and Claire Berg you know we also won in the boys 2A champions championship from Woodland Middle School Kevin Roca Jacob Mercy Clayton Blanton Graham Higginbotham co-milimoto Xander Johnson and Jameson Mitchell their Coach Andrew Swanson we have an individual winner Connor fish from Page Middle School and the boys 2A his coach Sean Carter and then in girls class single a this team your Championship Middle School team from Legacy middle Janie Reams Brennan McCain Lane Milton Kate Seymour Ellie Seymour Ellie book Ava Sebastian Christian Reams is their coach and we have some staff spotlights from the Country Music Association Foundation we have five teachers who have been named as the CMA music teachers of Excellence they received
037this award from Edmondson Elementary School Elena gallis from Brentwood Middle School Tiffany Turner Kevin Jankowski from grassland middle Evan Burton from page middle and Michael Holland from nolansville high school congratulations to all of our students and staff thank you Carol thank you Carol and just as a reminder we know that our vision statement speaks to providing a supportive environment that challenges students to excel in academics Athletics in the Arts and I certainly thank Carol for sharing those celebrations as we continue to pursue that vision statement so Madam chair I know I'll speak to particular items when they come but that is my report thank you so much Mr Golden and thanks to Carol for sharing all of those exciting announcements definitely love to celebrate the students and staff the only item I want to mention
038tonight is just our Tennessee School Board Association meeting coming up on November 11th 12th and 13th and I'm excited to say that we do have all seven of our delegate assemblies heat spilled and what that is for those of you who don't know is just the seven members of our board get to go to this Tennessee School Board Association meeting at the Opryland hotel once a year and represent the Williamson County School Board in matters that are going to be presented these are resolutions that we have even as a school board come up with to be presented to the entire State's School Board Association so these matter these resolutions will be voted upon by the delegates assembly and it's just a really great opportunity to bring everyone together Rick is there anything you would love
039to say about these you're I know you're a big part of no not really the only thing I would say is it would be helpful if board members would look through the packet let the delegates the seven of us know or any one of us no if you have a strong opinion about any of the many resolutions that will be presented yeah thank you Rick lots of lots of resolutions you guys have that link and just a reminder on who those delegates are going this year we've got Drayson Rick Jen Donna Casey me and Sheila so we'll have a good time that is all I have so with that we will move on to the new business items oh yes sir sure yes yes Jason I know we usually have Maps multiple copies large Maps
040printed out for the zoning meetings indicated that the meetings were specific to districts or specific to certain areas if you are not unable to attend the meeting that you were interested in can you come to any of the three and at least see the maps where we have all the maps available at all three meetings I guess thank you thank you for the question so number one our plan is to have the presentation limited to that area that that we'll be discussing you all of course went through the through the entire presentation at the work session so our presentation is going to be limited to that area really to save the time for the vast majority of the family members who will be coming but we will have Maps so if someone happens to come
041we'll certainly will certainly speak to those other areas as well from a formatting perspective our plan is to present that portion that's relevant to those particular three areas and then bring wake up for a q a time at individual tables we'll have some administrators there Gary Anderson Kevin Fortney Allison Nunley and I will each be around at a table with maps for those particular areas and exchange conversations with those who might ask questions of us we have two specific areas for feedback we're going to mention one is we will have a sheet to fill out for someone who has a concern or a question or a request of us and that will apply universally to who whoever comes second we're going to announce and I'll go ahead and announce it now that we have created
042an email address zoning at wcs.edu where anyone can share any questions about zoning and I know that a number of our family members have sent emails to the school board and us as well over the course of the weekend and that's perfectly fine to continue to do so there'll be multiple ways for folks to share if someone comes Allison or I or or Gary Anderson or Kevin will be happy to talk with them about their issue their concern in their particular area active thank you for the question any other school board members have questions we'll go ahead and hop to the school board budget items first item on the agenda is approval of the general purpose School fund Amendment 10.22 or that October 22nd safe schools 557 970. Mr golden thank you madam chair this
043is the approval of the safe schools fund Grant and certainly recommend approval of this grant a motion for approval Mr Wimberley Mr Welch seconds any discussion no discussion we'll go ahead and move to a vote your vote is 12 yes zero no all right our next item on the agenda is the general purpose School fund Amendment disproportionality 1.2 million dollars Mr golden thank you madam chair this is a request by the state for for accounting and auditing purposes to move some idea funds federal funds to the general purpose School fund budget for the 1 million two hundred sixteen thousand 304.27 then recommend approval of this transfer have a Mr Cash motions and Miss Apria seconds thank you any discussion all right we'll move to a vote your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you
044next item is general purpose School fund Amendment disproportionality ARP for 139 000. thank you thank you madam chair this is a similar resolution related to idea ARP funds moving it from the federal line to the state general purpose fund per state request do recommend approval of that do we have a motion Mr Elliott and Mr Prius seconds any discussion all right we can move to a vote your vote is 12 yes zero no our next item is General Prep School fund resolution buses 2.4 million thank you madam chair this is the time of year and actually it's a little bit earlier every year time of year to purchase buses based on the schedule that the bus companies have for production of those just as a reminder we do bid these these products out the request
045here is the for a total of 18 buses eight general education buses and 10 special education buses we actually are going to be retiring 34 buses this year's this year as a result of the state requirements for end of life cycle for those buses Mr Anderson and Mr Jeff Fuller our transportation director have done a good job in analyzing our flow of buses based on the state end of life cycle and come to the conclusion that we can request fewer this year than our retiring based upon a combination of our maintenance department our transportation maintenance folks really growing and in efficiency and turning the buses over quicker and the cycle that we experienced about 15 years ago with the bus is that we can actually ask for fewer this year so do recommend approval for
046that and do we have a motion Mr Beasley and Miss Clinton thank you any discussion Mr Mitchell the bus says do we anticipate issues with supply chain as other automobiles thank you for your question yes we do anticipate struggles with supply chain I don't know that it's going to be for the same reasons as what we have traditionally heard for automobile manufacturers what I often hear about automobile manufacturers is a particular chip but we do know that for all materials for leading to bus manufacturer it is taking longer and so Mr Anderson there's any other information you'd like to share related to that foreign issue we were concerned with is length of time we used to be able to order buses in February to come in in July and now we have to order them
047in September to come in Maybe by July or August that's the only issue we have right now the buses are in production from this previous order and we should be receiving some of those within this week or next week so they seem to be making them just take some longer from time of order to time of delivery I think Mr thank you Mr Anderson do we have a what would be the impact to to us in the fall with these buses some are all of these buses do not have a thank you for the question we have a fleet that includes replacement buses we have a scheduled cycle for oil changes and maintenance and tires if there is a window of time at the first of the year number one over the summer the staff
048makes sure that all of those are ready to go on day one so they've got a schedule that makes that window more viable when school first starts and so they'll have to in in the case it tracks well beyond the beginning of the school year they'll have to alter their their schedule for regular maintenance thank you Mr Mitchell do we have any other discussion items all right we'll move to a vote your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you our next item is approval of the general purpose School fund resolution Apple computer lease thank you madam chair this is a request for approval of a computer lease for our ccte program some of these are some of the more Advanced Computers you can see 277 000 and change based on the volume of what
049we ordinarily deal with that's a relatively small number it has already been budgeted you approved it in the annual budget but because it is a lease we have an obligation to get your approval on the lease so we do ask for your approval of this lease for those more advanced computers for our CCT programs the motion Mr Welch in a second Mr Mitchell thank you any discussion Mr Brown unrelated to this actual resolution but it's more of a it's a broader question about the recent vote we took to take the Authority up to 50 000 for spending so hypothetically if this resolution were at 49 000 a year instead of 71 would this be a resolution that would need to come before us or not just more of a process question thank you for the
050question because this is a lease for accounting purposes the state structure would still require the board to approve the lease but if it weren't a lease it were just an outright purchase then it wouldn't need to come before that's correct thank you Mr Brown any other discussion all right let's move to vote your vote is 12 yes 0 no thank you our next item is general purpose School fund resolution additional leave days thank you madam chair we are proposing something that I believe is very important for our 10-month and 11 month full-time classified staff under the current board policy for holidays they have five holidays built into their into their pay and that includes Christmas Day and New Year's and then three other holidays throughout the remainder of the year what this effectively means is
051that when they're January 15th paycheck rolls around their actual pay is fairly small because of winter break and so we are asking you to approve an additional five holidays for our 10 month and 11 month full-time classified staff stacking all five of those holidays during the Christmas break during the winter break so that when their January 15th paycheck comes they will have an additional week's pay beyond that tiny bit they typically get I do want to mention also our teachers have under the state contract structured 10 holidays built into their 200-day contract so this actually brings the 10 and 11 month staff to the same number of holidays built into their pay as our teachers certainly open to any questions you may have related to this right do we have a motion to approve Mr
052Hall and Mr Welch seconds and we have some speakers so Mr Cash thank you madam chair I think this will be very welcoming by these folks that are doing a lot of extra work and underpaid for it by the way so I think this is a great proposal and I think we should go with it thank you and Mr Galbraith thank you madam chair Jason I just want to just want to clarify you said you said full-time but this is for this is for all full and part-time employees right based on the resolution actually the holiday pay is holidays and benefits are under policy only for the full-time staff so this is for for this particular resolution it is for full-time the next resolution includes all including part-time Miss Hall is there any clarification you'd
053like to give related to that correct it does yeah we the holiday pay for is not and has not been available to any part-time regardless of of of their position I'm reading the I'm reading the first whereas and it and it says current market and conditions there's a need for additional pay for our regular full and part-time employees so it but the but it doesn't I'm trying to figure out where it says that it's only applicable over full time you know what thank you for that pointing that out I'm seeing Miss farmer nodding her head am I correct that's a typographical error yes that should have been an error we when we were discussing it was just the group as a whole but then this particular resolution it's just for the full time because they're
054the only ones that are crew holidays so part-time donor crew holidays on their on their FTE correct yeah with with the board's permission I ask that you pass this resolution we have had some discussion about part-time employees and other opportunities we don't have anything for you tonight but I think we do need to be speaking to that as well long term I'd appreciate that thank you thank you Mr galber Mr Welch Mr Golden would it make sense to make a motion to amend that to correct that language to the way that it was intended or something that you could do my opinion is there's wisdom in that Mr cook may have a they have a recommendation related to that it's not it's not enough where it's just a typo so yeah if you're going to
055make a change it needs an amendment what would that amended language look like help me out with that do we just want to make the motion to remove part-time from it essentially I'm looking here what what is what is the motion that I need to make at this point to correct the language we can go forth and have it voted on the way that well understood it to be Bobby I'm having trouble hearing you with it's you'll delete the motion should be to delete and part-time on the first whereas then I would like to make a motion to delete the first oh God you just said it I'm sorry part time on the first and whereas foreign so just to repeat Mr Welch's Amendment motion to amend is to remove and part from the first
056whereas and part-time we have to leave time so that it reads all our regular full-time yeah so remove and part Dash board hyphen and we have a second from Mr Galbraith on that and if do we have any further discussion on that Amendment and Mr Golden do you recommend accepting recommend approval okay okay so no discussion on this amendment so let's go ahead and vote on that and then we'll get back to the original okay your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you okay now we're back to the original item original motion and we had someone in the queue to speak I believe it was Mr Mitchell okay okay so we so I think we need to probably go ahead and call for a new motion on the amended item is that no we're
057good on that second okay good so we're good on that so any new discussion on this item we can move to a vote recommend approval your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you all right and our final item is the general purpose School fund resolution for arrays 3.5 million Mr golden thank you madam chair you all may recall that as we were going through the budget process and really transitioning into the beginning of this year we had some pretty significant discussions with County government leaders over the volatility of the market this time of year this during that window of time with inflation Etc a few months ago County government went through the process of approving a two percent raise for County government employees effective January 1st at the time we did not have a
058good projection of our fund balance just based on the structure of of our budget at we so we've had some more discussions with the county based upon Rachel Farmer's projections of our sales tax we do believe that we can get a two percent pay raise effective January 1st with what she projects at this time a relatively small encroachment on the three percent fund balance that has required of us on July 1st of each year after after conversations with County government Administration we ultimately came to the conclusion that it's the most appropriate thing to do and I will say that from what we project right now we are pushing to the limit of what we believe we can afford and I think that's the right thing to do because sales tax has increased as inflation occurs
059sales tax revenue increases a proportionate amount based on purchases if something costs more the right thing to do is to the extent we can get those funds to those who do the work and So based on that I do recommend your approval of this of this resolution thank you Mr Wimberley motions to approve do we have a second Mr Beasley seconds and do we have any discussion a couple speakers okay Mr Hall thank you Banner chair Mr Golden I just this is very brief I just I really appreciate your taking advantage of every opportunity every step of the way to do right by our teachers and support staff this is another in a series of incremental increases that we've done whenever we've had the opportunity and I appreciate your leadership on this thank you for
060that and you mentioned the incremental with the board's permission since you touched on that I did jot myself some notes in July July 20 of 2021 July 1 we had a four percent raise that was after no raises in in 2020. February of 22 mid-year we did a dollar an hour raise for all hourly folks and a three percent increase for salaried staff effective in February would as you pass this budget for this current year July of 22 we increased the teacher pay chart we increased the classified pay chart the minimum pay increase for any staff member was two percent and that was generally the higher Administration folks other employees received as much as a 10 or more pay increase and with that July budget now this proposal with an extra week's pay for our
061full-time classified staff plus a two percent every for everyone would continue that effort over these last two years thank you Mr Golden okay Mr Brown thank you madam chair first of all 100 supportive of this I think it's great that you're bringing it Forward again and applaud you for making sure this is being done consistently really a forward-looking question when we think about all of these raises you just cited that's obviously building our base every time we do that and as we look ahead to maybe leaner times when the revenue is not coming in the way that it has been the last couple years have we thought about the point we that we would get to where we the existing Revenue stream would no longer support the raises I mean do we know where that
062those lines cross we have we projected that we've we've had a lot of discussions about that and a lot of that does depend on inflation and I'm going to invite Vicki Hall to speak to this as well we have three main sources of revenue for the work that we do one is property tax and there's a different property tax rate for commercial property and residential property commercial pays a higher percentage two we have sales tax and then three we have direct funding from the state we have consulted with County leaders especially on this issue because ultimately they're our funding body and they have decision making power over the first of those three the property tax so we are very careful in that thought we do know that the state projects some increase undefined as yet
063through their new funding formula we're very curious about that from a Time mean perspective for this raise for it to go into effect January 1st we need a vote from you all in October because it needs to get to the County Commission in November for for an implementation in January We Believe without having a perfect crystal ball that because of the inflation rate the chances of that inflation rate dropping is pretty slim based on our recent experience so this amount we project that will be able to sustain the bigger question is going to come after we hear from the state with the projection of what we actually get from Tisa and how we prepare for the July 1 budget next year that's really thank you that's really what I was thinking and thinking about as
064we do this and then we presume that we would be bringing you'd be bringing forward a recommendation for another one on July 1. which is customary hasn't always happened but customary so we just we're on a we're on a good Trend with these races so I want to make sure I say that but at the same time just flag that at some point the economy may not be as good revenues may not be as strong to your point the county commission's got to make a decision about the revenue side of things but just wanted to flag that thank you thank you it is it is a concern of ours and staying competitive in a in a in a growing you know in a in a market where where it's it's more competitive every time as
065part of that as well but it's 100 the right thing to do so thank you thank you Mr Brown Mr Galbraith thank you madam chair I'm I'm not going to make a motion to amend we had lots of lots of discussion I mean at the end of the day we're we're talking about the best way to get our employees more money right I mean so I'm completely supportive of this I guess all I would ask in the in the spirit of of forward-looking towards the towards the budget is the continued look at our at our classified pay scale for Which percentage increases don't get us there we can't we can't we can't possibly do a percentage increase for all employees that would that would impact the classified pay scale and when you're looking at the
066dollar amounts they're just they're they're very very small compared with trying to make it a similar percentage increase to all teachers and so I don't know we treat them differently they've got a separate pay scale like you said last year we made a dollar increase which was more along the lines of a of a six to eight nine percent increase on which is 12 right and so whereas a two percent increase on fifteen dollars an hour is 30 cents and so it just it doesn't have the doesn't quite have the have the impact that a I think a larger increase needs needs to be needs to be implemented for for those and I'm I'm hopefully that we will do that thank you that is on our mind for sure Mr Wimberley I'm sure I've said
067this before and I'll say it again 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 signed this day thank you Mr Wimberley and Mr Mr yeah I had the same statement to make guy Elliot Mitchell have an immediate family member who is employed by Williamson County schools and who will be affected by this budget resolution my vote on this budget resolution is in keeping with my own thoughts thank you Mr Mitchell all right do we have any further discussion let's move to vote no thank you your vote is 12 yes zero no okay all right
068we are moving on to approval of board policies second reading our first policy is 4.401 the textbooks and instructional materials thank you madam chair there's a proposal from the policy committee for a textbook and instructional materials in the in the policy the proposed vote right after that is a companion vote and the next two votes are actually companion votes to that as well so I wanted to point that out in the past the past legislative session the legislature passed two new laws that are relevant to the work you're doing tonight one is a law establishing that there was to be a textbook commission and not paraphrasing their role but as part of that law it established a structure that we are to have a policy in place that gives feedback for parents students and teachers
069related to curriculum and that is that is that is a again a companion to another Law related to library books that mentions the same language that there is to be a feedback process for parent students and teachers related to that we have had a long-standing policy that allows for reconsideration of instructional materials coming out of the policy committee meeting after considering the existing policy that we have and the proposals that are before you we do propose that there be a policy in place related specifically this textbook and instructional materials that include that language that the legislature passed related to who we are to receive feedback from our policy includes a specific formal process that allows for for a request for reconsideration certainly invite Dana osbrooks who is here who assists the policy committee with any
070details you may have related to that thank you happy to answer any questions from board members I will agree that the language in both of these policies are from two recent State legislation that passed this last session I will also remind you as as I think I have stated in just about every meeting that we've discussed these policies that the state textbook and instructional materials quality commission has been charged with issuing guidance to local Boards of Education regarding materials and whether they are age appropriate and appropriate for maturity level levels of the students who may access them by December 1st of as of right now there is no draft guidance however the state text book and instructional materials quality commission does have a meeting November 9th based on a draft agenda it appears there will
071be some discussions about library books and I also want to point out that they are also charged with creating an appeal so school board members if you were to vote to remove a library book there would be an appeal process we'll get that guidance from the state textbook and instructional materials quality commission by December 1st of this year so regardless of action that happens tonight I anticipate both of the one if not both of these policies coming back before this body after the December 1st deadline all right we can move to discussion of this policy oh motion thank you Mr Welch motions and Mr Hall seconds Miss Clements yes we did talk about this we had some spirited debate at the work session and I'm I don't want to wax on tonight and go on
072and keep us here late but I do I do know that our schools our community benefits from the schools and they're they're wonderful and I know that our schools benefit from the communities I love driving through my neighborhood and seeing the flags from the Franklin marching bands fundraiser all in the yards and I love getting to buy the coupon books I'm sure you all bought those too to support the baseball teams and the football teams so in in all of our tax dollars our property tax dollars 75 goes to the schools and that is wonderful I love that we support our schools across the community and one thing that I kept hearing at the work session was you need to have skin in the game to to be able to make a comment and skin
073in the game would meet a child in the school and I and I understand I can see both sides of this but I was thinking about this when I got home and there are some people who might not have a child in school but they have a heart in the matter they care deeply about the schools it might be because they taught in the schools it might be because they have grandchildren in schools or nieces and nephews and and so they are connected in our community and we don't live in a bubble we are all connected together and you know we need to be inclusive I think one question we need to ask is what's the end game is the end game to make it easier administratively or is the end game to have the
074best schools and it's gonna it's going to require that painful scrutiny process but but that's going to make us better that's a refinement that will make us better and like I've I've been saying that I've clung to since all my adulthood is screwed something true can withstand scrutiny something good and pure can withstand scrutiny and it might not be a fun process but it will make us better in the end so I'd I would like to make a motion to make an amendment y'all be patient because I'm new at this but making a motion to make an amendment to add in Williamson County residents to this on page three line 20. and maybe remove only so but I'd like to make that motion so can I clarify what what okay Miss Clements is suggesting so
075Ms Clements is suggesting that the board consider her motion to remove the word only from line 20 on the third page of this policy and add citizen after after Williamson County citizen after maybe student com student comma Williamson County or sorry before or right winds County citizen or student s sure so remove or in its present state change the period to a comma or Williamson County citizen period so it would read a complaint about board approved textbooks instructional materials and supplementary instructional materials may be made by a current Williamson County Parent Guardian employee student or Williamson County citizen period okay so that's the current Amendment on the floor we will need a second for that Amendment Mr Cash seconds Mr Golden what is your recommendation well should be some discussion related to that first let's
076go ahead and open the floor for some discussion on that Amendment specifically Miss Cleveland hey I do appreciate Donna everything you said and I do agree with a lot of what you say these just so we have a context these two policies went through two policy committees and two board work sessions and it was not an easy debate as we all know and but the policy that is before us is the result of this and I know the school board has received many emails stating that this could potentially take away the taxpayer payers rights to be heard regarding the future of Williams County Education voting to allow WCS parents or Guardians to file a complaint on the textbook instructional materials or library books in my opinion it's not taken the voice away or not considering
077taxpayers opinions there are several ways that a non-wcs parent or Guardian can voice their concerns they can talk to the teachers the principals the superintendents this the school board members the their legislators and the director curriculum they can also they can all listen and take their concerns the only difference is the actual former complaint the actual formal complaint and I understand there are concerns about age-appropriateness and the state's Board of Education WCS Administration and staff are working on this but I feel their wounds and I feel that there's Williams County residents that do not have family members in our school system is not in the position to clearly understand how instructional materials are being taught in the curriculum because they're not everyday with their students they're they're not there in the school with their students
078okay and I'm not I'm not making a blanket statement for everybody okay there are some they're people no I'm not I'm seeing it right here I'm not making a blanket statement Miss Cleveland I'm sorry to interrupt I just want to I just want to make sure that we give Miss Cleveland their the courtesy of being able to speak under interrupted I can appreciate your opinion I just want you to see where I'm coming from and I do represent a lot of parents that re that are okay with this policy they may not also understand the parents to ensure the children do have don't have access to certain library books that they don't want there's a lot of things that go into a school system that if your child is not there they don't understand I'm
079not blanket saying everybody but it unfortunately you can't put everybody in a box so I have to separate that and finally a complaint is the only and the one thing I'm trying to avoid or this is just my opinion to avoid is an individual or group of individuals filing complaint and expect their that voice that their opinions to take over the voices of parents of 42 000 students that and it just and I look at our students our parents so I'm sure and then and that's the other thing okay and I try to look at both sides okay I try to look at a solution when you're talking about grandparents and Guardians and or grandparents and relatives that are future kids that are coming to our school and you want their opinion surely and this
080would be my resolution and I'm not saying it's yours but you have a somebody out there if you know if you're a grandparent you're talking to the parents you're talking your children who have grandkids you're talking to them if there's a complaint to be filed you can talk to them they can file it you can if you can work together and they can file the complaint so it's not that you're totally shut out you do have a voice through other people within the school system okay it's just this is just the direct link of just this one thing this one filing of a complaint but there's other avenues to get your point across and what you get your voice heard it doesn't have to be by this one thing there are several other avenues that's
081just my opinion thank you Miss Cleveland thank you Mr Brown who a few thoughts so I think it's important I want to get to the substance of Donna's Amendment first but I think it's important to say what this policy does and what it doesn't do because I know that all of us have gotten quite a few emails we've heard some comments tonight some of the emails I've gotten go as far as saying that this board is about to take up a policy that would essentially prohibit citizens from commenting on anything that Williamson County Schools does I mean it's gotten that generic in the comments which means there's a lot of misinformation about out there about what this actually does and I fear that's stirring up some opposition that is unfounded so let me say that
082at first let's let's be sure that we know that we know what we're actually talking about having said that I am sympathetic to the idea that we're making a decision to further restrict access from people who previously under this policy had a right and I'm struggling with that to be honest because and I want to guess I guess I want Jason for you or Dana or someone to weigh in on if we can what did the previous for the benefit of us again we've all seen it we've all to see what's going been through this discussion a number of times and I'm also sympathetic to that but I think it would actually be helpful for me at least what did the policy say before in this section as to who could file a complaint just
083so we know what we're moving from to what we have now thank you for that and I'm pulling up my computer and going to ask Dana to give some specifics but board policy 4.403 reconsideration of instructional materials that currently sits included citizen in its in its language it was a little more descriptive than that and Dana I don't know if you have that up okay so we're doing the same thing it did include that so to your point this draft proposal from the policy committee does use different language and does not include citizen it is exclusive in its language to parents students or or teachers related to that there is also a provision in this new law that establishes an appeal on the opposite side where if you all make a decision to remove something
084based on age-appropriateness the this new legislation asks that commission to assist leas school systems to establish a timeline and process for a student a student's parent or guardian over School employee to appeal a determination made by the made by the but made by you for anything you remove and I actually Dana may speak to that better than me because I'm just reading from that code section so you all have had a long-standing policy that predates the legislative action that gives that gives that opportunity to appeal any decision that you remove the legislature has now introduced the expectation that you will and directive that you will set a process for feedback for what you do have and in the pre and an appeal process for what you decide to remove using the same language so I'm
085going to point out a couple of things on our current 4.403 policy that was issued in June of 2014 on the first page lines 25 sorry 29 and 30. the Board of Education adopted the following policy when dealing with complaints about or censorship of instructional materials there are several ideas one of those ideas is currently in policy that no parent group of parents are non-school group has the right to determine the instructional materials for students other than their own children just reminding you all that's in our current policy as to your question about complainants and that is in a another section our policy is three pages long it does allow a complaint to be made any parent or other citizen who wishes to request review or reconsideration and I think that's the language that you
086were asking but I do want to point out you've got to read that entire policy and not just one or two sections because it's it's that whole which is why I wanted to bring to your attention the previous paragraph thank you so it does not say Williamson County citizen it just says any other citizen correct the language at the top of page two any parent or other citizen who wishes to request review or reconsider I will state however this is a Williamson County Board of Education policy and we've we've danced around and talked about legal standing all night and the idea is who has a dog in the fight so under this current policy I think that it would be difficult for someone living in Knox County to have a dog in the fight and
087that has been our how we administratively have interpreted the policy I said that it's a Williamson County even it's Williamson County schools and Williamson County Board of Education yes I can make that argument with a straight face okay so I guess the thing that's I've been struggling with on this is even after all the debates we've had in all the discussions we've had is that we're we're becoming more restrictive and I understand some of the legislation that's passed and there's a different context but that we're becoming more restrictive when I'm not sure that we have a real compelling reason to do that I'm not interested in a bunch of outside groups coming in and getting involved that don't have to use the language a dog in the fight I'm not interested in inviting that with
088something with with an amendment like this the spirit of this is that it be and what I keep hearing from the emails I'm getting is that it'd be people who are sincerely invested in Williamson County I think that's what Donna's talking about people who have a stake in Williamson County who are committed to Williamson County who are citizens of Williamson County I can be supportive of Donna's Amendment the one thing I would potentially want to do is amend it amend your Amendment slightly to say something along the lines of an individual who is a Williamson County taxpayer because what I hear from some about the concern of opening this up further or keeping it the way it is and not and not restricting it to just Williamson County Schools parents is that we're inviting anyone
089and everyone well let's really just make it about people who actually are putting their dollars to work to support Williamson County Schools so I would suggest an amendment to your Amendment which would be that it would be insert the words individual who is a tax Williamson County taxpayer so that's kind of off the fly I'm about to give a legal that could include and I don't think this is your intention Mr Brown that could be someone who lives in Davidson County who shops at Cool Springs Mall I could argue they're a taxpayer so I don't I don't know that's I don't think that's your intention no that's a fair point about an individual who is a Williamson County property taxpayer laughs I'm gonna have some we're gonna have some constitutional issues with that when we
090have people who pay rent who live here who have I the the tax paying we're we're headed into constitutional grounds particularly with legal standing and their case after case where groups of citizens who are taxpayers do not always have the style standing to challenge laws so that again makes me a little nervous when we're doing this on the Fly do you see any constitutional concerns with the language that Donna has asked for not the same ones with the taxpayer I see some potential concerns based on what the guidance may look like under state law so you're okay that's where I was going to go next and kind of wrap up my comments is that the point about what we're expecting might come from the state I think we all need to acknowledge that we're going
091to revisit this when that guidance comes but I'm I'm comfortable that we go with Donna's Amendment until that time and then if we need to make it a further change to it which we may anyway then we take it up at that point Mr Cash is Mr Cash on the floor okay so Mr Cash thank you madam chair I'd like to piggyback what Donna said and Josh there are some concerns but I don't think there's one concern in here that can't be handled if we're focusing in on the real issue of Who's involved with the selection of curriculum and library books in the reconsideration I believe with input from the taxpayers you know we can we can put a limit on that we can you know just say this many people or whatever we can
092designate grandparents Miss Cleveland mentions grandparents you need to go sit in the car rider lines and go through them I go through it three different areas and unless people that look like me are having kids today those got to be grandparents and they have a lot to say they have their children in many many cases more than their own their own parents have them and I think that is a real consideration I'd also put a shout out to the alumni we have a lot of great great teachers that have retired maybe early that are even working in the system somewhere possibly substituting that I think would be glad to come in and head off a lot of these issues on the front end rather than at the back end with reconsideration if she understand what
093I'm saying I think that I think this can all be worked through and like like Josh said that we're going to be revisiting this very soon again so I'd like to support what Miss Clements put out there and continue on with this very same conversation not not go into every line item but have Miss osbrook show us all the Constitutional stuff the laws and so we understand them completely the law doesn't say we can't have more people on here it doesn't it doesn't specify that we can't have a grandparent or a teacher on this committee and I think that's what we're trying to do is extend these these committees a little bit to Encompass a greater source of not not so much knowledge but input in ownership for the curriculum so I'm going to support
094this thank you thank you Mr Cash Mr Hall thank you madam chair one thing Mr Cash pointed out that I that I like and I wanted to underscore is that taking care of this on the front end is really important we're talking about the reconsideration process which is well after the fact after the money's been spent the curriculum has been shared with teachers the students have been taught this curriculum they've they've it's been exposed to the materials they've they've read these books the this board approved this curriculum which was State approved unanimously and that is the point at which we do see and invite public feedback we solicit public feedback and input into the textbook adoption and instructional materials as we adopt them so the focus really should be on that part of the process
095the reconsideration should be a rare exception and in those rare exceptions I would submit that the fact that you may not have the ability to individually request and kick off an administrative process using hundreds of taxpayer-funded hours of support staff and volunteers who've elected to be on those committees is not I would argue disenfranchisement you've got elected officials that you can reach out to public input has been very effective on this topic we've talked about this policy for months it has gone into committee it has come out of committee it has gone back into committee and we're still talking about making more changes I don't understand the tire is hitting the road here this is the opportunity to make any changes that we have I appreciate that Ms Clements has proposed an amendment I like
096the process that we've talked about where you work through your teacher your principal your school and request recourse via that Avenue but aside from that there are tens of thousands of of people who qualify to submit a reconsideration request you can reach out to a board member a board member could submit this under this policy Guardians I think that's a very important part of this the criteria for who can submit a reconsideration request so again the public feedback avenues that are available are welcome and we do hear from that and that has influenced this discussion significantly thank you Mr Hall Mr Brown sir underscore a couple of things in case he brought this up which made me think of this the concept of disenfranchisement or taxation without representation I've seen that in a bunch of
097the emails as well I don't subscribe to that I don't think that's what this is I mean we're elected school board members we're we're elected to come on here and have these discussions and have these conversations so I don't think that's what this is but I do think it's there's a wisdom in thinking through why why are we changing a policy why are we changing a part of a policy that's not really being driven by some legal requirement and I that's what I've struggled with trying to find is there a legal requirement that's pushing us towards this and I don't see it and that's why I'm willing to support Donna's Amendment the other thing is I want to point out for context that and I got clarification on this today that the last time this
098review process was done which was we all voted on recommendations in February I believe if my timing is right that process was very visible and I think fairly we'd all agree fairly contentious of the 38 complaints that were filed during that process I believe 30 of them were by Williamson County Schools parents and eight were not so I think for the concern that there's going to be this flood of people who aren't parents coming into the process maybe their most recent experience would help us help inform that might not be the case not saying it won't but it might not so just for context thank you Mr Brown Mr Galbraith thank you madam chair I guess I wanted to I wanted to have this discussion particularly and make sure that we are that we are
099doing this I think in there was previous we've had three policy committees I think and now three work sessions and board beans discussed this I just wanted I wanted I did want to make sure that we weren't we weren't excluding we weren't making a change from the classes of individuals who can file a complaint based on assumption that the law told us that we couldn't and so I think now we know that the law is prescriptive on what we must do and then the question is do we want to and obviously that law came out and these these two laws that are consistent in their in their worry and they came out well after we had established this policy back in or at least updated it back in 2014. so I am I'm actually comfortable
100I'm I'm I am sympathetic to for for the most the people are most sympathetic to I guess I do I understand the argument on both sides the those who are who will be in school like those those are the ones that keep on tugging me back on on how do we how do we do this but but I just I look at this from from a standing perspective and somebody who who might have a have a problem that we've that we've limited the ability to to this complaint process and I keep coming back to to the fact that they're outside of their taxpayers outside of the taxes being paid I just I'm struggling to see the harm that's that's being that's being done and so the I appreciate the reconsiderations that we that we had
101I actually liked the process of going through and evaluating it I am fearful of of of the volume and I'd rather I'd rather focus on those that are most closely affected but Casey mentioned something and I wanted to ask a question of of you Jason and maybe Dr oyer Dr Webb and it's not specifically in the policy but it is a it is a very real part of the process that you that you guys go through when you when you do have when a parent has an issue with with their students instructional materials and that is the discussions that happen with the teacher and the principal and can you can you give us some some feedback in terms of of of what those discussions How They Run is it possible that before we make a
102judgment on are there ways to to modify to accommodate the needs of the parent so that all of all students aren't having to have their their curriculum modified and maybe it's just the ones that have the biggest complaint about the about the curriculum thank you for the question I'll speak to that and invite Dr Royer to start right after me because she's had the depth of the most recent experiences with our elementary Ela curriculum I think there's a lot of wisdom in the policy language that as parents to speak with their principals first because it really gets to the heart of what we do serving students and we take everyone we take students where they are and so when someone is concerned when a parent is concerned or regarding his concern that is that first
103step talk with your principal and it that starts with a sharing process where a principal invites the parent to share so that they can get to the heart of their concern because ultimately we are going to serve their student and we want to make sure we have a firm grasp of the compare the parents concerns and needs so with that I would like to turn it over to Dr Royer to fill in thank you for the question Mr galworth I would second everything that Mr Golden said I think the one little Nuance I would add is that we often start with the teacher first and so that parent reaches out directly to the teacher it doesn't always go that way but often the principal is going to pull that teacher in and there's a lot
104of listening that takes place tell me exactly what the concerns are where where are you concerned it often includes going into the resources and not just looking at the book that is being questioned in our case that the text that's being questioned but really looking at how the text is being taught and getting into the teacher manual and talking about what's it look like on the day today basis and what we have found in the buildings and truly most of the time the conversations end there we certainly are aware of them in our office or in the TLA office with Dr Allen but often the principals and the teachers are able to just roll up the sleeves and listen to the parents and if the concern starts this wide often we're able to to get
105it back in terms of keeping the kid in the classroom we Mo our most important goal is to teach the to keep the student in the classroom with the teacher and with their peers and so again often the conversations are starting with the concerns listening to what they are getting into the text and getting into exactly what's being taught and hopefully if the parent continues to feel concerned about the text or what what the lessons are related to the text that we're able to minimize the amount of time that the student is out of the classroom and that has happened very consistently this year I can think of a few conversations where someone from our office or from Dr Allen's office are invited in to continue that conversation with the parents because of the depth
106of the concern or not the depth but really the breadth right how much there is concern concern about but even in those conversations we're able to figure out what's what what we what the goal is of the text what the goal is of that unit or module and how quickly we can get the student back into the classroom does that help oh it does I mean that so this is a and I and I'm struggling to find it in in in the policy as far as talking to the teacher or principal but but it is a it's it seems like a critical part of the process when the when the goal is let's let's create the best educational environment for for our kids let's partner with our parents when there's a when there's a disagreement
107we come together and we talk about it first before and hopefully and I think we can resolve a lot of issues that way before we before we take it to the next step of filing a formal complaint and initiating this process that potentially kind of impacts everybody and so if I may to give a complete answer I do want to invite Dr Webb because sometimes the complexity of the content is very different at the secondary schools as well there's anything she'd like to add I'll share that the process is the same the complexity is the difference the conversation again begins with the parent reaching directly out to the classroom teacher and as Dr oryer indicated oftentimes the teacher is able to address the concern and sometimes it's a slight tweak to the lesson that the
108parent brings to the teacher's attention and they recognize you know that's that's a reasonable request and they make a small tweak in how that instruction is delivered or they're cognizant of what the parent's concern is to ensure sometimes the concern is I'm not sure where this conversation is going with this text especially in secondary texts when you get to the high school level there's so much complexity within it and the parent is just concerned what is the classroom conversation going to be in this thorough novel that's 300 Pages maybe that one paragraph that I'm concerned about really isn't a focus and isn't going to be discussed at all but that conversation needs to be had and addressed and in some case is that conversation leads to maybe it's not a modification for the whole class
109but maybe it's a changed assignment for that particular child can we find another text that's more comfortable and that still hits the standards and an accommodation is made to that specifically the process is the same as Dr oryer just described it's just the complexity because of the volume in many of these readings is so much larger than what our elementary texts are the conversations are just more complex Mr Galbraith the reference you asked about is in the bottom of page three of four an individual parent May request that his or her child not have to use a given board approved textbook instructional material or supplementary material provided or written request that's made to the principal so that's the discussion that may ultimately lead to that parent choice thank you very much okay so we don't
110have any more any more board members on the floor for discussion I think we are to a place where we can cast our vote after we hear from Mr Golden on what his recommendations are thank you madam chair based on all discussion I do not recommend approval of this amendment certainly respect that and we'll we'll ultimately go either way but I do not recommend this your vote is four yes eight no thank you all right with that we are going to move to oh okay going back to the original motion so that motion failed so we'll go back to the original motion which is to adopt the textbooks and instructional materials 4.401 as it exists today that's for second reading so we will of Mr Wimberley did you want to say something yes this is
111regarding the policy not the okay yeah so I guess perhaps I look at it a little bit differently considering the age appropriateness of a book or materials and when I say book here book materials Etc but considering that is not new to Williamson County Schools it's my belief and observation that our professional Educators take very seriously the decisions they make regarding age appropriateness I know and I have seen it you know kind of firsthand that when a question comes up about a particular book they study it they collaborate they study some more they collaborate some more and then I believe if they decide to to include the text the book either in the library or the classroom that they kind of accept the fact that some people will like it and some people won't like
112it to to some parents or Guardians a text that or a book that could be controversial could be in their opinion very important to the education and well-being of their child let's put them on the left yes side and then someone else could could believe the opposite and what we have done historically is we have had a at least to my recollection we've had a steadfast rule that if a parent or Guardian objects to a particular text than we work based on you know what doctor Warriors Dr oryer and Dr Webb said to to remove access to that if that's you know what they the parent or Guardian wants and this has been the practice in Williamson County for years and it's kind of a win-win it kind of means that if a parent or
113Guardian doesn't want their student to have access then they don't get access at least for us they don't and if a parent or Guardian wants them to have access then they get access it's parental choice so tonight we're considering the library and classroom tax bills because the legislature and the governor said we had to do it I say that's fine we were already doing it anyway so that's okay but they also said we need to have a policy that allows a complaintant to to not only remove a book for exposure to their student but to remove it for everyone and to me that just that's not parental choice you know that's basically a book ban bill which you know that's what we have so kind of the way so I'm not real pleased with this
114policy as it sits but it's been vetted Jay says three times in policy it's been invented three times at least in the work session and I know that even though I'm not on policy you know I've been asked my opinion I've given my opinion on it on several times and so this is the policy that we have before us so it may not be perfect in fact you know we all know we may have to change it anyway but I'm a yes phone on the policy and I really appreciate all the deliberation and the input we've gotten from all thank you Mr Wimberley okay if we have no more discussion Mr Golden we recommend approval that's our votes your vote is 10 yes 2-0 thank you all right we're going to move to the next
115item on the agenda which is 4.403 Library materials thank you madam chair likewise the library materials policy is separated from the textbook instructional materials I do want to point out one piece of this that hasn't been discussed in detail the library policy the reconsideration policy now based on the state law and I'm looking to to Ms osbrooks to double check me includes that you are the decision maker our existing policy names you as an appellate body in other words the committee makes a decision and it can be appealed to you so this policy removes that and ultimately makes the committee process a recommendation to you which means that any request to remove a library book must be voted on by you so with that certainly miss osbrooks that is correct and I will remind board
116members this policy will come back because after December 1st there will also be an appeal we're waiting awaiting that guidance but yes this is different than the policy you just voted on you are the final decision maker absent Appeal on library books and materials and Salzburg since you mentioned an appeal just for clarity's purposes I want to make sure that we're we explain when you say there will be an appeal as I understand it the Tennessee I'm calling the textbook commission but they do have a much longer name and you mentioned it earlier the the committee is actually called the textbook and instructional materials quality Commission is to give assistance to school boards to establish an appeal process for those who wish the board to to reconsider a decision they made to remove a book
117correct that's the appeal you're talking about that is correct not what you have traditionally done with a decision to reconsider a request but actually ultimately your decision to remove it which is another layer so with that do recommend the policy for for for this purpose tonight Mr ha a second Mr Mitchell any any discussion okay we can move to vote the vote is 10 yes two no thank you all right next items on the agenda are approval of board policies for deletion second reading these were contingent on the passing of the other two thank you madam chair item 8A 4.400 instructional materials the content of that has been incorporated into the two policies you just passed based on that we do recommend that you delete this policy do I have a motion Mr ha second
118Mr Mitchell any discussion all right let's cast our votes your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you and now 4.402 selection of instructional instructional materials for deletion thank you madam chair likewise 4.402's content has been incorporated into those two policies you pass 4.401 and 4.403 again recommend deletion of this policy have a motion Mr Welch Mr Mitchell thank you any discussion all right let's cast our votes your vote is 12 yes zero no thank you last item on the agenda on the agenda for board approval is the math text book adoption selection committee Mr golden thank you madam chair in your board package you have a memorandum from Dr Allen recommending the naming of the textbook adoption committee that includes teacher nominees and parent nominees we have actually been discussing the math process the
119math textbook adoption process over the past three months if I'm not mistaken at our board work sessions it's a very important process the next step is to appointing a committee one item I want to point out that there was a result of some of the discussions we've had with you over the last few months is the state law requires a parent representative we had a proposal for parent representatives and actually increased it as a product of the discussion that we've had with you so that memorandum is there and I'm available for any questions and Dr Allen as well if you have any all right look look promotions do we have a motion for approval Mr Mitchell and thank you Mr Wimberley seconds any discussion all right let's move to vote your vote is 12 yes
1200 no thank you and we have successfully gotten through the entire agenda thank you board and Mr Golden and staff and with that we can adjourn the meeting thank you