001Good evening and thank you for your service to our schools and students. Congratulations on election. my name is Robert Jackson and I teach United States history at Centennial High School. I teach because I care about preparing students to thrive in a diverse and complex country. Today, when a child grows up, they will work alongside people and for people who are different than them. They think different, they look different, and they may pray different. And that's just because we live in the United States of America. It comes with the territory. We've always been a diverse nation. And part of our story is learning to listen to voices that haven't always been heard. From farmers fighting monopolists to marchers in Selma, Alabama and to the cries of cries of the gay community during the AIDS epidemic. Our
002national progress has come from listening to those who are overlooked. One way we teach students to listen and lead is by modeling diversity in our schools. That means ensuring teachers, administrators, and the school board reflects the fullness of America, providing students with integrated schools, and encouraging critical thinking because we don't raise good citizens by avoiding hard conversations. That's why I urge the board and the state to reconsider the decision to remove policy aimed at diversifying school staff. We need to continue the work left after Brown versus Board of Education, recruiting and retaining talent across racial, geographic, and political lines. Why does this matter? In March 2024, the state collaborative on reforming education found that black students make up 41% of the population, but only 23% of teachers are black. Hispanic students are 18% of the
003student population, but just 2% of teachers are Hispanic. These are children, students who show up hoping to be seen and understood. A black student may never have a black teacher, let alone two. A Hispanic student might never hear their culture spoken with depth or pride. And these are missed opportunities, not just for representation, but for trust, connection, and belonging. An Asian-American student might never have a teacher who looks like them or shares their cultural perspective. Every child deserves Every child deserves to look at the front of the classroom and think that could be me. When the classroom only reflects one kind of experience, we send the message that only one kind of person belongs. And for a nation as big as a statement as we the people, then we ought to have a teaching core
004as a county, state, and country that reflects it. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. It is fun to see some people out tonight. My name is Steve Midulski. I'm a 20-year gardener and horiculturalist. That is correct. Being a gardener isn't a job. Many of you have been out to the garden that my wife and I, Laura, created 22 years ago when my daughter attended Williamson County Schools. The garden was just a beginning. And now she is 20 working in an amazing restaurant in Nashville because of Williamson County Schools. And I would like to thank the garden she grew up around. I also provided you tonight with a continued conversation. When so many of you were out, there were a lot of ideas about how do hands-on classrooms, garden and nature come together for kids. So,
005professionally, I've been in like you all have for so many years, a lot of boardrooms, meetings like tonight where experts come up. So, I had a lot of that information already in my mind. And so I put a packet together that has five points that I think really show like what gardens do, what nature does to teach. The first one is the screen issue. Teachers, parents, people of all ages currently have the screen as a other thing to think about. There is scientific data now that shows nature reduces screen time. There is also scientific evidence that proves nature increases physical activity. The biggest thing sometimes for mental health is can students can parents, faculty find joy, their mental health. Gardens do that. Nature does that. It allows people to have a distraction. It allows people
006to see a caterpillar become a butterfly. I have client kids who didn't know that a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. One of my most fun moments of my career is seeing little kids have moments where they learn not through a book, not through an iPad, but from a caterpillar who tells them a story that they become a butterfly. So, what I'm proposing to you tonight is we continue the conversation about gardens and nature being classrooms for that child to have that moment of education in a hands-on setting. The other big component of this that completely was great for me as a professional is that both male students, female students have direct correlations. I didn't know that little girls between the ages of nine and 12 typically have a decrease in physical activity, time spent outside, but
007there was a program done and guess what? Nature gardening, those little girls didn't have that same problem. They stayed outside because they stayed in the garden. So, there's amazing opportunity for hands-on science across Williamson County. I'd like to thank all of you that came out, continue the conversation. hope you have a chance to go over that packet that I'm leaving with you tonight and I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Our next three speakers are Emily Delicate, Brent Han, and Carolyn Brown. Hi, my name is Emily Delicott. I thank you for this opportunity to speak. I am a Williamson County School's mom. I have a senior at Franklin High School. and mo many of you have heard from me in the past. Although, I said I was going to make the joke, longtime listener,
008first- time caller. This is the first time I've gotten up to speak in front of you. and not just through email. violence is never okay. Period. No question. Never okay. No one should be physically harmed for their beliefs. I'm here to speak about a Williamson County teacher that I trust implicitly with my child's learning and her very life. I have sent this my child on trips, overnight trips with her and I trust her with my her very life. If you believe the federalist portrayal of Emily Orbison's social media post, then you don't know her and you didn't read it as she intended. She's being vilified for a post that was taken out of context and shared without her consent where she used irony to process the death of someone who once called school shootings, including
009one that happened here in Nashville, a prudent cost of freedom. Miss Orbison is well-loved. She's respected. She's admired by her students. Her students have received national recognition in HOSA competitions and many including my own have decided to confidently move forward into health related occupations because of her influence. And now she may lose her job not because she ever said anything inappropriate to a single student, but because someone stole a message that she never intended for anyone other than her friends on Facebook to read. Yes, I know nothing's private. She never intended for anyone to read. They took that and sent it to a public news art news place and then people in this very room shared it publicly on social media. I want you to know that the only reason that my child knows that
010existed that those comments existed is because of people in this room. And that's not okay. And I love all of you and I'm so thankful for what you do. But it is not okay that the only reason students are talking about this is because one person stole this woman's post and then people in this room spread it. and so more parents know about it. I ask you who did the damage. I am a praying person. I pray for the Kirk family. His death was tragic. It was unacceptable. It should never have happened. I pray for the families that have lost children to the gun violence that he dismissed as a price worth paying. I pray for Miss Orbison who's learned a terrible lesson about online privacy and does not deserve the hate and vigil that
011she's getting that's being spurred on by people like you in this room. we live in a complicated world full with both of beauty and terror and two truths can exist at once. His death was tragic and his rhetoric minimized the tragedy of others. A teacher should not be punished for wrestling with that. My child should not be punished by losing one of her best teachers because that teacher's trust and privacy was violated. Violence is never okay. If that's the point, let's make it. but let's do so while showing our students that privacy, fairness, and integrity matter and hold ourselves to the same standard we expect from them. Thank you. And I appreciate the couple extra seconds. Thank you. Good evening. I came here tonight to speak about the comments that Emily Orbinson made on the
012heels of the murder of Charlie Kirk. And I took a look at the code of ethics and these comments are directed at the people who don't believe that Miss Orbitson violated that code. If you haven't seen the video of Charlie being shot, I want you to watch it. I want you to see him get shot in the neck. And I want you to think about this. When the shot rang out, one of Charlie's little girls was there and she ran toward her dad. She did that because the gunshot frightened her and she was looking for her father's protection. So, I want you to think about that in the context of the code of ethics and I want you to look parents in the eye and tell them that Miss Orbinson's remarks did not violate that
013code. Because if you can do that, then your code of ethics is meaningless. It's a husk, purely symbolic. And I don't want to hear, "Oh, Miss Orbinson was using irony to spin his remarks back on him." Everyone in this room knows exactly what she was doing. She called him a piece of This is not political. This is decency. allowing someone like that to continue to be employed, that's political. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Hi. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. I want to dovetail on what the last gentleman had to say. although we all have the right to free speech, when you're in a leadership position or a mentoring position, there's a cultural understanding that you are a role model that has the ability to influence others. You need to think before you
014speak. You need to think about the impact your actions will have on others. In this case, the teacher in question did none of this. She publicly mocked the death of an individual who held a differing point of view. Do we want teachers that mock others? Do we want to give the message that only one perspective is correct? And if you don't agree with with that aspect, then you deserve to be punished. Does this encourage our students to want to weigh and measure each other and be open to different points of view? I don't think so. In 1963, a Democratic congressman read the 45 communist goals for America into the congressional record. Some of these goals need to be read here. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and communist propaganda.
015Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers associations. Put the party line in textbooks. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book review assignments, student newspapers, editorial writing, and policymaking positions. Eliminate all laws governing obstinity by calling them censorship and a violation of speech, freedom of speech. Break down cultural standards of morality for promoting pornography and obscenity in media. Eliminate any religious expressions in schools as a violation of se separation of church and state. support any social movement to give centralized control over our culture, including education. How many of these goals have been achieved? How many of our children learn about the pitfalls of communism, the positives of family, individualism, free speech, debate of politically charged issues, and the values within the Ten Commandments. We look to you as leaders to have the courage and conviction to
016set policies that teach our children to search for facts, weigh and measure our the arguments and to assume the responsibility of being an informed citizen in this wonderful country of ours. Thank you. Thank you. Our final two speakers are Karen Rail and Brandon Ogles. Hello. Okay. Social media students across the country are held to extremely high standards for their online behavior. As a parent, I've seen this firsthand. My daughters were athletes in the WCS system and on travel teams. coaches warned them repeatedly that their social media would be used in scholarship considerations. Before my oldest applied for an internship this summer, we had the same conversation again. Be careful what you post because it can cost you opportunities. And it does. There are numerous cases where students lost scholarships or positions solely because of poor
017choices that they've made online. A Louisiana high school student lost her scholarship after a private video of her dancing surfaced. A Florida quarterback had his scholarship rescended for using offensive language in a video. A Tennessee high school cheerleader lost her scholarship when a private Snapchat became public from middle school. This is the look back that kids have to deal with. These are life-altering consequences for teenagers, many who are still minors just beginning to navigate the digital world. They are constantly reminded that colleges, employers, and clubs will look at their social media. If we hold students to this level of accountability, it is only fair and necessary that we hold educators to the same, if not higher, standard. Teachers are role models, guiding students not only in academics, but also in responsibility and digital citizenship. An
018employees online misconduct, whether posted publicly or privately, reflects directly on our school district. Allowing it to go without consequences, creates a dangerous double standard. We've already seen universities take action. UT, Knoxville, MTSU, ETSU have all moved to terminate faculty over inappropriate social media posts. And those were professors teaching mostly adults. We're talking about teachers that are shaping minors in our district. Think about how young children view their teachers. Many of us remember when our kids lit up with excitement just seeing their teacher at the grocery store. It was like spotting someone famous. That's how influential teachers are. They spend more hours each day with our children than we do. Their role as models of behavior is as important as any proathlete or public figure. To allow a WCS teacher or staff member to remain after
019making disturbing, mocking, or harmful posts about someone's murder sends the message that adults in positions of trust face fewer consequences than the students that they lead. I urge the board respectfully to take decisive action and terminate any WCS employee who shows such poor judgment. Our students deserve role models who meet the same standards that we expect of them. Thank you. Thank you. thank you, chairman, and members of the board. my name is Brandon Ogles. I have, three students at Franklin High School, a freshman, sophomore, and junior, and one upcoming student that's at, Grassland Middle. the reason I'm here tonight is I got some text messages concerning some posts made by one of your staff. previously I guess ended last week this weekend. I was first made aware of it Saturday and I would like to
020commend Superintendent Golden and his staff for fielding calls over the weekend as well as I know many many of you were called as well. and fast forward I think some of the first time some of y'all met me. I was actually an officer with the Williamson County Sheriff's Department. Back then, there was only one of us and I got to do security at these meetings for a couple years. back when the most contentious thing y'all were dealing with was reszoning West Haven to Fair View, I believe. which y'all got in trouble for. Anyway, fast forward. I had the opportunity to work with Williamson County Schools at the state level as one of your state representatives out of Northern Williamson County. And during that time, Williamson County was the leader in school safety. many of the
021initiatives that y'all did here in Williamson County, we mirrored across the state and by 202021 because of the initiatives you had taken in Williamson County, Tennessee had the largest I'm sorry, saturation of nearly 84 to 87% statewide of having school safety officers. So, I would like to thank y'all for that. y'all led the fight putting our students first across the state as well as many other initiatives and pieces of legislation. I'm here tonight because I'm very concerned in the post made by that teacher specifically because with my time at the state we prioritized a lot of our efforts towards identifying violent predatory behavior. and it seems like from the post that I w I saw, this teacher condoned predatory violent behavior from towards an innocent person in a very public forum. and that's concerning. any
022teacher that condones a public educa a public murder of somebody based on their beliefs speaking their point of view. that and that's very troubling and I'm sorry I haven't done this in a while. Pretty nervous. but I appreciate all y'all being here and all the concerned citizens that came out tonight. and in closing, I just hope the school board will investigate this and do your due diligence. And I'm praying that there's been some mistake made and somehow this is a hoax because this is not a representation of what I expect from our Williamson County teachers. And I have not seen behavior like this in the past. and I'm just praying there's been a mistake. Thank you. Thank you. I want to say thank you to all of our speakers. if you were here and you
023did not get to speak, we would invite you to send an email to Mr. Golden and the board and express any of your views through that those channels. I want to take a second to thank members of our Williamson County Sheriff's Department who are here. Mr. Meadows, Mr. Britain, Mr. Shonberger. thank you all for what you do for this county u every day and for tonight. Okay, let us proceed with our agenda. The first the next item on the agenda is to vote to for the approval of our agenda. So board members, please cast your votes on your devices. I'm sorry. We I've already forgotten that we do this by voice vote. So, do I have a motion and a second? I see we have a motion and a second on the board. All those
024in favor of approval of the agenda say I. Any opposed? Okay, the agenda is approved. We'll now move on to the consent agenda. we will also do this by voice vote. You see the items listed on the agenda. Are there any questions about any item on the consent agenda? Okay, we have a motion in a second, I believe. Is that right? Okay, all those in favor of approval of the consent agenda say I. Any opposed? Consent agenda is approved. And with that vote, the board has approved the following items. Approval of the August 18th, 2025 school board meeting minutes. Board policy 5.310 on second reading. Approval of e-plans early literacy prek teacher stipens grant for FY 2026. Approval of e-plan idea partnership for systemic change K through2 implementation grant year two for FY 2026. approval
025of building modification requests for an LED marquee sign at Bethesda Elementary and recommendation for field trip fee requests. Okay, we will now move on to our superintendence report. Before we do that, I'm going to make just one brief comment before Jason begins. obviously the last week has been for has been very heavy for a variety of reasons and I think it's safe to say it's impacted all of us in one way or another. I asked Jason, we've spoken several times over the weekend and today, and I asked him tonight to address the actions that have been taken with respect to the situation, the post that was made that we all know about and have spoken about that the public has been communicating about. I've asked him to talk about what actions have been taken in
026that regard. I've also asked him to talk about the process, what that process will be going forward based on state law and based on our policy. I know there will be questions and comments from the board. my ask is that we keep those to the substance of what was posted andor the process that we're involved in. And I would ask that we not try to adjudicate this matter at tonight's meeting in terms of any ultimate final outcome. and I think if we need to get into reasons for that, I'm happy to, but my request is that after we hear from Jason, please ask whatever questions you'd like to ask, make whatever comments you feel you need to make. but let's let's please refrain from trying to adjudicate this matter at this meeting tonight. So, Mr.
027Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, board members. And I want to specifically thank those individuals who came and spoke at public comment. for us, safety is a constant ongoing effort. I want to specifically thank Mr. Davis for giving us some prompts for some opportunities to continue to grow in that. Mr. Chair, you mentioned specifically the issue that came up over the weekend and many of you who spoke at public comment mentioned that as well. and we we did receive a report on Saturday from a reporter alleging a post from a Williamson County schools teacher regarding the shooting death of Charlie Kirk. And a quick internet search would would reveal to anyone who checks that teachers in many other professions have in recent days posted disturbing comments about this tragic violence. these posts have
028have have been posted across the country. Unfortunately that has happened here as well. so over the weekend that story that was published about the teachers post on a personal account led us to initiate some work on Saturday and into actually this morning and we responded to some media requests in a statement that we published this morning and I want to share with you board members. I know you've already seen it in in email form, but I want to read it to you as a threshold to our discussion. Over the weekend, the district was made aware of a concerning social media post made by an employee. This employee has been suspended pending investigation, which is standard procedure and followed state law requirements. Expressions that glorify or trivialize violence, especially in moments of a national tragedy, are
029inappropriate and unacceptable. They do not reflect the values of Williamson County Schools and undermine the trust and unity we strive to build in our community. In addition, board members, as you know, on Saturday, I sent an email to our entire faculty and staff. and we have thousands of staff members and we felt like and I felt like it was important to let our our team know how important this is and we published this following up this morning to the media request and that reads everyone I wanted to reach out to address the tragic events that have occurred across our country and the world over the past few days and how we as professionals react and respond across the country. Concerns are being expressed over recent comments and social media post. We are hearing concerns, too.
030During this emotionally heightened time, I want to remind you of what we teach our students. Words matter. As you navigate through the remainder of the weekend and into next week, I ask you to pause before hitting send on an email or make a social media post regarding recent events. Please recognize that this is a painful time for so many people and professional teachers need to lead the way in empathy, compassion, and decency in how we communicate. Think about how your word choice might affect others in this difficult national time. And as always, treat others how you would like to be treated. So board members, in addition to that suspension, I wanted to give you a little bit of additional detail about the process. first the state structure for for teachers allows in the course of
031an investigation school systems to suspend pinning investigation. I felt like that was the appropriate first step. It doesn't require it. It allows it. We did suspend that teacher who was the subject of that story from from their work and we suspended the teacher without pay pending investigation. The from a process standpoint the first step is to notify that employee of the suspension. We notify that employee this morning. Next, we it we give them the notice of the issue and then schedule an opportunity for them to be heard with representation if the employee has chosen that representation. That is not yet scheduled. but we will be scheduling that with the employee. then at that point the conversation with the with the with the accused will drive the nature of the investigation. what we hear from that
032employee will influence the next steps in the investigation. and then after all the information that is available as part of the investigation is shared either through speaking with that employee or doing an investigation potentially through computer work or speaking with others based on wherever that conversation leads. we do evaluate the act. We look at the impact on the school system and we compare what the investigation reveals that employee did to the standards in the code. and that includes the teacher code of conduct and that also includes the standards for for discipline of a teacher and that includes incompetence, inefficiency, neglect of duty, unprofessional conduct and insubordination. We will go through that process, make sure we do a quick and thorough job in evaluating that and make a decision. After that point, when a decision is
033made, then the teacher has an opportunity for for a potential appeal. I won't get into all the details of that. I know Miss Osbrooks has given you an email with some of that detail. So, Mr. chair. that's that's where we stand with with our approach to it that what has been reported does not meet Williamson County's values and does undermine the trust and unity we strive to build in our community and we will go through that investigative process. Thank you for that. board members, we can open it up for questions or comments if anyone has or wishes to be recognized. Mr. Galborth. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Jason, I have a question about another one of the speakers who spoke tonight and I don't believe I think he's not here anymore, but but he spoke about
034the he spoke about the makeup of our staff and so then the diversity of our staff. And I just I just wanted to ask you or or maybe you could maybe this is a Vicky Hall question, but do we make hiring decisions whether in favor or against using any of those any of those factors that he spoke about, age, race, geographic, gender, political views. I just want to know if if that's a consideration at all in our in our hiring process. I'll give you a clear and succinct answer. No, we do not make decisions based on that. We do make an effort to recruit the largest possible pool of highquality candidates for our staff to choose from. So, we don't have any evidence that we're not hiring people who come through come in interviews that
035we're disproportionately not hiring people who who have diversity by whatever measure. that's just that's simply not a factor. Is it is it more a factor of it's more a factor of who comes through the doors who's qualified, who who presents themselves for candidates, and like you just said, we do make a an effort to to cast a wide net. I mean, I know you've talked about our partnerships with CSU and some of the other organizations. I just want to make I just want to make it clear like this is this is not something that we're actively trying to prohibit. It'd be great if our if our teachers were I don't think anybody and nobody has said I've never heard Vicki say I've never heard anybody say or do anything to the to to the effect
036of limiting our diversity. It's just a function of of how do we how do we have more people apply that are qualified that we could that we could hire. Is that fair? Yes, that is fair. and since you mentioned Miss Hall and invited her to speak, I do want to give her that opportunity as well if there's anything else she'd like to add related to that. Thank you. I don't really have very much to add except that you're correct that we don't have any kind of record that we are denying hiring opportunities for any of those classifications that you mentioned, Mr. Galbreth. and we do make that opportunity to try to go and find a diverse pool of candidates because we're always looking for more candidates, the best and the brightest. Thank you so much,
037Dr. Driggers. last year I looked into this issue after someone made a comment and I l found the demographics. It's all public information. The background of our students and the background of our employees and the background demographics of Williamson County. In one case in particular, the presence of students was 4% but the presence of that ethnic group was 7%. So I would now Pacific Islanders specifically that's a little harder. We're pretty far from the Pacific, but I would suggest a spreadsheet of some kind breaking down that data. Thank you for that. The state report card does include student data based on the state reporting. We'll make sure we give a link related to that. If I'm not mistaken, Miss Hall, the state report card does not include similar data for faculty. It's exclusively students. I
038don't think so. We'll make sure we at least get you that. Mr. Cash. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Golden, I'd like to go back to the teacher issue. Yes, sir. thanks for explaining the process and we're in the process. there was also another incident where it happened in the classroom. Is that the same process? And just so the public knows that's being in looked into too. Thank you for that. Yes sir. There was a we received a report of a discussion with a between a social studies teacher and students. and that is under investigation too. Yes sir. Under that same process and that includes a suspension without pay pending investigation. Okay, I just have one, excuse me, one other comment. we have 3,000 teachers employed for in Williamson County. we can't let a few
039disgrace the other 3,000. So when people are on social media and communicating back and forth, we have thousands of dedicated teachers that are abiding by the laws or the rules or the codes of conduct, if you will. And I just want I just want the general public to know that. But a few there's always going to be people that say things they need to be taken care of, whatever. But don't look at all our teachers with that in your mind because they're hardworking, dedicated people. Thank you, Dr. Reeves. Yes. Superintendent Golden, for the for clarity for the board and for the public, and I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but could you provide a general timeline in terms of how long the investig the investigation could take? Thank you. I'll speak to
040I'll speak to goals and then and then I may ask Miss Sbrooks to speak to end deadlines. when we investigate an issue, we we address it immediately. If somebody has representation, I will tell you for practical purposes that ends up being the the most significant potential delay in finding the right day. But even in that situation, we'll set a date within typically a week or less to meet and give that op to give that employee an opportunity to be heard. at that point, depending on the investigation, it could lead to others. I will tell you my from an estimate standpoint we try unless there is some extremely unusual circumstance to make decisions within a two-eek period as a as a goal in all our investigations. I can't anticipate and Miss Hall I I'm looking at
041you. I can't anticipate anything influencing that. And I will tell you the twoe part is because most of our investigations as I mentioned are suspension pending investigation without pay. and so if at all possible we try to close those investigations out within that twoe pay period. Miss Miss Hall or Miss Osbrooks can you can you put fill in some additional detail? So, just to be clear, Tennessee state law states that any suspension pending investigation can't be any longer than 90 days. and we do abide by that timeline, but just know statutoily that timeline is there. Again, as I mentioned, that's the max. Dr. Superintendent Golden and maybe Miss Hall. Is there a difference in the process between a tenured faculty and an atwill faculty? number one, yes, except I'm going to correct your question just
042a bit. There is a difference between a tenured faculty and an untenured faculty. our faculty members do sign contracts and so there there is no if I'm not mistaken I can't think of a scenario where a classroom teacher is an at will employee they are they are all under contract but a tenure teacher has a slightly different process from an untenured teacher under state law what about the teacher in question so to to Mr. Cash's comment. one teacher, the one that was who was the subject of the Saturday notice is not a tenure teacher, has worked for the district less than five years. the other teacher that Mr. Cash asked about is a tenure teacher. Thank you. And is there value in us giving you the a nutshell of the difference in process? It's very
043minimal. The timelines that you have already received from me are the same. whether the teacher is tenured or not tenured. I'm also going to remind you that board policy under personnel, we do have a separation practice for nontenured teachers in policy as well as a separation practice for tenur teachers. those time both of the timelines are set out in policy and again very little difference in in those timelines. They're all done by state law. so there is to Mr. Driger's point at will classified employees there that is also in policy and that will look very different than the process that you'll see for our tenur or non-tenured teachers. So Mr. Driggers, Dr. Driggers, there are there there are two policies in section five. one of which addresses tenure teachers and outlines the state process for
044that and in the next policy addresses non-tenured teachers. Thank you. All right. Does anyone else wish to be recognized? All right. Thank you, Mr. Golden for that report. we'll move on to new business. there I should say there is no board chair report. new business. the first item we have a series of budget items to vote on all pertaining to the 2526 budget. the first one is approval of general purpose school fund 09.25 public school security grant in the amount of $855,618. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. as you all know from the work session, this is the carryover amount for the annual public schools safety grant. Much of this is related to construction projects to improve safety such as lock mechanisms, etc. Mr. King is here if you have any specific questions, but I
045do recommend approval of this accounting measure. All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Thank you. The item passes. item number two, approval of general purpose school fund 09.25 United Way grant in the amount of $59,525. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. United Way and I want to thank them for this work donates every year to Williamson County schools based on the donations they receive in this region. and the specific grant is for afterchool tutoring. so do recommend approval of acceptance of of this grant and placing it in the appropriate location in the budget. All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero
046no. Okay, that grant is approved. Item number three, approval of general purpose school fund 09.25 transition grant in the amount of $220,833. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The state transition grant is a grant for our student support services for students with disabilities who are transitioning and preparing for life outside of Williamson County Schools. Their budget, the state budget is on is on on an on on an October one budget year. And so because of that, we do need to roll some of those funds to to this budget. so do recommend approval of that. All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, that grant is approved. Item four, approval of general purpose school fund 09.25 innovative school
047models carryover in the amount of 10,234,529.93. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the grant that the governor initiated just a few years ago for their innovative schools model. We are spending the money to build the new facility that's just on the north side of Franklin High School's campus for our what I'm calling our innovation hub or our innovation center. because this is a hard construction project, we are pacing the payments based on the completion rate of the project. And so this money is required to move to the next budget year as we finish that construction project in the coming year. Do recommend approval. All right. Thank you. We have a motion in a second. Any discussion? I do have one question. When is the estimated time of completion for that? Mr. King, you
048may have an exact date. If I'm not mistaken, it's going to be in the late spring, but I don't have an exact u date or month. Yes, you're you're correct. That's the ETA right now, but for sure it'll be open for next school in plenty of time for next school year. But I believe it was late April was the last date I heard. But again, thank you, Mr. Gers. So, I guess piggyback on that in terms of the following fall and we're registering for classes. So, do we have any idea of the of the programming there? I guess in addition to to the EIC like how is that going to what are what are we going to what are the going to be the options for for people because I know they can come in
049from anywhere. Thank you for that question. and I'm going to try to hit every new program off off my memory. Dr. Webb, I may I may pitch it to you. we are including aviation, hospitality and tourism, fire prevention and suppression services. diesel power generation. I'm hitting a snag, cyber security and artificial intelligence. Thank you. Okay, I hit all but one. so that is that is some some very specific local marketdriven college and career technical education programs. It will be at this location. Every student in the district will have the ability to set in their schedules that work. And is it is it all is it all on in person or are there any is there any online ability to to kind of remote into that? Thank you Dr. Web. Can you speak to that? Thank
050you for the question Mr. Galbreth. our current programming is face toface. There may be some components especially with the fire science as students are often seeking in addition to that fire science certification EMT certification through dual enrollment with Columbia State. Some of those courses may have an online component, but the primary method of delivery will be face-to-face instruction. Thank you. And if I may, Mr. Galbard, you didn't quite ask this, but I'm going to add this. From a budgeting perspective, the director position is in this year's budget, and the director is working towards putting those programs together concurrent with a construction project that that is being driven by our operational folks. So they're they're this in this school year. So they're getting the program up and running and that's that's part of the grant. But
051next year it'll just be it'll it'll be funded and as part of I mean it's hard to say that we're there were I mean we are going to be spending dollars and they're operationally part of that student teacher ratio but but were it not for this program we would have been those teachers would have been we'd had to hire them elsewhere at some point maybe driven by like all the other schools. Well, from a ratio standpoint, that's going to be difficult to say in year one, because of enrollment. I I we are of the opinion that over the course of probably the next two or three years, as enrollment builds up and stabilizes, we'll have a clear understanding of that. I will tell you just to be as open as I can, chances are just
052statistically because of how we measure student numbers at each school, we will be spending a little bit more on college and career technical education programs in next year's budget than we than we are this year. That's fair. But no other but the as far as the construction, it was 100% we didn't we didn't spend any other any other WCS funds out. This is 100% paid by the grant. Thank you for that. We are making sure that the facility itself is 100% grant funded. I let you all and the commission know on the front end that we would not be asking for any additional funding for the construction project. We've kept it within that. I got to add one little piece. We as in any project you do have a contingency. If there is contingency funding
053left over, that can actually help us with our with our day-to-day operations funding that for the first year. Okay, any other questions? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, the item is approved. Item five, approval of general purpose school fund 09.25 25 state special education preschool grant in the amount of $677,520. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. the state, as you see, has given us that grant for what they describe as special ed education preschool. It's what we call early childhood. and this amendment places the grant in the budget. So, do recommend approval. All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. And Mr. Bostic? Yeah, just a comment. I shared this at the work session, but I wanted to say it here, too. the early childhood
054program is truly a beautiful program and my son benefited greatly from it. I can't speak for all of the EC programs that we have around the district, but the one at Fair View is truly phenomenal. Miss Lucy, Miss Lesley, Miss Tia, I know I'm leaving out several of them, but they are wonderful, wonderful ladies who did a phenomenal job with my son and many of the other kids there, and I just I can't say enough about it. And thank you. Shout out to Dr. Murray who's here tonight as well, principal down there at at Fairview Elementary. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. So, I'm happy to vote for it. Thank you for that, Mr. Boss. Mr. Chair, I have to mention this. you all spoke about brainstorming board goals next year. I don't know that there's
055anything cuter than watching the early childhood students in the in the school. walking the halls, visiting the library. It's it I hope that you're going to have an opportunity in the next year or two seeing that. Thank you for those comments. all right, any other questions or comments? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, the grant is approved. Move on to item B, approval of the 202627 budget preparation calendar. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. as you know from Miss Rachel Farmer speaking to you at the work session, it's already time for us to set the calendar for the budget. we have that there and we do recommend approval for that detail. All right, we have a motion in a second. Any discussion or comments? Mr. Cash. Thank you,
056Mr. Chair. since we're going into the budget, I'd like to back up to the work session. the subject that Mr. Galbreth brought up about fees. I've just really been thinking about that. And when we voted that there would be actually no fees, I never dreamt in a million years that the whole budget process for the fees would fall on to the principles and teachers. I have four I get four emails from four schools and every one of them I think except one is asking for donations all the time. I never thought it would be that way. I thought it was in the goals for the superintendent to search out different avenues of donations and I know Mr. Golden has been doing that. But Mr. Galbbert brought up a good point. If we're going to get
057into this budget, we need to budget that money. It needs to be in the budget. And I don't know where we're going to get it. I know there's impact fee money out there and other areas that could cough up a couple of million dollars if they had to. But I think this should be in the budget taking the burden off principles and teachers because people hate to continue asking And I think it's it take a big load off the schools themselves. Thank you, Mr. Chair, if I may respond to that. Mr. Cash, thank you for that. We've already started preliminary conversations about that. it we're at the brainstorming stage and we'll make sure that we factor that in when we discuss the budget. Thank you, Miss Clemens. Thank you, Mr. Chair. first of all, Miss
058Farmer, thank you for all the work that you guys do on the budget. I know we've had meetings before and it's it's it's a lot of work and I'm so glad you're doing it, not me. but I would like since we're at the beginning of the year and you're starting in on this, I would love to see us try to move our teachers up in the pay scale. I'm not sure where we are this year compared to the others. I know last year we were I think 27th in the state for teachers and for our county I'd really like to see us really bump that up and put a focus on that. so I just wanted to add that. Thank you. Thank you for that. Any other comments or questions? Well, just acknowledge that there's
059an awful lot of detail on that screen in front of us. So, thank you in advance for all the work you've already done and that you will do. okay. We are ready to vote. We have a motion in a second. We are ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, the calendar is approved. Item C, board policy for first reading. We have one for first reading and then several for first and final. after that this one is 3.202 emergency preparedness plan. Mr. Golden. Thank you Mr. Chair. As you mentioned this is for first reading. This will go back to the policy committee. it includes a substantive addition that we will conduct an afteraction review of an event involving a major incident, a major accident or major response at a school or schools
060as immediately after the event as possible. Just as a reminder, we've had some discussions about timing of that and certainly opening any additional discussions we might have at the next policy committee meeting. I do recommend approval for first reading. All right. Thank you. Can we get a motion and a second? Thank you. Do we have any questions on this? All right. We'll proceed to a vote on first reading. Do recommend approval. I'm sorry. I thought he said that, but maybe I missed it. All right, let's let's vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. All right, that is approved on first reading. move on to item D. we have several here for first and final reading. Mr. Golden, I'm just going to let you I guess we have to vote for each one separately. So
061we'll start with 1.901 charter school applications. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Because these are changes per state law and it's first and final for compliance purposes. I'm not going to give you the detail. certainly refer to the discussion we had at the work session. I do recommend approval for compliance purposes. Okay, we have a motion, a second. Any comments? All right, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes zero no. Okay, that policy is approved on first and final reading. Next is policy 1.903 charter school oversight. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Likewise, I do recommend approval for this. I do did want to mention because we are going through four different charter school policies. We actually do not have a charter school in Williamson County schools. Just want to make sure those who are
062watching this are aware of that. Do recommend approval of this policy change. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, that policy is approved on first and final reading. Item three is policy 1.904, charter school intervention and revocation. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This adds a reference to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission in the process outlined in this policy. Do recommend approval. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, that policy is approved on first and final reading. The final policy is policy 3.204, threat assessment team. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Likewise, we have a change in the process per
063state law. Do recommend approval. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Oh, I'm sorry. Did I Did I hit the wrong one? I'm sorry. I skipped one. My apologies. So, what do we have in front of us? I'm Can you scroll down? 1.905. Okay. Sorry. I I For what it's worth, Mr. Chair, my comments were related to 1.905. Oh, okay. Well, I'm the one that messed it up. So, we'll go I'll restate this. We are voting on item four, policy 1.905 for charter school renewal. So you stand by your Yes, sir. comments. Okay, a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, that policy is approved on first and final reading. Now policy 3.20 204 threat assessment team. Mr. Golden.
064Thank you, Mr. Chair. Likewise, this is an addition to state law, but I felt like it was important to give you guys a little bit better description of that. If you could, Tim, scroll down. what it basically says is that if a reported threat involves the school or the or the building SRO to go for additional help and additional investigation outside the district, then we shall notify parents of of the of that within 48 hours. I will tell you generally speaking our practice is that we've actually notified for many other incidents even beyond that but we are incorporate this incorporating this into the policy to make sure we are complying with state law. Another piece is that quarterly I am to report to you how many of those incidents happen. We are working on structuring
065that mechanism. We're actually going to give you more more detail than the state law requires related to those reports in addition to Miss Bird Song's emails to you that keep you updated in the moment when those investigations occur. Do recommend approval. All right. Thank you. Any comments? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, that policy is approved on first and final reading. Now move on to item E, approval of the collaborative conference team. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The uhou structure or the PEKA collaborative conferencing structure includes an annual approval of the management team. For what it's worth, the law requires from 7 to 11 of of management team members. Likewise, the teachers associations represented would have the commensurate number. I've included the recommendations here and recommend approval
066for this year. Final piece I want to mention that was also mentioned at the board meeting. We are currently in year one of the three-year. So, this coming year we will be in year two. It will not be a total review. It will be a limited review based on the law governing. All right. Thank you for that. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, that item is approved. Item F is approval of board parameters for the school calendar. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We had a discussion at the work session regarding the board in recent years not setting specific parameters. and the discussion there led to what I'm characterizing as very positive discussion about how our calendar has been
067structured most recently. and one of the requests of us was to include in the memo an additional sentence which I have included in there which is the committee's intent is to keep the basic calendar structure for the upcoming school year. That's the last sentence in the first paragraph. so based on that I do recommend approval of what's been suggested there in the in the in the memo that we do not have any recommended parameters but we intend to honor the basic structure that we currently have. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Miss Wyatt. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wondered if Dr. web could just speak to the how the past year we've gone you've gone two years ahead just to help our families with their planning and if we'll continue doing
068that. Absolutely. Thank you for the question Wyatt. So this past school year or the calendar committee it was requested by the board to in addition to establishing the school calendar for the upcoming school year to lay the foundation for the school calendar two years out. so we will actually be starting our calendar committee work with the framework that we established last year keeping the same basic structure that has been successful in the school district previously. So the intention is to continue that practice. Also noted five bullet points from our conversation at the work session from you as board members that even though you may choose tonight not to set parameters, I have taken notes on five things that we'll continue to discuss. One was the review of inclement weather days and its need and purpose
069that was mentioned. they're looking at teacher start times to see if there's any way for us to push that as close into August as possible. a review of early release days as part of our conversation. Continue the two-year layout as Miss Wyatt just indicated and my favorite don't break it. it seems to be working great. So we'll be sure to encourage our calendar committee on those five items. Thank you. All right. Any other discussion? Seeing none, we're ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, that is item is approved. Our final item for tonight is approval of the calendar committee membership. Mr. Golden. Thank you, Mr. chair. related, we do have a memo with the recommended calendar committee. and just I wanted to point out that it does include Williamson County Schools
070parents. We've had a long tradition of including that. Do recommend approval. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, we are ready to vote. The vote is 11 yes, zero no. Okay, that item is approved. And with that, we've concluded our agenda and we are journed. Thank you very much.