001Section 2.2-3712D of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Franklin City School Board hereby certifies that, to the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification applies, and two, Only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. We are out of closed and we are certified. Before we move
002on to 2.5, I just wanted to make everyone aware we have someone different joining us on the podium on the day as tonight. I'm sure you have noticed. Effective as of tomorrow, Dr. Sterling is taking a leave of absence and will be back with us come September 1st. In her absence, we have joining us as the director of... All right. I gotta get that title correct. Director of... Administrative Services. Administrative Services. Thank you, Ms. Johnson. In her absence, we have Dr. Michael Thornton. Some of you who are familiar in the area may know his face. He's been around for a while. He will be representing the Office of the Superintendent during Dr. Sterling's absence through the end of August. So welcome, Dr. Thornton. We are glad to have you on board with us, and we
003appreciate you stepping up to help us out during this time. Now moving on to 2.5, motions from closed session. Do we have any motions from closed session? I move to accept the personnel agenda as presented. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, then all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? I abstain. We have 5, 4, and 1 abstention. That motion carries. Pledge of Allegiance. This is nice to be able to do this. It's been so long since we've all been together and been able to do this. So if everyone would please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
004for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next up, 2.7 is the approval of our agenda. Do we have a motion to approve our agenda? So move. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Next up is roll call. Ms. Moore, could you lead us in roll call, please? Present. Ms. Johnson. Present. Present. Ms. Johnson. Yeah, I'm present. Next up is Citizens Time. Ms. Moore, did we have anyone sign up for Citizens Time? Next up is our public hearing on the ESSR Stream 3 spending plan. This is the newest round of, if you want to call it CARES funding,
005that's coming down the pipeline. Part of the requirement with this is that we do have to hold a public hearing, so that is what we are doing now. So I open the floor for this public hearing. Mr. Ryder, I will let you have the floor. Good evening. Thank you, Chair Phillips. I assume everybody can hear me? Yes. Loud and clear. All right. Very well. Okay, so this is the presentation. Now, the government helped us. Franklin City's allocation for this one is $5,732,000 and change. Unlike the loss, you know, and the other dollars, the $4,005,000, you know, related to learning loss. cell summation of the dollars. What about this column? I mean, you know, that week, it's tracked all this stuff off the 4 million and 5 to come down to zero. The column here, the
006purple column, is, you know, allowable uses to address the learning. And so we had calculated two social workers to address the social and emotional learning that were suffered by our students during and after, during the pandemic. So, and so remember now, To social workers $378,000.00 for the full nine months of the grant. So if we hire them this month and pay them off to September 2024, that's about what it would cost for those. Additional teachers for the summer school for grades K. In the summer of 2022, which is next summer, we calculated we spent about $29,000.00 for those 10 teachers the following summer and the following summer. So a huge continuity of teaching for the FHS Saturday and tutors. So these are the estimated dollars it would take to pay these folks to boost up
007those grades and the learning loss. Through 2022, so this is the extension of that 23 and 24. That's for online teaching as well as for... to address the learning law other things and this was the remaining dollars that we figured we would you can see some of this stuff starts right away other stuff you know is delayed until later thank you mr ryder are there any questions for mr ryder from the board yes mr ryder this is jerry mccreary ward 6. is there a particular amount that has to be spent year to year any other questions for mr ryder i will add um we did review this earlier this week, actually two days ago, in our finance committee meeting, and one of the questions that we had in regards to this was how locked in
008are we to these as we're looking at these amounts and specific items that are being requested. And there is that capability as we're looking at this and we're moving through this process that it can be amended. The dollar amount cannot be amended because we're locked in at that $5.7 million. but the items and the amounts attributed to each of those items, there can be amendments to this as we move through it. So just because this is what we're looking at in our plan right now, does this not necessarily mean this is what the final product at the end is going to look like? So there may be some tweaks as we move through this process through September of 2024. And that's why we have to have those meetings every six months so that we're reviewing
009that so that as things do come up and we're looking at changes, we can actually have that public hearing and make sure that the public knows what's going on with that. For clarification, the amount, the minimum amount for learning loss has to be that 1.146? Correct. That has to be the minimum amount because we have to allocate at least 20%. Any other questions from the board? Hearing none, then I will open it up for public comment. Is there anyone that would like to comment on the ESSR 3, the American Rescue Plan Act proposal for Franklin City Public Schools? Is there anyone that wishes to comment? I have to do it three times. Is there anyone that wishes to make a comment? Hearing none, then I call this public meeting closed. Mr. Ryder, I did not
010see any motion for that. Do you need a motion from the board to accept the plan as presented? Because the actual plan that we'll be filing on the video is due July 30th. It's basically this. I just got to put it in there. Does anyone wish to make a motion? Madam Chair, I move that we accept Mr. Ryder's recommendation on the ESSR Stream 3 spending plan. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, then all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Motion carries. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Mr. Ryder All right. Next up is the Organizational plan of the board as you all may remember at our
011last meeting was our reorganizational meeting for the year We get to do that every July at our first meeting This outlines all of those Appointments as we just determined them to be with There is one thing that we do need to look at with Dr. Sterling's absence. She is designated as the agent for the school board, and Mr. Ryder is designated as her designee and the designee to sign documents in her absence. With Dr. Thornton being here, It seemed logical that we would have him, of course the superintendent's office is always the agent for the school board, but it seemed logical that we would have him assume that role as designee to sign documents and the superintendent's designee in her absence. And once she is back on September 1st, that we transition back to Mr.
012Ryder, if that is the will of the board. That being said, if anyone is willing or wants to make a motion, I will entertain that. Madam Chair, I'll make the motion that we make Dr. Michael Thornton the designee in the superintendent's absence. I second. We have a motion and we have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, then all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. What we will do, if it's the will of the board, is when we get to our regular meeting in August, then we can make a motion that as of September 1, we will revert that back to Mr. Ryder, if that's the will of the board, at that time. Moving right along, next up is the consent agenda. We've got a few items
013on the consent agenda. First up is a budget adjustment for the Camp Foundation grant. As I think I shared with the board a while back, we are the recipient of a $20,000 grant from the Camp Foundation, and this is going to be used to jumpstart our criminal justice CTE program. Dr. Carter was integral in working with the Camp Foundation on that grant and I want to thank him for that. Next up is Franklin High School's annual fees. I will make note at the bottom if you notice the $5 locker fee has been eliminated. This is the fee schedule as presented for Franklin High School. Next up is the minutes from the work session on June the 3rd and then following that is the minutes from the meeting on June the 10th Madam chairman that we
014accept the consent agenda as written I Request that we separate item 5.4 from the rest of the consent agenda because I was not in attendance at that meeting I'll withdraw my motion. Mr. Holt has withdrawn his motion. And Ms. Johnson has requested to have 5.4 voted on separately since she was absent from that meeting. So do we have a motion in regards to consent agenda items 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3? I so move. To approve. Okay, let me make sure we've got that accurately recorded. You are making a motion to approve consent agenda items 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3. I second. We have a motion and we have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, then all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Now do we have a motion
015in regards to item number 5.4? I move to accept the consent agenda item 5.4 as stated. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, then all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? I'm sorry. I should be abstained. Sorry. Any abstentions? That would be me. I abstain. That motion does carry. Carry. Carry. Carry. Next up is the finance report, which brings us to number six, and we will be right back to Mr. Ryder. It looks like vouchers are first. Okay. Let's see. Tammy, was I, did you need me to do the vouchers? Moving through those, and Ms. Moore has them up now. Are there any questions for Mr. Ryder in regards to the vouchers? There don't seem
016to be. I don't know if I'm going to purchase or defraud this stuff, so nothing out of the ordinary here. You'll see there are some things that are unusual about this time of the year. This is when we're paying out those things to Camp Community College and things like that. It happens to hit at this time of year, settling up for the end of the year. Because keep in mind, these are the vouchers for the month of June. So if you see those, those are what those items are. So any questions? All right, Mr. Reiner, next up is the June financial report. All right. Okay. So this is at this time, remember, throughout all of July, we continue to bring in bills and revenue that we have to push back to the prior year. I'm
017assembling them right now, but the funding, so my presentation, estimation of where I think we'll end up. So if we go to, we're not going to get this. this year due solely to the one after we went to the city and they said bring it as a rollover request. So we're going to be doing that tomorrow. So that means that we should be ending up at about 125,000 deficit because that's 703 minus 525 and I have no problems whatsoever stating that we're going to meet that target. We might have even a little less of a deficit because we're still Remember, we have to accrue that sales tax. And sales tax was just, my best estimate right now is $135,000. And today... That's for Mr. Ryder in regards to the financial report. Here's an audit update.
018The auditors began their work. We actually selected the auditors earlier in the year, back in spring. And so my best guess now, about 90% of the auditors in the school division's records are performed in the offices of the audit firm. thousands of documents supplied to them by the business office and it's all done behind the scenes um but they do come out physically to do field and that's when they actually examine transactions to test our internal control processes and procedures to make sure that the assets cash are being accounted for properly and handled properly um so they typically only spend about three to five days at central office and maybe one or two of the buildings to look at their activity funds and so the end result is their auto report on the activity funds
019and then the reports that they give to the city that the city includes in their capital their financial statements um that's that's the deliverable that they'll be giving us mr rider i know that this is the first year we've been separated from the city but do you know if the city is on the same track or time frame that we're on good thank you any other questions for mr rider up 6.4 charles street gym i guess i'll address that uh mr uh jerry mccleary and i have worked on that project and jerry i'll let you jump in as well as you know the charles street gym is on the virginia registry of historic projects or properties excuse me and we have some insurances that We will be able to get some grant funds that will
020allow us to bring that property back up to its original state pretty close In order to do that. We had to provide the grant funding agencies a Engineering and architectural study of what it would cost to do that We have now gotten the proposal for the study. It's a little over $19,000 so We will ask the board tonight to approve the $19,000 on this purchase or $19,180 to be exact and the purpose again is to pay for an engineering architectural study that we can then give to the historical properties that we hope will provide grant funds and we have some assurance that they will Mr. McQuarrie, you want to add anything? Well, I have a question that I didn't have a chance to ask you earlier. Is that has this architect provided a timeline for
021completion of the study? What is their timeline? Is that your question? Yes. They're ready to go, my understanding, as soon as we approve the payment. So I think we can get this done within 60 days. I had a question. How does their constructional assessment, them completing that, affect the ability for the Charles Street gym to be used for the programs that we're housing in? That's something that we're going to have to look at at a later date, I think. I mean, their work is not going to be designed for a specific program. It's going to be for general use. No, I'm sorry. Perhaps I wasn't clear. I'm wondering, when they go in to do their constructional assessment, how will that impact the... organizations or the clubs that are in that gym right now can they
022still be in there while they're doing their oh yeah or okay so it did there's no need for that place to be vacated while they do their assessment no we've got an approval now for the wrestling team perhaps to go in for six months because there won't be any your actual construction to speak of until about November December maybe January Robotics was in there as well, but there's a lot of big equipment that goes along with that and I know their season starts typically more towards fall. So that may have an issue with the timeline. Because they really don't start anything until... Right, and wrestling is a winter sport, so starting in November and ending in February, that would be like when you're saying... But they've got training and practice prior to... They do. Where
023robotics starts picking up with their... What they're going to start doing typically like, I want to say October, November. So as wrestling's really getting underway into competition, robotics is just starting to... Think about what's coming. I think robotics comes before the wrestling because they're October wrestling doesn't get it They have a kickoff in October, but the actual competition season isn't until spring. Gotcha. Okay Whoever's responsible for those schedules that they would provide myself mr. Hole and whoever needs to coordinate with inspection With the assessment timeline so that if any equipment needs to be moved for the lifts inside that we can coordinate Or if the building can be utilized so they can go back in and utilize the building we can make sure that all of that is right So I think if we had
024some written schedules, it's there because VHSL determines the schedule for wrestling So it has a finite definite Beginning and end and I don't think first who actually does the robotics I don't think they've come out with their schedule for next year yet. Mr. Yana would be our robotics coach and Mr. Johnson would be the wrestling coach. Dr. Thornton, can you get with them to get schedules? So that we can make sure from an operational standpoint, we don't we don't we aren't inhibitive of this process Whether we also are not inhibitive of Those teams being able to utilize it if necessary. That's what they need. I think it's a matter of coordination. Yes, is there a point person in the office that we can Communicate with reliably in our office So if we had one person
025to help coordinate working with the architects and the different schedules, that would be good. Any other questions, concerns, comments? I would just comment that I know there's a number of people over the years that have brought to the board, various boards, attention, the gym and the community, people in the community. So I think there is, as Mr. Holt said, there is substantial community support for funding for it. So I think this is a good step forward to preserve some history of the Franklin City Public Schools. And not only preserve that history, but provides continual use for current programs. I think this will also give us some of those long-anticipated improvements to that building. Some of us have had feet in there for many years, and we know that there's been some issues that needed to
026be addressed, and I think this is going to give a great opportunity for that as well. Any other questions, comments? Madam Chair, in view of this discussion, I move that we approve purchase order number 22-062 in the amount of $19,180. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, then, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Next up is the uniform policy. As you all may recall back when students were transitioning back into the building because we did have quite a period where they were not in the building so kids could show up for school virtually. and a nice looking shirt and pajama pants if they wanted to. And then we transitioned to where
027they were coming back in the building and pajama pants might not have been acceptable, but we also did have our traditional uniform policy, which we temporarily suspended. for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year. And now we're stepping into the 2021-22 school year and looking at that uniform policy. And Dr. Sterling is bringing it to the board, looking at that dress code for the pre-K through eight. As you may recall, they have a different dress code than the high school does. So looking at that dress code for pre-K through eight, Dr. Sterling is recommending that the dress code remain as it was prior to COVID with one exception. And that was to add in that as a pants option, the students could wear jeans without distressed tears, holes, and or no rips to allowable pants.
028Her rationale for this was due to the economic hardship that COVID-19 has placed on families. Many parents are unable to afford uniforms this school year. And as you can see, there is the uniform dress code. And it's just a mark through on the no jeans material allowed and changing that to jeans allowed without tears, holes, and or rips. the remainder of the dress code would stay intact. And keep in mind K through 8. I don't support this. The rationale was that there would be, there was economic hardship. And I know as one of the provisions in that policy, if you look down, it says, provisions shall be made for parents who truly cannot afford to purchase school uniform clothing and who can demonstrate that need. I think that if the parents are going to purchase...
029pants for their kids for the school year because they've outgrown what they had before. If you look online, I just did a quick cursory search of Walmart and it's either cheaper, well, it is cheaper in most instances to do the uniform pants as opposed to the jeans, which would contradict the need for this. And then at least it's... The same in some instances so they're able to get uniform pants for between 10 and 14 dollars and I was checking the prices for You know the boys like size 8 to 18, you know to kind of cover that middle school span and when we approved the Halt of it for the end of last school year is with the understanding that it would go ahead and revert back to the regular uniform policy and there is
030a plethora of research out there that shows that students wearing uniforms are a benefit to the culture of the school and student achievement and I really would not like to see for us I would not like to see us waver from what we had implemented at those schools Thank you, Ms. Johnson. Anyone else have comments, discussion, questions? So, Ms. Johnson, what's the cost of a pair of jeans? When I was just checking, you can get the minimum price was like... $9.94 to all the way upwards of $30 to $40, and that was at just the Walmart site. And looking at the uniform pants, the khaki pants, they really kind of seemed to cap out at around $14.97, with options being available in the $9 to $10 range for those pants. Madam Chair, may I make
031a comment if you can hear me? Absolutely, Dr. Sterling. Absolutely. Thank you so much. I do understand what Board Member Johnson is saying. And when I have my offices being called, many of the parents are requesting that we don't go back to uniforms. And the students are requesting that we don't go back to uniforms. And for your reasons precisely, Ms. Johnson, I do believe that we have to have some form of a streamline. when it comes to uniforms to support our children, to support all of our children when it comes to, you know, those social-emotional factors when it comes to bullying, who's wearing what, and how does this person look. I totally get that. But then I also had to consider most of our, not most of our parents, but there are a number of
032our parents that are suffering economic hardships, still on unemployment, and at $9. $14 pair of pants takes food off the table, especially if they have multiple children. That is why I asked because the kids did recommend it because the kids did very well when they came back to school. Everyone was nicely dressed. No one had to go home because they were wearing things inappropriately. And I think our children have worked hard and have deserved to be able to have a little bit more variety in the uniform on top of the economic hardship. And that's why I don't want uniforms to go away. I absolutely don't. But I would like to recommend that our children have some form of variety and plus support the parents. financially because we know that they all have jeans in their
033wardrobes. But I concur with you on the research, but I do believe that after years of wearing uniforms and our students did a wonderful job during COVID, that's why the recommendation is coming before you on top of the economic hardships for our families. I just wanted to counter that with if this If the students, if the parents don't want to spend the money because they don't have the money, then I'm assuming that they're still fitting into the clothing that they had before, which would be uniform clothing, so they should already have that available to them. And again, I know that even my own kids at first did not want the uniforms. If the research, there's specific research out there that says... up to 90% of the students asked do not want uniforms if you just
034ask them do you want to wear a uniform. But when they went and probed further, it actually showed that the students were actually for the benefits of the uniforms. There's what does somebody want like a parent and a child and then there's the the research out there that shows We're trying to bring our students to the highest level possible and all arrows point towards keeping them in that uniform and as far as variety we have relaxed on the colors that they can wear and at this point the only difference I would think that needs to be made to the uniform policy might be to take a look at that gender-specific language considering what has just recently come down from the state. Okay. All right. Thank you. And I did know that in the stream three
035funding that we have, there is a provision in there providing principals and other school leaders with the resources necessary to address school needs. So I know that We have the ability, we have closed closets, and there is something in this funding that we have that might be able to assist the parents that might not be able to pay for the uniforms. I just don't think them not wanting to wear them is enough to warrant adding jeans to the mix. Any other questions from any of the board members? There is a provision in the policy that states that the school administrators can, you know, choose as, you know, a reward to the students to do that. And I certainly think that, you know, we want to celebrate our students. And if that's an incentive, I mean,
036that's already built into the policy, though, so that wouldn't be something that we would have to, you know, change. And that wouldn't necessarily even just be jeans. That could be a complete, you know, dress down day with the top as well. But that is in the policy. I do understand that, Board Member Johnson. I just don't see it the same because it's a reward, and this would be integrated in the day-to-day. There are rewards for, you could pay a dollar to raise money or whatever for a jean day, or if you do good on the SOL, you get a jean day or a dress-out day. I'm adamantly against that typo. Pablo's Bell I don't care for it very much that's just my own opinion you have to jump the hoops to be able to wear
037what you want but it is in there but I'm recommending a addition not to take away but Dr. Shelton what you were asking is like could they institute it every Friday be a Jean Day, right? With this it says, exceptions to the policy will be determined by the school's administration and that the administrators can schedule school spirit days. And I mean, I wouldn't see a problem with, okay, every Friday is school spirit day, something like that. I don't necessarily think it would be the current. One thing I will note, not that I'm going to give in as... Ms. Johnson said and knowing Title IX as well, there may need to be some tweaking done to this as references to girls for that Title IX compliance. And also within the policy itself, within the policy manual,
038the JFCAAA, it does refer to open campus near the bottom, which we do not have anymore. So that may need to be revised as well. The first thing that I will ask, within the policy itself, the JFCAAA, because that does not include the actual, it does include the actual listing, in JFCAAA-R, but within JFCAAA, does anyone care to make a motion to remove the open campus? from that policy. What is open campus? That was, it's on my head, it's on my tongue and I can't. Was it an alternative program? Yes, alternative program, yes. Which we do not have anymore. It was right there, I just couldn't get my head. Right there. Does anyone care to make a motion so that we can at least get that portion of the policy corrected? I move that we
039remove open campus from the policy since it no longer exists. Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Any discussion? Just to clarify, you're striking that one sentence? Just that one sentence. That's it. Any other discussion? I would just say it's a part of that sentence, not the whole sentence, right? That phrase. Students attending the open campus. Yes, just removing that and students attending the open campus. Yes, that is correct. For clarification purposes. Any other questions or comments or discussion? All right hearing none we have a motion and a second to remove the term the open camp and students attending the open campus from policy JFCAAA. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Now
040we will look at the actual dress code proposal by the superintendent. Do we have a motion in regards to the superintendent's recommendation to add jeans as an allowable pants option to the dress code for K through 8? I so move. We have a motion by Mr. McCreary. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and we have a second. And just to clarify, that is to add jeans as a pants option for grades K through 8. Yes. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nay. Any abstentions? That motion does carry. Jeans will be allowed as a pants option for grades K through 8 under the dress code policy. And just for the public's knowledge, if they are watching or if they go back and review this, this
041will be jeans with no rips, tears, or holes. And keep in mind that the policy for, there is, I believe, written into the policy. Let me pull it back up. No spandex or jeggings, so keep that in mind. Next up, once my screen decides it wants to refresh, there we go. business by school board members do is there any business of the board Mr. McCrary yes thank you board chair and good evening council members administrators teachers and parents I would like to address some challenges confronting school districts around our state and country for many in America the school setting is no longer a safe haven intellectually, emotionally, morally, and politically for children to learn the basic knowledge and skills needed to succeed in life. Sadly, over the years, the public school has become a bad
042ground for the soul and heart of our nation. Those wanting to change and control our country politically have recognized that the indoctrination of our children is the most efficient and subtle means of obtaining their objective. Most families did not choose this bad ground. It was chosen for them. As such, many who can afford to do so have chosen to leave this battlefield. They send their children to private and parochial schools and increasingly choose to homeschool. Some families have chosen to stay in the public school system, while many others have no other option but to remain. The current battles, among others, include so-called transgender rights and so-called critical race theory. Franklin City Public School District has not chosen these controversial topics. Rather, outside influences are thrusting them upon us and other districts. I feel it is
043my duty and the duty of the board and administration to protect our children from these battles. They should not have to bear these burdens now. Healthy education requires truth to be taught, yet we are being told to teach our children lies. The so-called experts insist that we teach our children that a boy can be a girl and that a girl can be a boy. A child can simply choose what suits him or her and sadly even choose in some instances to mutilate their bodies just to ease their pain. The so-called experts insist that we teach our children that a plethora of genders exist in addition to male and female. The so-called experts have elicited the politicians to mandate we cannot even question such nonsense. So in effect, the law demands that individuals have to live
044in delusion in order to accommodate the dysphoria of others. Boys can use restrooms designated for girls. Girls can use restrooms designated for boys. Boys can compete in sports designated for girls. Is this what we want for our children in Franklin? Is this good? Is this freedom? The dangers of critical race theory are more challenging to confront because of its wide scope. Yet the popular understanding and experience and perception is that the so-called experts insist that the laws and structure of our nation favor those whose skin is lighter than those whose skin is darker. The so-called experts, politicians, and even clergy insist that those living today are guilty of the wrongs of generations dead. The so-called experts and politicians warn our children to believe that they should be distrustful of each other based on the color
045of their skin. The so-called experts appear to distort the teaching of history and laws so as to undermine our founding principles in form of government. versus championing the stated ideals and protections of God-given rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The understood emphasis is on the wrongs and weaknesses of our nation without acknowledging the good, just, and lifetime efforts and sacrifices made by so many to right those wrongs. Is this what we want for our children in Franklin? Is this good? Is this freedom? We are wrong when we do not speak up against unjust laws, policies, and teachings. The reality is that we can and should respect and champion the rights of each individual, but without disrespecting and denying the rights of others. In fact, truth is required to do so. Franklin City
046Public School District does not have to bow to unjust, distorted, and divisive outside influence. My hope and challenge to the school board, administration, teachers, and parents is that we will be wise enough to recognize and confront the lies that would potentially divide and destroy our community. We should stand guard and protect our children. My charge is that we would teach our children truth and reality. Lies divide and destroy. Truth unites and frees. Thank you. Anything else, Mr. McCrory? No, thank you. I will just add that each board member has a voice and represents their own constituents and That voice does not represent the board as a whole because we are each allowed our individual voice So we give each board member their opportunity to speak and we listen and we openly listen and allow each
047board member to speak so I just wanted to clarify that as we move forward any other business by school board members I will say mr. Holt and I probably had the first committee meeting of the entire new year or our new fiscal year we had Finance Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon and it all revolved around that American Rescue Plan Act and getting prepared for that hearing tonight as the timetable was ticking for us to actually have that because we had to have that public hearing before we could submit our plan so that's why we had that tonight and that was our whole focus of that finance meeting One other thing that I will bring up business by school board members And we've actually made this request several times and we're going to put this out again
048our governance handbook states that our agenda for the meeting and any documents that are To be included for the board's review, especially those that we have to take action on Be in by the Friday before our meeting and it is imperative so that we have accurate time to review and to be able to act that any of those documents that are to be included in our agendas must be in the Friday before the meeting. So we are going to go on the record just making sure that everyone that contributes knows those have to be in by the Friday before. We don't want it to get to a situation where we have to table something that's critical because it was in late, but we've got to have accurate time to prepare. so that we can make
049informed decisions. Anything else by school board members? I do know that Ms. Moore did send out notifications to those individuals that head up the committees that we so graciously agreed to be on. And I know everyone's so excited about their committee appointments. She did send out those notifications over the last week, so everybody in the division knows which one of us board members you get on your committees. So be looking for information from those contacts coming to your emails over the next couple of weeks so that you know when you've got to be in a meeting, what time, and how those are scheduled. Anything else? All right, then hearing none, our next big date's coming up in August, our school board work session on the 5th. and we have our regular meeting on the 19th.
050Also keep in mind, you'll see information coming from Ms. Moore because August gets to be a very busy time as we're transitioning back into the school buildings with our staff and our kids. The annual convocation will be coming up next month as well. So I'm sure Ms. Moore will be letting us know as that's coming up. And I know it's always nice to attend and be part of that. And first day of school is right around the corner. We'll blink and we'll be there. Anything else? I do have a question going back on the committee meetings. Will Ms. Moore be the one sending notices out? I'm sure it will be whoever is chairing up that committee. Correct, Ms. Moore? Yep. So, and it should, if we go back and look at that organizational, I don't
051know why my screen just goes blank. If we look underneath, for instance, finance, Mr. Ryder is the chair of that, so Mr. Ryder sends us contacts. Okay, whoever the chair of it. The easy one to be on is discipline because we only have to meet if there's an issue, so we like it when there's no issues. It's even better to be the alternate for that one. Yes, it is. That's even better. All right, so we've gone over upcoming events. Next up is minutes for review. We have our regular meeting from June 17th there for review, as well as our reorganizational meeting from the 1st. Remember, these are just for review for right now. They'll come back to us for approval. Any questions on those? Well, before we get to everyone's favorite, Dr. Thornton, is there
052anything you would like to say? No, I just thank the board for allowing me to come and work with you all this summer. I look forward to working with the team. We've already kind of started meeting one another and working together. summertime for some may seem to be a downtime but it's one of the busiest times of the year. It's important to close the year out right and prepare for the new school year so I know the team is working hard and we're going to continue to press forward to have a good school opening. So, thank you. Thank you, and thank you very much for being willing to come out and work with us while we're in this period. And the reason we brought Dr. Thornton in was we wanted to make sure that all
053of our staff had that set of hands in here so that everyone could focus where they needed to be as we're getting this school year up and running and getting ready for the kids to be back in the building. So thank you. All right, moving next to 9.1, which is everyone's least favorite part of the meeting. Do I have a motion to adjourn? I second. I have a motion and I have a second. Any discussion? Aye. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, you have to stay here. Any abstentions? I declare this meeting adjourned. Thank you very much.