001Testing, testing, okay. All right, we'll move on to director support, Dr. Battle. All right, thank you so much, Chair Player and board members. This evening we have a short presentation for you that's an update around our focus outcomes, specifically around our non-academic data dashboard. And so I'm going to welcome up our chief of student support services, Dr. Lisa Norris, to walk us through the presentation. Thank you, Dr. Battle. Good evening, Board Chair and Dr. Battle, and thank you for the opportunity to share this director's report. Tonight, I'll highlight our progress and ongoing work supporting students reach their academic attendance and behavior goals, rather. In student support services, our work is grounded in improving the overall conditions for teaching and learning. In previous board presentations, we celebrated the academic successes of the district. achieving level five
002designation consecutive years in a row, being recognized by the education recovery scorecard as an exemplar urban district that continues to show gains in literacy and numeracy and increasing graduation rates across the district. We believe that strengthening student attendance and promoting positive student behavior across all schools contributes to these conditions. Tonight's presentation is about the positive school supports focused outcome and the core tenet of creating and supporting engaging, rigorous, and personalized learning experiences for all students. Before I dive more deeply into the celebrations about attendance and behavior, let me take a moment to share with you our two core beliefs. Students learn best when they are in school, and exclusionary discipline is the last resort. MNP is intentionally invested in the integration of academics and social-emotional learning to ensure that students not only receive rigorous academic
003outcomes, but also develop the skills, resilience, and sense of belonging needed to thrive in school and beyond. We ensure that every student is known, supported, and connected through a coordinated system of supports designed to meet academic, social, emotional, and family needs. Each component works together to reduce barriers and improve student outcomes. The Navigator Initiative connects every student with a caring adult who engages in regularly scheduled check-ins that support well-being and develop a sense of belonging. Additionally, students can share any barriers they may have that may impact attendance and behavior. Advocacy and peace centers focus on conflict resolution, restorative practices, and pro-social skill development. They help create safe, supportive school environments where students feel heard and respected. This work directly contributes to improve school climate and reduce disciplinary incidents. Community Achieves leverages partnerships with community organizations
004to bring resources directly into schools. It reflects our belief that schools cannot do this work alone. Community partnership is essential. And family engagement ensures that families are active partners in student success. We focus on building trust, two-way communication, and meaningful engagement. Stronger family connections lead to better attendance, behavior, and academic outcomes. Extended learning provides additional academic time and enrichment opportunities beyond the school day. It helps close gaps and ensure students have opportunities to recover in advance. When implemented with fidelity, these comprehensive supports result in significant reductions in student behaviors, increased engagement and attendance, and stronger relationships between schools, families, and communities. Data that are highlighted in the following slides are evidence that when implemented with fidelity, we can meet attendance and behavior goals. As mentioned in the previous slide, family engagement is a key lever
005in improving the conditions for teaching and learning. This February, Nashville hosted the School Superintendents Association, also known as AASA, and Dr. Battle was presented with the Excellence in Family Engagement Award in recognition of the district's exceptional leadership in advancing family engagement as a cornerstone of student success. This award reflects the belief that stronger relationships, trust, and shared responsibility between schools and families create better outcomes for all students. This year's Family University Engagement Engage Me Summit is a key strategy within our family engagement work, designed to equip and empower families as active partners in student success toward college and career readiness. A standout component of this year's summit was the parent-led session, which shifted families from participants to leaders. This session was facilitated by an experienced MNPS parent who has successfully navigated district systems, focused on
006real-world strategies, advocacy, and navigating school resources, and created a space for authentic storytelling and peer-to-peer learning. The parent-led model reinforces our belief that families are experts and leaders in this work. Strong family engagement is a critical lever in improving attendance and reducing behavior incidents, as connected and empowered families help reinforce expectations, support consistency, and ensure students feel accountable, supported, and ready to engage in school. I would like to take a few moments to express our sincere appreciation to the many stakeholders who make this work possible every single day. The success of our students is the result of a collective effort across our entire community. First, we want to thank our students for showing up, engaging, and making responsible decisions. Families, your involvement is essential to improving attendance, strengthening behavior supports, and ensuring students stay connected
007and successful. To our teachers, we say thank you for your daily dedication to meeting the academic and social-emotional needs of every student. And to our administrators, your leadership is critical in aligning resources and driving outcomes for students. Support Hub leaders, we thank you for coordinating services, removing barriers, and ensuring that schools have what they need to support the whole child. And of course, a huge thanks to our board members and your commitment to funding the initiatives that support improving the conditions for teaching and learning for all students. When all these groups work together, we create a strong, unified system that ensures every student is known, supported, and positioned for success. Attendance remains a foundational priority because it directly impacts student success. This section highlights the importance of students being present and engaged every day. What
008this slide shows us is a consistent steady improvement in attendance outcomes over time beginning in school year 21-22 and continuing each year. The improvement in overall attendance year-over-year demonstrates sustained system-wide progress. Satisfactory attendance has increased showing that more students are consistently attending school at expected levels. At the same time, we've seen chronic absenteeism steadily decline over multiple years. Each year reflects intentional work, strengthening systems, deepening family engagement, and improving access to supports. While final data for school year 25-26 is not yet in, the directional arrows reinforce what the data and internal tracking are telling us. Attendance is improving and absenteeism is decreasing. The trends across every key measure show positive momentum. Taken together, this tells us that our strategies are working and that we are moving in the right direction towards stronger, more consistent student
009attendance. This is impact at scale. These visuals highlight the impact of our collective efforts across schools and communities. They represent the engagement, collaboration, and shared accountability that are driving our attendance gains and our intentional efforts to reach families across the district. Also, this slide reflects our commitment to accessible communication with materials available in multiple languages. Ensuring families understand expectations is a key part of improving attendance outcomes. Families can use tools like the QR code and district resources to learn more about attendance expectations, access tips and supports, and find additional services available in the community. When we align these strategies with our supports, we see real results. More students attending regularly, fewer students becoming chronically absent, and greater consistency across systems. In addition to attendance, we are deeply committed to improving student behavior outcomes. This work
010ensures that students remain in safe, supportive, and productive learning environments. We are seeing a positive downward trend in the number of incidents resulting in exclusionary discipline. From our peak in school year 22-23 at 9,852 incidents to 4,398 in school year 25-26, we've achieved a 55% reduction. This represents a major shift in how we are supporting students in responding to behavior. School year 25-26 represents a breakthrough year with the largest overall reduction from our peak. Reducing incidents to 4,398 demonstrates that our strategies are working and scaling effectively across the district. The decrease in the number of incidents reflect that our students are making stronger, more positive decisions, contributing to safer and more supportive school environments. Teachers and staff are increasingly using restorative practices to respond to student behavior, fostering accountability, repairing harm, and strengthening relationships within
011our school communities. This approach results in students receiving support earlier, keeping students connected to schools, and therefore protecting instructional time. Similarly, the number of students receiving exclusionary discipline has decreased over time. This indicates that more students are staying engaged in school where learning and growth can continue and that schools are using the S3 supports and resources to create the conditions where students feel a sense of belonging. This slide focuses not just on incidents, but on the number of individual students impacted by exclusionary discipline. We see a clear downward trend after school year 22-23, where the number peaked at 6,714 students. By school year 25-26, the number decreased to 3,627 students. That is a reduction of 3,087 students, which represents approximately a 46% decrease over that time. This reduction is critical because it reflects more students
012remaining in the classroom, increased access to instruction, and stronger connections to school and learning. This reduction aligns directly with the improvements we've seen in attendance. More students present contributes to higher attendance rates and reduced chronic absenteeism. Our district-wide approach focuses on educating staff, providing resources, and embedding strong systems of support. By monitoring progress and maintaining alignment, we are ensuring consistent, high-quality implementation across schools. Through much study, we have learned that clear and simple responses to student behavior have the greatest impact. Ultimately, this work creates healthier school communities where students feel a sense of belonging. It also protects instructional time and ensures students remain focused on achieving positive outcomes. By creating positive, engaging, and dynamic school communities and rigorous and personalized learning experiences, students will be able to engage in culturally relevant learning, be contributing members
013of school communities, and engage in positive and affirming behavior. We are committed to ensuring that all students can reach their potential and possibilities. In student support services, our goal is to ensure that students are not only academically prepared, but also supported socially, emotionally, mentally, and physically, so that they can engage fully in learning. We know that this is accomplished through the commitment and leadership of teachers across the district who believe that students are best able to achieve their academic outcomes in classroom communities that are welcoming, affirming, and engaging. Our team focuses on providing the supports, resources, and systems that teachers can use to make this happen. Our teachers are the difference makers. Attendance services ensure students are present and engaged, which is foundational to academic achievement. Student health services and social work teams address physical
014and mental health needs, ensuring students are ready to learn each day. Teams like advocacy and peace centers and positive school supports assist schools in using restorative practices and proactive behavior supports. And family and community partnerships are essential to this work because we need families to become active partners in supporting both attendance and behavior goals. Because of the work of these teams and our collaborations with teachers and administrators, students are attending more regularly, fewer students are experiencing exclusionary discipline, and more students are staying engaged in instruction. This is how we connect student support services directly to improve conditions for teaching and learning. As we've seen through the data, our progress in attendance and reductions in behavior incidents is no accident. It is the result of intentional strategy, alignment, and support at every level, including the board.
015The board can continue to support by... celebrating the success of our schools and support teams, continue to advocate for funding for comprehensive supports, engaging our families in conversations about non-academic goals like attendance and behavior to help reinforce these shared priorities, and reminding parents and families of tools like the personalized student dashboard and other resources. With continued board partnership, we can sustain this momentum and ensure that every student remains connected, supported, and on a path to success. And with that, I'll turn it back to you, Dr. Bowden. Are there any comments or questions from the board? Member Mays? Just a quick comment. Kudos on this 55% reduction in exclusionary discipline. That is huge. That is huge. And a big shout-out should go out to our educators, administrators, families, and especially our students. That is a huge
016achievement. So thank you for sharing that information. Member O'Hara-Block. Thank you, Dr. Norris. I agree with my colleague. That is a really important change that we've experienced in exclusionary discipline, and I know that takes a lot of work. I'm channeling a little bit. When I used to sit on that side of the table and next to Dr. Gentry, she, like, on several different occasions asked... Do we know which things and attendance are working in which places, et cetera, et cetera? And I know that you all have undertaken a couple of studies with PEER on attendance and also on some of the SEL support work. And I would love to just hear you talk a little bit about what it is that you're studying with PEER and what you feel like you've learned and what we're
017going to continue to learn to continue to see. With the chronic absence numbers, you know, this is a problem nationally. I understand, and we have made really good improvement there, but continuing to drive that down, students are in school, they're learning, et cetera, et cetera, is going to be important. And so I just would love to hear more about what are some of the specific things that have been studied, specific strategies, things you've learned, and what you hope to continue to learn. Sure. Thank you for the question. I appreciate it. And certainly I think that we've had plenty of opportunities to look at the things that have been working effectively and taking those things to scale. And so our partnership with peer has allowed us to dig more deeply into the systems that are most
018effective. And why do these systems work effectively in these schools? And how can we take what we learn from these schools and take them to different schools? And so I think that goes, it, it. The range is everything from looking at system alignment to make sure the supports and resources that we imagine are going to have an impact in student support services make sense in schools. So that's why we are in constant conversation and collaboration with our teachers and administrators. I think additionally for attendance, it's really about understanding that attendance plans are supportive. They can help our students achieve their academic outcomes. And so more broadly, when we think about the supports and resources and student support services, we always frame it as protecting instructional time. We frame it that way, we are able to
019make connections for our teachers and administrators and then in some ways it makes sense so it doesn't feel like an add on. What we want to do and what we're committed to is ensuring that there's integration. And so around behavior it has really been about focusing on those restorative practices. But more especially I want to highlight our students. Our students are making different choices. This is a reflection of them feeling welcomed, of them making different choices and by extension we are seeing that in the data. So we're certainly excited about what the future holds. holds, what we're learning from our partnership with PEER, and what we believe are going to hold true in terms of attendance and behavior moving forward for our students. Because the more they're in school, the more instructional hours, the more
020they are able to achieve their dreams. And one of the things I gathered from the symposium that we went to in the in particular the work that was highlighted on on sort of defining SEL defining different services that we offer to students so and thinking about individual outreach and individual ways is that we'll also We're gonna try and get some sense of how each of those types of things each of the different kinds of interventions you talked about from navigators to restorative practices and advocacy centers and these types of things, whether or not we can start to quantify in some way the individual supports and the relationship to some of the outcomes. So I just want to say I'm excited to see that coming and will be eager to learn more. Thanks. Thank you. Member
021Young. Thank you, Chair. Satisfactory attendance is considered. What's my definition on that? Satisfactory attendance, and I'm going to, yes. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you on the spot. No, no, no, not at all. I have my director of attendant services here. That's why I have my team. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Satisfactory, Dr. Carol L. Brown, director of attendant services. My apologies. Satisfactory attendance is defined as students who have attended between 99 and 95% of their days enrolled. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. That was just my attendance question. Thank you. But you can, don't give me exclusionary discipline for interrupting you. There. That's not trying to be cute. The. incidences of this exclusionary discipline. Do we know the demographic of the students receiving those? Does it align with
022the demographics of the student we serve? Or do we see disparities? And if so, are they also improving as we see the number of students receiving exclusionary discipline decreasing? Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. We see positive momentum and positive growth across all student groups, and I think that's certainly reflected in the number of unique students who are receiving exclusionary discipline and then the number of overall incidents. So across all student groups, we are seeing a reduction in behavior and incidents. So do we... Okay. And then of those incidents, are there maybe classifications of the... what the incident was as far as like was it a bullying situation or was it an act of violence or whatever the infraction was? Yes. And so are we, sorry, I've kind of lost my train of thought,
023but. Are all of those kind of categories decreasing overall as well? Yes. Okay. Yes. What you see is a reflection of decreases certainly in the number of incidents, but also the types of incidents. We track those as well. And I guess mentally where I'm going with this is I think of bullying as a pretty pervasive one that ties back into attendance. Because if students feel... speaking from personal experience, like they are going to show up to school and be called slurs and be picked on all that, then they don't want to go to school. And so I just, I commend y'all for the work you are doing because I certainly would think that a lot of that SEL work is improving the situation, not just for the students that are no longer being disciplined because
024they're not committing that. And I don't, not committing, they're not. Being a bully, in a short way to say it, and making our schools safer for all of our students. So, sorry, I'm not probably putting to words exactly what I mean very well, but I think that was all I had, Chair. Sorry, I lost my train of thought. Dr. Nabokini? Thank you, Chair. I echo congratulations to all of the hard work that has gone into improving the outcomes that we are seeing over time. I do have a question around, can you talk a little bit about family support, the things that we're doing to give family support around exclusionary discipline practices that are improving, as well as attendance? So when we think about for student support services, as I said in the presentation, we think
025about it from a comprehensive perspective. And so we recognize that for our students, while they spend time with us, they also return home. And so as we think about that consistency and communicating and certainly the emphasis on family engagement, we recognize that our families are partners in this work around attendance and behavior. So every opportunity that we have from our mentoring opportunities to other opportunities to bring parents and families together, we are talking about and equipping them with this. tools and resources so they can support us at home. Here's how to have a conversation around behavior. Here's how to have a conversation around your feelings that may sometimes lead to poor choices. And so we recognize that for our families, they have, they are seeking us out because they want to be partners. And the
026more that we can partner, the more we will see decreases in both attendance and behavior. Do we have any specific training programs currently in place or is it like, is it, have we created a specific training programs and kind of made those kind of systematic across our district and how we respond to that. We have different opportunities to engage with our families. Certainly, as I mentioned in the presentation, family university is one. We also have the Every Student Known Summit. We work very hard to every opportunity that we bring students together, we invite parents and families. And so we will have a student track and a parent track. And so those topics can range from, again, what I talked about in terms of like helping our students understand and manage their emotions to social media
027and its impact. And so every opportunity, certainly from student support services, when we have a student track, we create a... parent track so that we can support parents in supporting us. Yeah, and I know that we have seen increase in participation in those particular programs and events that we've hosted. What are we doing to support families that we are not reaching through those types of summits? Well, we continue to encourage them to use and reach out, to use the supports and resources that are available. We are forever committed to reaching as many families as possible. And so we push ourselves and challenge ourselves to think about. different ways to communicate, different communities, different partners that we can tap into. And I would say our partners certainly have been very, very beneficial in this. We have
028reached out to our partners to ask them to help us. How do we attract more parents? How do we reach more families? And so we continue with that partnership, but we are always pressing ourselves to figure out how do we ensure that every family gets the supports and resources that they need. Thank you. And then I'm going to push it to the other side. Can you talk a little bit about how we're supporting educators, teachers, and staff with the skills and tools necessary to support them when they're experiencing it, whether in class, in school, to help better support them? I know back in the day we used to have a... class we used to take about classroom management, those different things. What is happening now to better support teachers and staff as they face some
029of the challenges around behavior? Oh, wow. So many supports and resources for our educators. Certainly the professional learning that we have. We have a robust suite of professional learning opportunities for our educators. In addition, my team will also go into classrooms. When you talked about classroom management, we have a team that's dedicated to classroom management. And so whenever opportunity present themselves. We are certainly connecting with our teachers. In fact, part of new teacher induction is we have a comp component where we're talking about classroom management and supporting teachers at the very beginning. Additionally, with our different coaches, we are always ready and available to do coaching, classroom observations, whatever the case may be. But we are committed to, and just again, I keep returning to the presentation, we recognize that our teachers are our key
030levers. They are there every day. We know that in supporting our teachers, supporting students, we will reach the academic outcomes. So along with the professional learning, we have coaching and opportunities to visit teachers as well. And are you tracking, has there been a positive trend in response from teachers saying that they are seeing more positive outcomes as a result of the reduction that we're seeing? Yes. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Dr. Sevier has a question from Robert Taylor. Yes, thank you, Chair. Board Member Taylor is joining remotely tonight and has put two questions in the chat. I'd like to read those on his behalf. The first one, first he says, great job, Dr. Norris and team. How are we using restorative practices to address student behaviors as well as other conflicts between staff, between teachers
031and parents and other groups? Well, For restorative practices, the way that we conceive of it is that it is a tier one approach. Restorative practices, the philosophy really creates that culture and climate in the building where students can be successful, where they feel welcome and engaged. And so we understand that restorative practices, and certainly that's reflected in the data, when we start with restorative practices and foster the accountability and repairing harm and so on and so forth, we know that the end results will be decreased in incidence and decreased, quite frankly, in the number of unique students who are receiving exclusion. discipline. So the restorative practices really is a way of doing business as it were certainly that would apply to our students in the way that we approach behavior but in addition it is
032a contributing factor to creating those cultures where students, teachers, administrators are part of a healthy thriving school community. Thank you and the second question is what are we doing to specifically address racial disparity? You know, when we think about student supports, we think about how do we support every student where they are. And so for every incident, where every school community, every cluster, we are always thinking about how do we personalize those conversations and supports. And so for every student that we have an opportunity to engage with, we want to learn more about what is happening with that student. What are the incidents that have contributed to this so that we can personalize our supports versus. making generalizations about subgroups and student groups. Thank you. Mr. Taylor is nodding in the affirmative. Thank you. Member
033Elrog. Thank you, Chair. Admittedly, this is great information to be very excited about. My great hope is that we will discuss it with our peers at the council. Exclusionary discipline individual. Those individual instances going down is a really hard number to change and chronic absenteeism, a switch on that is incredibly difficult to manipulate. And so being able to do that and not only do it, but consistently do it over several years is really impressive. And I agree that it is an indicator of good strategy and good work that's being done. work and strategy is only able to be done through our highly qualified staff and well-trained staff, whether that's here within the support hub that goes into our buildings, but also our teachers. But that also comes from the funding that we receive from the
034city council that does not come from the state. And when we are having discussions about what is the work that we are doing within our schools that is not direct to grades, this is that work. And that this work turns into those grades, but this work is... imperative to not only the individual students that we're discussing with the decrease of chronic absenteeism, but also their peers. Also their families also those caregivers this has far-reaching impact not only within a school culture But within a student culture as well, and so I hope that as we discuss those things that we can turn on This return on investment as we keep hearing a discussion about with an education and that this is that return on that investment So in these discussions that we will ideally be having
035within our council members and within our our city and state in general Can we have, just to make sure we all understand, a definition of what is exclusionary discipline and what is chronic absenteeism? Since we had a definition of satisfactory, can we also have a definition of those two things as well, just so we can speak as best as we can to those two things? Absolutely. Exclusionary disciplinary responses are any response where the student is removed out of the classroom setting, excluded from the classroom setting. Chronic absenteeism. And I'm going to look at yes, because I think it's if a student has missed 10% or more of their days enrolled. 10% or more of their days enrolled. My apologies. That's total absences, excused, unexcused, and out-of-school suspensions. That's important for us to note that that
036also includes the excused parts as well, because they're still not in the classroom, so they are still missing that instructional time in that language that we're discussing. Even if it's an excused absence, it is still an absence to me. concerned about. Okay. Thank you. The question is 10% how many days and we're saying it's 18 days. Okay. Hold on. Dr. Brown has more. So when we think about chronic absenteeism, we have to consider the total number of instructional days that we actually have due to inclement weather and professional development days, in-service days. This year, we had a total of 167 instructional days. And so that brings us to 16 total absences would cause a student to be considered as being chronically absent. But just also for clarification, sorry, I'm jumping in. But if it's, if
037we've had... 10 days in the school year and I'm absent two of them, I am at that moment in time considered chronically absent. If then we go to 20 days and still two, I'm still chronically absent. If we go to 25 days, still two, I am no longer chronically absent. Correct. So it is also throughout the year moving target and dynamic. So it matters at the end of the year, the total number of school days. Otherwise, it can be dynamic, and it's important that it includes both excused and unexcused and out-of-school. Exclusionary discipline. Yeah. So just really quick, just for further clarification on that, because we hear it oftentimes, if a student is sick or has the flu and they're out for the week, that still contributes to chronic absenteeism, even though it's excused. Yes.
038Okay. Thank you. Any absence contributes. Quick. Member Tyler. So just to kind of get a little bit deeper into the definition of exclusionary discipline. So our students have the ability to go to a peace or advocacy center on their own if they know that they need it. Would that count as an okay? No. Just making sure. It does not count. That we're covering our bases as far as that goes. Because I do think. The point of the piece of the advocacy center is it can on the surface look exclusionary, but it's actually a beneficial reset moment for that student and for the teacher and the class as a whole. And there are moments where it is absolutely appropriate for a student to step aside, regroup, and then come back. And so I'm glad to hear
039that that's not counting as exclusionary discipline. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Thank you, Dr. Norris. Very welcome. My pleasure. I love the support, the collaboration. Now when we move on to public participation, we have one person participating. You have two minutes to speak. The clock is up there, and there's a timer that clocks that. goes down for each minute that you have. So Chris Pimpkin, you have two minutes. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, everybody. My name is Chris Pimpkin. I'm here to ask to get a immediately overturned, a zero tolerance expulsion for my daughter. She's in the Antioch High School. She was expelled for allegedly writing a threatening note. Her actual offense was really just doing the right thing. She found a threatening note at campus in Antioch. She became concerned
040for her safety and responsibly turned in the note to school administration. The response was the school accused her of being the author. During our initial appeal, the administration admitted that they conducted absolutely no professional analysis before they upended her life. Because the district chose to rely on guesswork, I was forced to take matters into my own hands to protect my child. I retained a certified professional forensic handwriting specialist to conduct a formal analysis of the note. The notarized expert report, which has been submitted to the district, conclusively proves that Lilith did not write that note, and she is completely innocent. Despite this definitive, uncontradictive, scientific evidence, the administration has chosen to uphold her expulsion. Furthermore, the district repeatedly delayed its response, hiding behind moving deadlines and administrative technicalities, while denying her the education that she's
041legally entitled to. When systems procedures fail to uncover the truth, it's just an administrative error. But when a system is presented with absolute proof of innocence and still chooses to punish a child, it's really just a failure of justice. Lilith did what we teach our kids to do. We teach them, if you see something, say something. Punishing her for it sends a dangerous message to every student in this district. So I ask this board to review the forensic evidence, look at the facts, and immediately reverse for expulsion. Thanks. Thank you. We'll move on to board reports. There are no board reports. We will now move on to governance issues. I would entertain a motion for the consent agenda. Is there a motion? Motion to approve. There's been a motion by Member Mays. Is there a
042second? Second by Member Block, O'Hara Block. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Do I have to do a roll call? Is it Robert? Yeah, okay. Sorry, we have to do a roll call vote because we have a member that's participating online. Dr. Sevier, can you do a roll call vote? Board Member Taylor, if you can turn your camera on. It appears he may have stepped away for the moment. Okay. The motion passes. Eight to zero. We will now move on to amended charter school amendments. There he is. Never mind. Back up, sorry. He didn't already. Can you do a roll call vote, please? Member Taylor. Okay. I don't believe his name. He said aye. Aye. Ms. Elrod. Aye. Mr. Young. Aye. Dr. Bob McKinney. Aye. Ms. Fain. Aye. Ms. Mays. Aye. Ms. O'Hara-Block.
043Aye. Ms. Tyler. Aye. Chair Plager? Aye. So it passes, consent agenda passes, NAMC 9-0. Now we move on to the amended charter school agreements. All right, at this time I'll turn it over to Executive Director Sharika Ruppey-Grant, who leads our charter office. She has received two amended charter school agreements that she will review with the board this evening. And at this time I'll turn it over to her. Thank you, Dr. Battle. Madam Chair, members of the board, and Superintendent Battle, thank you for the opportunity to share the MNPS Charter Schools Office review team reports on two emergency amendment charter applications. This evening, the Charter Office will present the findings of each emergency application received. The MNPS charter school office received two emergency amendment applications on May 27th 2026 from the Republic Schools Network pertaining to
044Liberty Collegiate and Nashville Prep. Both applications are requesting the removal of fifth grade to align with MNPS's current grade span as well as an enrollment deduction in the current contractual agreement as noted on the slide. Tonight the board has the following voting options for the applications received approve or deny each emergency amendment application if the school's Application is denied the school may appeal the decision to the Tennessee public charter school commission TCA 49-13-110D states the governing body of a charter school may petition its authorizer to amend its charter agreement. A charter school may submit an emergency amendment petition at any time if good cause exists for an amendment due to unanticipated or extraordinary circumstances. Charter Commission rule requires the Tennessee State Board of Education to develop a scoring rubric for use in evaluating petitions to
045amend the charter agreement. The review team utilized the rubric guidance provided by the State Board to determine if the application ratings meets or exceeds the standard or does not meet the standard. Liberty Collegiate requested an emergency amendment to remove fifth grade and decrease its enrollment capacity. The emergency amendment for Liberty Collegiate specifically requests a 6-8 grade span with a maximum enrollment capacity of 162 students. The evidence findings board report was shared with each board member and the applicant on last week. The full report provides the review team's findings, the ratings, and the recommendation. I will turn it over to the board for the discussion and vote for the emergency amendment application for Liberty Collegiate. Are there any questions about the amendment? Okay, Member Mayes. Yes, with the fifth grade potentially moving back, moving out of
046the Liberty Collegiate. Have we made substantial plans to receive those students into zone schools? We have. We have identified the students that have opted to enroll, and there's plans for them to enroll back into their elementary school. Okay. How soon will the families be notified once the decision is made? After the board vote. Love it. Thank you. The representatives are prepared. Thank you so much. Member O'Hara Block. Dr. Obegrant, in your presentation, you mentioned that there are two options, meets or exceeds standards, or does not meet. And just to state for the record, both of these did meet standards. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Any questions? I'll entertain a motion for the amendment. Is there a motion? Move to approve. Move to, there's a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. Second by Member Mays.
047Discussion? Any comments? All right, seeing there's no discussion, Dr. Sevier, will you make a roll call vote, please? Mr. Taylor? Mr. Taylor votes aye. Ms. Elrod? Aye. Ms. Elrod votes aye. Mr. Young? Aye. Mr. Young votes aye. Dr. Bob McKinney? Aye. Dr. Bob McKinney votes aye. Ms. Fain? Ms. Fain votes aye. Ms. Mayes? Aye. Ms. Mayes votes aye. Ms. O'Hara-Block? Aye. Ms. O'Hara-Block votes aye. Ms. Tyler? Aye. Ms. Tyler votes aye. Chair Player? Aye. Chair Player votes aye. Madam Chair, nine ayes. Thank you. It passes 9-0. Dr. Roby Grant? We will now move to the next emergency amendment application, Nashville Prep. The emergency amendment for Nashville Prep specifically requests a 6A grade span with a maximum enrollment capacity of 168 students. The evidence findings board report was shared on last week and includes the ratings
048the findings and the recommendation from the review team I will turn it over to the board for the discussion and the vote for the emergency amendment for Nashville prep Any questions or comments any questions no comments questions for Dr. Ruby grant the vice chair in balcony Yeah, I just have one clarification. When you say the requested amendment enrollment capacity, that's for six through eight? Yes. Okay, thank you. Any other questions? I'll entertain a motion for an amendment. Motion to approve. Motion by Member Mays. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Chair Nabali-Kinney. Discussion? Seeing there's no discussion, we'll call for a roll call vote. Dr. Sevier? Mr. Taylor? Mr. Taylor votes aye. Ms. Elrod? Aye. So I'm mr. Young I young but side dr. Obama Kenny I Dr. Obama Keeney but Simon's fame I
049Spain but Simon's maze I made but I'm miss O'Hara block. I so here but but Simon's Tyler I tell her that's I chair player. All right chair player but sign madam chair nine eyes All right. Thank you very much. Dr. Ruby grant. We appreciate your presentation All right, I want to acknowledge that it is June and it's Pride Month and that we welcome all families, staff, and students, that we have a slogan that MNPS is for all, and we do stand by that. And so happy Pride to our families, students, and employees, and board members. Be no further business. All right. Just really quickly, one other thing. It's also, we'll be celebrating the 160th celebration, a recognition of Juneteenth next week. So it's been 160 years since it's been celebrated. So celebrate. All right. Being
050no further business, this meeting is adjourned. This has been a service of the Metro Nashville Network. If you would like to see this presentation again or for more information on this and other programs, visit nashville.gov.