001All right, we'll now call this meeting to order at 10:03 a.m. We will start with roll call for the record. I am the chair, Carmen Soulton, and I am present. When I call your name, please indicate if you are present. >> Vice, >> present. >> Board member Anderson, >> present. >> Board member Hearnen, >> present. for member Lorraine Irier not present. Thank you. The first agenda uh first item on the agenda is executive session. Do I have a motion to move into executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel and legal matters? >> So move. >> Remember us makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Board member Anderson second the motion. The pending question is the adoption of the motion to move into executive session. Is there any discussion hearing? None. Since
002this requires a recorded vote, Dr. Riter will now call the role. Members, when your name is called, please respond with I if you are in favor, no if you are opposed or abstain if you wish to remain neutral. Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Chair Sultan, >> I. >> Vice Chairs, >> I. >> Board member Anderson, >> hi. >> Board member Hearnen, >> I. >> Board member, >> you let me know what the vote is for. If she's roll call as not present, do we have to reset roll call or do we just >> No, I think she I think she >> I just record the time that she arrived which was 10:04. >> So I think she is saying we're not present exact. >> Okay. >> So the tally the tally stands at the tally
003stands at five uh four eyes and one abstension. The I the eyes have it. The motion is carried and we will move into executive session. >> We will now call this pre-work session to order at 11:45 a.m. Thank you for joining us. >> I'm so sorry. Um, >> I have a motion to move to exit executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel legal where no votes were taken. >> So moved. Remember us makes a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Member Anderson seconds the motion. The pending question is the adoption of a motion to exit executive session. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none. Since this requires a recorded vote, Dr. Whitaker will now call the role. Members, when your name is called to respond with I if you're in favor, no
004if you are opposed or abstain if you wish to remain neutral. Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Sher Sultan. >> I. >> Vice Chair UT. >> I. >> Board member Anderson. >> Hi. >> Board member Hearnen. >> Hi. Four members area. >> First alternative tally stands with five eyes, zero nos, and zero abstensions. >> The eyes have it and the motion is carried. Now, we will call the pre-work session to order at 11:46 a.m. Thank you for joining us today for our board of education pre-work session. Our board meeting cadence allows for board members to prepare for upcoming regular board meetings through pre-work sessions. These sessions are typically more casual and are primarily for information gathering. No formal votes will be taken council from Wilson Morton and Downs as parliamentarian for this meeting to advise on
005parliamentarian procedure as needed. Before we begin our business, I invite Mr. James Brown, director of safety and security to share our safety briefing. >> Morning. >> Good morning. >> Before we begin, I I will conduct a brief safety orientation. and safety is our top priority. DSD follow a standard response protocol which we call the SRP. If a response protocol is announced by staff or or over the PA, please respond as to the following. If we must hold, we will remain in this room and continue business. The doors will be closed to keep the hallways clear for staff and emergency responders. If we must secure due to a possible threat outside the building, we will continue our meeting. But no one is permitted to enter or leave the building. If we must lock down due to
006a threat inside the building, we will move doors and windows, turn off the lights, and remain silent. Follow additional directions from security staff. If you must evaporate, leave your things behind and proceed out the exit behind me to Electric Avenue. have you exit to the right of me. If that exit is not available, an emergency exit is through the doors to my right. If we must shelter due to severe weather, follow staff direction to a safe zone downstairs. Please keep the aisles and doorway clear. If you see something that concerns you, say something to security or another district staff member. Thank you for helping us maintain a safe environment. Thank you board. Our first item is the board meeting preparation and protocol section of the board communication norms. We will now review sections E, F,
007and J on pages six through seven. And we will start with section eight. which is I'll read it for you and then we can provide comments or feedback. The superintendent will develop a calendar of dates for all board agenda preparation activities that includes deadlines for agenda items, chairperson agenda preparation, the date the agenda is finalized for the board and the date the agenda is made available to the public. That is subsection. Do we want to be specific about in advance of meetings times that it gets made available the agenda that is >> meaning that if we say for example it's Friday the the Friday prior to the meeting is when it's public it's made public >> um board members have access to it after it's the agenda is finalized usually that Tuesday prior the week
008prior But I think being specific about when uh board members and when the public are going to have access to the information is something that we should consider. >> I agree. I think that would help with the time frame so board members have a chance to add items so they see the agenda before it becomes finalized. >> Okay. And I would want to ensure that this is for regularly scheduled meetings because if you do a special called meeting, which would be on any other day of the week, it can't be that >> that makes sense >> that it's always going to be made the Friday before. I think it's more so maybe in in accordance with the open meetings act. Is that >> how that mean for special called meetings or for the normal board
009meeting? >> I think yeah >> I think that notice of the meeting >> the special called meetings I think are you know done in response to something and I think generally the board is aware of when a special called meeting and what the agenda for that special called meeting needs to be. So I I would say for our purposes here we should be explicit that E is referencing board our standard regularly scheduled board meetings. >> Then if we could adapt the language so that it references public release the Friday prior to the board meeting released to the fellow members of the board that Tuesday the week prior when the agenda gets set. So the board members have that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to make suggestions or edits or requests prior to the public release of
010the agenda on that following Friday. One thing I think that needs to be clarified. So if we're looking at this E and then F regarding agenda, but if you go up to letter B and A. So A describes a work session. B describes the board meeting capital letters. But if you look at assembly and our agenda, we divide up the board meeting with pre-work, work session, and regular. And so do we need to change the language of B since everything every part of our meeting is part of board meeting and we're saying in B that the purpose of the board meeting is to vote on business matters and the purpose of the work session letter A is to review matters but if you go to assembly or you look at our agenda so assembly has
011meeting type regular monthly meetings the meeting type is board meeting work session session the meeting type is board meeting. Um so there seems to need to be an alignment there. >> Would would it solve it if we're explicit in e that when we are setting the agenda we're setting it for all of the elements of the meeting. Right. So it's not just the regularly scheduled board meeting. It is also the agenda for the work session. Also the agenda for the pre-work. >> Yeah. But I think that B probably needs to be revised. is the purpose of the regular monthly meeting. I mean, that's the way. >> Oh, I see. I see what I see what you're saying. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think to the purpose of the regularly scheduled board meeting is to d
012>> because I was looking at our work session and trying to figure out where some materials would fall and that's when then I saw the board meeting part. >> Okay. Now, I do have another question or possible concern regarding the release of the agenda timewise. And I understand sometimes agendas are going to have more documents and pages than other times, but what is the last time by which someone can sign up for public comment? Because if we're only releasing the agenda to the public, which we don't have to wait until Friday, right? That's what we choose to do. And I think what is the law? Is it 48 hours? So the agenda just has to be published within the two weeks prior to >> Right. Okay. So we've got a two week window, but we
013wait until Friday. I think this past Friday it was like 4:45. It was between like 4:30 and 5 that it went out. So what is the last time by which someone can sign up to offer comments for public comments? >> It's like 5:30 the day of the meeting. >> Okay. Yeah. And so we're satisfied that by waiting until or releasing on sometime Friday, then we're giving the public enough. I understand we get points of information and we might be more prepared for board meetings, but the public is really the consumer of what we put on the website. And so releasing it Friday gives the public time to look on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Yeah, I think that's probably sufficient. It gives it gives >> more time would be more helpful because as a board member
014then when people are contacting over the week like I get it right. I signed up for this gig but if people are getting this Friday afternoon or evening and then they're looking on Saturday or Sunday and I think we've also talked about the fact that obviously CSD staff isn't working on the weekend. So the cadence and maybe it's something to pursue later and ask the public. I know that when we started this school year, I think we had a public comment survey. Um, >> the only issue I think with going sooner, well, I mean, a couple of issues. one, I think giving us the time to be able to respond to it is is necessary, but I also know that when the agenda is finalized, those couple of days between us setting the agenda and
015it being published to the public, the administration and the cabinet in particular is doing a pretty significant amount of work finalizing materials and prepping everything that's going to be published with the agenda. So if if we want to publish an agenda for the public sooner, it should be without any supporting materials because I want to give cabinet administration enough time to actually have those. And so I I there's a little bit of a trade-off there, right? like so so if we are moving it forward we're moving it forward under the assumption that one it might change because the board members may still have adjustments and two it's not going to be until Friday that the supporting data and materials is all published anyway. So I I do at at that point I just wonder whether
016we might be sewing a little bit more confusion by publishing something that isn't quite final and isn't really supported with all of the data. I mean we have a BOP though. So again maybe this is something to look at at a later time and then come back to the norms but the already announces that this will be discussed at this meeting and this will be discussed at this meeting. So from um an administration and as well as a public end there's that kind of knowledge already. I think it's more of the information that people might have questions about and figuring out if that is something that's important to us or do we even know if that's a factor. Again, I'm just going back to the survey we had at the beginning of the school year
017about public comments and then just thinking of the release on Friday afternoons as some a possible and I say just possible issue. >> Um I think we're >> is that it >> done with E? Yeah. >> Okay. Are we going to revise the >> Yes, I I do think that that was a >> It's on here. >> Yeah, >> you're going to say dates. I think it should say no later than >> or is on Friday. If it's spring break, maybe you want earlier in the week. I just think it should say should be made available to public no later than Friday as opposed to just should be made available no later than Tuesday. Okay, >> that's a good I don't want to create a citation that may be unteable given the realities of the
018time. Okay. All right. We talked about B. All right. We'll move on to section F. Um, the date that agenda is finalized for the board will also serve as the final day that the agenda could be modified with the exception of critical hire positions and legal matters. >> In that just to purposes of clarity, when we say the date is the agenda is finalized, are we referencing that Friday is what we're saying is finalized. We probably should >> then we should just make that explicit. Yeah. >> Anything else for subsection for Okay. I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay. J use of consent agenda. The purpose of the consent agenda is to efficiently address routine or non-controversial items. Items are expected to receive unanimous approval and for which no debate is expected or appropriate for placement on the
019consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda are considered as a group without debate or amendment. If a member objects to a matter that is placed on the consent agenda, the member is encouraged to make such objection at least prior to the meeting. However, prior to voting on the consent agenda, any member may request to remove an item regular agenda to be placed and it will be placed on the regular agenda for discussion and vote by in its proper order. That's J. Yep. I think that's pretty clear. I I don't >> Can I go back to G? Sorry. That's >> any any other comments on Jay before we move on. >> Jay Jay was Jay was an addition. This was Jay is the addition based upon the conversation from last month. So this is what is
020being presented as the modification. So >> that's good. Uh just want to say for 10 agenda. It shouldn't be used for significant matters like charter amendment. I know it's on us as order members to make sure that the public can see and understand what's going on. >> So you're suggesting that we make it is there language that you would add to James? I'm just reiterating like a charter amendment because I I think have noticed that in the past that seems significant to me. Uh it should be done in a regular meeting not you know and voted on not on not consent agenda. >> Okay. Anything else on J? >> All right. I think I see a discrepancy between G and I. So if board members believe it said something to be effective, use all available
021information when making decisions. So the way G is written, it seems to create a problem with limiting that information available. And yet at I as long as one board member supports another board member's request for some. So G requires a majority. It's not a vote. So a board member asks for information and uh three other board members are like I don't want to see it. I don't need it. And you don't get it. But you move to I and a board member can request an item be placed on the agenda. And that item may very well have to do with the information that was requested. And if you have the information, it may never have needed to be an agenda. But either way, G and I are in conflict. I think from just to kind
022of flush out G the way that I receive this is that asking a a small question like hey um Amanda can you tell me can you pull you policy on AB and C easy question but you have to make sure that you loop in the superintendent all your other board members easy question you know doesn't take much time if you're asking for something that is a huge information request that may take a lot of the staff's time or it's questions with multiple parts or requires a data poll or something like that. Then um that may be something that the board has to get behind. Is that something the board wants to ask? Is that a direction the board wants to head in? Especially if it's something that the that may take a lot of staff
023member time. Now there may be some greyness to it. It can be a little nebulous. um something that may seem very simple to you may seem complicated in my eyes but um I think that's what I'm >> hearing here that if it's a big request of the superintendent especially and Dr. Whitaker may want to chime in from her perspective >> then we have to make sure that it's an information ask of the entirety of the board and not just one singular person that's asking for a lot of information. I I think you talked about this >> if we could I think board member area >> I was just yeah gonna note that you know in the past I've had difficulty accessing records and asking for those records repeatedly over weeks um and having to have
024you know other people request those and some of those have been I understand when it's can be an overly burdensome or just asking for a contract that may be several pages. And so I just want to note understanding that line of when it's an overly burdensome thing that requires maybe compiling data is one thing, but accessing records and contracts shouldn't be that difficult that you have to request repeatedly over weeks. I would say >> yeah I would so the request for contract or really things that would fall below the threshold of approved amount is a guidance that was given by the Georgia school board association and that if the authorization falls below that is not something that is in the board's purview if the authoriz authorization is above that is something that is in the
025board's purview and so that was what the guidance that was given by the member organization for school board >> that seems to be in conflict with this information request item saying that it will be provided by the superintendent for you know as long as it's not overly burdensome and I think that's where things have gotten difficult because in my understanding you know, it's our fiduciary duty to understand all of the expenses that are happening, which I, you know, totally understand some things are under the threshold for approval matters, >> but just understanding what um how a contract is set up or what it's for, >> I disagree that it's not within our purview. >> So, just pulling a contract is not burdensome, right? So if it's just you know you wanted to see >> the
026latest greatest contract on HVAC systems that shouldn't be burdensome or is it that is a total question. >> Yeah. >> For this for you. >> No pulling a contract is not the approval of said contract that is below the threshold is was the point of contention that was specified by Georgia school board association. >> Okay. So to button that up if board member area asks for a contract and that that should fall clearly under that does not fall under G. You shouldn't need any you shouldn't need any other >> if it's not overly >> because she's just saying that's not burdensome at all. >> Okay. when you're saying it's not in my purview, I guess it's I understand it's not it's something you have authority over to approve, but I think at the same time
027as board members, we have, you know, fiduciary responsibilities to request and ask and understand what it is. >> Yeah. after um Rainan shared, I think quite frankly it's just written too subjectively and I'm hearing a lot of interjections of interpretations and so again I just want to make sure that I'm doing what I need to right and um so in that regard you know I don't know how we want to clarify this but unless someone can tell me otherwise but actually G is in conflict with I right now because for I, it only takes one other board member to have something put on the agenda. >> With G, it's effectively a vote, but not a vote. >> I have a I have a suggestion. Today's board session was to review sections EF engine. So, let's
028move these other items to our retreat because E, F, and J were the items to be discussed and that's what's in the published agenda. >> So, we want to add G. Uh, it sounds like Goldberg Anderson is is wanting to add I as well since those two. Um >> E we we talked about E G >> G is what I'm saying. Yeah. So G and I are the the two that it sounds like we're talking about G. I think remember Anderson made a question about I. So we would add G and I. >> Yes. >> Is there another >> and do you do you want to do G H and I >> because we did talk about B and that was not an an item on the agenda. Well, I feel like we've we've closed
029the door on B. I think we've got that clear. So, I don't know that we need to add that in. H, I'm reading it. I don't see anything particular. From my perspective, I don't see anything controversial in H unless the board members feel differently, but I think what I'm hearing is G and I are the two that we want to add to the retreat. >> Perfect. You may want to look at P. I think we talked about the no later than um or when the packets were coming out. You may want to look at how P fits in there. >> Yeah. just to make sure they hit the line. >> Yeah. >> So, G I perfect. Moving. Technically, we're on J. Anything on J? Anything else? Okay. All right. Dr. Whitaker, the next item. >>
030Yes, Dr. Sal. I would like to invite Mrs. Amanda Lynch, chief of staff, to continue the discussion of policy AB, school attendance zone. Good afternoon, board chair Dr. Sultan, vice chair of esteemed members of the board, and superintendent Dr. Whitaker. The policy portion of the pre-work agenda allows for more discussion and feedback on policies. While individual policies address different strategic accelerators, overall policy development contributes to strategic accelerator 4, organizational effectiveness excellence. We have one policy on the agenda for pre-work today. A continued discussion on content for developing possible school utilization policies. We have started with policy AD, school attendance zones. Last month, we used other metro area policies to identify content that we might want to include in a CSD policy. In response to a board request, several additional policies from a national scan were
031also shared with you. Today, you have been provided with an initial draft based on your discussion and on what I and on which I would like your feedback. I will highlight aspects one at a time stopping to hear your responses and direction on each. So first I heard clearly last month from the board that the policy should state that the superintendent makes a recommendation for the board to approve. This is reflected in the draft policy paragraph 3. This paragraph also captures the sentiment expressed that would impact the entirety of our small district. Some additional discussion took place about allowing the superintendent to make small changes without board approval, but there was no consensus on what precisely this might include. So, in this draft, the idea was incorporated by granting the superintendent the authority to determine
032attended zones for newly annexed areas or new residential development. And that's in the final paragraph. So, I'm going to pause for a minute and see what feedback you have about the content I just shared relative to the superintendent and board authority in the policy. My first question is where does the tuition paying student fall in this? So that we've got beginning the attendance zone is determined by the students residential address and then we've got a set of criteria the building utilization the ratio of available core classroom projected enrollment. So it it seems like indirectly tuition paying through enrollment is here and so it just would like to understand how that would factor into this. Yeah. So, right now that would live in the separate kind of non-resident policy, the allowance behind it. Um, what I
033can do is just like last time, I'm going to write down a note about like how this might fit in and whether it fits here or more at the regulation level about making determinations of non-resident students and where they might go. >> I I I don't have an answer here, right? So, I'm I'm raising a problem without a solution, and I hate doing that, but that's I'm going to do it anyway. Uh the section around the process for community engagement. Um, I recognize that there is some flexibility that's needed there and that there are going to be elements of that that are probably at a regulation level, but I would like to see us put some harder lines around what we mean by that in actual policy and and some expectations around how that engagement
034looks and how that process works. >> Perfect. Can I put up Ken in that for just a second because I have a little spiel about that in a minute. >> All right. But no, it is I was going to I said there was time frame seems to be crucial like some element of the time or times at which these things take place. I don't know if that's part of your and yeah so yeah is there anything else first and and if we want to do this more organically that's perfectly fine as well. I was trying to enumerate kind of where I heard some things and where I wasn't clear from last month. So, if there's anything else that kind of jumps out kind of about the the superintendent bringing to the board for approval or
035that kind of additional authority at the bottom, any feedback specifically on that? >> I got two other things here. So, in the fourth pair, oh, did I cut someone off? >> No. >> Oh, sorry. The district will considering the following primary um following primary criteria. So is utilization at this point solely classroom use because I know like you know the proposed new ECL has multi-purpose space right the DHS expansion and so are we limiting building utilization for school attendance zone solely to classrooms to students. So the way it's defined here is the ratio of available core classroom capacity to the projected enrollment. So, if we wanted to add an additional criteria, I would need based on that. And based on this conversation, I'm going to go ahead and maybe jump into this part right here,
036which was my next part to bring up because I was trying to chunk it into little decisions so I could receive clear guidance right now. Is there anything that you would want changed based on the superintendent making the recommendation or that final paragraph? >> Yeah. Um, so the second to last paragraph when attendance lines are al >> So hold on that about the >> I'm getting you're getting ahead of me >> for attendant recommendations. >> Okay. >> To respond to that. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> You're asking for feedback on the last paragraph. >> I'm asking for feedback specifically on the third paragraph and that final paragraph which has to do with what the superintendent's authority is related to approval for the board. I I think the board has to approve it. I think it's
037um just something that has such community consequence and one of our roles is to kind of be that vehicle communicating with the community. Um I don't know how it's written. I'm not trying to like supersede, but I I do think the board needs more of a role there. So we have it that the the superintendent would make the recommendation and the board would approve it. >> I think that's the last paragraph. >> The last paragraph says without board approval. This is the exception to it. So at the third paragraph it talks about may make re grade configurations or feeder patterns for board of education approval. And then we also heard loudly that that we recognize in our small district it impacts not just that school but the whole district. So we put that sentence in
038there as well. Then at the bottom, the very bottom, and I'm sorry to go out of order here, but this one is the exception in which the superintendent would not need to come to the school board for um an approval. And that would because there was some discussion about like when there's minor decisions, we don't we want to be able to keep things moving. So, this was the attempted act to hear based on last month's discussion. So it just says if there's a new area annexed into the city then the superintendent has the authority without board approval to say this is going to go into this school zone right because of where we are. All right. So, two two things. One, I think we need to take that paragraph, and this is as right now
039unedited, but we need to take that paragraph and put it underneath the paragraph number three because those two paragraphs are tied together, right? >> Second, um, so, so let me just play devil's advocate on that last paragraph, right? you a new development might be the 140 people at Legacy Park or if we annex it might be five or six neighborhoods like it might be a substantial amount and we don't necessarily control innovation right so so we might be in in these exceptions talking about a substantial number of of children and and I think that needs to go in front of the board right so I some boundaries around like if we're talking about an annexation that has one additional student, okay, maybe that doesn't come to the board, but I do think there needs to
040be a threshold there like >> and I I think I mean I'm arbitrarily saying this, but I think anything over five students probably needs to come back. I think the cabs had a number >> there was one that had 10 and this is where that discussion came from. So we started having discussion around where do we set the limits and so we said 10 felt like too many last time but then it was like how often will things really happen where it'll be one or two things or those types of things but give me the threshold and we we can work it in. It seems like it should be household not you know one might have so maybe >> I heard five households can >> I think I think five is reasonable I think if
041I don't think coming before the board for um I think the superintendent should be able to have the authority to manage three students because to her to board member Eric's point they could all be from the same home. Um, okay. So, let let me let me let me let me throw out a problem for President Scots, >> right? So, let's say there's an annexation and that annexation is under the five household threshold, right? Maybe there's seven students, but that seven students, if it goes to school X, now puts that school at full capacity and or even potentially over full capacity. So some other shuffling because of those students is required or the superintendent's recommendation in that case even though it's the closest school. The recommendation is to send them to a different school that has
042more space. I just I can see us very quickly getting into a situation where it's complicated and it probably needs to come in front of the board >> and then it seems like it would kick into the general rule of may recommendations to attendance zones. So I hear what you're saying like moving so many you know maybe seven kids could then you know put us into a bigger question but then to me when I'm reading it the general rule is if it then kicks us into the bigger question then we would how does what is the mechanism that kicks us into the bigger question that's so I I I if we can put that mechanism in place I'd buy that but what is that mechanism >> so right now the mechanism based on this discussion
043would be when it impacts more than five households only in the circumstance chances of annexation or new residential development. So what this would do, it would allow exactly what you're saying, right? So if there's a new area, it's closest to school A, but it would it's not the whatever reason to put an A, we the superintendent would have the authority if it was less than five households to say you go to school B, transportation, all that would still be provided, right? like we normally would, but if it was anything more than those five households or outside of annexation or outside of um new residential development, it would have to come to the board anyway. That's the default. >> So, are we going to talk about time frames of when this >> Yes. So, right now,
044I was just trying to try to get the part about the board approval and the >> So, if I could just kind of follow up with what Hans is saying, I guess, please someone inform me if I'm wrong here. This just doesn't seem like something's going to happen every month. So, I just don't know why we wouldn't just have the board approval just so that all things are kind of moving in the same body of knowledge because not trying to conflate the two, but as we have tuition paying, I'm don't want to bring in something that may not be relevant right now, but we were talking about prek. I don't know what that's going to look like in a year. Um, so I just think it's easier to just have the board prove all of
045it unless I'm wrong and this is something that happens weekly or monthly. >> I I kind of agree. I just annexation is such a giant thing. I mean, we're using the word simply and we're talking about small numbers and it might be, but annexation is just there is a >> there's a whole cans of worms around annexation and all of that I think should probably end up. >> So, is there an appetite to just scratch the last paragraph? Yeah, I think my index would be let's lose the last paragraph. And if we find ourselves in situations where this is a routine thing that we have to think about and it's annoying, then maybe we have the thinking about adding it back in. But right now, I tend to agree with board member Anderson. I think
046this is a rare event and it's probably going to be okay to confirm it. All right, we're gonna I'll I'll >> I mean that's just board member Anderson and I talk. I wanted to fellow board member see >> individual home annexation can happen at any time. I'd be interested. >> It's like one or two. I don't want to Yeah, >> two a year. Is that our average? >> Yeah. I also feel like if it was three children from the same household that I don't think that needs to come before the board at all. um you know even if it was two households that total five children um I don't think that needs to come for the board >> but how often is it happen probably extraordinarily rare circumstances >> that's what I mean yeah and
047so maybe we do just for the time being rather than being more lax about it being tighter about it meaning it comes in front of us in those extremely rare circumstances and if we see it happening enough that we need to build more flexibility into the policy then at that point we have flexibility into the policy. >> I would say um in the past three years there was two conversations >> yeah two >> in the past three years two conversations >> but um Dr. Whitaker how often in the past two years you've been here have you had to maybe adjust never. Okay. >> So, that's where >> Okay, that's helpful. >> I can only speak to the past three years. >> Excellent. >> Yeah. My index is to say have more control over it and
048back off of it if we need to. So, I would take that off or fellow board members. Is that >> I agree. That's fine. This seems like it's a race thing. >> All right. So now I also heard clearly from the board that the criteria for changing pool attendance zone should be specified. Walkability was one criterion that was explicitly named but the other criteria were not as clearly defined in the discussion. Therefore I would like board direction on the criteria proposed in this draft. So these are your bulleted areas where it talks about some primary and secondary criteria that can be considered. Um right now we have building utilization, geographic proximity, efficient and economical operations, facility condition, so on and so forth. You have it in front of you. Um so feedback on the criteria,
049what needs to be removed, kept, added, researched, whatever. I don't know if this is going to matter, but I just feel strongly I want after safety and traffic patterns prioritizing walkability like this morning college whatever construction project is going on there's fewer cars on the road even if I can't walk my daughter to school I think it's better for everyone so I understand it says safety and traffic patterns but I personally like articulating the prioritizing of walkability >> that bullet too on the first set. Yeah. >> So, I'm sorry. So, they they will consider including max. Okay. So, then >> Okay. >> But but I but to to to board member Anderson's point, I actually think safety and traffic patterns is a primary criteria, not a secondary criteria. Safety is going to always be a
050primary criteria. So, I would move that one. All right. I guess I'm just thinking and maybe this is as rare as the one or two families that may or may not be in it if there are like long-term construction projects, but I that's not going to impact us though. That's just going to impact operations. So I guess the other thing and I I think I know I'm conflating them but I just want to confirm in case I'm not. So I understand that underneath the primary criteria and the additional criteria is then a discussion of community engagement. Is it possible to include some element of community engagement in the criteria or stakeholder wants to be called? I guess what I'm thinking is, you know, this is all used all these criteria descriptions. Now we have a
051community engagement meeting and it's possible if there was some stuff from the community earlier in the criteria >> like like so for example if the community says we realize you want to have efficient and economical operations but we're willing to pay a little bit more to keep small schools open that that is the overriding one of our primary criteria and so I think maybe there is a way to incorporate into criteria the communities perspective or preferences. I don't know what the language would be, but but I think that's a reasonable thing for us to consider when we're looking at criteria. >> The other thing I wondered, I think it's addressed in the equity impacts, but um academic performance, does that matter? And I realize I can get difficult. So maybe it's addressed in the equity
052impacts including access to instructional. >> Uh I would not recommend that a board policy on attendant zones includes academic performance. That is saying that essentially the board is going to determine the attendance zone based upon students outcomes. Yeah. No, I understand what you mean by Yeah. No, I would never suggest that they move because I just wondered since we are looking at institutions of education everything we have is kind of more logistic and is there anything other than preserving the instructional program that needs to or act right now. See, y'all tell me if I'm wrong. The only thing that really addresses education is an equity instructional program. So, I just wondered if there needed to be something else and don't know what that else is. That's why I mentioned academic performance. I don't think is
053the best phrase. >> I think it assumes that your child will get an excellent education wherever they are zoned. So, if they go from one school to the next, the quality of education would be as superior. equity impact I think was built in there the way I read it from the other policies was to make sure that if a child was reszoned they didn't lose their services. So if for some reason they were at Winona Park and they got OTPT speech and then we reszoned them somewhere else but they didn't lose services. >> Yeah. You know, I think Oh, sorry. >> What I was going to say to your point, board member Anderson, I I think that if you have >> I agree with with Dr. Sultan. If there are differential performances at certain schools,
054then other policies should handle how we address that. I think resoning is the wrong place >> to address. I think that opens a can of worms that we don't want to get into. Yeah. Then one other thing, I don't know if this is in facility condition, but and I'm thinking specifically of the K through two and the upper elementary um outside space, playground, other things, I guess. Is that where would that or does that matter? >> You mean meaning that everyone all of the kids at every school have access to the same quality of >> Yeah. as we talked about is recreational that >> each school has the same, >> you know, level of excellence educationally. >> Is is there anything in terms of the outdoor because I'm also thinking that legislative stuff we're looking
055at and prioritizing outdoor space. >> Yeah, I don't know if that school attendance. >> Okay. >> Yeah. If you if you think about it, board member Anderson, that this this is telling us when to change where people go to school. And if so, if a if a playground is subpar, that's not Yeah, we need we need to we need to fix that elsewhere. Yeah. >> All right. So, um now we're going to talk about the remaining parts that I try to build it into this draft for us um based on what you agreed with or what you argued with or what you wanted to see adjusted last month. So, note that it also includes an annual report to the board on school utilization and capacity rates. That was one of the things that you all
056said you wanted to see. Um there's also the requirement for community engagement with school attendance zones. Um based on the discussion last month, this section includes that community forum should be led by a trained facilitator. That was one of the pieces of language that you pulled out from another policy and that BOE members may participate as observers. That's something else that you pulled out. So if you have any feedback on that. And then the other piece that is also in here is the grandfathering clause um which allows um the ability to establish conditions for exceptions. So i.e. if there's a school a student at the terminal entering the terminal grade level at that particular school potentially allowing them to stay for for the year to finish up. So feedback on those pieces. We have I
057think a few minutes left. >> I like I like the grandfathering. I like I like maintaining that kind of flexibility. Uh and then to my point earlier, uh I'm I'm want to maintain that we have in policy that we're going to have community engagement. I I would like to see it tightened up around what we mean by that and what that looks like. And there's a balance we have to strike between too much detail and not enough detail. But I think I would be I obviously want to hear my fellow board members, but I would like to see a little bit more explicit detail about what that that means, right? And and the timing I think board member Anderson said, I think a couple of things like that need to be uh called out, >>
058right? So timing is one possibility. Other suggestions to tighten that. So now that I'm thinking about it, our charter already identifies or our governance structure has the SLT SCT that be written into this or I guess it's SLC's and one SCT. Why wouldn't that be included? Well, SLTs are really providing governance at the local school level. So they're informing local schools. The fact that we have an SLT is actually not something that's required by the state. It's something that we do above and beyond. If you remember back to the November training with the charter system, they're like, "Oo, this is a great practice that you guys have with your team and bringing them together um to, you know, share information and that kind of stuff." And so it was one of the things they they
059wanted to highlight that we do. Um so the SLT might be a a body, but with charter renewals every five years and things like that, you know, some some things might might tweak. Um I think that is probably a good recommended practice. um that might belong at the kind of like regulation or practice level. I don't know. I'm curious. >> Wouldn't that be though? The reason I like it is because it is something that is like codified, right? So as opposed to figuring it out each year, this at least for the duration of this charter exists and then so otherwise, you know, you're back to like Hans's question of how do you get different what is this engagement look like? >> I would let me let me see if I can maybe say it this
060way. I I recognize that our charter defines what the SLTs do, okay? But we define that. We can define it differently if we so choose. Like we could say SLT's roles are local school governance and on an annualized basis participating as a body or a crossbody group to provide feedback on school utilization. Right? I mean we could expand the scope of what we use SLTS to do to include this. The reason why I think that's interesting is because these are leaders. These are people who have run engaged parents who have committed time and are knowledgeable about their local schools. That does feel like a source of expertise that we should tap into. And so if we need to if maybe we we use the people that are on the SLT teams in a way outside
061of the SLT roles, like I think we can be creative here, but we have a a a body of people who are knowledgeable, expert, locally to the system. It feels like we ought to leverage that. >> But can I but we did do that, right? Because the SCP takes one person to be funds each. >> But why wouldn't we use all of them is what I'm asking. I mean, I did that. >> That's why I was suggesting >> I'm wondering if we can't just incorporate the SLTs into the process for community engagement there explicitly. And then you know and then the second thing I just wanted to bring up is justing and timing which I think would be helpful to clarify. Um I like the annual report you know looking at the utilization and capacity
062rate. I just think that, you know, we need the inner report if we're going to make, you know, if the if the superintendent is going to make recommendations of changing things, then community meetings, right? That process happens and then the board decides. So I think you know I ran into a little difficulties or you know with K2 utilization just learning from the past um and having a time frame for the public to be aware of this is how it's going to roll right maybe the um annual report comes up at the beginning of the year or whatever the superintendent thinks that's the most appropriate maybe at the end of the year who knows then we have the community meetings You know, maybe she makes recommendations with the annual report after the committee meets, then the
063board decides. >> Can I can I make a suggestion? I think when we talk about recommendations that the board that the superintendent makes, I think we should be explicit that when she provides the annual re report, the recommendation is not that we make changes >> because the community hasn't weighed in yet. I think the recommendation at that point is we have to now start a community process to arrive at our answer and then that process where our decision is informed by the community as well is what leads us as a community towards an answer as to what happened. I think maybe the way to get at that might be that there's an annual report and then maybe I'm I need somebody to this maybe then it's followed by the community engagement because it may be
064that there's an annual report and you're still in the report phase like I think the CAB took two years just in like the reporting out phase the data collection phase um so you may be at that report phase like for a year a year or two before you even arrive at the community engagement phase and you may be at that for another year before you actually arrive at a decision phase. So maybe it's the not the timeline but the sequence that's more >> Yeah, I hear you on that. I just am wondering, you know, if she's doing the annual report and sees there's an issue, right? And obviously something you got to give or change, right? There's some kind of maybe recommendation, right? So, I I just want to remind the board that we're talking
065about attendance zones. >> You're not talking about >> not closure. >> You're not talking about that. You're talking about attendance zones, which >> sometimes I feel like >> we're talking about something else. >> Yeah. Well, just to be very very clear, it is if we So, let me just kind of walk through what might happen, right? So, that we have a couple of years where we get an annual report and there really isn't an issue, right? Everything looks fine and then we start seeing a particular way. The report comes out and we're below thresholds in a couple of schools and we recognize some action needs to be taken. That is the recommendation that the superintendent provides. Some action needs to be taken. that kicks off a community process where at the end of that community
066process we have new attendance zones that have been solicited by engaged with and decided upon as a community not just an individual or not just a consultant but the entirety of the community and it isn't related to closure I I I want us to be super aware here >> while we had trouble because we were talking about closures before, >> right? >> Utilization and redistricting is going to be just as difficult a conversation with the community. We shouldn't pretend otherwise, right? When we move kids from one school to another, that is a tough conversation and so it needs to be we have identified that the data is trending in a difficult direction. We think we need to take action. It is that is the recommendation of the superintendent to the community that we start the
067process to take that action and then that is where the community engagement process goes and the end of that which we do not know at the beginning >> I think that's important the end of that process is what we adopt in the new attendance zones if the community wishes to >> okay going back to sequencing it sounds like make sure I'm getting in a report from the superintendent she sees maybe some action needs to happen. We let then the community meetings happen. Then she makes recommendations on the specifics and then the board decides. >> I think the >> I think I'm hearing >> I think the community meetings provide the recommended path forward. It is not just the superintendent. It is not us. It is the output of the community engagement that is the recommendation.
068>> I think that makes sense. Yeah. So, but it's that kind of preliminary the superintendent says, "Okay, we need to look at this. Let's take some action. >> That's the recommendation to the one she makes after the right." >> So then it would be like a final Yeah. >> final recommendation. >> Yeah. Like for us to look at this. I I think I have like two to three questions going back. One, where's the city in this? Um, so I remember looking up stuff to get kind of caught up to see the last 10 years of different changes, buildings, whatever. And so I I think it was 2015, it could have been 2017, but somewhere in that time frame, I found on simply a lot of stuff where the district and the city were actually examining
069things together. you know, I think maybe it's a different kind of development. So, I I do feel like the city should at least be included in some way because they might be offering we might not have about changing in the district. >> I would call the city one of the engaged stakeholders that we work with. >> Okay. Because I don't see that really there. So, I just Okay. Then second is to the report and I just want to make sure I'm clear on this. So, I know we have this like wool report that looks at just the number of humans and then like you're looking at school enrollment, but then there's the kind of what your neighbors know. So, like you know, a lot of the kids on my street, you remember they all grew
070up together, right? So, are we talking just about an annual report? Are we looking at like based on the birth data, if you will, and the children in this zone right now? It's not just the enrollment number, right? It's the two-year-olds or the three-year-olds. So, where does that go into the report? >> I don't Yeah, I I don't know. I I do feel like the contents of the annual report are probably more at a policy level, but I'm kind of open to changing my opinion on that if the rest of the report feels differently. I I feel like we may have to iterate a couple times to arrive at what the final form of that report looks like and I am not sure that I am prepared now to kind of say here's line by
071line what I want to see in the report. >> In the interest of time, did you get everything? >> Yeah, I think this is helpful. If it's okay with you all, I would propose that I take some of this feedback, work it in, and we bring it back to pre-work next month. Um, as well with the recognition that this is the attendance zone policy, and we know that we might also need to look at developing other policies of things specifically related to school closure, for example, that can be something that we put on the policy calendar for the next school year as well. >> Thank you. >> As a result of this discussion, we look forward to next month's engagement with this policy and pre-work. Thank you, Mrs. Lynch. There being no further business, this
072pre-work session is adjourned at exactly 12:45 p.m. We will move into the legislative lunch, which includes a recap of the legislative session in the PLC room. Anyone watching via Zoom, please remain on the line and give us a moment to transition. Welcome to our legislators, Representative Mary Margaret Oliver. Please all, we have lots of people. Thank you. So for our lobbyists of Maguire Woods and Gilbert Herald, thank you for supporting our lunchon today and also for sponsoring it. I'll now invite everyone to enjoy lunch. Yeah. Oh, great. >> So, my daughter Hi everyone. >> Hello. >> Good afternoon everybody. Um, I invite you to continue enjoying your lunch as I review the city's legislative priorities and legislation that passed with. >> Good afternoon, Chair Silton, vice chairs, members of the board, student board representative, our
073um students board um apprentice who would be representative Zoe Um, legislators and Dr. Whitaker, thank you for joining us today. The recent legislative session, which ran from January 12th through April 2nd, was incredibly busy. Over those 40 days, we monitored more than 180 bills and resolutions with 32 education related bills successfully passing. As this was the second year of the bianium, any unfinished legislation must now be reintroduced for the 2027 session. I will quickly remind us of our 2026 legislative priorities and then turn the presentation over to the lobbying team that worked with us this session to share an overview of what happened during the session and what has been happening in the 40 days since sign. Today May 12th marks the 40th day and the last day for the governor to sign or veto
074legislation. City School Educator Board of Education annually adopts legislative priorities to support the missions of City Schools educator and all four of our strategic accelerators to improve outcomes for all students. The 2026 legislative priorities were categorized under four focus areas. Safety and security, mental health, funding, local authority, and governance. The first legislative focus area is safety and security. Our priorities under this focus area included advocating to continue to allocate funding for school safety and state budget, making this a stable ongoing priority, require safe and secure firearms storage for all citizens, allocate funding for monitoring, installation, licensing, and maintenance of potential potential physical and cyber threats, and continuous training for school administrators. continue to allow local governments to operate and enforce school zone speed cameras. The legislature once again reaffirmed its commitment to to the safety
075and security of schools in the state by continuing to fund the school security grants to support local needs and student mental health in the FY27 budget with an appropriation 16 million. Two bills were passed regarding school zone feed cameras. House Bill 651 requires that a renewal of the um contract for speed zone cameras shall be voted on in a referendum. And House Bill 1161 states that no permit for school zone cameras will be issued for placement upon a highway with a school zone with four lanes block. So that does not apply to Scott Boulevard. When school zone cameras are authorized to issue citations, proper signage shall include a device that flashes yellow lights and tells the driver to speed. Our next legislative focus area is mental health. Our priorities under this focus area included continue
076to expand mental health care access, particularly for teens and young adults, ensuring the mental health and safety of all students, including those from historically marginalized populations. Increase funding for training for mental health professionals and expand student access to services. Increase funding for school counselors for students in special education and gifted programs programs and lower the studentto school counselor ratio to 250 to1 as recommended by ASAP. The final version of the FY27 budget allows schools to engage part-time or full-time student advocacy specialists as passed in House Bill 268 which was the safety and security bill during the 2025 session. Also, Senate Bill 589 states that schools that require students to wear or have ID badges must now include the 988 you are not alone suicide hotline on the badge. The third legislative focus area is funding.
077Like most school districts, education organizations, and other supporters, we continue to advocate to fully fund the QBE formula, update QB to account for inflation, increase state funding for quality early learning programs. In addition to these pri priorities, we wanted to continue to see the legislature consider increasing funding for student transportation, electric buses, buses, and green infrastructure, continuing to increase funding for literacy and dyslexia programs, reducing barriers to attracting retaining talent by funding increases in salaries and the employee employer portion of non-certified employee health benefits and allowing classified employees to join um TRS. House Bill 1193, the Georgia Early Learning Early Literacy Act of 2026 has been signed by the governor and the budget FI the FY27 budget which haven't been signed yet includes funding for literacy coaches for schools with grades um K through three.
078The final version of the FY27 budget increases the permember per month employer health insurance contribution from 1885 to 1935 which is an increase of $50 per member per month. This amount is less than the original increased proposal of 2028 or $14843 per member per month. Our fourth legislative focus area is local authority. We continue to advocate to maintain local control over school governance and operations. Maintain local authority over educational and curriculum decisions, instructional resources, local revenue sources, and local exemptions. Maintain local control and flexibility in implementing legislative priorities. Maintain local authority to determine educational frameworks that provide positive outcomes for all students and staff. And urge local school districts to amplify student voice by adding a student representative to boards of education. Senate Bill 33, which was passed signed yesterday by the governor and property
079tax reform, removes the provision for government entities to opt out of the statewide floating homestead exemption passed in House Bill 581 in 2024. HR um 1668 urged local boards to include a student representative. This bill was drafted by our own student representative via um Batra. This resolution unfortunately didn't make final passage, but it was great to watch her um advocate at the capital for this. So, I will now turn presentation over to our team that's been working with at the capital, Robson from Lort Herald, Danica Thompson and Steve Tippens from McGuire Woods Consulting to walk us through what's happened during the session and after. >> Great to be with you again. Hard to believe it's been four or five months since we were last here. Um, as Courtney said, yeah, it was a very busy
080session. Um, we expected it would be uh because we had statewide elections this year across the map, as I'm sure y'all certainly on cable news, you've seen an ad or two. Um so you know I think the big theme uh particularly in the Senate but in both chambers around uh tax reform the Senate prioritized uh income tax relief and that the House uh countered with a a larger focus on property tax relief and so um Senate did pass an income tax but it was not the the most substantial one they were considering. Um and then in the house uh or the the property tax proposal the that the house had come forward originally had it included a uh constitutional referendum to essentially eliminate homestead tax over like a like an eight or six period and
081that that they didn't have the votes for that in the house and so what they ended up with was a a much more distilled version SP33 which we'll talk more about in a minute. Um, and then on the education front, literacy was obviously the big one. So, I'll talk for a minute about that. Or should we go to >> So, I'll talk I'll talk about the literacy bill, the early literacy act. For those who have been following at home, this has been an ongoing effort now for at least three years, maybe more, that this sort of originated with a realization coming out of COVID that um George's literacy scores in third grade were not where they needed to be. We didn't have enough students that were proficient that were transitioning from uh reading, learning to
082read to reading to learn. And they sort of uh through a through an ongoing study committee and some other efforts um have continued to refine how we teach literacy. They've they've mandated the science of reading. Um, and this was this was essentially sort of the capstone of that. I'm not saying they won't do more, but it was a huge initiative. You had bills that were dropped simultaneously in the House and Senate by the House Education Chairman. I'm the Senate Education Chairman. So, this is sort of a summary of where we landed. where mandating science of reading creates a statewide literacy coordinator who actually now at the governor's office of student achievement rather than at the DOE which is significant and it establishes the Georgia literacy task force which will essentially replace the the literacy council
083that's been um operating for about the last three or four years. Um, also for every local district you have to have a unified literacy plan along with instructional supports for schools. Um, increased focus on early learning. There's now a um first grade readiness assessment that that a student has to pass and if they don't pass either be retained or you know include some inter intervention measures. Um, again revises the reading screener requirements. As as many of you all already know, there are currently five approved literacy screeners um that can be adopted by the school district. This just uh reinforces that says that the DOE will come back the DOE and the and go. So, we'll come back and review that on about I think it's a three-year uh period um along with some additional state
084reporting requirements. And then there's some uh connected to that there's a review of the educator prep programs just to make some assurances for um that teachers are properly trained in how to teach literacy. The budget components to that. I think there's about 70 million additionally in the budget for the literacy coaches to try to get one in every uh every elementary school in the state. Um along with some other additional money through the DOE for high quality instructional materials and professional development. Um, I guess we'll run through this and then we'll we'll we'll answer questions. So, Dan, if you want to go to the next one, you want to talk about that? >> I I'll give the reader digest version. Um, so the property tax reform, as Rob alluded to, was one of the hot
085button issues and the legislation this year was in many way many ways the House's response to the Senate's endeavor to uh eradicate income taxes. Uh this is not where they started off. This is a a much a much more modest modest is a good word a much more modest propert than what was originally proposed. You were looking at a full homestead exemption by I think 2032 and uh a great a great loss of a lot of local revenue because of it. It was going to be a phased uh phase out of the of the property taxes until then. And there were going to be several measures by which local governments could replace the lost revenue, but to great disagreement as to how successful those were going to be. For example, you local governments were going
086to be able to have assessments like your homeowners association, but there was great disagreement as to how successful those assessments were going to be. And if you read the fine print, those assessments were greatly limited to what you spend the money on, not unlike the east loss. Now, so the property tax measure that was sent back to the Senates, surprisingly to many uh died on day 40 in in the 11th hour and what was passed instead was there was this SB33 was originally a THC bill that was laying dormant. another another impass uh at the general assembly is currently what to do about about cannabis because of the several reforms October all going on two years ago at this point and because everybody's waiting to see what the feds do when that when those reforms
087are up for renewal later this year basically all the THC and cannabis bills are laying dormant on May 40 they were fed to be stripped Senate Bill 33 was stripped and replaced with what was essentially chuck confent Senate Bill 382 which was the same property tax reform from a few years ago that did have an opt out. You will will recall this gets rid of that opt out. It requires and mandates a statewide uh homestead exemption base from which you can't raise property taxes greater than the rate of inflation. So you are capped at how much revenue to raise at the rate of inflation. There's no opt out. There is a local homestead option sales tax that can be applied via referendum, a one penny sales tax. It is in theory meant to do two
088things if if you read the bill. It is meant to replace revenue that is lost from the the cap that inflation on the homestead uh taxes, but it is also in theory meant to be able to roll that increase that exemption over time. Obviously, I I mean, there's probably great disagreement in this in this very room. I know there's great disagreement across the state as to how that's ever going to happen. You're going to struggle to actually replace the loss revenue is is the trailing argument. So, and much like 382, this local homestead sale tax can be applied to the current taxable year. And traditionally, you have to wait until the following year to apply the sales tax to to increase that exemption. uh SB33 would allow that to be used in in the current
089year. There was a great effort to get the bill vetoed because of the origination calls that bills raising revenue have to begin in the in the house. As a as a Senate guy, I did always push back against that for many years and to no avail. Um the governor, as you heard earlier, signed it yesterday and so far all public remarks as to the origination clause objection have sort of been sidestepped. So we we'll see what happens to that. I'll be shot a challenge somewhere on it. Until then, SB33 is the law of the land. But the footnote is uh because this is a more modest reform than what was proposed beginning of session. I would note just for your own edification that uh there is a a study committee that the speaker has put
090together to continue to study this issue. So, I would obviously expect once dust settles from all the statewide races this fall, this to come back full swing next January with either kicking this aside and coming back with something else entirely or an aggressive expansion of what they started with Senate Bill 33. That's the reader digest version. Like I said, there there's a a great deal to get to in the weeds, but I think that covers the concept. >> Yes, ma'am. >> May I ask a question? You can I can make up an answer if I don't know the >> I'm curious how the indicator interprets the ones of inflation trying to think about all the conflicts. What's it going to cost you if your fair market price of your res goes up 5% goes how
091much money how do you >> vice chairman >> thank you for saying it >> I have a I have like this is going to detail very much to that question when we say rate of inflation at CPI what is the measurement that >> I think >> CPI for the purposes of this conversation at least >> we assume that >> what's the safety >> it but it floats around 3% but I don't know what the exact yeah it also is generally calculated on so for purposes of planning CPI is a year behind and so like I just there's a lot of to get to to rep Oliver's question I don't think we know I think we're going to have to figure that out >> if it if it's allowed to go forward it looks to me
092like a off the revenue that you otherwise >> generally yes generally the rate of homestead value increases above >> exactly >> and for that matter so our underlying >> right our our health insurance alone >> the opt out provision it was not retroactively >> I want to make sure I understood this correctly is signed last night. >> Was signed yesterday. He signed a bunch of tax bills yesterday. So, are we talking about an impact? Um, I don't know when my next house tax bill is it May, June, or are we talking next year? >> I mean, I could be wrong. You're talking next year. So, for next year, the property tax uh whatever revenue is raised off of the local homestead option sales tax to be applied that year. I think there's a cut off
093of July one maybe up to that year. So, usually you have to wait until the following year for that revenue to be applied. >> Sorry, I don't think I asked it correctly. And in terms of this cap on the um home assessment, will that be happening ASAP or we have an entire calendar next year? >> Well, that I'll be honest, that's a good question. I haven't thought about when when that's going to apply. I'd have to bill to see when the effective date is. I mean I >> so it is possible that this would be impacting the revenue go out. >> Next question on the referendum then for the local home adoption sales tax. So in the event so then a municipality chooses to have that referendum. >> Yes ma'am. Correct. >> Okay. And then
094the students that would be um an option would be for this November. Correct. >> Yes. and then that probably should not have effect. >> And then that's also there's a possibility of a flux. So I know that's already just want to make sure I'm tracking all this. So um more than likely reduced revenue then um a possible and then the possibility of two things effective and the local homestead option sale. I mean in theory I think that's true. I mean some some jurisdictions are already capped out on the on the swap. In that case they don't have the local homestead available but in theory if they have capp on the other then yes those measures though it's specifically constrained capital is as I understand it is >> go towards one of the things that that
095we get to really parse out but if you look at the lang bill that is correct in the preceding bill is very clear that assessments are going to be used on certain things much like the eot and ID capital that limiting language is not included included a list. So, as far as I can tell, the length of the bill, the addition to have the little if the goal is to in theory reduce property taxes, then it does have to be able. >> Sorry, just to confirm them in terms of immediate um decisions that are being made after this, SP33 will be impacting revenue that would be generated from the next cabinet bill. Okay. >> Yeah. Tax. Yes. Correct. >> But we just don't know. >> Right. >> But this is effective on the governor's second
096term. So >> yes, >> July one. >> We we definitely have baked it into our our uh budget right now. So we're we're estimating revenue growth substantially below property values be. Um, but if it does take effect July one, >> we can look at that. I can't remember if the bill explicitly said something about next that would make sense roughly 8% of revenue. Maybe I should know this. I'm sorry that I don't. With a local referendum, is it a majority or a number >> voters to approve? >> Yeah, >> it's a majority. >> Right. And we got one more to talk about. Um the uh speed camera bill. So turn over to >> I'll make this short little time. um those old cameras. It was something that was highly um emphasized last year and we
097know that the city of educator schools went down and spoke to some legislators. So this bill got came back again this year, the last week of session. It did pass with a few guard rails thankfully. So the um the guard rail were stricter on how cameras can be used. that requires a voter, excuse me, voter can be. So, just some quick highlights from that legislation. Local governments must obtain voter approval before entering new contracts or um so your current contracts are still good um until next year. Um so, you next year you will have to have a ballot question, which is a yes or no vote authorizing camera to require a simple majority 50 plus one to pass. And if it's rejected, you have to wait three years before resmitting. Um the most provisions provisions
098will take place on July 1st and if signed, everything will come of next year. So fees collected from school cameras can use for law and public. >> I'm sorry. >> If that's not today, today is the last day of the signing period. It may be, but they don't like announce. >> Most most bills don't have an announcement. >> Yes, sir. >> So, the vote itself um is that orchestrated by the city orchestrated by like is it the city? Is that because they are the law? >> Yeah, they're they're the enfor. It's also important to note, I mean, forgive me if y'all already understand this, but sometimes it's worth remembering that uh today is indeed the last day to sign bills, but but in Georgia, remember, if the governor doesn't sign the bill, then it quietly
099goes in the law. It's not a pocket detail situation, so he doesn't have to sign it to go into effect. >> Yeah, we were not sure. It'd be it'd be a city contract. I don't know if anyone here would know, but >> just to clarify that. So, regarding that local homestead referendum, that would be the city. >> We were sorry. When we're looking at SB33 and Okay. A probable loss in revenue, but an opportunity to host a local referendum, >> the city decision, but impacts our revenue. That's right. >> That's right. Yeah. Again, it's different from what the original bill was proposed. The original bill proposed that the school districts can impose a school assessment. That's not what passing the goal line. This is a a broader sales tax like any other local option sales
100tax, but specifically dedicated to placing loss revenue from the cap, whatever it may be, uh on the plate. questions. >> I don't remember the name of it, but there was a bill about hunting but then piloting outdoor. Yeah. Okay. So, I just want to make sure I'm reading it correctly. um SB 148 that is a whole host of not saying that you have to pursue the hunting safety instruction to pilot >> they're like separate bills of all that stuff together and then pass yeah and then is there you may not know this but is there any funding available or I'm >> confident that it's not if it's just mostly hey you have a neat opportunity to do And so I love the idea. >> Yeah, it's great. One of our one of my colleagues worked
101many years actually Bangladesh and they had a lot of um you know Yeah. Um, let me look at it real quick and figure out if we think there's an opportunity to push for a grant, right? >> Um, but I'm going to agree with my colleagues that you know money >> that >> yeah, you can still do right. So you can do like a but I don't know if it comes with money or they >> Yeah. And then I guess final thing sorry still under SP 148 because I thought the legislation had changed something last year where the sick days weren't saying the number of sick days and convert personal days but that's just a usage thing not a financial employees can yeah thank Dr. Selton, you from close out. As we wait for the governor's
102final action on outstanding legislation today, I want to thank our legislative coordinator and lobbyists for their work during this past session. Thank you for your presentation today and for your insights into the impact of current legislation on our work here in CSD as well as what we might expect during next year's session. Again, we appreciate Maguire Woods and Gilbert Herell for sponsoring today's lunch and for being allin for the students of CSC. We are now adjourned to transition to the work session. Thank you all. Can I say something real quick? So, it's been um as many of you know, I'm retiring at the end of this term. It's been such an honor to represent City Schools in this amazing system. I'm probably not retiring in the sense of the the way people understand the word
103retirement. Don't don't have any announcements yet, but and thank y'all for everything that you do and certainly don't hesitate to reach out. I'm sure I won't be too far away. Um, so it's been and All right, we will now call this work session to order at 1:55 p.m. Thank you for joining us today for our monthly work session. Work sessions are designed for in-depth discussion, study, and planning regarding district policies, issues, and upcoming decisions. Many items presented in a work session inform future board meeting agenda items, including the consent agenda. Board members, we have four presentations and please hold questions until the presenter concludes their portion of the presentation. The chair appoints council from Wilson Morton Downs as parliamentarian for this meeting to advise on parliamentary procedure as needed. Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the first
104presentation. >> Dr. Sultan, I would like to call on Mrs. Jennifer Burton, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning and Mr. Jarvis Adams, chief of operations, to provide an update on the new early childhood learning center and DHS expansion. Additionally, they will address how this innovation is part of the CSD charter contract with the Georgia Department of Education. >> All right. Good afternoon, board chair Dr. Sultan, vice chair, esteemed board members, um, and superintendent Dr. Gimma Whitaker. Today, Mr. Adams and I will be presenting on the ECLC. This project falls in the organizational effectiveness and excellence strategic accelerator. When you hired Superintendent Whitaker, there was a clear message. Literacy, MTSS, and the achievement gap. Here you see our literacy data over the past three years, both overall and for our economically disadvantaged subgroup. This growth is
105not an accident. These are the results of intentional changes in tier one aligned to the science of reading. But we haven't closed the gap. We've done remarkable work, but there's more work to do. And so now it's time to innovate. Our charter innovation says, "Leverage community partnerships to implement a long-term eco-friendly facility plan expanding early learning opportunities. This facility will engage community partnerships, will be lead silver certified, and will expand early learning opportunities. And while this project does fall into organizational effectiveness and excellence, I hope you see the very clear alignment with our all-in strategic plan number one, which is all scholars will be skilled readers by third grade. The primary and most important beneficiary of the new early learning lab are the 150 children it will serve. First, the lab will support the children
106of our city schools of Decar staff by the Frasier Center. In addition, the lab is intentionally designed to expand access for children of teen parents and families with low incomes, ensuring that those who have historically faced barriers to highquality early learning are prioritized. And lastly, we will serve the greater city of Decar community. This investment aligns directly with community needs. In the most recent city of Decar annual survey, less than half responded that the Decatur community offered affordable quality child care or preschool. While the board's responsibility is to CSD students, I appreciate the board's foresight in understanding the entire city's needs. This learning lab is not only an early learning facility but also holds one classroom for high school students where they will learn early childhood education core content. There are also observation rooms where
107high school students can observe teachers and children and there's adequate space for high school students to work in the classrooms with the children. Next year, approximately 185 students will participate in early childhood education coursework. The early learning lab, based on our current design, will also serve as a community amenity. The building placement maximizes contiguous green space adjacent to a community multi-purpose room and kitchen available to reserve after school hours and on the weekend. We envision this space being used by the community for family uh for families workshops, community gatherings, and celebrations. Over the past two years, we've gotten a lot of feedback on expanding or moving prek. It's important that the community knows that we are not moving preK for the 2627 school year. Families who registered for preK at College Heights will continue there
108next year. CFD cannot expand prek. We have been allocated eight preK classes and can move them within the school district. If we move three preK classes from College Heights, it will not open more zero to three spots at College Heights. Right now, we have three prek classes in learning c cottages or what we would know them to be as portables and we would not move three-year-old students into them. There are several considerations for moving prek. We need to restructure registration. We can assume that a family wants their child to be in their zone prek. If they have a sibling at college height, the family may prefer one drop off drop off and one pickup. PreK is not kindergarten. In speaking with our prek teachers, this was really important. Our instructional coaches and principles would need
109training from right from the start to appropriately support the program. And House Bill 1123 requires an afterchool offering for prek students and the city of Decar does not currently offer it through animal crackers. This has been an ongoing discussion with the city beginning last semester. We've already met this month and we're meeting again in June. We will notify the community by December 2026 if we are moving preK classes into a K2 school. The purpose of an observation room is to observe classroom instruction and student behavior in a non-intrusive way. In fact, the Frasier Center has one observation window. That window shown here isn't used. Too small. You can only see one classroom and there's no sound. The design of the observation rooms in the new facility have intentionally accounted for all of those barriers. Another
110benefit of observation rooms is her parents. So when my daughter was in an early child care center, I wanted to see how she was doing and interacting. But the minute she spotted me, she ran to the door and I could never see those supposed behaviors that my teacher had been telling me about. Observation rooms give families an opportunity to observe the classroom environment. And next up, I will have Mr. A. Thank you, Mr. Burton. Good afternoon, board members. This is a familiar slide and it summarizes the primary differences across the three options and the operational implications associated with each path forward. The current design remains the only option that is fully designed that is fully permitted and that is aligned to the guaranteed maximum price and position to move forward forward immediately upon funding authorization.
111That distinction is important because redesign efforts do not simply reduce square footage. They also introduce additional redesign costs, permitting reviews, schedule delays, and continue exposure to ex escalation in labor, materials, and construction pricing. As we evaluate this project, it is important to frame this conversation not simply in terms of return on investment, but in terms of return on mission. The City Schools of Decada vision calls us to cultivate environments that empower students to realize their full potential and create a more just and equitable world. Our mission commits us to a meaningful and engaging learning experience supported by highly qualified and caring educators in safe and inviting environments. This project directly aligns with that mission. While the educators and staff at the Frasier Center provide extraordinary love, care, and commitment to children every single day. The
112physical differences between the current Frasier Center environment and the facilities available at College Heights are significant. This conversation is not about the quality of educators or the care being provided. is about ensuring that the children and staff within the same school district experience learning environments that reflect the same commitment to excellence, dignity, safety, and opportunity that City Schools of Decator strive to provide. This project also serves a broader educational purpose. Beyond early childhood access, the new early childhood learning center will support CTA early childhood education pathway from Decar High School by serving as a hands-on learning lab for future educators. High school students will will have opportunities to observe instruction, study child development, and gain authentic experience working alongside educators and young children. In that sense, this project is not only an investment in early
113learners today, but it also in the future educator workforce our community will need tomorrow. The board has reviewed community feed community survey feedback and responses. While no single preferred design direction was identified, there was a general toward general trend towards reducing the footprint particularly office space. At the same time, many respondents emphasize the importance of maintaining a high quality center with full pro programmatic support for children and families. As we move forward, continue board guidance will help the design team proceed with clarity and efficiency. Ultimately, this moment requires us to decide whether we will continue studying long-standing needs or if we are prepared to move forward in addressing them. As Dr. King reminds us, the time is always right to do what is right. Thank you board members for your time. Mrs. Burton and I
114are available to answer any questions. And at this time, we open the floor for discussion. Let's look at slide five very quickly. Miss Burton, this is a question for you. Uh, okay. So, the the when you talk about removing preK from College Heights, ECLC, and those considerations, we're saying that the community will be notified in December 2026 if there's a change. Yes, >> I will strongly recommend that we include the community in the process for this decision and so that they are not informed in December, but that they are a participant in uh I think that that I mean as as someone that would have made use of a facility on the north side. As a parent, I would have loved to have been involved or have my opinion asked or to be able to
115provide input. And so whatever the process is that we follow between now and December when we make that decision, please at at a minimum certainly the families on the north side that would then have access to the potentially moved programs should be consulted. I frankly think it should be a conversation with the entirety of the community. >> Another followup question for you um is what is the process to get more prek? We know it's so important to have early childhood education. that there I know we can't automatically put American who decline that >> yeah so those are conversations um with decal um typically there are windows that are twice per year um the fall and the spring um where we have those conversations um and so I've reached reached out to our right from the
116start partners um both in the fall and spring of this year about adding additional prek and it's not an option for us right now. What would the factors be to get it? So we cannot um they are looking at the entire zip code and area um and so there are other prek private prek >> okay >> um classrooms that may not have weight lists and so they're looking at the totality of all preks offered >> and it's important um that we're not competing or taking um some of their spots. So, we don't have a monopoly um that they really want to honor and have ballot. I'm also just wondering because I know we are trying to you know with the Frasier Center we offer the majority of those seats are actually CSC staff which is
117wonderful and so is there any consideration with decal in terms of you know not necessarily serving this the this particular zip code because I'm guessing we have staff from other zip codes right and that being a factor for them to understand that we're also trying to serve our our staff our CSC staff here. >> Um, >> prek. So, prek isn't at the Frasier Center. So, that's the first thing. >> Um, and so, um, so you're asking, could we expand to offer it at the Frasier Center? >> I believe so. >> Or I mean, >> yeah, playing with that idea, just getting more cringy really important. May I ask a followup to that just so that I'm clear? So I understand there's decal and this is state but it's kind of like the ECLC right which
118is not a statemandated thing right we have K through 12 if we chose to create our own prek and I don't know legally if it call be called prek but could we not do that the same way that we're looking at taking funds to do the daycare or early childhood. So, is there something that's the state specifically says beyond the funding and decal connection that says no school district? Because now I'm really confused because I believe what I've just heard is effectively there are prek spots open in the surrounding area. And I know I I checked one day, I think it was after the AAC article about early learning and specifically prek. I put in my address and did a five mile radius and I saw opening. So if we are now this is in
119a presentation of building the ECLC and that ECLC is for a few different needs and then we move to preK which would be the older group and so one I don't know where those children are going so I have a series of questions. So, if a staff member gets this benefit, but then you get to prek and there's not an opening, the staff member will just have to figure it out. So, I don't know what that process is, but I guess I should be clear. Could we not just offer our own prek classes without decal funding? I am not familiar with any public schools that offer a private prek. Um, we have right now we're serving 160. we have eight classes. Um, that's 160 students. Um, and so, you know, that's a a good amount.
120Where we're really struggling is in those zero to three. Um, we're certainly not serving that many. >> Um, and board member area, did you get your question answered? >> I think so. >> Okay. Thank you. I am interested in in board member Anderson's question though, right? So, just speaking as personal experience and I suspect a lot of constituents and and fellow parents in the district feel the same way. Um, it while having free prek at college heights would have been a great option, which we were on a wait list. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to get it. We ended up paying for private prek. paying for private prek and would have much rather paid for a private prek that was offered by city schools at the right if that had
121been proximate or available. And so the fact that no one else has done it sounds like an opportunity for us to innovate. I would I mean I I don't know there are very possibly legal boundaries or other things that we have to consider but I think it's worthwhile having an answer to those questions. Yay or nay whatever the answer is but let's go find the answers to those questions because I absolutely would have paid a tuition to send my kids to to cater uh had those spaces been available. And along those lines, and I don't know if this is the same survey, but I I did look up the city, and it's the 2024 survey results, so it, you know, may be slightly different, but what I'm seeing is 49% of the respondents indicated, I
122think it was a 3,000 random because I know we got the invitation in our household recently, but it says availability of affordable quality child care. And so the other concern I have is understanding enough of these actual numbers because there may be people that do not want to send their children to a daycare or early childhood center but they do want to send them to prek and even the 49% here. There's no way to know whether people were saying that it's the access to prek which as just cited they were on a wait list and couldn't get on. So, you know, I realize the prek slide is in this large discussion, which makes me even more questioning of the need we're solving for if it turns out just based on this city survey based on
123Hans the lack of survey that I've seen to understand if more people would actually option or how that would be. But she's saying that the need, you're saying the need right now or the larger need is in the zero to three, >> right? We don't have a weight list for prek. I understand that there's conversation that if it was on the other side of town that that may increase interest. Um but right now prek is not that is not a a deep need. preschool, which would be in that zero to three, just as was referenced in that um in that survey, um is different than prek. I >> I want us to be really really careful about inferring the lack of the weight list as meaning that the need isn't there, right? And so the
124the challenge that we have is there are not a lot of zero to three options in indicator which means you go on a weight list because you don't have other alternatives if I but by the time it became my choice my my wife's choice about prek we were still weight listed. I couldn't stay on the wait list. I had to make a decision. I couldn't wait on on Decater to open that slot for me or not. So, we went ahead and pulled our kids off the wait list and put them into another prek that was proximate to where we were. That does not mean just because that our kids went off that weight list that that demand went away. I still wanted those slots, but I couldn't wait to have that found out. And I
125suspect that exact same dynamic happens over and over and over again for parents in the district. And so so I I understand the issues with with uh with decals. I understand the the evaluations that they do, but I'm I just from personal experience going to press back on the linking between lack of a weight list with lack of demand. I I suspect there is a substantial amount of demand. I think that both I think both of you are correct. I'm sure that it is true that people when they get to like age four, they can't keep waiting for years. They've probably been on the wait list someplace for two or three years. But I think what she's saying also is that because there are more prek options across the city, just like you're saying, than
126there are zero to three options, >> then that dilutes um your ability to continue to apply for prek >> classes. So, I think both things are both true. >> And that that's fair. I I think that we need additional zero to three spots and I think we could also easily justify prek slots and and because of however the decals worked if we're not able to get those fully funded I think that there would still be demand within the community for a fully paid option. Um but I also think we need to ask that if we can >> we will explore if you can have a mixed model of Georgia prek >> private and private prek and a K12 public charter school system. >> We'll find out. >> Can we go back to slide three for
127a minute? I just wanted to see um something about the numbers here. We do not currently track um the CST students reading at level and not reading at level um by having gone to early learning zero through three having uh prek and having done either or both in CSD. So we're simply extracting reading readiness here. But is any do we have any data that links our CSP students in the elementary, middle, and high school that did or did not have free grade did or did not have zero to three learning. We would not have we definitely would not have middle and high school. So, you know, unfortunately some of those data systems weren't established there um during that time. um just over the last three years there have been strong data systems put into place
128um but we wouldn't have longitudinal data. >> This data represents the CCPI college and career readiness performance index which is the state accountability for readiness. And then but but to board member Anderson's point, we are we do now have the systems to begin logically tracking that. And so I think there's some appetite on this board to see how is that performance difference, right? And and I think that students that haven't versus the students that have gone to like because we don't want to be calling out individual competitive not competitive but individual other prek programs. But if there is a substantial difference in performance for the students that have gone through our programs versus gone through other programs, I think that is just another data point saying that this is needed. We we can pull whether
129or not they have had our program or not. We we don't track when a child comes in whether where they've come from >> and it must be obviously a student that's been with us. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Board member her name. Were you going to think? >> Well, I was just I was just saying we we we started to see that data legislation that the Oak Center in Eston is that correct? >> Okay. >> Actually, I'd like to clarify that because I feel like what happened, James, was at a board retreat when I asked about it, you mentioned your daughter's experience and I thought, how did I miss this? And then I went home and looked and I think I emailed about it. So, I have been asking for it for a while. I
130think we did a good job in presenting a dashboard. I'm just going to be honest. You know, we're not Clayton County where we have lots of students moving. So, I'm having would have been so difficult to do in the last year and a half, right? I don't know how much movement we have, but no, this is phenomenal. I I grant that, but we have that dashboard. And I know you brought it up before, James, and I thought what happened then was that we could look at our individual children, but that's not what I want to know. I want to know district levelwise, what are we looking at with the students who are here as to who had early learning, who had prek, who didn't, and who had an indicator. >> We have that. It's just
131that I can't give you specifically those students because that's a CCPI calculation. But but we could say grade one, grade two, grade three, >> students that attended College Heights or Frasier Center, students that did not. >> Yes. >> And the students that did not, we will not know where or if we just know that they did not attend us. And so we will see what that did. So that's a piece of information that I think we'd like to see. But maybe not grade three. >> Yeah. >> Great. because it's longitudinally it hasn't been there enough. Yeah. >> What doc is saying with that data that data starts in the third grade. >> So a kid that was in college height a few years ago if city schools educated a couple years ago. So before you
132see it there you have to give it time to grow into that. So, so for the grade bands that we have had the data for, let's start showing that and then each year we'll just get an extra cohort. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Let me look at slide four. >> So, the 185 plus future educators that's only early childhood pathway, not early childhood pathway and teaching as a profession pathway. >> Correct. That's class enrollment >> for ECE for next school year. >> For next school year. >> Yes. >> And the program is just moving from the Fraser Center. >> Correct. Okay. So, we looked at the redesign options with this date and that's on >> the last slide 13 I think. So, August 2028 would be the aggressive option and it would be ready and then
133the others are 2027. So those 185 signed up for next year will not be in this learning lab. They'll still be at the high school. Correct. >> And there is no opportunity to let them go to College Heights. The college hype has always been off the table like teaching as a profession for example the students go to our Decatur elementary schools for their practicum at least that's my understanding um for early childhood education though that's just not an option for those early childhood pathway students to go to college heights some of them do already. >> Okay. So we don't have enough space at Frasier Center to accommodate all of the practicum students and so some of them do have to go over to college height. So we're utilizing both campuses. >> Sure. And then from
134what I understand you know the goal of this um learning lab is to enhance not really expand CTA if I got the information that I had requested correctly. So, I think the other thing I'm kind of struggling with is from what I can tell, we've got 470 457 graduates that do these different pathways, right? Early childhood seems like a pretty popular which may be different from a purposefully sought out pathway. So, have we actually done anything to distinguish between the students who like that elective better than other electives versus the students who are seeking out the early childhood pathway because that is something that they are pursuing. They think it'll complement them whether they want to be a doctor or a teacher. Have we done any of that kind of research? >> Sure. we know
135the number of students that have received um completed an ECE pathway. >> I I just I want to say I think um I had the opportunity to visit Rockdale County last week um and their career um academy which is huge. It's a whole building dedicated to CTA. and I walked and I also met their superintendent who uh is very hands-on with CTE pathway and I think it's worth it for board members periodically to visit other districts especially with some of these kind of granular things that we're discussing but um I think maybe we might be having the wrong conversation about CTE not just saying how many students do we have who did it last year how many are enrolled but here is an opportunity to truly expand it you know here we have face what
136more can we offer? they started out as a smaller program kind of just like board member Anderson said we offered this particular pathway um you know how many students wanted it but then when they had were able to offer more certifications um and it wasn't an alternative pathway some students who were in the IB diploma program picked up you know a course in the CTAE department to get exposure like if you wanted to be premed then maybe you picked up an EMT class um or you got a work permit it and you were able to work in high school. Kind of the thought being that everybody's got a pathway to success, but everybody looks a little different. So, you know, maybe, you know, it it's worth it to dissect the numbers. I'm not pushing back
137on that. I want to be clear about that. But I think an alternative way to look at this is, you know, we have some work to do with CTE. Like maybe we need to talk about expanding some opportunities for these kids. you know, some of their thought process was kids that graduate with a number of certifications can go to work and they can graduate, go to work, they've got no debt. Um, and not all kids are going to go to college if they don't want to. That's fine, too. Um, or some go to college and they don't finish. Um, or they need to go to college, they need to work and they've got something that allows them to do so in a meaningful fashion. Um, but the more that you offer, the more that it
138grows. Um they had automotive, they had nail technician, they had um a culinary arts program that was very robust. Um our current arts program is is pretty phenomenal here too as well. But you know, once you start it, it like ignites. And so, you know, I think this is maybe this is where our we can start and then, you know, really start to build some of those certifications for some of those at the high school level. >> Yeah. But this >> but I think some of it like I said there was that they had some space and you know maximized you know they had maximized space some space and use space creatively. So I just wanted to put that out there >> and I appreciate that but I I think where I am struggling to
139connect those dots is I specifically asked if the new ECLP will create new CTA pathway because I hear you. I love looking at the charter review and finding out it's more about workforce development. I think I've read that we have three students in Decator who are now if not realtors on their path to realtor. I fully support that. But I've also asked about the flexibility of this building. I think for the very reasons that you just cited. So, a building with these observation rooms that has largely been described as a learning lab for early childhood education pathway teachers um seems unlikely to be adapted to, for example, auto mechanics. And so, I didn't hear at the outset of this project that we were building a CPA building. I I you just talked about auto mechanics
140and career workforce and so I'm just trying to understand how that aligns with this particular building. >> Well, I'm happy to I think that there's a lot of ways and that you could use this building creatively. You could use the culinary arts program perhaps to come and um help create meals for the kids. Um and then once you have more space potentially at the high school, then that's where maybe some of those programs ignite. But my main point was that I think we have some room to grow the CTA pathway. Maybe we just need to use something to help kind of um get the ball rolling or get the spark going. Um I think other school districts have CTA pathways that are just far more robust or have a lot more certifications. Um also to
141emphasize that um you can do CTAE certifications in conjunction with whatever your heart desires. the IV pathway, dual enrollment, all of those things. You can do those things all together. I think we just have to put it out there and, you know, make it as make it as much of an option and as palatable and as desirable as possible. I have a followup question about the programming of the new ECLC because I've heard you know loud and clear and totally believe that we need to make college and the program that we have at center that's going to transfer over equal and you know on the same bar. Um but I understand that the new ECLC month and we're college runs year round. So I'm wondering if the new be 10 months, 12 months, year round.
142It's going to be year round because I know I'm just wondering since you know we're the thought is to you know have this as a retention strategy for teachers and about 50 I think about 50 kids at Frasier Center of the 60 BC staff which is wonderful. um and they work in our district. Is there thought of how that works out for them? >> Yeah, one of the beautiful things that we saw in Grand Rapids was um the um the kind of front office staff did a beautiful job of determining the needs of families. Some needed three days a week and um some needed year round. And so that was something that we walked away that visit with how do we meet the needs of the families with scheduling? >> There might be flexibility. >>
143Yeah. Okay. >> Now I have another question. So is it correct that centers only offer 10 months? >> Yes. But the new ETLC is going to operate year round. So then how does the operating cost comparison of Frasier Center which I believe is and maybe that's for our later presentation but I think in our later presentation we see we do >> okay so and then okay I guess we'll talk about the equipment stuff there. >> Okay thank you. Do we have any more just in the interest of time do we have any more questions? Well, I I have a final one because I don't see anywhere on the agenda where we are discussing the feedback that um last I looked it was 113 people provided to the three designs that we didn't look at. I
144think we went straight to the redesign impact. So, are we not discussing the 113 discreet pieces of feedback to this redesign option? >> No, I mean I think I think Mr. Adams is is asking us to provide a perspective on whether we're going to change from our current design or pursue one of the other two options. If uh we are pursuing one of the two other options, it would end up requiring a vote and I think it's appropriate for us to talk right now about that feedback. I mean, I think we got an AI generated summary, but I went through and counted each so I could kind of tally and I think the general consensus like the 56 emails we've gotten because I'm tallying as they keep coming in um is don't do it. Um
145I saw more of the aggressive cut from some people because if nothing else, they felt like there's more space. I think the logical question I saw across the board is one that I asked and I'm not sure we've had answered yet, which is how we could be losing so much space and material and yet spending largely the same amount of money. So that's my initial thoughts based on this and thank you to the 113 people who spent time, especially the people who spent time responding to each design option because it's kind of seemingly created that way. the the broad feedback that we got that was summarized in AI reflects broad opposition to the new construction. So I just have to say that it was a small minority who expressed you're going to do it keep
146the original design. >> That's what I heard. The question for for the record the question was give us feedback on the design. The answer we got broadly was don't do it but if you but if you dissected that then it was keep the original design. So, but the question was to get feedback on that. >> Yeah, I think it's important to note there's still majority broad opposition to new construction. But if we have to make a choice, >> I think we'd have to look at those numbers. I disagree that when you eliminate the ones that said no, I'm pretty clear or pretty certain that I saw just as many that said if you're going to do it, then do the aggressive design. So, I'm not comfortable telling people that when you eliminate the no, no,
147no, no, no, no, no. And you get down to the possibly 13 responses that really did address the design options, I um did not see that that number, which was still considerably small. >> Any other comments or feedback? Well, I think we need to know because we're talking about I know that work session according to our norms is a preview of board action, but in the regular meetings there is an agenda item about funding. So, it seems like there needs to be >> Well, this would if if the consensus of the board here is to change, then prior to any conversation about funding, we will have to have a vote to change. So, that would have to be added to the agenda, >> which we can do if that's what you guys would like to
148do. I am not inclined to seek a change just given that there is not a particularly significant even if these numbers are wrong and I think we can be more aggressive about these numbers it's still not that much of a difference and given everything that we've talked about today and have continued to talk about in terms of the impact of having the entire programming in that building and all of the things that we're looking at doing uh as well as some of the complications associated with making the changes. I'm I'm comfortable leaving the design as is. >> I think I agree with board member Ier. If you look at the comments and I did look at them, I open them and look at them. The the broad um feedback was not to build the building,
149right? That is a different conversation. That is a different agenda item or a different topic. the the question was um which of these give us feedback on the design itself and um I I think you know if you kind of tease out beneath that I I don't know how much beneath the surface I feel like the the overwhelming sentiment is the cost and I don't see where any any of these alternatives are saving you much in terms of cost if not um potentially costing you more because of having to go through repermitting and >> yeah, I mean I was just looking at the AI generated um summary that we got and of the three options and I know they're still coming in but there were 12 responses that preferred this which was the most aggressive
150cut as the smallest or least bad. Option three was fixed responses or 5% and the current was 6% preferred is to avoid losing instructional or support space. That's what we had at the time. >> So to clarify then the lowest number went with the aggressive. Is that correct? >> Yeah. Based on the data we had when this was compiled. >> And I'll just >> But you're you're looking at how many people in total? 113 the ones who were in support it was seven for the current six for the phase three remove offices >> 12 responses for aggressive the most aggressive cut. So you know just if you want to look at the ones who were choosing 25 people >> yeah 25 12 >> most aggressive >> and I'll just speak to the people that spent
151the time to provide your feedback. Thank you. I always read it. Um, this eerily feels a lot like the twotory design that was thrown out and I think just briefly or however long was it in August? I don't quite understand what's going on with these redesign options that are out there, but then seemingly not really things for consideration. But again, thank you to the 113 people that did provide your time and your mind. Any other thoughts other people? What are the perspectives from for how you wish to proceed? If we if we go as it is, it's the current design. If the will of the board is to modify it, we need to amend the agenda to the um regular board meeting to vote on it. I just need to know I need to know
152what people's opinions are. >> If you say nothing, I'll assume that you just want to go with the current design. >> Yeah. If if it is to be funded, I think the most economic weapon is the current design. >> Okay. >> Well, if there are three people that think that then I think I've been clear about how I feel. I don't think any of these design options are um the best version of what uh cater deserves and should do. >> Remember your ear? >> Yeah, I'm conflicted. I mean this one, you know, we're looking at what the support was between the options. It was the most aggressive cut, you know, because we don't want it. I guess we're just putting aside that the majority the vast majority says no buildings. So if that you know
153option then I think it should be voted on. >> Okay. >> Aggressive cuts. No change. >> Change no change. Uh, board member Anderson, you don't want any of these options. That's what I understand. >> I mean, we had a community meeting and I think Hans, you specifically talked about seeing elevations. My recollection is we gave the impression that we would get back to people to kind of find out the finer details that are resulting in costs that are so similar despite buildings especially between the aggressive cut and the current that are so different and I haven't seen those and I've asked as well because I can only go by what I know and what I'm told. Um, and so, you know, we have constituents that are continuing to email us asking, you know, effectively, are
154you allowing the people that are profiting from this to be the ones advising you? And I think that's part of the process. Like when we had our house redone, of course, the person that's doing it is talking to me about the cause. I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, but I'm still not even we have not gotten clear explanations as to like whether it's line item or bucket. Looking at those numbers why they are all so similar when there's so much that's not going to be in the aggressive cut just doesn't make sense. >> Are you able to shed a light on that? >> Oh yes. One is timing. We got the guaranteed maximum price that was bided out. If you just look at how much if you put gas in your car, what
155has gone to your gas bill to fill your tank up back in November to what it cost now to fill your tank up? And as you look at the news, you see the war escalating more. Price of everything increasing. Simple economics at final product is going to rise. You have labor shortage, you have rising cost, you have tariffs, have a lot of uncertainty. Um, so the price of things just are naturally going up. Um and so what we've done not only did Paris construction with our SeaR um and they have you know a lot of experience building not just in Georgia in the southeastern region our architect and our own consultant Jeff Bryan who has built most of the buildings in in the city of Decada city schools of the cada and also with the
156city of the our consultant Jeff Bryan is our that's how we validate he stands with us. He makes sure that Parish and GMC are being honest. He runs his numbers and he has a team of people he consults with. Um, but that is what we pay him for to to validate. >> Thank you. In the interest of time, are are we wanting to u move this to the regular board meeting to vote or do we have a consensus with the current design? It sounds to me like there's a three board member consensus to say on the current design. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Adams and Miss Burton. Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the next presentation. >> I'd like to call on Mrs. Karen Newton Scott, deputy superintendent, to present the talent
157management followup focusing on staff climate and staff engagement in March. Also, members of the upbeat staff will join virtually. Okay. Good afternoon, board chair Dr. Toulson, vice chairs, other esteemed members of the board, via in her absence, and superintendent Dr. Whitaker. Today's presentation serves as a followup to the March talent management update where we highlighted results from the fall teacher engagement survey. Today we will hear directly from upbeat which administers both the engagement and exit surveys and you will hear about our teacher focus group feedback. We ensure our work aligns with our strategic accelerators. This presentation is primarily focused on cultivating and retaining high quality professionals through effective engagement and two-way communication. I am pleased to introduce upbeat representative Miss Samantha B. and Andrew. Yes. Samantha Fury and Andrew Serno uh program managers to present
158the teacher engagement data. >> Hi, good afternoon everyone. Uh thank you for allowing us to to join in and and share these results. My name is Andrew Serno. I'm the program manager for you all from Upbeat. Uh, prior to joining up, I spent about a decade in Chicago public schools as a special education middle school teacher and assistant principal. I'll let Samantha introduce herself really uh, quickly and then we'll we'll get started. >> Good afternoon everyone. My name is Samantha Fury. I have recently retired from our Georgia K12 system after more than 30 years of service. I ended my career in Newton County as superintendent of schools. And like most educators, retiring doesn't come easily. So I have um stepped into a role as a full-time clinical assistant professor at the University of West Georgia.
159And Upbeat is very close to my heart as in Newton County, we used Upbeat uh because we faced a significant challenge at the time with teacher retention. So I have this wonderful opportunity to have been able to work with Dr. Whitaker and her team and the bravest braveness and courageous um team's effort to um grab the bull by the horns to explore exactly what's happening in um your school system with respect to your teachers and retention and also to hear as um folks leave the district what's on their minds. So really been an great experience to work with the team. So what we'll do in in our presentation is we'll I'll give a brief overview of Upbeat and then we'll jump into survey specific highlights from from spring 2025, the partnership timeline, areas of focus
160and participation rate and then Samantha will touch on areas of growth that we saw throughout this school year from the fall and the spring survey and then some areas of strength and opportunity that we pulled out from the data. Uh next slide please. Thank you. So what we do at Upbeat is we pair a research design survey specifically on K12 working conditions with action planning for for district leaders and principles. And we see that that leads to over time improve staff satisfaction and retention. We're really proud of the fact that 98% of principles and district leaders that meet with us say that meeting with an upbe leadership coach like Samantha has helped them accomplish their goals as leaders. on the bottom right is is an example of our work as Samantha mentioned with with Newton
161County. Next slide please. This again is is just an overview of that process uh that happens in the fall and the spring. It starts with a survey that we then pair with analysis of the results and a dialogue at the district level and then it leads to support and at the school level and action at the school level and district level alike. Next slide please. So looking at the timeline from from this year in the fall we we met with principles to introduce this partnership and then also since the engagement survey was new for this school year and in November we we surveyed teachers following with December reviewing the results uh both with the human resources team executive cabinet and then also met with a pilot principal one-on-one to meet with Samantha. In the spring,
162we we did the similar cadence. This time the survey occurring uh in April and then the results analysis occurring in May and then the pilot principal meeting occurring later this month. Uh next slide please. We also are collecting exit survey feedback ongoing since August 2025 as employees depart. Next slide. Thank you. Our goals and areas of focus for this school year were to have greater than or equal to 70% participation. We achieved that in both survey administrations. This spring particularly, we were looking at gathering comparative trend data to highlight the areas of strength and areas of opportunity at both the district and school level regarding culture, climate, and working conditions. And then two ongoing goals that we're continuing to look at is that principles are sharing back these results with their staff at their particular
163campuses. And then there's an also an interest in professional development and work life balance, specifically those perceptions at the school. Our participation rates this spring 375 teachers completed the survey and 82% completion rate. That is above if you uh hit next real quick. uh if that is above the fall average of 80% both of those are really strong participation rates and we see that participation in of itself is a data point into the engagement and into the investment of staff into the culture and climate of their schools in their district. Next slide please. So, now we'll take a quick look at district areas of growth from fall of 2025's administration of the survey to spring of 2026. It's it's important to note that of the 21 categories uh assessed in the survey, uh Decar City
164Schools maintained or grew in 20 of the 21 categories. So, we'll kind of drill down and look a little bit closer at the um five categories you see on your on the screen. The first being work life balance, which uh we all know is a challenge not just in in Georgia, but across the country. So, the fact that we are really focusing in on work life balance is incredibly positive and important. You will notice that we started the survey with 48% positive when it comes to work life balance and saw an increase of 9 percentage points to 57% positive. When you look at autonomy, we started at 63% positive and gained 5 percentage points to 68%. Self-efficacy at 84% positive in our fall survey to 89% positive. a gain of 5 percentage points in the
165spring. Satisfaction and purpose also saw a gain of 5 percentage points from 87% in the fall to 92% in the spring. And appreciation at 64% in the fall, a 4 percentage point gain to 68% in the spring administration. Next slide. Areas of strength. So drilling down from the survey, looking at care and commitment as a category, 93% positive with a 1 percentage point gain from the fall. Looking at question 59, 98% of teachers agreed that teachers at their school care about the well-being of students. Parent teacher communication 91% positive which was two percentage points above in the fall administration. With question three 93% of teachers agreed that parents at their school have confidence in teachers and collaboration. 89% positive with a 2% gain from the fall administration. Looking closely at question 21, 91% of teachers
166agreed that teachers at their school do meaningful work together in teams. Next slide. Areas of opportunity. Again, uh work life balance is an area of opportunity in the district with 57% positive um recognizing a 9 percentage point gain from the fall administration. Um, question 23 specifically, 47% of teachers agreed that the workload expected of teachers at their school is reasonable. Looking at professional development, which um, sort of tests multiple areas, but specifically 55% positive, which is one percentage point above the fall. And digging into question five, 42% of teachers agreed that professional development organized by their district helps them improve their teaching. And finally, teacher voice and leadership. 70% positive, which demonstrated a 3% improvement from the fall. And looking at question 35, 55% of teachers agreed that administrators at their school actively seek input
167from teachers when making important decisions. Alongside the survey, we also held focus groups throughout April with teachers and leaders across all birth schools to better understand the experiences behind the data. We focused on two key areas consistently highlighted in the upbeat survey and advisory council. Professional learning communities and work life balance. During our visits to each school, we listened to teachers and students asking what was working well and what changes they would like to see. Our goal was to learn where support is needed and what changes could strengthen the staff experience and student outcomes. We captured nearly 100 teacher voices. Teachers were asked, "What changes at the school or system level would improve your ability to maintain a healthy work life balance?" Responses varied. Some participants noted that the survey's timing early in the school
168year influenced their feedback due to initial high demands and adjustments. Many teachers felt these pressures became more manageable once routines were established and the school year began. Other common themes were more protected time, less paperwork, fewability. Middle and high school participants specifically desired greater flexibility during the school day to complete grading and planning as these tasks were not always accomplished during PLC time. Across all groups, teachers stress the importance of reducing administrative tasks, limiting initiative overload, and creating systems that allow them to focus more intently on students and instruction. When asked in what ways PLC's have helped this year, teachers clearly express that they value PLC's as an important component for instruction and collaboration. They noted that PLC's create time to work together, analyze student data, align instruction, and plan student support. PLC's are most
169effective when focused, collaborative, and directly connected to students needs. Teachers also sought more support in using a range of student data to inform instruction. This feedback confirms that PLC's have created a strong foundation we can continue to build upon. We also asked teachers what was one thing they'd like to change about PLC's. Teachers offered thoughtful feedback on how to make PLC time more impactful. for change centered on protecting PLC time from interruptions, increasing flexibility and teacher voice in process and agenda setting, providing more planning support during the school day, reducing documents for PLC work, and ensuring that all educators equal special education specialists are included in collaborative conversations. Teachers are ultimately asking for PLC's that feel purposeful, practical, and responsive to the realities of their classrooms and students. So, our next steps reflect both the
170survey data and the themes heard directly from staff and the focus groups. work will focus on refining PLC structures, protecting collaborative planning time, strengthening instructional focus, supporting teachers in their feedback around work life balance, and continuing to gather feedback along the way. This process reinforced the value of systems impact staff and student systems impacting staff and students daily school experience. So in talking about the action steps in response to teacher feedback, we know that teacher satisfaction and retention remain a critical component of student success. At the same time, understanding retention data is nuanced and influenced by factors such as restructuring, promotions, and internal trans transfers. CSD retention rates are not among the lowest in the state or among our districts. We anticipate that fisc year 26 data will show improvement and fisc year 27 data
171will reflect current staffing realities. Retention trends are always contingent on both local and national factors in education. As we gear up for the start of fiscal year 27, you can see teacher Separations have increased from 35 and fiscal year 25 to 53 this fiscal year. However, understanding turnover requires looking beyond the numbers to the reasons behind the separation. The table you see here breaks down the voluntary and involuntary separation. I will close with a staffing readiness update. I'm pleased to share on behalf of Adina Walker that we have filled over 80% of our vacancies including seven new hires from our grow your own pathway and we are on track to be fully staffed for day one of the fiscal year the f of fiscal year 27. As we continue our key staffing initiatives, we are
172constantly reflecting on our continued commitment to the CSV hire to retire experience. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Um, I think a lot of this data would be helpful with with comparative benchmarks. I mean there were a little bit in there but but taking a look at work life balance is it's hard like 40 I forget the exact numbers 40 something to 50 something sounds like a good change and it sounds like it's moving in the right direction but if the benchmark is 85% and we're at 57% then we're in a really terrible spot right and so just having some sense of is it normal that we're at this number is it abnormal that we're at this number, where should we expect to be and what is our target would help
173us, I think, have a little more context to evaluate how we're doing on these metrics. >> We do have our upbeat representatives that are still on. Do you all want to speak to that at all? >> Yeah, I could I could share. Hi. Hi, it's Andrew again. I could share about benchmarking that data specifically with work life balance that is 57% positive across that category for questions of that category is below our national average in terms of positivity. That's looking across over 40,000 teacher responses nationwide in spring 2026. Uh so that that is below the national the national average just to give you an idea of that. >> It's below the national average. >> Yes, >> it's below the national average. How how to the extent that you have the information does it compare to
174some of our peer districts in in the area? Right? So below the national average means we are correct that we need to focus there. How are we doing visav approximate districts? How many how many how many districts in the Atlanta region? Probably Sam would be able to know that knowing the RISA use Upbeat. >> It is my understanding that that there there's no one using Upbeat in the Metrora districts. um which really speaks to your um forward thinking because this survey and the work that follows the survey really helps to um highlight opportunities for improvement. Um so you kind of are uh ahead of the game with respect to thinking thinking about work life balance and going to teachers to ask them specifically what things can we do as a district to impact this in
175a positive way. Um, so I I think the city schools of Decar is sort of leading the way with this work. >> I've got a few questions and comments. Um, one, you know, I'd like to see us set a standard that we set for our students. We do a good job of announcing and publicizing just how well our students are doing. Um, so I'd rather not look to the metro to figure out if we are doing a when it comes to teacher retention because we're not doing like the metro when it comes to academic performance and some of the great gains that we've made in reading performance. Um, just as someone in the classroom, I appreciate these surveys, but I also think there's a point at which teachers say, "If you don't know, we have
176a bigger problem." Right? If you're the ones that are assigning the lesson plans and creating the schedule and creating the grade expectations and creating the meetings, then perhaps start there and then come to me to find out kind of how it's working. Um, I want to know a lot more about the survey results in terms of how they were um, grouped by grade level. Obviously, an elementary school teacher's work expectations will be different from a middle or high school teacher. So, I don't know if that's for upbeat. Are they grouped at all by um elementary, upper elementary, middle, and high school? Because we're just getting >> This is a really great question and I and I I also share it. I think that we have spent the last couple of years really focused on and
177really K3 literacy and some of those things. and and um I know that we're now starting to the focus across the entirety of the of the system. And so I I am also very interested in what our particularly the sentiment around our our middle and high school teacher. cannot be about >> Can you can you restate are you asking if if we have the ability to disagregate the results by by um staff staff type in terms of elementary, middle, and high school. >> Is that >> Yeah, because I can appreciate that DOE gives just teacher retention in general, but there's different work expectations and just work action. So, you know, I want to know if the numbers are even worse or better at the middle and high school where I just logically know there is.
178I think um we already heard that the middle and high school teachers in particular were talking about degrading. >> Yes, we have >> we have the ability to disagregate by elementary and secondary schools if if that's what you're asking. Uh yeah. So I think that we're interested in that information. If it's not available right now, I think that's a followup that we wouldn't want to see. I I very much would like to see effectively these exact same categories um disagregated by uh elementary, middle, and high school. >> I can follow up with Miss Walker on that. >> Let's say elementary, secondary. Only reason why I say that is because you only have one middle school and one high school. So the power of upbeat is that you're looking at that data against the global cluster.
179But when you're pinpointing to one specific grade band for Decator, the difference is you're literally focusing on one specific school. So let's say secondary. Is that possible? >> Yes. I mean and I so it's not this isn't like a try to gotcha a particular school or not. It just would be helpful to know like you know on the work life balance is the is the 50 what is it 57%. If it's 90% in elementary schools and it's 10% at the high school then we don't have a work life balance problem. We have a high school work life balance problem. And that's I think what I'm what we're basically saying. I'd also like to know a little bit more about the differences and the positivity. So, and I think this is maybe for upbeat, but I'm
180not sure because it those 20 to 21 survey categories maintain or grew in positivity. So, one didn't, but I'd like to know which one that was. Um but also in positivity it just means you had fewer people saying there isn't a work life balance. Am I right about that definition of positivity here? >> Um so I'll speak one there the only there's only a 1 percentage point decrease in in one category. That would be the category that assesses equal opportunities. And then to answer your other question, uh the the survey is structured on a four-point Lyker scale. So you have to to answer strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. So that change in positivity represents a change in the percentage of responses that were agree and strongly agree. So, so it it is a
181change in in the positivity rate in terms of people answering positively about >> I'm sorry >> just to be clear it could be someone who just this time didn't say strongly disagree but disagree or >> no no no these are the these are these would be the change in people who said agree and strongly agree >> group together. >> Thank you. And then sir, just one final thing on slide seven to make sure I understand that. So we had a 2% increase in participation in the spring. Is that correct? >> Yes, that's correct. >> I see. But do we know if these were the same survey takers? >> No. >> Okay. I mean, it's the same roster in terms of it's it's the folks who are in these roles again, but we do not account
182if it's the exact same 80% like the 80% in the fall if they were the exact same folks as the 80% in the in in the spring. We we don't do that type of >> um the survey is presented anonymously, so we don't track like that. It it is important to note that at 375 respondents statistically the variances that are going to be between which individual takes it gets smoothed out. So that that's a sufficient end to say that we have statistical sign. >> A question about the survey. Are there any questions on the survey that relate to salary? >> Compensation in general. Yes. >> Okay. >> Um just in the interest of time maybe want is there I just want to make sure we stay on. >> Sure. Um slide 10. So the teacher
183separation information is self-reporting. Um right. So it's what a teacher chooses to say. >> Yes. >> And so we and this is like CSV or is the standard operating procedure. These are the categories that some most school districts use when people because I thought upbeat was doing an exit survey. Obviously when you know teachers are saying hey I'm not going to report or return. >> So really two questions on this slide. Sorry >> getting there. I think I think we were clicking at the same time. So, >> and you repeat your question. >> Sure. Just my understanding with these kind of things there is self-reporting. So, you know, I could be ticked off, but I'm going to just say I'm leaving for family re reason because I don't want to offend anyone. Um, so am
184I right about that though? It's self-reporting. It's not like we're going around tracking to make sure you really are getting married and losing to >> Correct. Okay. Correct. But are these standard or is this CSC description for the reasons? >> Yes, this is um Sarah B. He's a direct >> um many times it is self-reported either in their intent form before the contract come out or during their resignation or with uh building leaders. It is not a standard uh there are just various reasons. Yeah. >> Thank you. and then to grow our own hires. So those would be um people working on their certifications or new to teaching. >> They're either student teachers that have been with us for the last year or they are pair professionals who are moving into the role. >> Okay.
185So then I'll do the math because I feel like I read in the charter thing 44% of our hires last year were growown and then we have 7% here. So, we are moving into an arena in which we've got many new throw your own teachers. We've moved up uh higher this year. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Great. >> All right. Bor as share upbeat as share by upbeat. Many districts do not engage in this tor sort of survey. However, we recognize that teacher engagement is vital to the hire to retire strategy and we've worked um we have work to do in the area of work life balance. Rest assured, we will address it just like we have other areas in the strategic plan. >> Thank you, Mrs. Newton Scott. We acknowledge that we have work
186to do to continue recruiting and retaining highquality professionals. Work life balance is one area of extreme focus. Dr. Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the next presentation. >> Thank you, Chair Soulton. I would like to call on Mrs. Francis Hall, assistant superintendent of student support services to provide a second semester. >> Good afternoon, board chair Dr. Soulen, vice chair, members of the board, student board representative, and superintendent Dr. Gimma Whitaker. At your request, student support services presents in May to provide an endofear report on data. The data repres represented today demonstrates that the systems culture is increasingly engaging and improve needing to continue student success in all areas for all students. We open 2026 by auditing our system to ensure authentic career exploration, student well-being and engagement. In January, a cohort of counselors and leaders participated in
187an intensive national center on education and the economy benchmarking lab in partnership with Learning Forward Georgia. By analyzing the world's highest performing school systems, we identified a critical shift. Future ready districts must must future ready districts must move away from the one-sizefitsall model and that leave students behind. To act on these insights all fix to throw 12 counselors have now completed the college board AP counselor credentiing program. This training advances our vision to provide a sophisticated multi-tered ecosystem of opportunities tailored to individual student needs and goals by scaling access to advanced placement, international baloria and dual enrollment. We are directly bridging the equity gap and preparing a diverse student body for postsecary success. In future rounds of advisement sessions, secondary counselors will be better able to share with students and their families the nuances around
188how credits transfer, long-term financial consideration, and even how families can decide based on their individualized needs, such as when a student has a heavier extracurricular case load for example. And of course, all students being able to actually reach graduation is a priority. Recently, the Gator High School student alongside Congresswoman Nikima Williams spotlighted the importance of mental health and nonviolence at a special event where she presented a test to communities in schools of Atlanta to support ongoing efforts. Our students shared their personal stories on how BIS programming has literally changed their lives via the integrated wraparound support. In addition to taking advantage of these opportunities to design and benchmark, initiatives already in progress remain on track. We can now say that we have successfully implemented year 1 of the future readiness skills programming in grades 6
189through 12. This means that students are being taught social, emotional, and life skills through a dedicated program available to all students in tier 1 instruction. We also now have trained all K5 schools in preparation for the K12 implementation of this program next year. Additionally, all schools have a trained staff member at the local level to be an FRS ambassador selected by their principles. These ambassadors will support the fidelity of implementation by providing ongoing on-site coaching, modeling, and technical assistance. The SDL competencies built into our FRS framework improve academic achievement, build resilience to stress, and These are essential for college and career success. Speaking of college and career, year one of the full K12 Naviance platform implementation is also now completed. School counselors use Naviance to support post-secary transition planning by providing a centralized data driven
190platform for the student college research, career exploration, and academic planning. And finally, to design and strengthen comprehensive and integrated support services, I'm also happy to report that we now have the required pillar teams and leadership structures to implement a true community school model at the Decatur Student Center. Through the needs assessment and listening sessions with students, families, and staff, we learned that we can best support our community by prioritizing services that help to foster student teacher connections and equip staff with the best practices to support every student holistically. With internal partner with external partners like preventive measures, communities and schools, and stand up for kids, we have already began expanding the wraparound support to serve more students. Now to the data that helps us monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our school's efforts. Per your
191request to review student discipline data twice a year. We'll now look at the overview of the discipline trends from the this last school year last school year compared to this year. Overall we've seen a decrease in ISS and OSS incidents from 46 to 306. This 100 incident decrease indicates continued growth in how schools approach and support student behavior. Most ISS and OSS incidents occur at the middle and high school level is higher this year than last year, making that 100 incident reduction all the more noteworthy. This slide highlights one of the most significant indicators of the system, the system's effectiveness, recidivism. This year, 96% of students had zero referrals, 3% only had one referral, and 1% had multiple referrals. 79 students districtwide had two or more referrals, resulting in ISS or OSS. When considered across
192the entire student population, this is a relatively small number and speaks to the effectiveness of our target targeted and tiered interventions. In this data, we continue to see the in that the intentional use of half a day or IFS or less and inschool suspension is low indicating that schools are creating opportunities for reflection, problem solving, and re-engagement. A critical component of our work and a core responsibility of our system is addressing the historical disparities in discipline for black students and students with disabilities. Building on the trends that you just saw, we now want to take a closer look at the impact of those reductions on our focus population. For black students, incidents decreased from 336 to 214. More importantly, the incident rate decreased from 3.2 to 2.5 incidents per 100 students. For students with disabilities,
193incidents decreased from 157 to 120. The incident rate for students with disabilities also decreased from 20 28.0 0 to 21.1 incidents per 100 students. It is important to provide context around enrollment as well. While the enrollment for black students decreased slightly by 18 students, that small change does not account for the reduction in incidents observed across the district. In other words, the de the decrease in discipline events is not simply the result of fewer students enrolled, but instead reflects continued efforts to strengthen student support, intervention practices, and proactive behavioral strategies. Additionally, in last school year, sorry, this school year, 105 of the 994 black students were 10.5s or OSS, while 49 of abilities or 8.6% received ISS or OSS. Although there was a slight increase in the number of students with disabilities who received ISS
194or OSS, the overall number of incidents declined, suggesting fewer repeat incidents and continued progress in reducing disciplinary events overall. All in all, this data shows that the progress we are seeing at the system level is also translating to meaningful improvement for students we are intentionally monitoring. And in closing this portion of the presentation, when considering the totality of the endofear student discipline data, we see that exclusionary discipline is being reserved for the most serious incident. This does reflect a fundamental shift in practice from discipline as punishment to discipline as an opportunity for growth. It is a clear example of how the whole child system is in action where prevention, intervention, and ongoing support work together to reduce occurrences and improve student outcomes. The back three best universal screener remains a cornerstone of our proactive approach
195to student wellbeing. The best is a preventive strategy that allows school teams to support and to identify early emotional and behavior risk. before they manifest into more serious concerns such as discipline incidents, attendance challenges, or academic decline. Through this universal screening process, the counselor, social workers, school psychologists all work proactively to identify students who are experiencing internal or external challenges and provide timely targeted support as appropriate. Teachers are also made aware of scores during tier 2 or tier three level support meetings. The information this information is discussed during support team meetings. This year we achieved a 95% participation rate, our highest rate to date across the largest number of students trained. We started two years ago administrating the best to students in those key transition years, third, sixth, and nth grade level. Then expanded the
196best to more students last year. This year, we did open the best to all of our elementary and secondary students. This strengthens both the reliability of the data and the ability to respond effectively. Results from the fall and the spring align closely with the Georgia MCSS framework with most students at the tier one level and fewer students at the targeted intervention and inter and intensive intervention level. Now that the data is integrated, we can focus on continuing to build school-based staff capacity and the importance of building transformational relationships with all students, identifying the risk, and considering well-being data alongside academic and behavior data in decision making. Next year, we are going to expand the strainer in grades preK through six. As we think about attendance through a whole child lens and as required by Georgia
197law, we continue to closely monitor chronic absenteeism. In Georgia, chronic absenteeism is defined as students missing 10% or more of their enrolled school days. And as we look at attendance across the district, we are encouraged that the overall rate by the overall rate with all schools maintaining attendance between 95 to 97%. Student attendance is being monitored at all schools and district levels as an early warning indicator which enables us again to provide early intervention and tier support. both the district teams and the implementation implementation leads teams start with that identification of the root causes and then move on to support such as mental health, family challenges and instructional disengagement and sometimes even senioriz strategies and interventions um such as goal setting and referrals can then be applied. In closing, it is important to remember that
198we are not taking the siloed approach. The impact of my team's effort is strengthened by the continued intentional collaboration between teaching and learning, student support services, and school leadership. While each plays a critical role in in our district, it is our collective alignment that creates a stable, responsive system capable of meeting the needs of every student. Thank you for allowing me to share this end of the year update and you have any questions or feedback for me. >> Thank you. >> Um I have a quick question on slide six. Um when you look at the decrease especially for uh students of color with your rate for 100 um for ISS and OSS that's has been a a passion point for me um just not losing instructional time because of a disciplinary fraction. I'm really happy
199to see those gains there. I just wonder if you could expound on what you think did the trick or um you still have some ways to go but um this 21% is still a decent number but um what you think is responsible for that for those gains. I think it's a combination. Um, you know, a couple of years ago, we started with the intensive revisions of the code of conduct, ensuring that progressive discipline was really embedded and not just in the paperwork, but in how we do things. Um, so the consultation model that we have with school administrators is really helpful because when those calls come in, we can really walk them through what are you doing, what has been done for this child and we can help them and guide them if not all
200things have been considered. So progressive discipline action consultation um and really trying to educate everyone as to what student support means and how to individualize that. We have some ways to go because now we really want to get also like the data is saying like student voice is saying to our teachers and helping that relationship building even when things are challenging how to grow them. >> And do these numbers have overlap? So within that 30 within if you're looking at total incidents 336 214 157 120 um are any of these students double counted? So students of color who also have disabilities are they double counted there? >> Okay. Thank you. >> As in much of the other data I think some benchmarks to understand like where are we headed? What does good look like? What
201do the rest of the students in the district look like? And what do we want to get to with these students? I think be helpful for future presentations and future conversations. >> All right. Our strategic plan includes an objective to create professional development pathways actually high quality professional learning. This year we focused on our counselor development based on the feedback that counselors provided in their meeting just today. These engagements were impactful in enhancing their capacity, reinforcing best practices, and boosting their confidence in guiding students towards advanced placement or AP opportunities. That was kind of a subject today, even at lunch when I talked with Zoe. Um, counselors found that the training valuable as it refreshed their understanding of the AP coursework and provided practical strategies for identifying and supporting students with AP potential. Overall, the
202experience served as a meaningful refresher and reinforced best practices to expand student access and success in rigorous coursework. >> Thank you, Mrs. told it's good to see that the rate of incidents for students of color has been reduced. Let's keep that forward momentum. Dr. Whitaker, the next presentation. Yes. Thank you, Chair Sen. I would like to call on Mr. Eston Melton, chief of safety and technology and Zoe Smith, our student board of education apprentice to update the board on artificial intelligence and edtech. >> Afternoon board. My name is Smith. and the current board of education student apprentice. Now, uh during my apprentice year, I have been working to amplify student voices on the widely opinionated topic of AI. Today, I will share my work with you in hopes of creating strong recommendations for policies for
203CS. Mr. Melon will also be providing some information on our CS educational technology landscapes and changes. Computer and technology has always been an interest of mine. So I was very motivated to explore this topic at a deeper level and get relevant information understood. This aligns with strategic accelerator too. I will also be sharing some policy recommendations which align to strategic accelerator. My work on AI began in November of 2025 when I started working with staff members to put together a plan of action. My first task was to start doing in-depth research on the mechanics and uses of AI as well as current AI policies both locally and nationally. Through this research, I developed questions for the student body, which led me to create a survey to gather diverse student opinions. From the earnest replies of
204many students, I synthesized and developed policy recommendations that reflect the student body's position on artificial intelligence. The survey I created was an invaluable source of information as 719 middle and high school students completed it. 70% of students reported using AI at least once or once a week and up to multiple times a day. Among those surveys, 62% of students do not believe that this district is preparing them for AI in the future. This concern emerged through depictions of the school district blocking off all access to AI versus teaching students how to use it responsibly. Many students argue that AI is rapidly becoming a tool used in everyday life and that to be prepared for the world around them, students should be taught to use AI ethically. Not to mention, there's no actual training on AI.
205Essentially creating a wall between students and AI is adding to the overall fear and nuance. Even with the restrictions of AI on our school Chromebooks, students are still using it for a variety of purposes. The limitations of AI are effectively stopping students from learning about it in a controlled school environment. If this district wants to address concerns to students teaching, teaching and promoting things like unethical uses and AI literacy is how you make sure students are prepared for future opportunities. When asked how they use AI, the most common use came from 45.3% of students saying they use it for brainstorming. They also recognize that AI is helpful in schools for personalized learning and 24-hour support or homework help. by using AI in these ways. There were other concerns that frequently arose throughout the survey, including
206future job aspects, future job prospects, and environmental issues. This again connects to the lack of AI literacy in the district for students do not know how AI will affect their opportunities in the future and how to use technology in environmentally conscious ways. Moreover, students report that they have seen enough AI to recognize when articles/im images are AI generated versus humanmade. This data suggests that our district's goal must be to make sure humans are always the driving force, which can only happen when teaching students to use AI with critical thinking skills and responsible decisions. Finally, according to students, no technology restrictions they experience do not seem to apply to teachers, which is seen as unethical and impersonal impersonal by many students at DHS. It is common for teachers to create assignments, tests or great essays with
207AI. When tests are made with AI, we know we put into a class is not actually appreciative. Also with things as unique as an in as an um things as unique to an individual as essays are getting getting AI generates feedback especially when the same is given to every student does not help us improve or grow in our writing skills. Students understand that some teachers check over these AI assignments. However, AI typically gives unclear or irrelevant information that can cause confusion in a student's learning experience. I'd like to clarify that this does not apply to all teachers as plenty of teachers use it responsibly or not at all and many actually discourage AI usage by creating assignments meant to foster human connection. These types of classes are always my favorite because I know the teacher
208will support all their students in a personalized way. Even so, promoting AI literacy is not just beneficial for students but also for the educators who do not see the ethical issue in using AI for what should be human lessons. Ensuring all students receive a personalized and distinct learning experience is what CSU strives to do. And in today's world, AI must be one of the tools we give students to be critical thinkers and exceptional members of society. This brings me to my recommendations. Considering the extensive student input that I have gathered over the past couple of months, I synthesize that students want humans to always be the driver of all technology use. This means that technology should be used in situations where student could do the where students could do the work without technology and understand
209it but ought to use it use technology for thoughtful reasons like exploration or enhancing their learning. Furthermore, technology should not undermine educator student relationships. Meaning that students should not should still be able to have meaningful conversations with their teachers and feel understood and recognized in all learning environments. If we expect students to always put their best foot forward, we should expect educators to give encouraging assistance and helpful feedback. And all in all, these requests come down to encouraging AI literacy throughout the district. Students and teachers should be taught the ethical and responsible uses of a of technology as well as encouraged to use it in an environmentally conscious manner. Whether that is classes or furthering exploration, it is important to give all people in CSC a chance to learn and develop their own opinions on
210technology and the ability to make responsible decisions when given access to the technology. This is especially important because we know the AI landscape is constantly changing. I will now turn it over to Mr. Melon, chief of staff and technology to share some information about our educational tech technology landscape. Don't worry, Zoe's coming back up so you can tell what an awesome job she's doing. >> Thank you, Zoe. Good afternoon, board members and Dr. Whitaker. Our ongoing work around AI has its most critical impact in the classroom. And in that vein, AI and AI enhanced tools sit alongside other online educational technology resources. Instructional and technology leaders are aware of national, state, local debates and decisions about the role of screens overall and online tools and schools. Many of these discussions are part of a post-pandemic
211pendulum swing away from screens, often reinforced by research showing the benefits of analog learning. And CSD's decision-making on these topics has been attenuated over the last few months thanks to broad input from our parents whose desires range from a much more constrained online environment one with broader access and autonomy for student online learning and finding that right balance point in Decator uh feels like a worthwhile project. I want to share with the board some recent adjustments Decater has made within our broader edtech landscape plus a few things we're working on for next year. And the Wii in this conversation again is not only technology but also with the teaching and learning division. So like every other entity that uses federal rate dollars, we have a worldclass content filter to help mediate what contents our students
212can access. This filter is in place regardless of whether a student's uh CSD issued device is at home or at school. Our deep dive this year into evaluating some filter practices began when several parents asked to evaluate gamification in their students online experience wondering if some distracting sites were appropriate. So we looked at a month's worth of data. About 87% of student traffic to educational games was to partners approved and licensed by CSV to support student independent practice. But we went ahead and blocked the balance of the websites in that category to cut down some of that screen time. We also joined with other customers of Lightseed, which is our content filter provider, uh, to give us early access to tools that better monitor and identify online activity designed to circumvent the content filter. We've
213made it more difficult for students to download and execute certain types of programs and web content locally on their computer, leading to distraction. There are alert systems looking for certain um, uh, opportun page. certain types of files used to try to bypass the filter have been updated to aid in more timely intervention. One note though about our not perfect. Our second largest help desk category is the content filter. For every request we get to block a website that has been missed that a teacher feels is distracting. We receive four requests to unblock some other website because we do have an aggressive stance on our content filter. The categories, our websites we filter align with practices not only in the metro, but to your point last month, Mr. Uts, we also looked at some leading edge
214school districts in the country and we are in line with their practices, too. Additionally, beyond technical measures, CSD has long required staff to supervise how students under their supervision use tech at school. And this year, we provided the new tool like Speed Classroom to help monitor that screen time uh to assist with our middle school. Next year's budget expands that classroom monitoring that sorry that screen monitoring tool to our upper elementary. And with that expanded light speed classroom roll out, we're excited that that tool will now allow teachers to unblock some websites for students who are there with them in the classroom. This would allow us to maybe default block a broader swath of internet resources and permit students access only when appropriate for that student under adult supervision and learning in the classroom. perhaps
215with some of these AI tools. It would also help keep yeah help keep controls of some generative AI tools um to support supervised student learning with principal Glenn's support. We're adjusting email and drive functionality at Beacon Hill. Our data show that students and families overl and drive sharing to support learning, community connectedness, and family communication. However, as is the case with every other school district I've worked at and spoken with, there is also an area where we see the most misuse in opportunities for learning when it comes to these online resources. So, starting next year, uh, middle schoolers will no longer be able to send or share uh, email or drive items with folks outside of CSD. And this again brings CSD into closer alignment with practices in the rest of the metro and other
216high performing districts we've spoken with. And we'll also be done next year deploying light speeded insights, a product more directly aimed at measuring actual screen time. Our content filter is great at saying when a student landed on a site, but not necessarily how long was that an active tab with their eyeball. So bringing in the tools to close that data gap to get better insights. And as helpful as the technology tools are, I'm most excited, this is the teacher brain coming out. I'm most excited by the training and expectation setting for staff. So, we're working with our again our partners in teaching and learning on articulating consistent parameters for staff around appropriate educational technology planning going into next year. This includes not using Chromebooks for unstructured time guides on how staff can appropriately use AI
217for lesson planning and look for coaches and administrators to provide feedback on you heard Zoe speak to this from the student perspective. I will say too that classroom technology should substantially modify or redefine what classroom learning looks like such that the means of learning would not otherwise be possible for once of a Chromebook or some other online connected tool. unstructured time doesn't lend itself to meeting that threshold and where technology is merely substituting or slightly augmenting aug analog learning. Um it's wise to consider just doing the analog approach and all of these shifts and resources will be part of our pre pre-planning cycle. We all know how precious those critical hours are. We hesitate to put districtmandated PL in front of teachers who just want to be in their classrooms and be with their principles.
218But it's a worthwhile enough investment to have some consistent expectation setting and those parameters around edtech use around instructional use of AI. Um they are already embedded in the pre-planning calendar going into into July. So this is a bit of a compelling non-exhaustive list of how we're trying to keep students focused and safe online without clamping down so hard as to make a student's computer a source of instruction halting uh friction for students or their teachers. And we'll have more information on our progress with this after we open school and the January state of report for my division. So now having zoomed out rather broadly going to zoom in on Zoe. What you're doing with your summer ready? >> Hi. Um, I'm excited to share I will be attending the 2026 leadership and innovation fellowship
219along with one of my classmates Tristan Lewis and superintendent Dr. Whitaker. This um Dr. Wer this event held in Boston this summer is bringing together 50 super superintendent and 100 high school a students. We will be the representatives for the state of Georgia. This fellowship is designed to support school leaders and students as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of AI and public education. We know that AI mean we know that the AI landscape is continuing to change and evolve. The information learned from this from this fellowship along with input I have gained from students will be used to help shape our our CSD AI policies. Thank you. >> And we look at slide six. I have a question. So I am going to encourage us. I think it's fantastic that third bullet, students and
220teachers should be taught responsible and ethical ways to use the technology. I would add administrators. Um it's a pretty critical component of it. The folks that are actually managing the system also need to know. Um I don't know anything really about AI, so I'm not super qualified to weigh in on it. So I we should be a part of some of that training. Um, and so I I think broader is better when it comes to informing us how to appropriately guide a system in this incredibly funable landscape. >> Yeah, thank you for that. I'm curious because you came up with the policy recommendation, >> right? um anything that intersects with question because I know from my own teaching I have students write essays now because like you're finding what they repeatedly say is um they
221are using AI and why wouldn't you right from a reasonable standpoint I mean it's a question beyond like I think what you identified hey if I'm a student and I'm working but the material I'm getting from the teachers Um, so I just wonder and maybe it's something at your conference because what I see is there's AI use but there's also learning and so those things are kind of happening together versus just AI or just the classroom. Um, and I I was encouraged though if you go back one more slide I think to your findings. So did you ask students or was there a component about the cheating because I see that you have it for brainstorming. So yes, we asked we asked students what they most use AI for. Um there was an option there
222for things like essays. However, the likelihood that all of them respond truthfully >> is not super likely. Um that being said, even with the cheating aspect, I know me and a lot of my other peers tend to use it for more things like um personalized learning support. And I know that using it for essays has kind of become more frowned upon, I think, just around students, and I think not everyone, but I think that's where the AI literacy thing comes in because teaching students the um the negatives of of um using AI to write essays and that type of stuff, that's that's going to have a better impact than just straight up telling them no. Especially because from teenagers perspective, you tell someone no, they're going to want to do it more. And yeah, >>
223change adults show up here just to be clear. >> So just you know I've been reading a lot and sharing my students like you go to college then and you're expected to demonstrate your process which is something that AI wouldn't. Um so thank you very much for this. I do have a question. I think it's not for you although you could try to answer it. Um believe it's slide seven. So, you know, I personally like anything that the screens out in a way. On the other hand, when I and I think I've heard people talk about this, I look at that 12 to 4:30 a.m. Chromebook shutdown staff is in another time zone and needs to use it. >> This great question. Thank you, Miss Anderson, for asking it. It pays attention to the local.
224>> Ah, okay. Thank you. But there still though I love encouraging students sleep but when I see the emails I get so are we kind of moving into student wellness then and no matter what time they're working you're going to stop at midnight. >> So without going too far down a rabbit hole. Yes. This is this seemed like an opposite when we were looking at online activity data. We see a very small number of students who were between midnight and 4:30 a.m. We sh you know we could look up their names. We shared the names with counselors and so on like hey are you healthy what's going on but we also saw an opportunity at least for this lot of time let's put some constraint this seems like an easy lowhanging fruit where we have
225some opportunities next year like we might be able to calibrate this more particular grade bands but also a sensitivity to sometimes just got to knock out right so like finding that point is out there which we kind of kept it relatively small um we certainly don't want our children up at 11:30 or up at 4 to you know 4:45 to do stuff, but let's start here and then we come a little bit. >> Thank you. >> You got it. >> Yeah. I mean, I I guess one of my concerns with this and I know there's been I'm sure Noah can speak to this as well, but I know that educational filters are deeply deeply controversial with students and even like growing up like I was on the internet a lot and it taught me to
226be a digital citizen. Um but I also have like my own personal laptop at home which is you know Chromebooks school provided Chromebooks are a lot of students like only device with which to like complete not just like school tasks but you know if they have a job and need to log into like a platform and those kinds of things. Um like I will say you know I'm up past 12 every night studying for IB exams. Um probably the average high school student is most nights. Um I don't know if anyone disagrees with that. Um, so not necessarily like a wellness issue, but you know, for students that, you know, this is their only way of accessing the internet and doing all those things. Um, you know, all of these restrictions can kind of um
227I don't know, limit those opportunities. So, I wonder what you have to speak to that and how how are we teaching our students to be like physical? >> I'll I'll take that one, too. So, how do I feel about that? I feel like the more constraints you put on a student, the more likely it is that they're going to try to look for ways to get around one. And that's just not me. That's me echoing a student at Dr. Whitaker student. >> Yeah, >> I said before I I named here there ways to get around any field. I talked to my old school district in Palo Alto in the heart of Silicon Valley. They have the exact same kids almost as smart as our kids. Find a way to kind of navigate around around these
228things. So restraints only get you so far. And I totally hear the perhaps the frustration when the you know you're on your CFP device you have an alternative. >> Not every student has that alternative. In fact I don't know how many people were on the board then think U3 might have been when we made the decision when the board endorsed post pandemic we're going to give every students middle and high school device to take home that was to ensure a baseline access to learning beyond the classroom. That was the rationale and I think it's still a compelling rationale and so every time we put a restriction into place it feels a little bad because it's an opportunity to create friction with something that should be seen as as a learning tool and at the same
229time we have parents some of whom might be in the room who say that we don't use friction enough and so calibrating on an appropriate balance point both between the tools that we have at our disposal but also some of that squishy human stuff in terms of expectation setting and that that personal excellence that every kid and every student every teacher is capable of so that just you as a human being are better situated to make the right decision so that perhaps restrictions are seem less necessary that continues to be our work and congratulations to you Zoe is going to continue that work in the student voice in very short order so that's a response and as always the I don't have an answer for you but we're mindful of the challenge Yeah, I I
230mean I would just say at least for high school the more independence and maybe for high school making it like two to 4:30. >> So what I what I what I will tell you is we'll going into the summer coming into next year we'll have those discussions with Dr. Sproul and the counseling team and get kind of their input and we can take a look back at perhaps attempted use to log in to turn on a Chromebook during those hours. So perfect. >> I recognize the opportunity to prepare our students for an AIdriven future with a focus on policy, on purpose, and on caution. when meeting with the superintendent's advisory as far as our students concerned just last week all of those points were affirmed and looking around the room I see some of those
231students right now and they will say these were the things that they did tell me additionally our commitment to amplifying student voice serves as the perfect prerequisite for the invitation from the National Superintendent Association which is AASA for us to join the National Leadership and Innovation Fellowship focused on AI and future of learning. The fellowship invites selected superintendent from every state to receive cuttingedge training AI training at MIT and also to bring two students for an immersive experience focus on ethical use of AI so important system level leadership and policy. So the Edward M. Kennedy Institute features a fullscale replica of the US Senate Chamber. Zoe and Tristan will act as student senators representing Georgia to develop national AI policy. AASA will distribute the results of the student develop policy nationally to all superintendent. And
232just note in February Atlanta is hosting AASA. So I wouldn't be surprised if Zoe and Tristan would have invitation on the national stage to say what it is that they develop at MIT this summer. So this model holds the potential to be replicated in local districts providing a framework for governing technology. And I know when talking to Nia she said she had a little bit of FOMO that she was not able to go but I believe you're passing the baton to someone who can take it and move forward. >> Thank you Mr. Melson and Zoe for the presentation. I look forward to continuing discussions of idle screen time and the appropriateness of screens in classrooms. Um, all right. This concludes our work session. As a reminder, the work sessions are designed for in-depth discussion, study,
233and planning regarding district's policies, issues, and upcoming discussions. Many items presented during a work session inform the board meeting agenda, including the consent agenda. We will recess for 10 minutes and return to begin our regular board meeting. The purpose of the board meeting in school governance is to conduct the official business of the school district through discussion and formal voting, ensuring legal and transparent decision making on policies, budgets, and district priorities. There being no further business, this workshop session is adjourned at 3:58 p.m. We'll now call this meeting to order at 4:07 p.m. We ask that you silence all cell phones at this time. We will begin with a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. At this time, I ask that everyone join me in a moment of silent reflection. Thank you.
234Now I ask all who are able to please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Our mission is to inspire and enable student growth through meaningful and engaging learning experiences supported by highly qualified and caring educators in a safe and inviting environment. The chair appoints council from Wilson Morton and Downs as parliamentarian for this meeting to advise on parliamentary procedures as needed. The first item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. or members, are there any revisions to tonight's agenda? >> A motion that I'd like to make to amend the agenda. >> Okay. I would like to move to remove the new early
235childhood learning center financing and fundings item and defer it to a future work session where we will have time to actually review the data and not rush into a decision or be put in a position to have to vote for an item that we're seeing for the first time. >> Okay. Um, I'll second. Is there any discussion? >> I think I have to understand more of what the future means. >> Oh, >> because we have a budget vote tonight and a mill rate on the agenda, too. So, how would those fit? Well, I I mean, so again, it's not a whole lot of time to review the information, but as I understand from all of the capital conversations, that financing is a splash conversation, not a general fund conversation. And so future is there there
236isn't a a operating budget impact. There is obviously a impact. And I just I think that an item of that magnitude, this much of a change warrants us having a robust work session conversation first and then ultimately a vote if if >> I agree with robust discussions, ideally um even allowing other people actual input. But to go back to it though, I thought there was like a million and a half of startup cost of the ECLC in this FY27 budget. So that alone is a problem. >> That that's not related to that's not related to long-term financing. That's just a question about this budget. >> And just for clarity, the the discussion item is just is to move the item to the work to the retreat. Uh I I don't >> a future work I
237think a work session is appropriate a >> future work session. So I'm trying to process this because we are voting on the FY27 budget today and we are voting on mill rate today but we you're recommending we move the financing option for the ECLC to an unspecified time in the future. We can specify it, but I just want to make sure that we have the time to evaluate it. We should be very clear there is not for any capital financing, whether it's this, whether it's PFA, whatever that is, there isn't an operating cost impact. So, it's not relevant to today's budget conversation. That's a separate conversation. But I I mean, I think if we want to specify when if we want to talk about the next board meeting, I I'm fine with that. I just
238want to make sure that we have a work session conversation where we can go into the depth that we need to go into uh prior to us >> so I guess >> having a vote on it. >> The final question I have is since you and the chair were the ones that set the agenda, why is this now a proposal, why was it ever put on the agenda to begin with to do tonight and vote on if now you're proposing we wait? Well, I think it has to do with getting, you know, the materials right. I mean, having the different conversations in in advance about something to take a look at and have a recommendation versus actually seeing where the numbers are and seeing what it looks like. I just I do feel like we
239need more conversation about it. I'm also wondering >> and just the scope of the conversation is whether we're doing an ECLC and renovation or is it just putting off this ECLC financing and funding question because I think it needs to be broader. >> And just to and just to clarify, we set the agenda but we get the packet the same time you do. >> Yes. Yes. >> But wouldn't you I'm sorry. >> Board member's question. I that is a so so I think just being strictly accordance to agenda we are talking about in this case just the financing and fundings for the uh lend lease or whatever cops is is called um if there is the desire to have that larger conversation then that is a a new agenda item that we would then have
240a conversation about in the future which I'm open to >> I would prefer you know because I know this project came up with the DH HS renovations and so in my mind they should really come together for work and you know the records I think the work session should be all of it. >> Okay. >> All right. Are we ready for the >> No, I'm sorry. Because I I just want to be clear and I want to make sure that everyone's listening is clear. This is not a proposal to discuss whether to commit the district to um the funding of the ECLC because the FY27 budget already has operating costs associated with the ECLC. The recommendation is simply to put off a discussion of how we'll pay for it to later. Is that >> well
241I mean there was a vote as a part of it as well which is what I am saying I'm not prepared to engage on. Right. Like I it's I think there's more conversation necessary in an environment like a work session to actually get to uh ultimately a decision >> and some of those operating costs which we'll discuss in the budget are different from cost. >> Yeah. Know I don't disputing the two. So, I'm simply saying that if this is an app comparison, um, we've already bought a lot of the stuff for our vacation operating costs, but we're going to wait until later to figure out if we're going to take the vacation and how we're going to pay for it because again, the budget that we're voting on tonight has line items for the ECLC,
242but I'm hearing a proposal that we figure out later how we're going to finance the ECLC. That's why I'm having a problem voting on this particular motion. >> Okay. >> So, I'm happy to add to the motion if you want to take the ECLC cost out of the budget for FY27 for now and then when we have that work session. Absolutely. >> I I don't think I'm prepared to do that. No, that's not >> Okay. Well, in all fairness, she can definitely bring that up when the budget discussion comes up if that's she wants to do. >> Sure. >> Definitely she can. Okay. >> Any further discussion? >> Well, now I need to understand the motion that I would be either um agreeing to or not. So, this is simply a motion to take the
243financing of the ECLC off our agenda to talk about at a future date. >> A future work session. Yes. But then when we get to the budget discussion, I can make a motion to remove something from it if I want. >> You definitely can or you can ask whatever questions you like. Sure. >> Well, I know I can ask the questions. I just want to confirm that I can make a motion to have that removed from the budget because those are too big. >> Sure. >> But I just want to reiterate the work session will include a discussion about the Decater High Schoolizations and how it works with early childhood. >> Yep. I think that's Yeah, >> sounds good. >> Definitely. >> All right. So, the pending question is to amend the agenda to move
244the ECLC financing discussion to a future work session. Uh board members, uh this requires a roll call vote. When a name is called, please respond with I if you're in favor, no. If you're opposed or abstain, if you wish to remain neutral, Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Chair Sultan, >> I. Vice Chair Ut. >> Hi. >> Board member Anderson. >> Hi. >> Board member Hearnen. >> Abstain. >> Board member Arriier. >> Hi. >> The chair's alternative entally stands four eyes, zero nos, one abstension. >> And the motion carries. >> I would like to also Okay, finish one. Okay. Okay, thank you. Um All right. The next agenda item is the approval of the um >> wait no I need to make one more. >> Okay. First step is to move the policy discussion from that's
245next thing I need to do. Yes. >> And the next question is to move the policy discussion from work session to the board meeting. Um, I need a motion to adopt the agenda to move the policies AFC and EE as well as FDC from work session to board meeting. So, >> um, is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh, board member Hearnen. Second. Uh board member, this is a pending question is to modify the agenda to move policies AFC, E, and FDC from the work session to the regular board meeting. This is a question that requires a roll call vote. Board members, when your name is called, please respond. I if you are in favor, no. If you're opposed or abstain, if you wish to remain neutral, Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Chair Sultan, >>
246I. >> Vice Chair, >> I. Board member Hearnen. >> Hi. >> Board member. >> I. >> The chair Sultan. The tally stands at five eyes, zero nos, and zero abstensions. >> All right. Um, that motion carries. >> Okay. >> I would like to formally renew my request for a governance agenda item during today's board meeting. I've tried to put this on the agenda. I was told that it was in pre-work, but I today, but it was not. Um, this exemplifies part of the governance concern that I have. >> I'm confused because I we added your agenda item in pre-work. What did we not cover? >> What did we not cover? >> We talked about communication norms, but not the governance items that requested. >> What items did we not cover? >> I want to legal.
247>> Okay. executive session. >> Okay. Okay. Those those >> records >> those confidential matters did require me to do some work with GSBA. Um so those things I have to do a little bit of research on to make sure that we handle them properly. Some of them are some confidential matters willing to discuss them. Some of them are some sensitive legal matters. Um I have to make sure that I get some that I personally get some proper legal guidance as to how to add them to the agenda. what matters can be discussed publicly and and in what form. It is it's not that we're not trying to to add them, but I need some guidance on that. >> Do we have a sense when we'll have that guidance so that we can add the item?
248>> Absolutely. Okay. >> Once I get that, I need to discuss it with our legal team and then we will definitely get the agenda. >> So, is this do you do is like next month? It's a next month board meeting that we can act. Right. Governor's concerns involving transparency in the boundaries of executive session, consultant oversight and legal expenditures and future responsibly deserve to be an open discussion for the public record. >> I think some of those things are like I said are which I've explained to you directly are some matters that require some legal expertise. Um I think some of them require our legal team to provide some insight. Um, so I need some guidance as to how to to manage that particular agenda item. Um, I received it. I also explained to that
249to you in writing as well, but that's how I would proceed that I would discuss it with GSBA as to how to some of those are confidential matters. Confidential matters that involve constituents and other open records. I need to make sure that I handle that correctly. The >> GSBA is an advisory, you know, are pressing and I've been bringing them up repeatedly. So, I look forward to that discussion at the end. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Okay. Our next agenda item is approval of minutes from previous board meetings. Do we do we have um we have many agenda minutes to approve. I'll read them all in one motion. Do I have a motion to approve the executive pre >> pre-work and regular monthly minutes for April 14th and the special call meeting minutes for April
25027th? >> Move. >> Remember us makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Can we pull the executive session meeting minutes out of that? >> Okay. I can I call for the discussion for uh board member Hearnen seconds the motion. Is there any discussion? I when I reviewed the executive unit from our last executive session without revealing you know the specifics um it's a very narrow legal exception. You know I am also a bar attorney in the state of Georgia and I don't believe that we should be conducting public policy out of public use. I also noted that there were it did not include the complete list of persons who attended executive sessions including persons who zoomed in during that session. >> Okay. >> The meeting minutes were not accurate. So >> may I ask
251a question or is that so the question has been made board member area is free to u disagree not she wants to consider them separately so that she doesn't have to disagree with all the minutes >> um so she wants to pull them out so that she can vote against those minutes that's fine and then she can vote in favor of all the it's not appropriate to have a discussion substance of which I'm not saying that she's >> so I guess I have a question too. I don't know if this is the appropriate time to ask or bring it up. Um, and it relates to the financing because I listened to the meeting and I believe the minutes site like exploring cop funding and other options. But then, you know, I went back and listened
252in the meeting and I thought, is that really the accurate way to describe that? My recollection from listening just recently was that we were told what we had presented cost funding before and there were others. So, is this the appropriate time to both ask? I would correct those or what is the process for that? Maybe it seems pedantic, but I don't think it is because we do sometimes have a communication issue. So, I want to make sure we're very clear as to what we're telling people was discussed in >> there. If you tell me the meeting minutes that you want to adjust and we can adjust them. I think it the special calls meeting which we had on I believe it was April 27th >> and it was a um specific description of the financing
253and I remember seeing cops and other financing. So just wondering if that was the appropriate time to bring it up in case anyone else thought that possibly prioritizing comp in that description when the discussion was really hey you've already been presented comps now we'll look at other funding sorry >> no so >> technical terms >> so I'm just so it says description of comp financing you think it's more accurate if it just said description >> financing financing options without the emphasis on cost. That's reasonable. That's fine. >> We can make that adjustment. Any further discussion? >> Okay. The pending question to approve the executive pre-work work and regular monthly minutes for April 14th and the special call meeting minutes for April 27th. Since this requires a recorded vote, Dr. Ritterle will now call the role.
254Members, when your name is called, please respond with I if you're in favor, no if you are opposed or abstain if you wish wish to remain neutral. Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> I I don't mean to interrupt. What is the process to adopt the changes that board member Anderson just suggested and so that we are actually making when we vote to adopt however we do this, we are adopting it with the suggested changes. >> I think two things. Number one, we need to um move to remove the session minutes from the block. >> Okay. >> But separately. But as to the changes that requested just to the minute per meeting date as amended as requested by >> So do I need to do I need to call back this motion? >> Yes, that would be
255the call it back and then both on the ones that have not been changed. The ones that are has been changed. >> Okay. So, I'm going to call back the motion on the table. Everybody tell me if you consent. Just say yes. >> Yes. Yes. Okay. So, I'm going to start by pulling out the executive session minutes. We'll do that separately. I just won't speak that one. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the pre-work work and regular monthly meeting minutes for April 14th and the special calls meeting minutes for April 22nd? >> Just a quick point of order. We we need to reference the amended special meeting board member Anderson's suggestion. >> Got it. Do I have a motion to approve the pre-work and regular monthly meeting minutes for April 14th and the
256amended special called meeting minutes for April 27th? >> Board member Anderson makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Or member US seconds the motion. The pending question is the adoption of the motion to approve the pre-work and regular monthly minutes for April 14th as well as the amended special cause meeting minutes by board member Anderson on April 27th. Since this requires a recorded vote, Dr. Rico will now call a role. >> Chair Sultan, >> I vice chairs. >> Hi. >> Board member Anderson. >> Hi. >> Board member Hearnen. >> Hi. >> Board member Arriier. Hi. >> All right. And the the chair Sultan Natali stands at five eyes and zero nos and zero abstensions. The eyes have it. The motion is carried. Next. >> Right. We will approve the executive meeting minutes
257for April 14th. Do I have a motion to approve the executive meeting minutes for April 14th? Move. Board member S makes the motion. Is there a second? Second. >> Uh board member H. Hearnen seconds the motion. Is there any discussion? >> I'd like to note for ensuring an accurate record. My collection is that Robert Forson, the district lobbyist, also participated. I've already said we cannot go into I will not say the subing the person who was there I don't believe that's reflected in the minister I also continue to have concerns regarding whether portions of this discussions appropriately belong in executive session >> if I can ask the parliamentarian is it appropriate to amend the minutes to include the individual ual named by board member or is that to is that not appropriate? Okay. So, is
258there any issue with fellow board members to add before his name? Okay. >> All right. So, >> got one. >> So, I'm gonna I'm gonna >> I'm going to bring that motion back. Anybody consent? >> Yes. >> Yep. Yep. All right. So, the motion is to approve the executive session minutes, the amended executive session minutes from April 14th as amended by board member Iier on April 14th. All right. That is the motion. >> Second. >> No, wait. No. >> Member area makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Member seconds the motion. The pending question is the adoption of the amended executive session minutes from April 14th as amended by board member Irriè. Um this is a question that recalls a roll a recorded vote. Dr. Whitaker will now call the role. Board
259members, when your name is called, please respond I if you are in favor, no if you're opposed or abstain if you wish to remain neutral. Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Sher Sultan I. Vice Chair >> I. >> Board member Anderson. Board member Hearnen. >> Hi. >> Board member. >> Hi. >> I'm sorry. >> The tally chair. >> I have eyes. Zero. No. >> I have it. The motion is carried. All right. >> Yes. >> Okay. Dr. Wer, the next item. >> Yes. Paris Colton, I would like to call on Nia Bachra, the 2025 2026 student board representatives to conduct the swearing in of our 2026 2027 student board representative Zoe Smith. Yes. I, Zoe Smith, duly elected to the position of the student board of education representatives. I, Zoe Smith, have been duly elected to
260the position of the student board of education representative. >> Do solemnly swear that I will execute the duties of the position to the best of my ability. >> For that I will execute the duties of the position to my to the best of my ability. >> that I am a resident of the state of Georgia, Dicab County, and the city of Decatur. >> that I'm a resident of the state of Georgia, Dicab County, and the city of Decatur. >> That I am a student enrolled in Decar High School of the City Schools of Decar. that I am a student enrolled in Decar High School of the State Schools of Decar. >> that I am otherwise qualified to hold this office according to the board of education policies and administrative regulations. >> that I am otherwise
261qualified to hold this office according to the board of education policies and administrative regulations. That I will do my best to represent the interests of my fellow students at the City Schools of Decator. >> that I will do my best to represent the interests of my fellow students of the City Schools of Decator. and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of Georgia and the laws related thereto. >> and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of Georgia and the laws related there too. ulations. >> Congratulations members. Nia is the first she is the first student to serve on both the apprentice and the representative role. She is the first to lobby for a student member of the board of education in Georgia. She is the first
262from Georgia to serve as the Southeast Regional Vice President on the National Student Board Member Association. Watching you grow, Nia, and mature over the past two years reminds me of being in the classroom. I will never forget that feeling and I will never forget the fierceness and appropriate cander that you present. Zoe, welcome to the role of student representative. You're starting out in the policy world and not only the policy world but the policy world of AI, not only in CSD but for America and to Kate. Everyone, Kate, please stand. Congratulations, Kate, on your election as the apprentice for the 2026 2027 school year. Board members, do you have any comments to share? >> Congratulations. >> Um, we're going to miss you tremendously, Mia. Uh, and I've said this before, I'm going to say it
263again with a large audience. this you have made it very hard to remember that you're a student up here. >> We I think all of us routinely engage with you as a peer and that speaks of your maturity, your capability and your passion. So thank you for everything you shared with us. Um you have big shoes to fill Zoe but you're off to a great start. So we're very much looking forward to working >> congratulations um Zoe. We'll see you soon here. And Kate, um, kudos to pursuing this. And, um, Mia, I I think you have learned usually I'm not a loss for words. We may not all be intelligible. Um, but I have just been so grateful um to get to work with you and I and to learn from you and I just
264can't wait to hear about and see and read about all the great things you're going to do. I I think you just put a phenomenal. So, thank you. >> Go ahead. >> I agree. Nia, it's been such a pleasure to work with you. you are such a a wealth of perspective um and insight and uh redirection when needed. Um so, uh best of luck. I'm sure you're going to do great things. And like I tell everybody who um metriculates off, don't forget about us. Come back and visit Austin. Um you're going to just do great things. >> Nia has gone to the capital and been a force. She's advocated for what she believes in. you've been such a good role model for students and for the adults in this community. Thank you absolutely for your
265service. Um Omari Crawford and I were discussing you a couple of weeks ago and the highest compliment. He described you as a as a fireball and a force and uh I thought that was pretty awesome. Zoe, I do not know how you um have balanced the day between multiple AP exams and a presentation on AI and getting the board in. So, thank you and looking forward to serving you and thank you K for. >> All right. Now, I ask the public to take a look at the screen. may um well I did want to write a speech but um I was up until 3:00 am night um right um studying for bio this morning so Um, I have just a variety of kind of lessons and takeaways. Um, the first thing I wanted to say
266is I know a lot of people have asked me about my college plans. Um, so I was in between Vanderbilt um, as a chancellor scholar and Georgia Tech and I decided to follow my heart and go to Georgia Tech. So, >> I hope Vanderbilt will have me back for a master's program or something, but um you know, we'll see. Um and I just this has been a time of a lot of reflection for me. Um and I've really been able to think about what I've been able to bring to the board. Um and I think a lot of that is, you know, grounding you all in what it means to be a student right now and what it means to be a young person right now. Um, and in my advocacy outside of the board,
267in the board, I I just really see this trend of like this world around us getting worse, noticeably worse. Um, and you know the the reaction to like AI and surveillance or AI and cell phones and all these new challenges that we have to face has been to surveil students more and to give them more restrictions and you know just a lot of like you know criminalizing students and students really deserve to be free um to learn. Um, those are things that my parents have always taught me to value is, you know, making the world a better place and learning all I can. Um, so, you know, this has been the most unique classroom. This boardroom, this very cold boardroom has been just the best classroom over two years and probably has been the single
268most transformative part of my high school experience. I've really learned how to articulate myself. Um, and I I think also, you know, been trial by fire. Um, so it's certainly been a unique time, but um, I've just really learned how much I appreciate this community and um, care for each and every one of you and how much I care for students. Um, and so I really hope you know I'm going to school to study design and technology, but I really ultimately want to be a part of education. Um, so that is how that's influenced me. Um, you know, I wanted to wish Zoe the best. Um, Zoe is just we've gotten to know each other over year. She's just like an incredible person, a great thinker, and I know we'll um I know the student
269center district will be in her good hands. And congratulations to Kate. I don't know much about you yet, but I I hope I will learn. Um I a lot of work of this district's cabinet really goes um undervalued, I think, or unseen. But um you know, I've been able to meet with each cabinet member. Um I've been accused that Mr. Adams is my dad several times. So, that that might attach to some of the closings we've been able to share, but you guys really care about students. Um, and you guys are experts in what you do and you really like show up every day for students. So, I'm so grateful, especially to Miss Lynch, who has just been a fantastic um adviser who has answered all of my stupid questions and who's like my board
270mom. Sorry, mom. Um, you're my number one. Um, but I just I am so grateful for these connections I've been able to make. Um, and then finally, of course, for this board, I just like I really thought that this role would be empty and I thought it would be symbolic and I was like, you know, even if they try to push me in a corner, I'm not going to stay in that corner. But I didn't have to do that. I was enabled and empowered and loved in every circumstance. you guys are just so supportive and really demonstrate what it means to care about student voice. Um so then my final thing is just to the community. Um again Charles um I've got what it means to be like a citizen about governance. Um, and I
271just want you all to continue to demand better, not just from this board, um, and their accountability, but demand better from every elected official in every office. Um, go and vote. You can vote until May 15th. Election day is May 19th. You have a voice. You have a vote. Use it. Please use it. So, I don't have to come to your door and beg you to. Um, and you know, like even on the city level, like talk to the city and demand better housing policy so that young people can actually come in here and raise young kids to go to these schools. Um, and advocate for education and all these things. You have all this energy and so use it as much as you possibly can. Um, I don't know. I think I just the
272thing that brought me here is that I try to be an advocate in everything I do. Um, and I want to make the world a better place and I am so grateful for these people for um, enabling me and helping me do that. So, thank you. >> Yes. And thank you, Chair Sultan. Tonight I have the pleasure of recognizing my 2025 2026 superintendent advisory councils. These individuals have advised me monthly and their feedback and engagement have been extremely beneficial in informing my service to students, the staff and CSD and the community. My sincerest appreciation for all members of the advisory councils who accepted my invitation to join this evening for recognition. So please stand. I call the name of your advisory. Members of the teacher advisory council please stand. Members of the system charter leadership
273team, otherwise known as the SDL team, please stand. Members of support staff advisory, please stand or come off the wall or wear away. I see them around. Members of PTO, PTA, DEF or Decator booster, Decator performs, please stand. Members of the as well as K5 advisories, please stand and also come to the aisle so that everyone can see you. Some of these students have actually served on the advisory in multiple years. I think they just like coming to find out more about our school system. But I want to also thank the parents of the student advisory councils for supporting them in their participation, for picking them up, for staying for the 45 minutes or the hour or however long because the students are truly engaged. And so at this time, I want to call on
274Colin and Gerald to share their perspectives as participants in the advisory council and what amplifying their student voices has influenced this year. Colin. Hi, my name is Colin and I'm 11 years old at FA and I'm on the superintendent elementary student advisory council. Over the course of the school year, we did a variety of activities, including discussing recommendations on district policies and initiatives. I love seeing how our opinions about the school day influenced policies and rules. Some of the policies on which we gave feedback were the K through8 use of electronic devices by students and recess unstructured break time policies. Did you know that the state of Georgia actually has a law that protects our recess time? After meetings, we also learned about district safety, how things work at the Wilson Center, text procedures, budgeting
275for CSV, and new laws that affect the district. For example, we learned that there is a law requiring to school cafeterias to serve greens, fruit, vegetables, and protein. The next day when I went to go get school lunch, I noticed the different food groups on my plate and it made lunch a lot more meaningful knowing I was eating the right things to fuel my body. For the budgeting feedback, our top three priorities were ensuring that there was enough funding for operations, safety, and instructional materials. For safety, I remember sharing that not all subs have been wearing their badges around the school. Since that time, I've noticed that they've gotten better about wearing their badges. It's good to know that my feedback was given to the right people so that they could remind the subs about
276this important safety procedure. My favorite thing we did was learning about the safety systems in place because I love technology and most of the safety systems are tech related. Every time I went to one of the meetings, I looked forward to sharing about my school day. And sometimes when something I said at the meeting changed at my school, I felt a sense of pride knowing that I could have been the one who changed it. Good evening for chair Dr. Sultan vice chair us the board members representative and superintendent Dr. Whitaker. My name is Gerald Winkwin and I'm a senior at Decator High School. For the past two years, I've had the distinct honor of being a member superintendent advisory council. As I prepare to graduate, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what
277this experience has meant to me and the impact that we have made together. I first joined this council. I wanted to be more than just a voice to bring and relate problems. I wanted to be part of the solutions. Being a student leader is about more than just having a seat at the decision table. It's about make taking the responsibility to make that table bigger, more representative, and more effective for everyone. During my tenure, I've had I've been proud to have focus my efforts on two areas which affect every student's daily lives, safety and dignity. I've had the privilege of being the opening speaker for both of our districts to keep both of our districts safety summits and standing before my peers and administrators to kick off these important conversations has taught me that when
278we prioritize transparency we build a stronger and more secure culture. I also believe that our physical environment reflects much of how we value our students. After noticing persistent issues with broken bathroom doors and non-functioning showers at the high school, I knew we needed a better system than just waiting for someone to notice. Working with administrators, I developed a streamlined reporting process that allows students to flag repairs quickly and efficiently to ensure our facilities remain functional, safe, and respectful. Serving on this council taught me that change doesn't happen by accident. It happens through collaboration, persistence, and a willingness to speak up. I want to thank Superintendent Dr. Whitaker for taking the time to listen to the student perspective. And I want to thank this board for supporting the initiatives which come from our council. I get
279to leave this position knowing that I've left my mark. I'm very excited to see what the next generation of student representatives will do to continue moving this district forward with much gratitude. Thank you all. >> Thank you, Colin. Thank you, Gerald. Thank you to all the student representatives. appreciated our monthly interactions and look forward to meeting your successors in the fall. I think we talked about that last week and how you all can help in that recruitment. I'm also pleased to mention that Gerald will attend Emry University next year. Now, I'd like to call on Deputy Superintendent Karen Newton Scott to present the results of this year's SAT school day. Good evening, board chair, Dr. Sulten, vice chair, other esteemed members of the board, student representative, and superintendent Dr. Whitaker. Tonight, I am providing an
280update of our SAT strategy, specifically how we are expanding access, maintaining strong performance, and supporting students through targeted preparation. This work is directly aligned to our strategic accelerator, student success for all. At its core, this work ensures that every student has access to post-secary opportunities and is prepared to take advantage of them. This year, for the first time, we administered the SAT during the school day. Instead of requiring students to register, pay, and attend a Saturday testing session, we brought the SAT directly into the school setting. By doing so, we are increasing participation, normalizing the experience, and ensuring every student has access to this opportunity. Our SAT school day initiative is grounded in three key drivers. First, datadriven instruction to be able to use assessment data to inform teaching and target supports for students and
281help students and counselors plan for postsecary success. Our second driver is barrier removal. We want to eliminate obstacles such as costs, transportation, and scheduling that often prevent students from access from accessing the SAT on traditional Saturday test days. And thirdly, increase representation. We want to ensure that more of our students, particularly those historically underrepresented are data. Students often take the SAT multiple times and in different settings, including school day administrations and traditional Saturday testing. The data shown here reflects all SAT scores from August 2025 to date, regardless of when or where the test was taken. This gives us a comprehensive view of student performance across all testing opportunities. With that context, we see that CSD's average SAT score is 1167, which exceeds both the state and national averages. This is significant because it shows that
282even as we expand access, our students continue to perform at high levels. So now that we've reviewed overall performance across all testing, narrow our focus specifically to the SAT school day administration. It is important to note that these results reflect only students who participated in an SAT school day administration. In other words, this is a direct comparison of how CSV students performed during a school day testing administration compared to students across Georgia and the nation who also tested during the school day. PSD students earned an average score of 1139 compared to 971 for the state and 960 nationally. These results are significant because they demonstrate that expanding access through a school-based testing model can produce strong academic outcomes. As participation opportunities increase, BSD students continue to perform well above state and national averages. The results
283reflect the strength of our students, the support of our staff and families, and the systems we have in place to help students prepare for post-secary opportunities. While all performance is important, it is equally important that we understand how students across student groups are experiencing success and where opportunities for continued growth remain. This slide provides a breakdown of outcomes by student group and helps us better better understand patterns in achievement across all across our system. It allows us to celebrate areas of progress while also identifying where additional support access or targeted strategies may strengthen these outcomes. As participation expands through SAT school day, our focus remains not on not only on increasing access but also ensuring that every student has the preparation opportunities and support needed to. In addition to expanding access, we are intentionally investing
284in preparation through our partnership with Apple Roof. Alpha Rouge provides personalized SAT preparation, coaching, and support for students. So, this includes the diagnostic pra practice assessment, small group or individualized in-person instruction, targeted support in reading, writing, and math, and ongoing practice feedback and test taking strategies to build confidence and readiness. Students engage in structured sessions aligned to the SAT format, helping them become more familiar with the assessment while strengthening academic skills. In addition, students enrolled in one goal also receive SAT preparation through their coursework. This allows SAT readiness to be embedded into the school day while also connecting students to broader college planning, applications, and postsecary success support. This layered approach ensures students are not only given access to the SAT, but they are equipped with the preparation, confidence, and support to perform at the
285highest levels. This school year, 111 students were enrolled in Apple, including 59 11th graders and 52 12th graders. And as you will see on this slide, these supports are producing measurable results for students. Students increased their average score from 857 on practice test to 1021 on the actual SAT, representing a gain of 19%. In addition, 58% of the participating 11th and 12th grade students in the Apple group took the SAT on the school day, representing 56 students. When disagregated by grade level, 90% of participating 11th graders completed the assessment while 25% of participa participating seniors tested during the March administration. The difference between the juniors and seniors is is expected as many seniors had already completed prior prior SAT administrations earlier in the year to beat college application timeline. Having 90% of the 11th graders
286enrolled in SAT prep participate in the assessment and perform above the state average provides strong evidence that this investment is making a meaningful difference for our students. The results suggest that when access to the assessment is paired with intentional preparation and support, students are well positioned for success. It also reinforces the value of continuing to offer this service as part of our broader commitment to college readiness, opportunity, and strong student outcomes. So to summarize, these results reflect a strategy that expands access, strengthens preparation, and supports student outcomes. Students who participated in SAT tutoring improved their scores by 19% from their initial practice assessment. 88 black students participated in SAT school day, which exceeds the total number of black students who tested during the entire 2425 school year. 90% of participating 11th graders enrolled in the
287test for SAT day demonstrating strong alignment between preparation and access. Overall SAT participation has increased by 21% during the 2025 26 school year compared to 2425. Moving forward, CSG will continue to expand access to post-secary opportunities, strengthen preparation and targeted supports, monitor outcomes to ensure both equity and excellence, and refine our systems that prepare students for life beyond high school. This work is creating a system where every student has access to opportunities and support to succeed. Thank you. I will now turn the remarks back over to Dr. Whiter. >> Thank you. >> In addition to the end of year end of another school year this month, we join the American Nurses Association in celebrating our incredible school nurses who understand the link between health and learning can make a positive difference for students every day.
288May is mental health awareness month, a reminder of a vital role mental health plays in our overall health and well-being. We want to remind our school community that support and resources are available to students and also to staff to help them overcome challenges. In fact, this assistance can begin tomorrow, May 13th at 4:30 at the Decatur Housing Authority Community Resource Center. That's just up the street, where the Division of Student Support Services will host a parent workshop to empower parents and guardians with tools to increase their awareness of mental health and support student wellness. Registration is required and dinner is included. We also celebrated Principal's Day, specifically their dedication to leading our schools and their contributions to ensuring all students feel safe, seen, and successful. Teacher Appreciation Week was May 4th through the 8th. CSD
289proudly joined the state of Georgia in celebrating our teachers. And I want to express my sincere gratitude to all teachers in CSD. You inspire students every day with the new ways you find to engage our youngest learners as well as our K5 students and older learners in middle school and also high school. And thank you once again for being all in and committed to student success in all areas. We are just four days, and I know a couple people in here are counting those four days away from the culminating event of every school year. As we prepare to send the graduates of Decar High School class of 2026 into their next chapters, we continue to honor our teachers as well as our school administrators, the school and district staff and their families. every person who
290is supporting our graduating seniors for their collective success in nurturing future focused scholars. And I think we've heard from some of them today to the 2026 commencement ceremony. It will be held on Saturday, May 16th at Georgia State University. Congratulations to the class of 2026 on this milestone achievement. But first, we look forward to celebrating our 2026 CSD retirees. So, as they prepare to enjoy a welldeserved retirement, and I see a couple in here right now, we sincerely thank our retirees for their collective years of dedicated service to our students, staff, and schools. Paris Sultan, that completes my report. Good evening. On behalf of the City Schools of Decar Board of Education, I appreciate your in-person and online presence for our May board meeting. It is with immense pride and a mix of emotions that
291we thank Nia Batra for her leadership and insight and for using her voice to amplify our student voices this year. Nia previously served as our first student board apprentice, helping to write the book for future representatives. After assuming the school board representative role this year, student Nia has taken it to new heights. In addition to contributing to during board meetings, Nia has presented at district and statewide conferences and events. She worked with members of our legislative delegation on a state resolution urging all school boards to include a student representative. While that resolution did not pass during this legislative session, NIA successfully led the CSD board in a unanimous passing listed in drafting that provides student immigration protection. She also was elected as the Southeast Regional Vice President of the National Student Board Member Association. Additionally,
292we acknowledge this year this year's student Zoe Smith who shadowed NIA in preparation for serving as the student board representative next school year. Having a student serve on the the board of education was an innovation envisioned early in this administration in collaboration with the board. Student representation on the board is an object is an objective that truly advances our strategic accelerator, building and sustaining an engaging and inclusive culture. Engaging the student body and seeking its input and feedback regarding the district's educational programs and activities advances our efforts to amplify student voice and is vital to achieving the vision, mission, and strategic plan. Nia, again, it's been an honor and a pleasure serving with you. We congratulate you on being a graduate of the class of 2026 and wish you the best as you continue to
293soar at Georgia Tech next year. Board members, please join me down front for a presentation and a picture. Nia, on behalf of the Board of Education, please accept this plaque in appreciation of your invaluable service this year. I don't talk. Another >> congratulations. Yay! As we say farewell to Nia, we welcome Zoe Smith as the incoming 2026 2027 student board of education representative. Zoe was sworn in by NIA today, taking her oath of office. Zoe, we look forward to gaining from your in gaining from your insights and perspectives and to serving with you in the upcoming school year. We also welcome Katie Bell, a rising junior at Decatur High School this year, who will work alongside Zoe in preparation for her service on the board in the 2027 2028 school year. Zoe and Kate, please
294stand. We began the pre-work session with an important safety orientation followed by several discussions related to monthly agenda setting activities and board member information request. These discussions aligned with our ongoing work to achieve all indicator strategic plan objective of organizational effectiveness and excellence. There was also a draft policy on school utilization for continued discussion regarding school attendance zones. After pre-work, the board transitioned to the annual legislative wrap-up lunchon where we received an overview of the 2026 legislative session and the actions taken. The report reflected the status of legislation as of earlier today. The governor has until midnight tonight to sign or veto legislation. Following the lunchon, the work session included four presentations. The first is on CSC's work with artificial intelligence, its impact in the classroom, and the way Zoe, our student student board apprentice,
295has been working to amplify student voice in AI policy development. The next presentation was an endofear update on the state of student support services including an evaluation of student attendance and behavior as well as the integrated systems of work supporting students and career planning future re ready reading skills and overall well-being. The board also received a human resources update on our current talent management and staff engagement strategies. Later, the board board will hear for the first reading policies on emergency closing, the wellness program, and facility naming. These policies were discussed in pre-work last month. During the regular board meeting, we will vote on the FY27 tenative mill rate and the tenative FY27 budget. Two policies will also be brought for approval related to charter schools and parental involvement in education. All board of education meeting
296presentations are available on the district's website and simply our board recognitions will highlight several achievements by our students and staff from College Heights ECLC who will meet the winner of the Decatur mascot contest for her school. We will also recognize the World of Asian Heritage Affinity Group at FAZE, the finalist authors competition, the student center ambassadors, and this year's The Trouble Award winners. Human resources will conduct our final recognition of our 2026 CSD retirees. Congratulations to all the students and staff honores and many thanks to our retirees for your many contributions to CSD. As always, we join the administration in recognizing this month's celebrations. I want to add that in May, we also recognize the national observances of heritage, experiences, and contributions of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders and Jewish Americans throughout history. As a school
297district, we remain committed to cultivating inclusive environments where every student is seen, heard, and successful. There are just under two weeks left in the school year. I encourage families and community members to check the school newsletters via the CSC weekly to stay informed about wonderful endofear events and activities. But first, we look forward to joining the DHS administration, districtwide staff, and families in celebrating our DHS class of 2026. This is an exciting time and I wish our seniors the very best and continued future success. You did it. I want to highlight a few important dates for the public. Our next board retreat is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Agnes Scott College. Please note the next board meeting will be held on June 2nd, 2026, which will be
298the first Tuesday in June. Board members, do any of you have any thoughts you wish to share? Okay. As I conclude, I want to reiterate that as a board of educa as the board of education continues its discussion and advances public votes on the matter of the new early childhood learning center, we remain committed to leading with students at the center, listening with intention and making decisions that strengthen opportunity and excellence for the long term. That concludes my remarks for this evening. Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the next item. Thank you, Chair Sultan. I would like to call on Dr. Lonita Broom, chief financial officer, will to present the tenative FY27 budget for approval. >> Good evening, board chair, Dr. Sultan, Vice Chair Hans, members of the board, Superintendent Dr. Today's presentation outlines the proposed fiscal
299year 27 tenative budget for all district fun. While all budget decisions and requests align with one or more of the district's strategic accelerators, the finance department work is especially aligned to accelerator number four, organizational effectiveness and excellence through financial trans. This is a snapshot of the budget and actual revenues and expenditure as of April 24th, 2026. This slide provides a This slide includes actual revenue and expenditures in the budget as of April 24th. Throughout this presentation, the budget is presented by function categories. Descriptions of each function categories are included in the appendix for reference. As of April 24th, the district has received approximately 83% of budgeted revenue due largely to the collection of 99% of local property tax revenue, which is typical for this point in the fiscal year. At the same time last year,
300the district had collected 103% of projected property tax revenue and had received 86% of budgeted revenue. Overall, largely due to additional funding associated with the Decap County era. Although revenue collections are slightly lower than the prior year, current trends remain consistent with historical collection patterns. The district has suspended 70% of the budgeted expenditures last year. This time the district had expended 59% of the budgeted expenditure. Overall when compared to the prior year the district has collected approximately 3% less in budgeted revenue while spending approximately 1% more in expenditures. Based on these trends I remain confident that the district is currently in a stable financial position. Based on financial activity through April 24th, fiscal year 26 revenue is projected to fall approximately $472,000 below budget. This variance is primarily related to lower than anticipated collections and
301other local revenue, specifically K12 tuition. Revenue is trending below expectation. Traditionally, the district received tuition revenue from short-term enrollment of students whose families are under contract for new property purchases. However, the number of tuition paying students this fiscal year has been limited. In addition, enrollment for K5 non-resident students is below projection. Other miscellaneous revenues, including surplus sales and facility rental foods, are also trending slightly below prior year levels. Despite these projected shortfalls, the district is still expected to achieve an overall revenue collection rate of approximately 100% of adjusted expectations. Based on spending patterns and vacant positions throughout the year, expenditures are projected to come in approximately $831,000 under budget. If the projections remain accurate, the fiscal year 26 ending fund balance as shown in the bottom table to the right highlighted in yellow would increase
302from 20.4 million to approximately 20.8 million. Again, these figures are projections only and will continue to be refined as we approach fiscal year end and additional information becomes available. It is important to note that fluctuation in school district revenues and expenditures throughout the year are normal. The budget serves as a financial plan that establishes the parameters within which the district intends to operate while also presenting projections of anticipated revenues and expenditures. As the budget is developed, adjustments occur frequently due to employee certification changes, benefit benefit elections, staffing changes and other personnel related factors. Once the board adopts the budget, the board is formally the budget is formally established and any subsequent budget amendments require board approval. Last month, the board was presented with draft number two for the fiscal year 27 preliminary budget. Several revisions
303have been incorporated into what is now presented as the fiscal year 27 tenative budget. These revisions include an additional $600 annually per member per month in health benefit increases from the state. I have received the preliminary state QBE revenue which increased by $393,030. Local revenue has been increased by 2% to account for an increase in tuition. Early tax preliminary digest information provided by the county indicates projected local tax revenue growth of approximately 4%. All other components of the budget remain unchanged, including compensation option four, which includes a 3% cost of living adjustment, staff increase for eligible employees, and the addition of one step to the administrative salary. Overall, the difference in projected revenue between draft 2 and the tenative budget is approximately 1%. On the expenditure side, the increase of $376,199 is due to the
304increase in health benefits. The overall increase in expenditures from draft two to the tenative budget is less than 1%. As a result of these changes, the ending fund balance from draft 2 to the to the tenative budget increased by 733,418 as shown highlighted in yellow on the table to the right under dollar amount of change. The ending fund balance increased 0.58% from 10.88% to 11.45%. As we continue through the budget de development process, revenue projections will be updated as additional information becomes available, including the final tax digest growth projection from the tax assessor's office in the adoption of the final tax budget. The fiscal year 27 tenative budget expenditures reflect both operational costs and salary and benefits as discussed in the proposed compensation package including a minimum of a 3% increase for all employees in
305a staff increase to eligible. When comparing the fiscal year budget to the fiscal year 27 tenative budget, projected revenue increases by approximately 2.5 million or 2%. Other grants have been removed from revenue and were and were removed from expenditures in the initial fiscal year 2017 budget. The sale of two district houses have increased revenue by $1.4 million. Projected expenditures have increased by approximately $6 million or 5% driven primarily by salary and benefit increases for employees. The table to the right illustrates the fiscal impact of the fiscal year 27 tenative budget. Under the column titled fiscal year 26 budget, the budgeted ended fund balance highlighted in yellow for fiscal year 26 is approximately $20.5 million. The fiscal year 26 ending fund balance becomes the beginning fund balance for fiscal year 27 as shown under the column
306titled fiscal year 27 tenative highlighted in green. The fiscal year 27 tenative budget reflect expenditures that exceed revenue by approximately $6.7 million highlighted in blue. As a result, the 6.7 million deficit will be funded through the beginning fund balance. This results in a projected ending fund balance of approximately 13.7 million or 11.45% of expenditures which remains within the board policy DCL target range of 4 to 15%. From the fiscal year 26 budget to the fiscal year 27 tenative budget includes the following. Removal of one-time grants previously allocated for instructional staff, training, federal grant administration and safety and security. 15% increase in maintenance and operation primarily driven by salary and benefit increases as well as approximately $1.2 million in onetime repair and maintenance costs. 19% increase in support services central primarily due to the one-time cost
307of $800,000 associated with the implementation of a new ERP system. A 68% decrease in other support services due to the reallocation of funds previously designated for consultant services to other functional categories. This reduction reflects the district's decreased reliance on internal consulting as internal capacity and expertise continue to strengthen. The decrease in the school nutrition program is primarily reduced school nutrition services expenditures for college height and phrases which were slightly over budgeted for fisc year 26. 29% increase in transfer to other funds is to cover the additional supplement required from school for school nutrition in the prepaid program for fiscal year 27. This slide and the next slide provide a breakdown of the fiscal year 7 fiscal year 27 tenative budget by function category highlighting the dollar amount allocated to personnel and operations for instruction. The
308largest operational costs are supplies, welfare, subscriptions, and professional services. For general administration, the largest operational cost are attorney fees and professional services. For maintenance, the largest operational costs are professional services, which includes landscape and lawn care, custodian services to repair and maintenance, and energy. For support services essential, the largest operational costs are web- based subscriptions and professional services. In previous versions of the fiscal year 27 budget, the following nonrecurring costs were identified. As we began to build our fiscal year 28 base budget and multi-year budget, allet one costs were removed from the fiscal year 2017 tenative budget. All grants were removed from both revenue and expenditure and the sale of the two houses was removed from revenue. Additionally, all the onetime expenditure costs as shown on one time grants were removed from the expenditure. Just
309your 28 base budget reduced by 3% with the removal of one time expenditure. The new ECLC recurring cost for fiscal year 28 includes $3.2 2 million in ongoing operating costs consisting of $2.3 million in personnel cost and $899,655 in operational costs. Expenditures that will be removed from the fiscal year 28 budget are the Frasier Center personnel and operating budget of $857,196. Anticipated revenue for fiscal year 28 includes tuition of $2.3 million from the three categories of tuition for the new early childhood center staff pay full pay and scholarship free child care and parent services and partial services pay. Additionally $669,695 in tuition revenue for Frasier will be removed from the fiscal year 2018 budget. This slide presents the fiscal year 28 base budget projection. The second column reflects the fiscal year 28 base after the
310removal of onetime fiscal year 27 expenditures as discussed on the previous slide. The third column reflects the removal of the Frasier Center revenue and expenditure budget. The fourth column reflects the addition of projected revenue and expenditures associated with the new early childhood learning center. The fifth column represents the resulting fiscal year 28 base collection. Highlighted in green is the projected fiscal impact on the general fund. The difference between the anticipated revenue and projected expenditures associated with the new ECLC is $918,38. After accounting for the removal of the fiscal year 27 budget of $857,196, the net fiscal impact to the general fund is $61,122. For planning and discussion purposes, I have rounded this amount to $70,000 to allow for incidental cost or adjustments that may not yet be reflected in the project. This slide presents both
311the fiscal year 27 tenative budget and the fiscal year 28 base budget. The fiscal year 28 base budget has been developed using conservative assumptions including a 2% increase in state general fund revenue and anticipated revenue from the sale of two additional district own. At this time, no increases in local tax revenue has been projected for fiscal year 28 due to pending legislation that might impact the growth of the tax dig. Based on these assumptions, the fiscal year 28 base budget is projected to result in an ended fund balance of approximately 9.12% which remains within the board's established fund balance parameters. Next month, I will present a comprehensive five-year financial forecast to provide a broader view of the district's long-term financial outlook. However, for purposes of this month's discussion, I wanted to specifically highlight the potential
312fiscal impact that the new early childhood learning center may have on the general fund moving forward. This is the proposed fiscal year 27 general fund budget. Total revenue is anticipated at $113,285,775. Total expenditures are $120,1,821. The beginning fund balance for fiscal year 27 is 20,451,251. Expenditures are $6,717,046. This leaves an ending fund balance of 13,745,215 and a fund balance percentage of 11.45%. This slide provides a breakdown of the fiscal year 27 tenative budget by function category. Instruction represents the largest portion of the general fund budget at 56% reflecting the district's continued commitment to supporting teaching and learning maintenance and operation is the second category at 11%. It is important to note that district facilities average more than 60 plus years in age and the maintenance budget includes approximately 1.5 million in one-time repair and maintenance
313costs. Super Services represents the third largest portion of the budget at 9% followed by school administration at 8%. In addition to the general fund budget, the board was also presented with the special revenue, school nutrition, and slots budget during the March 10th board meeting week. The special revenue budget consists primarily of various federal and state grants. The fiscal year special revenue budget totals approximately $2.9 million. Additionally, grant funding budgets are structured so that expenditures and revenue are equal, making the budget revenue neutral. For fiscal year 27, the district's special revenue fund includes a projected general fund supplement to support the prek program. The fiscal year food nutrition budget totals approximately $4.3 million. The general fund is projected to supplement the school nutrition budget by an amount not to exceed $881,361. Any portion of the supplement
314that is not utilized will remain in the general fund. Additionally, the school nutrition program is required to maintain a fund balance equivalent to approximately three months of operating expenditures in order to remain financially stable and compliant with program requirements. The fiscal year 27 east slot budget has been revised since the March 10th presentation. Approximately $1 million in expenditures that had initially been reallocated to the general fund have now been reassigned back to the slot. In addition, fiscal year 26 revenue projections have been updated to reflect the most current collection and exit. Based on these revisions, total fiscal year 27 east block revenue is projected at approximately $12 million, while total expenditures are estimated at approximately $8.5 million. Even an ending fun. This slide provides a visual overview of the district's four fiscal year 2027 budgets
315totaling 134,679,377. As illustrated, the general fund represents the largest portion of the district's overall budget at 89% followed by funds at 6%. This slide illustrates the fiscal year 2027 tenative budget across all four funds. The distribution emphasizes the general fund which constitutes the largest portion of 89% of the budget, the total expenditures of 120 million. The remaining allocations include capital funds, food, nutrition, and fiscal revenue. Fiscal year 27 budget highlights are 2.7% increase in employee health care 1.8% increase in TRS minimum 3% salary increase for all employees for eligible employees investments in early childhood education. The budget was built using a modified zerobased budgeting process. Tuition for non-resident students grades K through five. Maintains a fund balance within the board policy BCL range. Cypus and signing bonuses for specified teachers and pair professionals. Increase of
316four central office staff increase of five school level staff prek instructional reserves. The fiscal year 27 budget is intentionally aligned with the district strategic accelerators and the board's fiscal year 27 adopted and approved budget priorities to ensure that financial resources directly support the district's long-term goals while maintaining fiscal responsibility. The budget de development process has been comprehensive, deliberate, and transparent with a strong emphasis on collaboration and stakeholder engagement throughout each phase. Feedback was gathered through multiple platforms, including more than 75 submissions received through the budget feedback portal, all of which were shared with the board. In addition, community meetings were conducted following each draft release to encourage public input and discussion. Each version of the budget along with the overall process was reviewed and discussed with the school charter leadership team, various advisory council and
317district staff who budget exercises designed to provide a deeper understanding of the budgeting process and funding allocation methodology. Throughout the development process, presentations were provided on key topics including the budget timeline, school allotment guidelines, budget parameters and priorities, a review of the fiscal year 25 budget, salary and benefit comparisons with neighboring districts, and the district's clean financial audit presented by the external auditors. The board also received presentations from the Decap County Tax Commission and the city of Decatur managers. Additionally, comprehensive five-year financial review was presented and discussed along with the planned use of federal, state, and slot funds within the proposed fiscal year 27 budget. The board conducted detailed discuss discussions of budget draft one and budget draft two and today the board is scheduled to approve the fiscal year 201 budget. The next step
318in the budget process includes the upcoming presentation regarding the tenative approval of the military in addition to two public budget hearings scheduled for May 19th at 6:00 p.m. and May 27th at 11:00 a.m. The board is scheduled to approve the final fiscal year 27 budget on June 2nd. Following budget adoption, three public military hearings will be conducted on June 11th at 11:00 a.m. and 6 pm with the third public hearing and final adoption of the tax military scheduled for June 22nd at 5:00 p.m. and 5:25 p.m. Upon completion of the budget approval pro process, the fiscal year 27 budget book is expected to be finalized and printed by August 31st. The budget feedback link is still open and active and we encourage you to submit your feedback. I will be happy to respond to any
319questions. I've got one and I'm sorry because there's a lot of good information in here, but the we can go to slide five because I was taking notes when you were presenting I think the end of this year and I want to make sure it aligns with what I'm reading in slide five. So again, I'm sorry if I My notes are incorrect rather but I heard less but we also are paying 1% more so that's like a 4% deficit or need right at least what I heard verbally and then >> yeah and then I heard kind of some revenue sources were down so K through two we mentioned when people um you know maybe are building a house and they're waiting that was limited. Um K through five, I think tuition below projections and I
320think you also said something about rentals or property. So I'm trying to kind of um see how that comports with slide five where there's the projected 2% growth in local other and the local taxes growth of 4%. >> Right? So the 2% growth is due to tuition increases. Tuition for K5 has increased and also tuition for the ECL. So then that would be simply the dollar amount of the existing existing tuition paying students not an increase in the tuition paying because I felt in regard to next year the tuition payers hadn't really committed the money yet. So, we just have that they've accepted, not that they've actually signed any money. So, is this just want to confirm because I thought I heard we were down in tuition, but now we're estimating for that increased tuition,
321>> right? So, we have more interest for fiscal year 28 than we had in fiscal year when we have had um parents pay application fees. And then, and I'm sorry if I just I'm not getting this. So, what accounted for the 3% less this year and the 1% more? How does that move us to next year? So, if we're ending this year with I think 3% less than we expected and paying 1% more. I mean, that's tired, but I take the negative -3 and I add the negative one and I get -4. Like that's 4% more that we're paying than we had budgeted or expected. >> When you refer to the 3%, are you referring to local property tax? >> It was the verbal explanation before we got to the slides when first you mentioned
322the 3% less but 1% more. And then we went into the three different revenue sources that were less the K through 12 um tuition, the K through five below projections in the rental property. >> So I think you're maybe referring to the projection. So we're just projecting more next year even if this year the >> this is for fiscal year 26th year in projection and for fiscal year 27 we are projecting more because we have the preliminary the early preliminary digest which shows the growth in Texas >> and then I'm guessing you didn't get to do this because I know when the agenda was posted but given what we just learned and talked about at lunch with SB33 so where is that going you know my understanding is now um plan on less tax revenue
323uh because SB33 passed, >> right? So the numbers that I have came from the county that their tax digest that's the early preliminary, but they will provide me with another and that the numbers will be updated there as well as you say, but the Senate Bill 33 does not go into effect this year. It's not going to >> Well, I I mean I thought I heard a punch. There was Some people thought it was January, some people thought it was July. >> January one. >> So either way, it's going to affect FY27 some way. >> The numbers from the county. >> Okay. >> And the county's numbers, just to be clear, are already conservative based upon the assumption that SB SB33, >> right? So, so like when you when you look at digest growth in
324historic years, it tends to be substantially more than the 3% or 4%. So, the reason why we're seeing it so low this year is they've already baked in that cap. Uh, and my suspicion will be next year when it is in effect, sorry, not this year's budget, but FY28's budget when we'll have that impact for the whole year, regardless of what the digest does, we'll be capped on local option at at 3%. Yep. Any other questions? >> Yeah, I think a follow up on an earlier motion. Um, I want to make sure my numbers are correct here. So, what I see is one of the slides, I can't remember which, but effectively 1,335,000 in um ECLC startup cost. I think it's or I'm sorry 420,000 for the professional services. Yeah, that was a slide. Sorry.
325It was one before that. Um yeah, so 420 for the ECL professional services and then 9:15. So added that that's 1,335. I had clarified earlier in a um an email that this budget also includes the ELC principal position. I think that's in the school administration budget. And then I don't know if this is easily answered and by whom. I think I put it in an email and maybe everyone me missed it because I was listening to last year's budget meeting. Um, you know, when I expressed concerns about voting for it and ECLC cost and specifically I did I was one of the two board members that specifically said publicly the ECLC is not in the budget. But then I was reviewing the 2425 charter report and it specifically says the FY26 budget includes a reallocation
326of charter funds to support the new early learning center offerings and then um the student board rep. So besides the two line items there and the principal position for the ECLC, are there other ECLC related costs in the budget that kind of like these charter funds that were reallocated that I might not easily see? >> This is in reference to >> Sure. Okay. And then Yeah. Okay. So then the FY28 operating costs, we learned today that the new ECLC would actually run for 12 months, not 10 months like Frasier. So how does the operating cost from Frraasier actually compare to the new ECL if we're talking about running it for two more months? And then I think I had asked this because think like Dr. Sultan was mentioning going to Rockdale and seeing that you
327have this flexible building, there are more opportunities and so I'm just wondering how those operating costs are factoring in that flexibility. Um whether it's security personnel running the kitchen more. So this slide shows the fiscal year uh 27 budget for brazier and it also shows the new um the fiscal year and to the right are the explanation of the district. Okay. I think where I'm struggling is to understand how the new ECLC would only result in a I think it's you round it up to 70k if the new ECLC is going to run two more months between personnel and operating cost and that's included in the tuition. And so down in the screen see the difference new the difference between the revenue and the expenditures for the new is 918,000 they subtract out the Frasier
328budget 857 next 61,000 and then I guess the final just the FY28 expected operating cost is looking at a kind of apples to apples Frasier center ECLC see not some of these other aspirational uses of the building that might be after hours with that other kitchen etc. Like that's not in there yet. More model. >> Okay. Thank you. Any more questions? Okay. Sultan. Um Dr. You want to read the recommendation or you want me to read it? I read it. Okay. It is recommended that city schools of Decator Board of Education approve the FY27 tenative budget. >> Do I have a motion to approve the FY2027 tenative budget? >> Board member S makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Remember Karn seconds the motion. The pending question is the adoption of the motion to
329approve the FY2027 tenative bud budget. Is there any discussion? >> Yeah, I'd like to say something before we do this. I am trying to think of the most responsible use here, but best thing I can say is I don't know how to vote for a budget that includes cost that we have not yet determined how we're going to fund. So there this is out of any logical chronological process that I can understand. So thank you. >> Thank you. Any further discussion that are to vote for a budget significant pieces of it like the ACL confirmed. I think the only other thing should say is November is going to be interesting because we just had the SB33 pass. So, I think we were told we're looking at um less tax revenue and it sounds like the
330district is hoping. Ironically, the district did not want to do a referendum um on the PFAS on but the district may be relying on two referendums um one for SWAT and one for the I believe it's called like local. >> Yeah. Yeah. which the city would have to do for us. So, >> but just to clarify just Dr. Broom, it looks like you have into your budget have put in a 3% digest >> growth. Okay. And but >> came from the county. So, the county that was limited county will provide a final. So, that number may change. That's why this is the budget and it will change for the final. It will change for the final and it's a possibility could go down to 3% which is in preparation for this Senate bill that has
331passed. Correct. >> And in years past that growth has been much higher >> much higher. So the number that we have the 4% is extremely concerning. >> So I don't want I don't want the public to think that we're not an acknowledgement that this bill is passing and that elos that we talked about earlier that is a sales tax a penny sales tax and that should go to a referendum. Absolutely. um it's required and that would be sales taxing people. Um so that that was my understanding. I had to add on that specifically that would have to go to okay discussion since this requires a recorded vote Dr. Whitaker will now call the role. Board members, when your name is called, please respond with I if you are in favor, no if you are opposed
332or abstain if you wish. >> I vice chair >> I. >> Board member Anderson. >> No. >> Board member Hearnen. >> Hi. >> Board member Ari. >> I don't think we have enough information. >> Okay. Sarah Sultan, the tally stand three eyes, one no and one abstension. >> I have it. The motion is carried. Dr. Whitaker, the next presentation. >> Dr. Broom will remain to present the tenative FY27 millage rate for approval. >> A mill rate is the property tax rate used by school district to local fund education. and is expressed as meals per $1,000 of assessed property value. Assessed property value is 50% of a property fair market value. One meal is equivalent to $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value. For example, a military of 20 meals equates to $20 in taxes for
333every $1,000 of assessed property tax. Local property taxes represent the largest source source of revenue for the district. accounting for approximately 59% of the proposed fiscal year 27 budget. The millage rate is reviewed and approved annually by local governing bodies including county commissioners and the board of education. While the budget is aligned with all four strategic accelerators, it is most directly support strategic accelerator number four, organizational effectiveness and ethics through financial trans. The budget process is ongoing and began in September with a presentation of the budget timeline. Since that time, more than 75 comments have been received from community stakeholders. In addition, input has been provided by the various advisory group charter leadership. Each time the fiscal year 26 budget has been presented, the school charter leadership team has had the opportunity to review, ask
334questions, seek clarification, and provide feedback. The budget timeline was presented to the board in September and adopted in October along with a review and discussion of fiscal year 26 school a lotment. Based on the early preliminary tax digest, a mill rate of 20.30 30 would result in an estimated annual increase of $34 for property value at 600,000 are $61 per 100,000 of property tax. While the district is not increasing the millage rate, overall property tax revenue increases are driven by a 4.99% growth in real property values prior to exemption. It is important to note that when property values increase, even with a flat millage rate, tax collections will increase, resulting in additional revenue for the district. The 5-year tax levy history reflects continued stability in the district's approach to maintaining a balanced mill rate while
335responding to economic conditions and district needs. for fiscal year 26. At the end of the table, highlighted in green is the early preliminary net tax percent change. At the bottom of the table is the net M taxes, which shows the amount of estimated revenue generated from a 20.30 millage rate. To the right, highlighted in green is a percent change from fiscal year 25 to fiscal year 26. Overall, there is a digest growth of 4.91% prior to exemption. Exemptions have increased slightly by 1.38%. This slide illustrates the historical trend of the millage rate from 2016 to present and also shows the mill rate at 20.30 for fiscal year 27. In the last 10 years, the millage rate was 18.66 at the lowest from 2016 to 2027 and 21 at the highest in 2022 to 2023. Fiscal
336year 27 current proposed millage rate is 20.30. The millage rate fluctuates based on the economy and the needs of the district. Key highlights of the fiscal year 27 budget are the same that was discussed on the tenative budget. The fiscal year 27 proposed tenative budget includes total revenue of approximately 1 13.3 million and total expenditures of approximately $120 million. As shown to the right, anticipated revenues are approximately 6.7 million less than projected expenditures, leaving a fund balance of approximately 14 million or 11.45% 5% of expenses which are within the parameters of the 4 to 15% as specified with board policy BCL. The fiscal year 27 budget is directly aligned with the strategic accelerators and the board budget priority. This tape identifies each strategic accelerator, the fiscal year 27 board budget priority and the fiscal year
33727 budget alliance. Next step for the fiscal year 27 budget. two public budget hearings on May 19th and May 27th 6 p.m. on the 19th and 27th followed by the final adoption at the June 2nd board meeting. Three public military hearings will take place on June 11th, June 22nd with the final adoption of the proxy mil at 5:25 p.m. The budget book will be printed and available for public review by August 31st, 2026. The budget feedback link is also an option for providing feedback. The link can be scanned using the barcode and is located on the district's main and financial web page. I will be happy to provide clarification or response to questions. Go back to the slide five that has the preliminary growth physical impact on property owners. I'm confused by the green and
338the blue below. So like I see the column of the current. So if someone has a house currently valued at 600,000, their assessed value is half of that. And then at this mill rate, they're paying $6,090 in tax. And then I move to the projected. So those two columns are clear to me. I don't understand the green 304. The $34 is the projected annual increase before >> the the 6,394 minus $6,90 is based on 100,000 property. So right now just with the mill rate it's that correct >> 304 >> sorry 304 >> and that's if there's a three a four almost 5% growth which we've already said we're capping at four probably right because I always take off a million to account for delinquent taxes or nonp payments So that's based on a one a
3394.99% but she's saying based on that. >> So this is this is a conservative kind of worst case salary. >> Sure. May I read the recommendation? >> Yes, please. It is recommended that the city schools of Decar Board of Education tenatively approve the mill rate for of 20.30 for maintenance and operation. Do I have a motion to tenatively approve the mill rate of 20.3 for maintenance and operations? >> So move for >> member US makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Member H. Hearnen seconds the motion. The pending question is the adoption of the motion to approve the millage rate of 20.3 for maintenance and operations. Is there any discussion? I just want to say that um I I can't approve a mill rate which depends on the budget. So we are
340continuing this is what I'm trying to figure out to kind of move it in rather interesting order. >> The mill rate is the same as there was last year but they're choosing not to lower it. Right. That's the whole reason that we'll often have mill rate hearings. If if we were choosing to lower it, then we wouldn't have mil rate hearings. But because we're choosing to keep it the same, it ends up becoming an increase. >> We have to have a mill rate hearing regardless, right? >> So the the me rate is not increasing, but the property value is increasing. So we're receiving more revenue. But I thought by >> the only the only way we would not have to have a hearing is if we held the budget flat from year to year. >>
341Said effectively the mill rate is rolled back and if a school district tops do not roll it back. So we are keeping it. That's factually correct. But it's also factually correct to say that because we're opting to keep it at this rate which is not the roll back that the state says it's it is you know we can debate quantitatively what we call it but that's the reason we have to have the mill rate hearing. >> Yeah the the state level roll back is it's not it's not just any roll back. It is specifically rolled back sufficiently to keep the budget flat from year to year regardless of inflation or anything else. And so practically speaking, that that doesn't happen, right? So even if we do reduce the mill rate, we would still have to
342have a mil rate hearing. The only way we would not have to have that hearing is if we cut the budget to the point where we kept it flat from you. >> Yes. >> Any further discussion hearing? None. Since this requires a recorded vote, Dr. Whitaker will now call the role. Chair Salt. >> Oh, four members. When your name is called, please respond with I if you're in favor. No. If you're opposed or abstain if you wish to remain neutral, Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Chair, >> I chairs. >> Hi. >> Board member Anderson. >> No. >> Board member H. Hearnen. >> Hi. >> Board member Ariel. >> I chair >> Sultan Natali stands with four eyes, one no and zero abstensions. I have it. The motion is carried. lot of people here. We >>
343um now move to board recognition. >> Yes, Chair Sultan, I would like to call on Deputy Superintendent Karen Newton Scott to facilitate tonight's board recognition. There are a lot of people here tonight. members, you want to go down so that we'll be ready to Yes. Good evening everyone. How you doing? >> All right. We are going to begin our recognition tonight. We are honored to recognize students and staff whose creativity, leadership, advocacy, and service reflect the very best of city schools of Decada. Board members have already joined us down front. Thank you. And we will begin by letting the honores know that please begin on your left and receive congratulations from each board member and then join together in the center for a photograph. Okay, we will begin with college height. It is an absolute
344joy to recognize recognize one of our youngest rising stars, Frankie E. Rashi. When the Decada Education Foundation launched its City Schools of Decada mascot contest, Frankie created the winning college height mascot design. contest supports art programming across our district and Frankie's artwork has already been featured at the district's art show and an official mascot of Decator t-shirts. Frankie, your creativity has made a lasting impact on our community and we are so proud of you. And joining Frankie are her prek teachers Stacy Jones and par profofessional Anna Grace Writtenhouse. Please join us in congratulating both Frankie and her teachers right here. Principal Knox, please join us up front. Thank you. We are thrilled to announce that Noah Haggi, if you're in the building, come on up front. Noah was named a finalist in this year's Young
345Georgia author competition for her piece, The Story of the Ticker Stuffy. This award recognizes the most creative young writers in the state, and we couldn't be prouder of Noah's achievement. Please join us in celebrating this fantastic success. Thank you very much. Next we are recognizing pronunciation. Wo >> wo. All right. The world of Asian heritage at Fifth Avenue upper elementary school. WA is a student centered affinity group that celebrates AsianAmerican history, culture, and identity while creating a welcoming, empowering space for students with diverse Asian diaspora backgrounds. Through student leadership, through events, and community engagement, W helps strengthen connection and belonging across the school community. Tonight we recognize a fifth grade student representative from W. If you will join us up front as well as the sponsor Hi K Perez and the facilitator Davis man. Please
346join us in thanking them for their leadership for providing this affinity space to students at this. >> Congratulations. May is mental health awareness month and tonight we are excited to recognize the launch of the student center ambassador program at Decator High School. I know that um many of the students also had a dinner. Did we have any representatives that were able to say? They all had to leave. So, we will call their names just so that you know who they are and recognize them as the inaugural student center ambassadors. So we have Sedikadir, Carmen Aras, Rodriguez, Ian Cobb, Sarah Cullen, Nathan Matu, Jun Park, Karma Solomon, and Gerald Winkler. If you would, Dr. Lemon, please join the board for a picture recognizing our student ambassadors. Next up are our good trouble award winners. John Lewis
347was leader of the civil rights movement and a leader of the 1963 march on Washington and a longtime representative for the state of Georgia. In his final address to the nation, Congressman Lewis reminded us of the important community, a nation and world society at peace with itself. He deeply understood that democracy is not a state but an act and that building a just and equitable community requires courage, sacrifice and action. He challenged all of us say something, do something, and to get into good trouble, necessary trouble in order to redeem the soul of America. That spirit is the foundation of the John Lewis Good Trouble Award. These awards recognize individuals whose actions demonstrate courage, advocacy, and commitment to equity throughout City Schools of Decator. This year's nominees were selected by their peers and submitted a
348video of their work, which was reviewed by district committee for their leadership and service to others. Tonight we proudly recognize from Beacon Hill Middle School. Vivian Carter Kane of Street Upper Elementary School. Stephanie Clark, our transportation department. Vanessa Williams. Hillary Decator High School. Dr. Ella Harley, Wilson Center. In addition to honoring each nominee, we also selected a districtwide good troublemaker of the year. If you would put your eyes on one of the screens. When I stepped into the role of transportation supervisor, I inherited a system where discipline was reactive and lack standardized protocols. Upon social review of the department, we recognized a troubling disparities. While some students were asked to write letters of the policy commission on the bus, students of color were frequently losing their buses entirely. This wasn't just a transportation issue. It
349was an equity issue. These suspenders meant our most vulnerable scholars were losing critical instructional time before they even reach the school. We know that the way it's always been done with scaling our mission of student success and our change is getting in the way of an equitable outcome which helps tremendously to move from observations to weed and creative approach. The principles and I utilized bus video footage not just to monitor but as a tool for staff reflection and objective analysis. This led to tough conversations with our team. Together, we moved away from inconsistent punitive measures and develop a concrete equitable standard for bus conduct by implementing restorative practices and clear disciplinary teams. We ensure that consequences are fair, transparent, and most importantly focused on keeping every child in the classroom. I am deeply grateful for
350the staff's willingness to reflect on our data and embrace a more intentional equitable approach to student discipline. Being the bus principal isn't just about transportation is ensuring that every student regardless of their background starts their day with dignity, respect, and access to instruction as they deserve. This is the committee to contain one of the city of my draw up front. Thank you so much, Miss Clark, for all the work that you do in our transportation department. Thank you for getting in the way, causing the trouble. Please congratulate our district troublemaker of the year, Stephanie Clark. It is now my distinct honor to recognize our retiring staff members. I'm g say that again. It is now my distinct honor to recognize our retired staff member. These individuals have dedicated their careers and their heart to the
351students of CSB. While we will miss their expertise and their presence in our hallways, we are incredibly proud to celebrate their legacy of service with a combined 293 years of service in CSB. On behalf of the district, congratulations on your retirement. Thank you for making a lasting difference in the lives of so many. At the conclusion of our recognition, retirees and their families are invited to join us downstairs in the PLC for our district retirement reception. We will begin with Carolyn Edwards. Carolyn currently serves PSP at College Heights and she is retiring with 11 years of service in school. Thank you. >> Next up we have Alicia also currently works at College Heights and she is retired with 15 years Yes. Next up we have Hansen has served as a teacher, instructional coach, principal And
352now is the director of assessment and accountability and is retire retiring with 24 years of service. We will now honor Denise Henderson. Henderson. Denise is retiring from Westchester with seven years of service in CST. Moving on to William Hugley. William is retiring from our operations department with 18 years of service in CSD. Lisa Johnson currently works at Hill Middle School and she is retiring with eight years of service in gonna be biking around. Shout out to you. >> Tony Olsen Wilson. Olsson Wilson. He is retiring from Beacon Hill. You can clap for it there. Serve 12 years in PSD. Regina Ship Jonesina Jones retiring from Decada High School with six years of service for CSP. Angela Spencer. Angela is retiring from Westchester with 21 years of service. Kristen Sel. >> Congratulations Kristen. She is retiring
353from Mona Park with 24 years of service. >> I know. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. We are also honoring Julia Walsh from Westchester as well with 14 years of service. You're looking for several people that might be downstairs. Okay. Um Jack and White She just told me she knew when I was a baby. >> This wife has been with CSD for 42 hours. in several different capacities. Middle school, >> Mr. Doug Whitehead 23 years of service. Um, yes, thank you for another CSV OG triple OG, Arthia Williams. has served as teacher and principal at Decada High School, AP at several of our elementary schools and is retired with 29 years of service serving as our director of alternative programs for the Decada Virtual Academy. Congratulations, Miss Williams. Next up is Liz Williams. Liz is also
354retiring from Beacon Hill Middle School. >> Miss Glenn, you're looking for several folks as well with 10 years. And she congratulations to her. And last but not least, another OG, triple OG, Gra. He's been an instru of service. you could get one group picture of all of our retirees before we >> Yep. If you could come up and get one group picture >> and then if you would >> your way downstairs, we have lots of refreshments and drinks and >> part of dinner. We have dinner >> 40 years. We're We're literally the background. >> We're standing. >> You be in the front. right up here. >> All right. Thank you everybody. We go All right, Dr. Winker, you're coming down to >> Okay, so we're going to finish up and then we'll be done, but
355you guys get started started with the >> You guys get started. Don't wait for us. Some of the cabinet members are going to go down. >> Okay. >> That don't need to be here for >> Okay. All right. Public comment. >> Yes, directly. I need to too, but uh Wait a second. I'll give you your comment is limited to district parents, students, residents, employees, businesses, and organizations. Persons wishing to address the board during public comment must sign up by 5:30 p.m. and in doing so will be asked to state their connection to CSD andor the city of Decar. To allow time for the board's other business, public comment will be ordinarily limited to 1 hour or 20 speakers. At the board's discretion, the public comment period may be extended for a specified amount of time
356or a specific number of additional speakers. The time limit for all speakers will be three minutes. Persons speaking during public comment will not be permitted to yield the floor or transfer unused minutes to other speakers. Comments during public comment should be addressed to the board as a body and not to any individual board members. At the chair or chair's discretion, persons violating this policy may be asked to step down. Speakers should be courteous and professional. Speakers are not to list complaints about specific personnel or individuals connected with the district in a public session. The board strictly prohibits abusive language, threats, comments, jeers, applause, or shouts from the floor. Disruptive persons will be asked to leave the meeting room. The chair may terminate public comments that are profane, vulgar, defamatory, or disruptive. If any speaker's comments
357begin to verge into the areas of hate speech or defamation, I will have to ask the speaker to end their comments. Speakers may not address confidential student or personnel matters, but may submit such concerns to the superintendent in writing. Members of the board will not address persons presenting public comment or speak to the substance of any comments made during public comment. Instead, a member of the administrative team will follow up with persons speaking at the board meeting. Dr. Whitaker, will you please call our first speaker, >> Michelle? Speaking for an hour, so I had to bring down. Okay. So members of the board, my neighbors and fellow residents and parents of CSC students, I ask each of you not to advance the new ECLC as proposed or the financing as propos proposed. When a public
358school system proposes to spend tens of millions of dollars and take on decades of debt, that discussion must be grounded in sound evidence and have broad public support. The project has neither. Dr. Whitaker is right to call out Decator's long-standing learning gap and right to prioritize addressing it. My dad earned a master's degree in engineering and my mom dropped out of middle school. Growing up, I saw firsthand how a learning gap creates a deeply unequal power dynamic. I don't want that for my children or any of Decar's children. But wanting to address a community need is not the same as having a plan. Dr. Whitaker and her staff have yet to provide a systematically have yet to provide excuse me systematically and effectively collected data to justify the cost, scope, location, and long-term financial impact
359of the ECLC. This community is not against early childhood education. This community is questioning whether an overpriced new building is the best and the only way to close its learning gap. As of yesterday, state law makes it harder for Decar to increase profit. This makes pursuing the expensive financing mechanism even more questionable. It is not a plan. It's fiscal responsibility. This current process has failed the very people it claims to serve. The board has ignored repeated requests from the Beacon Hill elders, a community whose bid is not optional, is essential. You cannot leave a community you are not listening to. The board needs to go back to the drawing board. Early childhood education is important and it's too important to get wrong. Closing learning gaps can start sooner, cost less, and carry less risk by
360renovating existing infrastructure rather than constructing a new building and taking on needlessly expensive financing. The children this project is meant to serve deserve a plan that will actually work. The next speaker is Rudy Colberg. Well, Lord feels like groundhog day or insanity doing the same thing expecting a different outcome. And I'm referencing the fact that I'm up here again pushing for transparency, governance, accountability, fiscal responsibility, and ethical behavior. Yet still not seeing that from you. Actually referring to you, the board. In my career, I've advised and worked close closely with over 80, maybe even 100 organizations, including multiple public and nonprofit entities. I'm also a Latino board member of an educational nonprofit. I've never seen a leadership team as ineffective and unwilling to distance or change as board. You resoundingly get an F. The poor
361engagement on behavior from this board is well documented. Community elected officials at city, county, state level, the press, and minimum stakeholders. What is of greater concern now frankly dangerous because of the implication seeing the numerous cognitive biases this board has and they are recipes for decision-m disasters I've observed multiple but I want to call out two first is that some cost fallacies for escalation of commitment Dr. Whitaker and I alma moater or shared alma moater has ample research showing how that is the most detrimental bias for decision making moving forward as a poorly defined ECL plan surrounded in flawed and incomplete data is irresponsible and likely damaging the CSB itself and the community doubling down because this has been in the works for over two years and being unwilling to reassess the rationale and plan
362is the very definition of this problematic bias. one that ignores how materially circumstances, data, and community sentiment have changed. Second, you create false dichotoies for comparison. You ask input on design options, but dismiss the input because none of the above was not an answer option. Nearly 80% of people oppose building anything at all. Remember, the city commission received over a thousand emails opposing the ECLC building and only one one in favor of it. You say people are either for ECLC or against equitable education, but your ECLC story changes. You said for a month the imperative was low-income communities. Yet earlier today, CSD did not mention that and emphasize the main purpose is children of teachers and staff. So far, we've questioned your methods and conclusions. Clear now educator must question your abilities and your intentions.
363The ECO process has not been even close to what is basic practice for decisions of this magnitude. How you continue pushing this forward align to the data and the world around you is of greater concern. That is why the only path forward now for the ECO process to restart Senator Curtney Superintendent Whitaker. >> The next speaker is Holly Grimes. Hello board members, Dr. Berk um and my neighbors. for all my neighbors. Um, I have not been to a school board meeting in decades. My kids ended here all through from kindergarten on up and they're alone adults. But I I do have a concern about financial responsibility and the recent bill that has increases that concern. And I think any decision you make to build a new building in a time when you don't even know
364if you'll have tax revenue to pay it back or however it is you choose to pay it back with sales tax or whatever. The cater from my perspective the property values have soared since I moved here. I've been here since 1985. It has been a real boom town for DeCater. Get those property values and increase tax revenue from it. I've not objected. I've enjoyed seeing Decator benefit from it. But I'm now tired of coming up with I have a bond that you're still paying for on my taxes, but now you want us to pay even more. And I think whether it's the ECLC, the high school, or any other building where you're committing our tax revenue and our resources, I want you to reconsider that and think about people like me or people, new people
365coming here or won't come here who do not want to constantly be have all this money going out because you think we're an open pocketbook. book for you to take. You've been lucky all these years and now it's going to be C. And it really, you know, to be honest, maybe it's a good thing because then maybe you can assess what's important instead of you need from these huge property tax. One last thing. I actually two years ago when I appealed one of my assessments talked to the assessor and she admitted they targeted the cater to raise the property taxes because we had so many sales and building and everything else. She said, "Yeah, you're right. I had in-laws who lived over near the Lakeside area. Their house was a huge house and it was
366valued much less than my house. It's never been renovated. So, it's something you need to consider is people are really getting tired of raising money. You need to think about being more approach. >> Hi, friends and neighbors Caroline and CFC parent alum. And Dr. Dr. Rick here, you spoke about your grandfather recently, which was really powerful and what he meant to you. And I thought a lot about my grandparents this school year as well. My grandmother was the first title one administrator in South Georgia, the first person in Dy County school system to get a PhD probably south of the NAT line. Um, who's about dedicated her whole period to literacy and I've spent I added it up about a hundred hours with you since the school beginning of our school year. Um, and I
367haven't heard a single strategy, action, tactic, or commitment that every child in this district will reach. And I think when I think about like we've sent emails and the responses have kind of been Atlanta answers to Decator problem. It's like taking a hammer to a precision surgery, right? When you have APS is comp we've talked about a lot has two to three,000 students per grade who can't read. Indicator has 40 an intervention like after school tutoring which was in one of the emails we've talked about. Yes, that's an intervention indicator. If it moves 10% of the needle in APS, that's hundreds of kids. Here it's four. So, we think about what can we do for each and every child to make sure that they can read in our district. Um the second, my grandfather on
368the other side started the first and still only exclusive Head Start daycare in the city of Decar. It's over by Legacy Park. Um and I don't know what I would tell him either because 40 years later, they still don't have a building. They have recognized that if you need free education in early childhood, you also need free medical care and housing support and transportation and food and supports and services for employment for your family. So their capital expenditures don't go to a capital building and capital projects, but they go to programmatic investments. And lastly, my dad was a public servant here for a really long time. Um, and he set an interesting bar like when he took office, he made sure that every county employee had a vehicle if they needed it, but he wasn't
369about to use a single decap taxpayer dollar on his car. So, he went down to the impound lot to pick out one. It's also how he got his office furniture, which is disgusting. Um, but that was kind of the leadership bar for fiscal responsibility in my household for public service into Cap County. Um, and so with that in mind, he also loves to quote uh Justice Brandise to say, "Sunshine is the best disinfectant. If you have nothing to hide, you open everything up." Transparency is not a choice. Transparency is a requirement of our democracy and what we do. He also loves to quote Bob Wilson that says, "Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Just because you can go for cop funding doesn't mean you should. Just because you can push a public building
370against community opposition doesn't mean you should. Just because you can hire your friends as consultants doesn't mean that you should. And so I think about always doing the right thing, which is also a note that Bob left for my dad on his first day of office. Always do the right thing. Make the bold and achievable commitment that every child in this district will read by this time next year. Make the bold and achievable commitment that every child who needs it will get early childhood education. And make the bold and achievable commitment that we will lead metro Atlanta in teacher retention and compensation. Please do the right thing. The next speaker is Matt Quinn. The next speaker is speaker is Eva Boseman. >> Hello. Can you all hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Um, my
371name is Eva Boseman. Um, I'm the parent of a student at Westchester. I was able to watch part of the work session this afternoon. Unfortunately, I was unable to make any of the meeting in person after having worked a 12-h hour shift last night and now I am back again tonight. Um, I would like to express on the record though my disappointment in the discussion today surrounding the alternative ELC designs. The survey to provide feedback represented a false dichotomy to begin with. However, because of the open response format, the vast majority of respondents provided feedback reflecting the desire for no building to be constructed at the proposed location. Today, this seemingly was framed as something to be discussed as a different agenda item for community feedback, which has not been presented thus far. of the
372respondents specific to ECLC design options. Despite the data being read in real time that the majority of the pool chose the most aggressive redesign option, three board members plan to forge ahead and vote on the ECLC in its current state. This further reflects the unfortunate pattern of transparency, quote unquote, of community involvement being performative by this board and administration. I do not trust that decisions are being made in good faith or with a spirit of true stakeholder collaboration and sound data points. Thank you. >> The next speaker is Akaya McConnell. >> Yes. Can you hear me? >> Yes, you can hear me. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, >> okay. Great. Thank you to the board of education, my fellow neighbors and parents. Um, my name is Akquila McConnell. I am a um, Decatur resident. I'm
373also the mother of two Decatur school kids who started at age 4. And I just want to start by saying um, the purpose that you all have here. I am totally on board increasing literacy rates. Um, it is a wonderful thing, but right now there is money needed within the K to2 program to improve literacy before we can fund a $28 million ECLC. And I'd like to um give you two quick examples. So this morning, the EdTE group learned that Tally Elementary does not have enough workbooks and materials for the Wit and Wisdom curriculum. And so several classes are actually having to use Chromebooks which is very much opposed to the whole purpose of bringing in witten wisdom. Uh second I want to share a quick snippet from an email that an anonymous teacher sent
374to me about how teachers need more time training as well as pay in order to um to put into place this literacy curriculum. So, here's what she said, and I quote, "Um," right now, the early release days are a waste of time. Teachers need time to plan engaging, differentiated lessons because the ELA curriculum that has been purchased this year has left us redoing everything. If the district is so concerned about early literacy, then why purchase a curriculum that doesn't provide reading time or instruction? Teacher morale is very low." End quote. Uh, as you all know, this year eight teachers left CSD to move to a different school district versus three who left last year. We are losing incredible teachers and pay is a really big part of this. Um, every single one of us here,
375we support our kids, we support our teachers, and I certainly support you as the board. My mother was a school administrator for a very long time. This is a very very tough job that you have and I know that you're making hard decisions. Um, but I don't want us to lose sight of the importance that education is not created through walls. It is created by exceptional educators and exceptional teachers. And that's what I'm rooting for. Um, and that is why I oppose this $28 million ECLC. Thank you. The next speaker is And oh, now present. Okay. The next speaker is Joanna Farley. Good evening. I'm a proud Teran Oak student from Tally Elementary School and I'm also a resident of the um Quant Heights community and I would like to say I think that you
376guys are doing a phenomenal job far as educating our kids and I want to speak on behalf of myself because I can't speak for everybody else when it comes to the Early Childhood Learning Center. I'm all for it and I I oppose working there as well because I have six years um I have six years of employment working in childhood in early childhood. I'm sorry I'm nervous about it >> and I think would be a a great access to everybody around this community because you never know what a person is going through far as looking for that financial support and that financial help. by them enrolling their kids into the early childhood education center, they could get out, proceed to find jobs to better to better themselves. So, I think it's a great job. You
377know, it's a great opportunity for everyone. >> Sarah Thson, that concludes those that have signed up for public comment. >> Thank you. We would like to thank all of our speakers for taking the time to be here tonight. As board members, it is important for us to hear concerns from our communities. We will take your comments into consideration. Okay. One second. >> Yes. Okay. We will now move to items for action information or discussion. The first item is contracts. Each contract will be presented separately and will be moved to the consent agenda individually. We will then move to the traditional consent agenda items including monthly reports on finance, nutrition, personnel, and field trips. We will conclude with the monthly financial presentation. There will be a motion to accept the consent agenda in totality. We will
378now proceed to items submitted for action, including contracts and license renewals exceeding $75,000. The board will review each item individually and if appropriate, place it on the consent agenda. I will invite the board to comment on each item. Following discussion of each item, it will be moved to the consent agenda. Okay. Contract one convergent for Winona Park fire alarm system replacement. Any hearing? None. This item can be moved to consent. Contract 2 34 ED LLC aka Strategics. Hearing none, this item can be moved to consent. Contract three, Infinite Campus. Any comments from the board? This item can be moved to consent. Contract item four, Renaissance. Any comments from the board? hearing. None. This item can be moved to consent. Contract item number five, international balorate ID. Any comments from the board? Item can be moved
379to consent. Contract item number six, communorated CIS. Any comments from the board? Yeah, I I've got one and yes um it's regarding the soul source and I just want to make sure I understand this because I've been uh teaching myself a lot regarding like soul source contracts here. So if I'm reading the letter effectively communities and schools is saying in the second paragraph no other affiliate in the community and national network can provide these wraparound services. So they're the sole provider of wraparound services in this identified self or created network because it's it's not saying clearly that communities and school is the only entity that can provide wraparound services. That would be illogical. But there's this like capital letters um communities the C in communities and the N in national is capitalized. So I'm reading
380it as we are the sole provider because we are either the creators or the only members of this particular network. They are the only communities and school of Atlanta. There's also larger community and schools. There's communities and schools of Georgia. There's communities and schools of Atlanta. There the different ones. >> Okay. But what did you research about soul source letter? Because my understanding of it was when you provide a soul source letter like hey we're the only one or part of a group even if we're a franchise of a group that provide this service. So in lie of a competitive bidding the competition this letter is acknowledging that we provide service and no one else. That's what I read. >> Yeah. So I mean one I have just read that you know sometimes they're they
381face more scrutiny right why are they used because this one individual or group has patented this thing so therefore they are logically the only >> hence sole source of this and so I didn't even look at the infinite campus because that's an extended contract if I had to guess infinite campus is the sole source provider of infinite campus only because they're the only ones creating it but I don't know that so I'm looking at this And at first I thought it so it's a wraparound service but effectively what makes it a unique wraparound service is simply the membership in this communities uh I'm sorry the communities in the national network so it's not unique to the wraparound service it seems to be unique to its affiliation with the communities and national >> okay so Yes,
382that's >> Thank you. Okay. Any other comments or questions? Okay. This item can be moved to consent. Contract item number seven, invitation to bid 26-004, interior painting service. Any comments from the board? Hearing none, this item could be moved to consent. We will then move to the traditional consent agenda items, including monthly reports on finance, nutrition, personnel, and field trips. There will be a motion to accept the consent agenda in totality. Dr. Whitaker, the first item and Dr. Lun will present the monthly financial report. >> Good evening. The March 2026 financial report and definition of function codes are available. Assembly agenda for your review. The finance department continues to operate in alignment with the district's four strategic accelerators with a primary focus on accelerator number four, organizational effectiveness and excellence with financial transparency for the
383general fund. As of March, the district has collected 82% or approximately 91 million of the budgeted revenue, which is consistent with collections at this time last year. expenditures remain in line with expectations from the from this for this point in the fiscal year. The district has expended 66% of the total budget or approximately $76 million compared to 54% at this time last year. The majority of March expendes continued to be salary and benefits which represents approximately 86% of the total budget. For the month of March, there was a deficit of approximately $5.4 4 million, which means the district's revenue for the month were $5.4 million less than the month. Last year at this time, the deficit was also $3.5 million. The variance is typical for this point in the fiscal cycle and has been reflected
384through a corresponding reduction in the fund balances. Approximately 5.4 million has been deducted from the fund balance, which is normal for this time of the year. Overall year to date there is a surplus of approximately 15.5 million. Last year this time the surplus was also approximately 15.5 million dollars. The surplus of revenue is normal for this time of the year. The general fund fund balance as of March 31st 2026 is $42 million which includes the current fund balance and the beginning fund balance of approximately 24 million. March revenue for capital funds consisted of approximately $551,000 from slot six proceed and earnest on investment. Approximately $382,000 was expended. The $159,000 surplus up was was added to the fund balance. The district collected 67% of the budgeted revenue and expended 54% of budgeted expenditures. As of March
38531st, the capital fund balance was approximately $4 million. Special revenue funds consist mainly of federal, local, and state grants not budgeted in general funds. The district collected 44% of the budget revenue and extended 59% of the budgeted expenditures. Grants received for the month of March included CTA Perkins reserve, title two, title four, and funds for the prek supplement. Reimburseable grants require the district to spend the funds in prior to receiving reimbursement. School food school nutrition revenue is trending slightly less than in previous years. For the month of March, 66% of the budget revenue was received and 61% of the budgeted expenditures were sent. School nutrition operated at a deficit of approximately $48,000 which has been deducted from the fund balance. As of March, the school nutrition fund balance was approximately $1.3 million. This time last
386year, the fund balance was $1.7 million. When the fund balance reaches $1 million, the district will supplement the program through general fund. I will be happy to respond to any questions or provide clarification. Just a very quick question on slide six maybe or grant that paid us $47 47 additional we already have the grant they added an additional 47,000 to the >> okay proposed no work or anything that we had to do on I mean because it costs more than that to administer it does >> they just do that okay >> they'll look at the left and then they'll deviate >> okay >> any other questions Shar Sultan, may I read the recommendation? >> Yes, please. >> It is recommended that the City Schools of Decator Board of Education approve the consent agenda items 1
387through 11. >> Do I have a motion to approve consent agenda items 1 through 11? >> So move. >> Board member US makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Board member Anderson seconds the motion. The pending question is the adoption of the motion to approve the consent agenda items 1 through 11. Is there any discussion hearing? None. Since this requires a recorded vote, Dr. Whitaker will call the role. Members, when your name is called, please respond I if you are in favor, no if you are opposed or abstain if you wish to remain neutral. Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Sultan, >> I. >> Vice Chair, >> I. >> Board member Anderson. >> I. >> Board member Hernandez. >> Hi. >> Board member. >> I. Sheriff Sultan at stands at five
388eyes, zero nos and zero abstension. The >> eyes have it. The motion is carried. Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the next item. >> Sheriff Sultan, I would like to call on Mrs. Amanda Lynch, chief of staff, to present three policies for first read and two policies for second read action. >> Good evening once again, board chair Dr. Sman, vice chair, esteemed members of the board, student representative, and superintendent Dr. would occur today. There are three policies from the work session agenda. Each of these policies was discussed in pre-work last month and is being presented for first read today. Policies AFC, EE, and SDC are all review policies identified as part of our two-year review cycle of our oldest policies with minor revisions being presented last month. First is policy AFC, emergency closing. There are no new
389changes to the version that had minor revisions that was discussed in pre-work last month. May I read the recommendation? >> Yes, please. >> The recommendation being made is that City School Educator Board of Education accept policy AFC emergency closings for first read. Do I have a motion to approve the recommendation of policy AFC emergency closings for first read? >> For member US makes the motion. Is there a second? Second. >> For member Anderson seconds the motion. Pending question of the adoption of the motion to approve policy ASC emergency closings for first three. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, this is require the recorded vote. Dr. Whitaker will call the role. Board members, when your name is called, please respond with I if you are in favor, no if you are opposed or abstain. If you
390wish to remain neutral, Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Chair Sultan, >> I. >> Vice Chairs, >> hi. >> Vice Chair um board member Anderson, sorry. >> Hi. >> Board member H. Hearnen. >> Hi. Board member area. >> Hi, >> Cherton. The the house stands at five eyes, zero nos and zero abstensions. The eyes have it and the motion carries. Second as follows the e wellness program. There are no new changes to the virgin with minor revisions that was discussed in pre-work last month. May I read the recommendation? >> Yes, please. >> The recommendation being made is that the school's educator board of education accept policy e wellness program for first read. Do I have a motion to approve the recommendation of policy EE wellness program for first read member US makes the motion. Is there
391a second? Board member Anderson second the motion. The pending question of the adoption of the motion to approve policy E wellness program for first read. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. This requires a recorded vote. Dr. Whitaker will call the role. Board members when your name is called. Please respond with I if you are in favor, no if you oppose or abstain if you wish to remain neutral. Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Chair Sultan, >> hi. >> Vice Chair UT, >> hi. >> Board member Anderson. >> Hi. >> Board member H. Hearnden. >> Hi. >> Board member Ariel. >> Hi. >> Chair Sultan Nali stands. There have five eyes, zero nos, zero abstensions. I have it and the motion carries. There is policy SDC naming facilities. Based on the board's discussion and pre-work last month,
392a few revisions have been made. First, the word may was changed to will for appointing a special committee. Second, language was added around naming facilities after a deceased individual. Is there any feedback regarding these updates before I read the recommendation? >> Right. May I read the recommendation? Yes, please. >> The recommendation being made is that City Schools of Decator Board of Education accept policy FDC naming facilities for first grade. Do I have a motion to approve the recommendation of policy FDC naming facilities for first three? >> Some moved. >> Board member Hearnen makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. Board member Anderson seconds the motion. The pending question is the adoption of the motion to approve policy FDC naming facilities for first read. Is there any discussion? Hearing none since this requires recorded
393vote. Dr. Whitaker will call the role. Board members and your name is called. Please respond with I. If you're in favor no if you are opposed or abstain. If you wish to remain neutral. Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Chair Sultan. I. >> Vice Chair Uts. Hi. >> Board member Anderson. Hi. >> Board member H. Hearnen. Hi. >> Board member. Hi. at five eyes, zero nos, and zero abstensions. Eyes have, and the motion carries. >> Great. Thank you. These three policies will now be available for public comment via assembly, and we invite the public to submit feedback by accessing these policies on the righth hand page of the assembly homepage, which is also accessible from the CFC website. We also have two policies on the agenda for action. If I may, if I may, before we
394move from policies for first read, uh I was hoping or at least we had discussed in the last board meeting that we would be looking at a policy around ICE and students. Just what is the standard or when is that coming before us? that's coming to June as pre-work >> is I would greatly appreciate the wisdom of our current student board member who will at that point be an alumnest student board member and so can we arrange or in some way ensure that Mia is present or in some way able to participate in that discussion? will invite her to participate in that discussion for sure and I still have her for I think like two more days so we can make sure that we have conversations as well um to make sure that that her
395voice is informed as well. >> Thank you. >> All right. So the two policies on the agenda for action were all discussed in the work session last month and have been available for public comment. First is policy IBB charter schools. No public comment was received on this policy and no revisions have been made to the version presented last month. Can I be read the recommendation please? >> It is recommended the city schools educator board of education approved policy IB charter schools for action. Do I have a motion to approve the recommendation of policy IB charter schools for second read action? >> For member US makes the motion. Is there a second? >> For member Anderson seconds the motion. The pending question is the adoption of the motion to approve the recommendation of policy IBB charter
396schools for a second read action. Is there any discussion hearing? None. Since this requires recorded vote, Dr. Whitaker will call the role. Board members, when your name is called, please respond with I. If you're in favor, no. If you are opposed or abstain, if you wish to remain neutral, Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Chair Sultan, >> I. >> Vice Chair, >> I. >> Board member Anderson. >> Hi. >> Board member Hearnen. >> Hi. Board member Arriier. >> Hi. >> Seri stands at five uh five eyes, zero nos and zero abstensions. I have it in the motion carries. >> Last is policy lea parental involvement in education. One public comment was received about parental involvement specifically at the middle and high school grades. The comments are suggested sending students tests home to parents. This recommendation was
397best addressed at the school level and has been shared with staff. No changes have been made to the version presented last month. May I read the recommendation? Yes, please. It is recommended the city school educator board of education approve policy LEBA, parental involvement and education for action. I have a motion to approve the recommendation of policy LEBA involvement and education for second read action. >> For member S makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> For member Anderson seconds the motion. An pending question is the adoption of the motion to approve the recommendation of policy LEVA parental involvement in education for second read action. Is there any discussion? >> Just very quickly, uh I know we shared that comment with the staff. Have we reached back to the individual that made the comment
398and and loop them into the process? >> Yeah, in full transparency, it was in a draft in my outbox and when I was researching, I realized that it had not gone. So, that is something that still needs to be done. But we always follow back up with constituents when it is not anonymous. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any further discussion? All right. Since this requires recorded vote, Dr. Whitaker will call the role. Board members and your name is called. Please respond with I. If you're in favor, no. If you're opposed or abstain, if you wish to remain new, Dr. Whitaker, please proceed. >> Sheriff Sultan. >> I. >> Vice Chair. >> Hi. >> Board member Anderson. >> Hi. >> Board member H. Hearnden. >> I. >> Board member. >> Hi. Uh, Chair Schultton, the
399tally stands five eyes, zero nos, zero extensions. >> The eyes have it and the motion carries. Future dates, the board will The board will have its Thank you, Mrs. Lynch. Thank you. The board will have its spring retreat on May 19th, 2026 from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Agnes Scott. Topics to be included are governance, board management oversight plan 2026, 2027, strategic plan update, block 7 referendum, and semester credit and grading. On the same day at 6 p.m., we will hold our first budget hearing at the Wilson Center. On May 27th at 11:00 a.m., the board will host the second budget hearing at the Wilson Center. The next board meeting will be held at the Wilson Center on June 2nd, 2026. There being no further business, this meeting is adjourned at 7:14