November 11, 2025, Board of Education Meeting

001I think that's because you're so right. We'll now call this meeting to order at 12:32 p.m. I will start with a roll call for the record. I am Chair Carmen Soulson and I am present. When I state your name, please indicate if you are present. Vice Chair UTS, >> present. >> Board member Anderson, >> present. >> Board member Hearnen, >> present. >> Board member Johnson Davis, >> present. >> Thank you. The first item on the agenda is executive session. Do I have a motion to move into executive session for the purpose of discussing legal matters? >> So moved. >> Board member H. Hearnden makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh, board member seconds the motion. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? >> The chair votes I. Any

002opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Okay. Uh, do I have a motion to exit executive session for the purpose of discussing legal matters where no votes were taken? >> So move. >> Board member US makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Board member Johnson Davis seconds the motion. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Chair votes I. Any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Right. We will now call this pre-work session to order at 2:45 p.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 work sessions these sessions are typically more casual and are primarily for information gathering. No formal votes will be taken. We will begin our

003pre-work session with our book study, Modernday Strategies for Community Engagement: How to Effectively Build Bridges Between People and the Bottom Line. All right. Each year, the school board selects a book to study that will assist us in living out the duties and responsibilities of schoolboard governance. Today, board member Tracy Anderson will facilitate chapter 4. How do you do community engagement? >> Hey, excuse me. I'm almost out of breath. Um I it's really interesting that there but um I thought we could approach this since we are looking at professional development later in the meeting um through the kind of lens that I've had with um different professional development experiences. So, you know, for example, an NE thing or um an American Bar Association thing where effectively we have to end the professional development with an activity

004>> or something that we plan or could do. And so, one of the things that I really liked was this idea of the populationbased definition of community. And I'm referring uh to I guess it's the third page 51. So I think there are >> four described actions and I like the idea that the community defines itself. And so um I thought that maybe we need to start with identifications of the various people in our community. At other times I think we call them um stakeholders. And I also like the idea of using what they describe as culturally competent evaluators so that when we are engaging with the community, we are actually not just talking to not just hearing and not just interacting with this group called the community, but we're ensuring that we've got um

005as many uh different culturally competent uh individuals as possible and then I'll share a few more things. But I I would love for us to do one of those two things if anyone else feels like there's something from the chapter because here's the deal. It's called modern day strategies and I think of strategies as things that we do. >> And so I feel like we're at a point in our book discussion and I think you know we can agree. I believe I counted seven letters to Decaterish about CSD since our last board meeting. Um, I believe one was specifically about trust and this chapter talks about establishing trust. So, I think this is just a really great time for us to transition from just talking about some of the strategies to maybe identifying one or

006two that we could implement. I don't know how anyone else feels, but >> um I I definitely highlighted that as well. Employ culturally culturally competent evaluators. So make sure some evaluators look like communities in question. If you also look back at page 50, another thing that I highlighted was cultural competence which makes sure makes sure that you're respectful and respons responsive to the health beliefs and practices as well as the cultural and linguistic needs of a diverse population group. So I think that means we go back and incorporate feedback. That means that we have to make sure that it's not just the people that are coming to us, but that we're going to other people and making sure that the people that we're we're employing to reach out to those folks look like the folks

007that we're going to reach out to. So, we can't send uh people that um look like us or look like um everybody else to or people that we choose to go out into groups in the community. We have to define who those people are. and it's in people that look like them or that they appreciate to reach out to them. I think that also what we see a lot of indicator is that certain populations of people come to us but we can't get necessarily anchored on the fact that that may be representative of the population as a whole. Um, we have to do the work or understanding that there's multiple groups or subgroups, populations of groups that have different cultural practices, languages, needs, define those populations. And then what this what this book is saying

008is that we send people out that connect with those people directly. And it is true, you've had multiple letters to Decatorish. You've had a lot of social media outcry about one issue or the next. But it's on us to take that, tease it apart and say, is that representative of the population as a of a whole or is that one subgroup of a population that's reaching out to us? Um, so we have to take that into context as well. I think that it's that that it's also important to acknowledge uh when they talk about culturally relevant outreach, it's not just people that that look like the people that you're reaching out to, but that the people who are doing the outreach have some sort of training or capability or knowledge or experience doing so, right?

009like like like just being a member of the community doing the outreach is necessary but not sufficient. Like we definitely the capabilities of the individuals that are reaching out is a is a critical consideration uh because you can take it sideways very very quickly if if somebody's overwhelmed in a meeting that that doesn't have the skills to manage the group that they're in front of. I was um I'm interested in story mapping >> as a strategy as a tactic. Um of course like every other place the cater has so much history but as we are seeing not everybody's history you know it's it could be so subjective and so I think um particularly as we have the conversation about where the land sits that you know we are um looking to build the ECLC. How

010do we share the stories, you know, from this area who once lived on this land like the uh residents of Beacon Hill and then what can we do with that story? How can we incorporate that story in so that would be a tactic that I would uh I would um interested in looking in more into Go ahead. Go ahead. >> So, just to kind of circle back, I think what I read on page 51 is let the community define itself versus we decide. Now obviously if it is determined that definition is clearly not reflecting um the cater then we kind of look but what I liked about this was opening it up. So I was thinking maybe I brought this up before is I saw it today on Church Street where it's like little cars

011I think about what you like about the cater. When I was running one day in Oakus, there were cards that I think the because I think the cities have gotten um really good at community engagement. And so I at times have wondered if we could even borrow from them because it shouldn't be that difficult. I mean, essentially we're a small district and we work with the city and we already have certain resources. So, I totally understand why we'd want to be aware of listening to or defining one. Um, but anyway, I just wanted to put that out there. And, um, J, I love the idea of a story map, too. And I started wondering like what would that look like with each um, neighborhood um, and school area, what have you. I did appreciate in

012there that it said that the community should be able to define themselves, stakeholders should be able to define themselves, but it also says right there cultural competence, which I think was kind of the crux of this chapter, making sure that leaders are able to connect and engage with all members of the community. Um, is the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures and help ensure that the needs of all community members are addressed. So, it's it's making sure that you take that feedback um that you that you assess it, but also that you employ folks into the community that are able to reach and connect with all different stakeholder groups um regardless of whatever just comes to you that you're able to put people out there that can connect with others. Um, but

013it also says here it can refer to such characteristics as age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, income level, educational level, geographic location, or profession. >> I would I would say that when we're talking about I I wanted to go back to board member Anderson's comment around um looking to the city a little bit. I I do agree the city does this well. um or I think I I we can fairly say or acknowledge they do it better than we do. Uh but it's invested in right there there are elements of their budget that spend the money specifically towards things like this. They have whole groups of community outreach you know organizations right and so um it doesn't happen in a vacuum. It actually is something that you have to choose to allocate budget towards and

014and I think that it is a fair community as we enter into this budget cycle whether that's something that we want to talk about investing in right and whether that is something that the community feels we need to do better to the point where we would invest in it and that we think that we have a path to actually do it. It is beyond just the communications department. I should draw the distinction there, right? That that this is more than just having communications, right? Community outreach is is uh I mean there's this this entire book is talking about how it is a slightly different thing. And so, uh, I'm open certainly to having that that conversation. >> And I I guess I'd be interested to know what the city does differently that we do and

015really how how we're measuring success for the city and for >> right to say that they do it better than us. I, you know, I'd be interested to know how we are measuring that. I I think I that the city's received awards for not that it's award itself, but my understanding is I think other um municipalities look to Decator City because of the way it's done this, but I may be misinformed there. And I I agree, Hans, there may need to be a budget, but we have things like the Decatur Focus that already have a whole school section. Um some of those advisory boards. So, I'd like to think there might be some easy ways to do this, although I understand that might be um also requiring more time of us besides just wonder how

016with in one part of our community there like all these different languages spoken. How accessible is the cater focus? Right. It's a great communication tool. I read mine every time it comes in the mail, but it's pretty and everything, but how accessible is it for? >> Is it in Swahili? Is it in Somali? Yeah. >> Accessible for all, >> right? >> Um I got to meet with the comm team last week and it was really cool to see like their breath of responsibilities especially for a four person. They they are really so involved in all that outreach. um a lot of different things. Like one of the things we talked about was um you know they put out a really great newsletter CSU weekly every week. Um and you know I'm a student that neurotically

017checks my email and um I love looking at the newsletter and I gain a lot from it. But I know a lot of other students are like that. Um and a lot of them were missing really key information. So we got to do some brainstorming on, you know, you're in a school environment so you can make a kid do something where you can't make a parent. Um, so you know, we were talking about um integrating like, you know, okay kids, let's open up the newsletter and read it and see what's going on. Um, and then that's a great way to get kids in that habit. Um, and it becomes what what that is, a habit. Um, and then, you know, we also got to talking about um some strategies other districts use um to board

018member at this point. Um, someone mentioned how a lot of boards have like a board liaison who sets up events um and creates a calendar not just as meetings but like community events that board members can attend and um things like that like um a direct servant of the board and um you know that the um viability of that here can be debated but I think that um that got me thinking a lot about not just how we're presenting ourselves as a forward about how we're presenting ourselves as individuals. Um, you know, like I want to be um the leader that has business cards and everyone has a business card with my name on it and knows that you can contact me. I was really struck by the most recent elections um in multiple ways,

019but on the local level there were some candidates who were like who knocked my door and who had a really rich conversation with my mom that really impacted her. Um and even you know across the country a lot of the elections that were won were won because of canvasing and because of ground games. So um you know beyond professional communication and professional board meetings um I think um something that I want to grow in personally is um connecting oneonone. >> Can I ask student repa are you on Facebook? >> No. Is there is there anyone that you know of your age that is on Facebook? >> Not at all. >> Yeah. So, um I also want to acknowledge in this book that there it's a few years out of date, especially as it talks about

020social media, right? We live in an environment now where I think in in our heads, meaning not student age people, but our uh the the the older folks on this board, we have a mental model of social media as it was in 2010 era, the community square where you get together to communicate, to learn, and to grow. That is fundamentally not what social media is any hasn't been in about 10 years. Social media is the information equivalent of Doritos as a nutritional source. It is a biohacked algorithm designed to bypass our frontal lobe and activate our addiction cycles. Now this is not the case that everyone uses it is this way but we have to understand somebody somebody has recently told me social media is just a tool. A hammer is a tool. You can

021use it to drive a nail. You could also use it to stave someone's head in. But it is neutral. Social media is not. It is specifically designed to create that outrage cycle. And I I actually haven't seen a successful example since the pandemic of social media being used well to bring a community along in terms of communications and really haven't I mean look at look at we we all know the CDC right we're all familiar with the CDC one of the most well-funded organizations uh for health in the globe with whole teams of communication professionals specifically dedicated towards communicating in the social media sphere got destroyed during the pandemic. Absolutely destroyed during the pandemic and and effectively failed in terms of communicating and winning in that space. And so I think it is important for

022us to acknowledge and I don't have an answer here. I really I really don't have an answer here. aren't raising a problem without providing a solution. And I hate doing that, but I I don't have an answer here. We we do, I think, have to recognize that there is a series of corporate bad actors who have found a profit model that driving outrage and division maximizes their income. that environment. That doesn't mean we ignore it and run away from it. Uh but it does mean I think we have to acknowledge that that is an environment that we're operating in and that our strategy should reflect that. You know, our kids get it. They get it. They're not on Facebook. It's where old people go to yell at each other. Um and and so I did

023really like what you said repatra about canvasing, knocking on doors, sitting down oneonone, that human connection is I think where uh effective outreach and communication can happen in a way that I don't think uh the algorithms permit us to in a social media environment. Anything else? >> I don't know what to say. >> Anything else? >> No. >> Okay. >> Any other comments? All right. Okay. Thank you board members for your engagement. Next month we will not engage in the book study. However, we will pick back up in February. Uh Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the next item. >> Thank you, Chair Soul. I would like to call on Mrs. Amanda Lynch, chief of staff, to present policy DJ for discussion. >> Good afternoon, board chair Dr. Hulton, vice chair, members of the board, student representative

024Boscher, and superintendent Dr. Licker. Today, we have one policy on the agenda for pre-work. As a reminder to the public, policies that are presented during pre-work are new business on which we are seeking board input. Board feedback that can be reflected in drafting or revising future versions. Policy being presented for discussion today is policy DJ purchasing. This is an existing policy that was originally adopted in October of 2022. Because its last review date is also October 2022, it was one of numerous policies identified earlier this year as a policy for the board to review this year. Policies that are up for review are being considered for any needed updates or revisions, but it is also possible they may not require changes. BJ was identified for review and pre-work this month because it is cross referenced

025in policy FDB long range needs determination which was presented for first read last month. A copy of policy DJ has been provided to the board and it is also attached to the assembly agenda item and available in the policy manual online in assembly. It provides guidelines related to purchasing. It states that generally a competitive process should be followed and it allows for price, performance, convenience or other factors to be considered when more advantageous to the district. The policy authorizes the superintendent or designate to approve purchases or contracts under $100,000 for budgeted items and under $50,000 for change orders. Board approval is required for purchases, contracts or change orders over these amounts. As an example of this policy in action, we can consider the new early learning center. For the new ECLC, a request for qualifications

026or RFQ process was used to qualify and select vendors for the ECL services. The RFQ process helps ensure that vendors are qualified when the specific process is known. in this case, an ECL building that not only serves our youngest learners, but also provides space for high school students and the early childhood pathway to gain valuable school experience. All of which is aligned with our charter innovations. Because the amount was over the $100,000 threshold per policy, the top three qualified vendors were brought to the board for approval during the November 2024 regular meeting. At this time, I welcome board input on any revisions, considerations, or recommendations for policy DJ. Board, you have been provided with a copy of this policy, as well as an environmental scan of policy DJ from other Georgia school districts. Dr. Lonita

027Broom, chief financial officer, has joined me to provide any needed subject matter expertise. We will use your feedback to bring forth revisions if needed for first read and work session next month. First thing I observed is please chime in if any of you um see something different. So a district like Fulton um which has much more written in its policy um like us has the 100,000 threshold right on the other hand and then button has 108 schools and then decooked more like a novel and it was really difficult for me to get through all that but this is probably not science but I look at Mariana and I believe 15,000 is the threshold. Um I looked up the euper just because I wanted to see more comparably sized district and I think you so again

028that's on their paperwork is 30k um so basically anything over 30k to 99k that's not in the budget is board three. So my first instinct is to say we need to lower that amount to be on par with smaller districts. But that's just my quick assessment of big district versus educators. >> Great. I I guess I'm far more interested in the how do we make sure that that the purchasing is being done properly? I mean, it's topical for me for the news and for the cat. I I can say that on my own, right? Like what what the accusations stuff like there. So 100,000 50,000 I don't have a strong point but like who watches there's nothing in here that says that like who's reviewing these purchases who's making sure that the car like I

029like we didn't approve the cars being purchased well the cars are up for rent they're part of the budget they just got it done so that's my first set of questions is like should we put in policy who's watching who's watching now who's making sure that bids are going out uh properly legally and ethically >> I believe me um so any purchase purchasing essential So every purchase is entered into the financial and it comes to my office. So I make sure it has the supporting documentation and if it's over 100,000 they have to uh they have to attach board approval documentation of board approval plus all solicitations come through my office. Additionally if it's over $5,000 it goes to the superintendent for approval >> over 5,000. >> 500. >> Yeah. So, I have to approve

030um all purchase orders that are over 5,000. >> So, I guess the question is to James's point, should that be written out here? Because some of the other school districts do have that language explicitly stated, including all the way down to the principal, 000 or less at the school level can be signed off by the principal. If it's, you know, 101 up to 2,000, it requires a second signature through finance, a principal plus you. So I guess the question is do board members feel like that language needs to go policy that level and we have if it's zero to $4,999 only one quote is required anything over 5,000 requires two quotes for those are regulations correct that's what we call them price yeah and when looking on assembly it's not a regulation as far as

031R1 or what have you. That is the process that we make, you know, that was one of the first things I did was to make sure that we had that entire process clean for when you have to do bids. So um whether or not when you're bringing someone on that you are actually procuring you are giving them the contract. You need to make sure you have dependent upon the window um or that limit that Dr. Broom just specified. You have to make sure you have enough quotes, whether it's sealed, whether it's RFP, whether it's RFQ, or if it's not sealed, and you just have to get noted back to >> Yes. >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead. >> No, I was saying I was just affirming what she just said. So, so in effect there are

032so the cab the cab is is in policy trying to solve some historical issues that they have had. Well, I think that level of hyper specificity is probably not appropriate. And I it largely sounds like some of you all agree. But I do actually like Marietta bringing up a level of what we currently have at a regulation level in specific to to policy in general. If you can handle it in regulation, uh I'm I'm an index towards putting it into regulation. But purchasing, this is an area where large organizations get in trouble so often >> that I think it warrants bringing some of that regulation up into a policy level. And I and I think I I like Marietta's format. Now, I think the limits in Marietta are are pretty itty bitty for for the

033size of their budget. So, I don't necessarily agree with with 50 15,000. I'm but I'm willing to have a conversation about whether a 100 is right. like we can figure that out. >> Well, I I I have a question here then because I think now similar to James is what is the rationale for the amount? So, I go back to Falton and I looked it up. I'm like, okay, it's 108 schools and I have a friend who, you know, describes it as like there's an emergency plumbing issue. Obviously, you know, the more schools you have, right, as one example, just the more issues you're going to have. But we have fewer schools. So I guess I would like to know then a little bit more about you know this purchasing policy exists in various school

034districts and we see that there's wide variety of capping amount right from 15,000 to 100,000. So help me understand why a small school district needs a 100,000 or I just want to understand more of what's the rationale for the 100,000 versus the 50,000 like what are the items that would typically be used for this that then justify why it needs to be 15 30 50 >> and maybe that's the that's the kind of piece of data that we're missing. How often at each level of expense are we authorizing things that don't come before the board? And what are those things typically for? Right? And so if 95% of the purchases are all happening at a $15,000 level, then maybe that is a fine threshold. Uh as long as there's a call out for emergency spend

035when you know a plumbing system blows out at Claremont, right? Um, so, so I I think without having kind of the information on what is typically happening and how this is typically exercised, I think it's hard for us to say definitively this is the right threshold versus a question. Um, board member Anderson, your what is your rationale behind lowering it? You know, honestly, when I looked at them, it was Yeah, Dicabs clearly seems to be doing something else by um the enumerated actions, but it was largely just looking at the smaller district. So, I think Bit County, am I wrong? They don't even allow anything, but I may have misread that one because I think we had bib in there. >> Um, Maretta is the one closest in size to us. And that I just

036looked up Buford this morning because it's smaller because I just think Fton and Decav aren't really comparable in many regards. >> I'm just wondering what does it mean for us? Like what is it? Are we doing other districts or >> I mean I would think we're doing it just to be fiscally responsible. Um you know obviously we have to review the policy. It's up for review. I think like James said, you know, um DAP is certainly an anomalous situation right now given the situation, but it's not the only school district and it's not the only um school district with a board, you know, that belongs to GSBA that's dealing with financial things. So, I don't see why we wouldn't want to at least discuss the rationale for the amount of money that we're capping for

037the purchase order. One thing I want to draw to your attention with Marietta specifically because I did notice this and up at the top it has when they both originally adopted it and it's last reviewed. It's an old policy for Marietta. It's 2010. It might be that it's still working for them, right? But I do want to draw your attention to the fact that that is 15 years old as well at this point since they have have reviewed it. So obviously economical time economics have changed too. That was going to be my follow-up question was going to be was there any guidance from GSBA as to um if they had any guidance as to based on size of district or >> um anything like that what the what the cap should be before before a

038purchase goes before the board for approval versus being thought out by the superintendent. And and I would say more than likely because you adopted this policy in 22. This was the years when you all literally built the manual. >> Yeah. Right. We were cutting. Yeah. We needed this because we didn't have any policy in place. >> I I do want to partially address Dr. Johnson Davis's question around around why you would look at different levels. Um it is it is very clearly linked to budget size, right? the the the threshold amounts because it might be in in DAB or APS the budget for paper is $100,000 and that doesn't necessarily need to go in front of the board like that's a consistent whereas if we're spending $100,000 on paper there is a giant problem. Yes.

039And so and so your routine purchases of which there are literally tens of thousands routine purchases are going to be highly linked to the budget and you don't necessarily want us approving 10,000 purchases a year. Right? So, so you you can say that there is some linkage to the size of the district and so that that becomes a question I think going to GSBA looking for some guidance there kind of understanding is it is it a percent of budget is it a percent of spend what's the how do we think about what those right thresholds are that would be appropriate what we don't want is to find ourselves in a situation where we're approving purchases of pencils and stuff like that right like this is meant to be larger ticket items that come in front

040of them >> I My other thought was this uh a couple of these policies had language about pecards in there. Um I think we have a policy for that. Is it is it worth it to put pecards in this purchasing policy or leave them separate as leave it separate? So as I am looking at various districts and what they have in assembly, some have just DJ, some have DJA which is purchasing authority, some have purchased cards with the PC cards and that is completely which is DJ A um purchasing guidelines, purchasing for vendors like everyone has different codes you take it as more distinctly or disperately or you can put it together. So we approved purchasing cars authority last year but everyone is and I think it's just the way um policy manuals have grown

041over the years from originally DJ is the basics that's what you must have and then you build on them based upon what the need are requiring >> and I have seen policies where the board approves a certain dollar amount for consumables and non-consumables that Yes. >> So my reading of fib is they don't have to approve anything for the record. >> I read it. It says all requests for not provided will require prior approval. >> No, no, no. Read the next three letter. Send us words. >> I'm sorry. Whichever is appropriate. >> No, you stop the board and then it clearly says or the superintendent. >> Ah, okay. Yeah, you're right. I I literally think good county is just operating a world where superintendent says it's okay they can buy it >> all. >> Yeah,

042let's not do that. >> So, it's one of the it doesn't even say and or um >> so can we Yeah, >> there were questions about the $100,000 >> where that $100,000 cap comes from. So, um it's certainly not uncommon for school districts to adopt just a statuto cap. >> Um there are certainly some that >> that's why a lot of them are $100,000 would not be permissible for be more than $100,000, but you could adopt something. >> I' I'd like to start with some just finding out some examples of some other places and where it's working and do they have a full-time board and that sort of stuff. Um, all the other ones also had a had a line for emergency expenditures that we don't have in ours. I would I would hate that

043someone used the plumbing example or air conditioner or sewage. I would hate for the superintendent to get in trouble because they spent that is that's a big dollar amount. >> Currently, if we have an emergency, you know, 100,000 or more, we'll bring it to the next board. >> If there's a sewage spill, it requires $100,000 at the a school. They're gonna start the cleanup of it. >> Dr. >> Okay. And then I have a question about the different So, there's language in here that that the superintendent and others have to, you know, when we tell them to spend money, they have to get bids and requests for proposals. But if there's just a general discussion about what something will cost, there's a difference there. There's no expectation that if the board or three members of

044the board or even one says hey what would it cost to do this superintendent doesn't have to put that up there or what should there be language about that maybe Dr. Whitaker can talk about how that can happen very plainly. An example would be like, hey, hey, what would it cost to retrofit this school? It's not a bid to retrofit the school. So, we wouldn't open that up for people to do it. We're just sort of gathering data, >> right? >> Should we Is that okay? What does the rest of the board members think? >> If there like for example, you might not know over 100,000 until you market competitive >> if you want to proceed. >> Correct. if you want to cook this. >> Yeah, I think I think putting the collection of estimates

045probably does not rise to a level of a policy. I feel like not getting into the weeds. I feel like that can function more at a regulatory level, a regulation level. >> Um, obviously if those estimates come back and exceed any of our thresholds wherever they end up, then obviously this would trigger the policy. But I don't know that I'd want to get as a that starts to look like the cat county afterwards. As a sidebar for the thing that came to mind was when when Mr. Adams showed us the wait room, right, and they did some work in that. Um I no one in the board thinks that he should have to come to he should have to put out there to get estimates to redo the weight room because it might be a

046$100,000 job beforehand. Correct. Uh, no. I I don't I I actually kind of like how Marietta has included different threshold purchasing limits and removals required. It sounds like we have a similar thing. >> I think that should actually be called out in policy. I don't think we need to specify how to go get estimates, just that if your estimates exceed these thresholds, you need to have done these processes. I I agree. There just seems to have been a people like, "Oh, you got to get quotes for estimates." But then that raises I could I could see a whole lot of estimates that may or may not be at the $100,000 mark, but we won't know until we get bids. >> I don't know. I understand. So, I think when you think about um you and

047you brought it up um it's we were at a community meeting and it was asked how much would it cost to retrofit Westchester and that was not necessarily we are seeking to go retrofit Westchester therefore we have to go through our RFP. No, it was what's an estimate? Could you do the exercise to let me know how much would that cost? And so that's an estimate. It's it's like when you know you're you're it's an estimate. It's not procurement. It's not solicitation. Those are what would be defined words in procurement law and statute as well as policy. that is happens at good in the way in which we must procure information estimates do not fall in there and I think in that that that's got it >> that's a different question and I'm not sure

048if it can be answered but one thing I was wondering as well and I think maybe Hans you kind of asked this with like well what does this look like how are we doing it what are the budget buckets from which these purchases come. I mean they can be anywhere in the budget like um you know people services or staff training or because it's under that threshold. Is that right? What? >> No, not your question. I'm just asking in general, you know, we have a budget, right? And each budget category like instruction, pupil services, staff, training, etc. has an amount. So when there is a purchase under this policy that falls under 100,000, it can be from anywhere in the budget. Is that correct? Correct. >> Right. Well, but it holds above 5,000. It has

049to be approved by Dr. Brun. But it could come from any of those function categories. >> But okay, wait. I So I I heard the question slightly differently and I just want to make sure we're clear on it. >> What you can't do is if I need to purchase something, let's say I'm in instruction and I need to purchase something and I might not have the budget for it. I can't just say, okay, well, I'm going to go use some other budget function to afford this particular thing. Right? budget >> that comes in front of us though when you start talking about budget adjustments you can All right. >> So that is why we need lower thresholds in a million dollar or in a in a hund00 million budget. We should not be reallocating $999,000

050in a budget without us having a that that makes me uncomfortable. basically >> approved,000 not if you're purchasing something from people services, you cannot move it. >> What I am saying is if for some of these upper threshold numbers, it should come back in front of us, >> right? >> Yeah. Yeah, cuz if it's amount that high, when we go to reconcile the budget at the end of the year and we're planning next year's budget, we're going to be we're going to then we might be confused as to how much we actually budgeted for versus how much we actually spent. If an amount that large just got moved around, um you know, if it was a thousand or something, then that's different. >> But if you're talking somewhere upwards of a 100,000, then that could

051give us a that could paint a different picture of how much we budgeted for versus amount actually spent. So I can see the point. >> So you want that language included in here in terms of >> Yeah. Just just we we I don't know that 15,000 is right. That feels very low to me, frankly. Um but whatever the number is, it it should be it's probably under a h 100,000, right? 100,000 is what you're dealing with at at APS or or county or the cap. So, whatever that recommended dollar amount is at those lower thresholds. That's why I think ju just because you you're talking about percentage swings in the budget um that that aren't coming out of the function codes that we originally budgeted. >> But to answer your question directly, board member Johnson

052Davis, he's he's addressing the amount whereby they would have to come back to us for board member approval. So, board member Anderson was saying, should it be 15,000? Should it be 50,000? And then um Jill said the statute says it but it can't it get lower but his argument was that's the reason why amounts that large one of these reasons is the reason why amounts this large should come to us. >> Okay. But just in terms of potentially moving from one bucket to another, are we putting any you know >> what you hear about that or >> there there is value in having the flexibility because you can't perfectly forecast a budget. So having that flexibility is okay. I am saying though in a budget our size $100,000 isn't awful lot of money to move

053around in a budget without it coming back >> and >> but the purchase would come before us if it's a hundred,000 >> 900 when the budget gets fixed and it gets moved in categories that's all she was saying it would still gets approved just because it was moved around >> but I heard the threshold >> well that's what I'm saying I heard that I heard the argument as to her point if you make the threshold like 50,000 then you could have some 50,000s here and there that could impact what your budget looks like at the end of the year, you know. >> Yeah. I think for me one I was just trying to get the information and so then I think what I've landed on and tell me if I'm wrong is that effectively any

054purchases under a 100,000 take place. Okay. When it hits 5,000 then the superintendent approves it but we don't know. And then the second thing I heard is that yes under the existing practice any purchase under 100,000 25k here 16k here 9,000k here can go from any of those budget buckets. And so it sounds like then there's two things we're trying to address. what the cap amount is that can take place without authority and then the understanding of the category or bucket and the ending is that right and so Hans I understood you to be saying that yeah we are now capping this at some rate there would be less um change in that budget bucket or category by the end of the year or that's just >> there may still be the same amount of

055change but it would have come in front of us >> okay >> and and I I do think in rereading our policy, it does say h 100,000 or less for budgeted items. So presumably those are yeah it's really the $50,000 change orders. But nonetheless, let's do I think what the board is basically agreeing on is get a scan of what the right thresholds are and make some recommendations there. >> Any other discussion? >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mrs. Lynch. I look forward to discussing this policy at first read at next uh month's board meeting board meeting. There being no further business, this pre-work session is adjourned at 3:32 p.m. We will go right into our work session. I will now call this work session to order at 3:32

056p.m. Thank you for joining us today at our monthly work session. Work sessions are designed for in-depth discussion, study, and planning regarding district policies, issues, and upcoming decisions. Many items presenting in a work session inform future board meeting agenda items including consent agenda. Uh Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the first presentation. >> Thank you, Sheriff Sultan. I would like to call on Mrs. Amanda Lynch, chief of staff, to present the 2027 2028 draft academic calendar. >> Good afternoon once again, board members and superintendent Whitaker. Today I'm excited to share with you information surrounding the development of the 2027 2028 academic calendar and ask for your feedback on a draft calendar as we move towards adoption. The development of the academic calendar aligns with our strategic accelerator focus on organizational effectiveness and excellence. In addition, the parameters

057that go into developing the calendar also support our other strategic accelerators. For example, allowing teacher professional learning days supports our strategic accelerator of cultivating and retaining high-quality professionals while planning for 180 days of instruction support student success in all areas. Today we are sharing a draft proposal for the 2027 2028 academic calendar. The academic calendar for next year, the 26 27th school year, was approved by the board of education in December of 2024. To remind the public, we look to adopt academic calendars annually and approximately a year and a half prior to implementation so that our families and staff have access to them early. The 2027 2028 academic calendar that is being presented as a draft today is quite similar to the calendar that was adapted last year for next year. The drafts was created

058based on district priorities as well as data we have gathered over the past several years in our calendar development process from stakeholders and our teacher advisory councal days for students. As a charter system, we are able to wave this number of instructional days to align with the state of Georgia's requirement that public schools provide 180 days of instruction for school year. We also desire to distribute these school days as evenly as possible between the two semesters. Priorities include the fall and winter break, which has been part of the CSSE fabric and is valued by students, families, and staff alike. staff professional learning opportunities and alignment to other metro area calendars where possible. This priority is important for our staff who may not live in the city of Decar and whose own children may not attend

059CSC schools. In addition to district priorities, we also consider stakeholder feedback from surveys administered over the past two years. In 2023, we heard from nearly 2,000 respondents, and in 2024, we had nearly 600 respondents. Results from these surveys consistently show a strong preference for the week-long breaks in September and February, ending before Memorial Day and starting on or after August 1st. Based on survey data, our current academic calendar also reflects a reduction in the number of early release days from previous years and which were maintained in the calendar that we adopted for next year. Finally, in drafting academic calendars, we also consider feedback from advisory council. Last year, the teacher advisory council expressed a strong desire for an additional teacher workday during the academic year, as well as a strong desire to maintain the digital

060learning day on election day. The proposal for an additional teacher workday was supported across stakeholder groups in last year's survey and is reflected in next year's calendar on October 12, 2026. Together, the considerations I just highlighted inform the drafting and adoption of next year's 26. Next year's calendar includes a full 180 days of instruction for students. You can see the addition of the teacher workday in October, the continued reduced number of early dismissal days, and new early dismissal days on the last day of each semester. The 2627 calendar provided the starting point for developing the draft of the 2728 calendar. which you can see here. I'm excited to again report that the days have fallen overall in our favor for the 2728 school year. You may notice it's a leap year which also helps. This

061draft includes the following features. It is very similar to the board adopted 2627 academic calendar. Has 180 school days where semester 1 has 88 days and semester 2 has 92 days. Monday, August 2nd is proposed as the first day of school and Thursday, May 27th is proposed as the last day of school, which is before the Memorial Day holiday. The break schedule is similar to what we have done historically with full week breaks in September for fall break, November for Thanksgiving break, February for winter break, and April for spring break, and a semester break that is just over two weeks long for students. The teacher workday in October that will launch next year is again included based on last year's teacher feedback and community support through the survey. A copy of the draft calendar is

062attached to this agenda item in SIM. So what's our timeline today? I presented draft one of the 2728 student academic calendar and in just a moment I will invite any board feedback. Next week we will open a survey for stakeholders to provide any feedback on and responses to this draft. This survey will remain open through the Thanksgiving break. We value a collaborative approach to calendar development and will actively seek additional feedback, especially from our teacher advisory council later this week. And we anticipate bringing the final proposed calendar to the board in December for approval. Finally, once the final calendar is adopted, I want to point out that we will again develop a calendar companion. It was initially rolled out several years ago. The calendar companion is created in partnership with the superintendent interfaith council. It

063is a resource that identifies major religious holidays for different faiths and considerations that should be given to students and staff of that faith. For example, considerations might include the likelihood of absences or observers participating in fasting or prayer during the school day. The companion is provided to school and district leaders as an awareness resource that should also be used when scheduling district and school events. So at this time I welcome any board discussion or input to be considered for the draft 2027 2028 academic calendar or the calendar adoption process. >> Just wanted to clarify there are no early release days in this calendar. >> There are early release days. We went so in the current year it reflects the community's um input to do a reduction. So we used to have one every single month.

064This year is the first year where we cut some of those. So they're not every month anymore. and we've carried that on in the calendar that you adopted for next year and in this proposed one. >> Are they listed on there? >> They are there in yellow. So those yellow dates are those um proposed early release >> dates which you'll see also at the end of the semester. The half yellow half green shows that it's the end of a semester and an early release date. >> Thanks. >> I appreciate the um workday and I I do have to speak as a high school teacher here. I think they need another one. Um I would like to know what the early release days are used for because I see that the priority is professional learning. So

065um I see that the work day it appears was brought back or is new. Is that correct? Based on stakeholder feedback from 2024. That's great. Um but what are the early release days? You is that for the professional development? >> Typically early release days are used for professional learning. the professional development for teachers. Um the feedback that we received from the teacher advisory council to bring back that full day looks a little different at different grade bands. So our elementary teachers were looking for time to meet with parent conferences and have time to meet with parents and things like that. Um again sometimes that's um you know there's a little bit more discretion there at how it's used at those school level and things like that for teachers putting in grades you know it coincides

066as well with you know typically kind of that mid-semester point. So, I think you know what I was thinking about and again fill in any of my wrong gaps here. Um, I believe we adopted that new grading policy that has retakes. So, that sounds like more work for teachers at least at the high school level. I don't know about the middle school. Um, additionally, I think the board looked at a change in kind of aotments and so that tool for success or wind time I believe is an additional. And so that alone says to me I would like to see another workday or understand the work time there for teachers when possible. Um, or and then I guess the other part is the same things that teachers have to do in the fall grading in

067particular. um because I do know that, you know, there's a lot of useful data from things like the star test um benchmarks, but in my experience, uh parents and kids want to know about the grades. So, my recommendation is um another workday. I looked up Fairfax County. Um I think that was what we looked at for the school board rep and I believe they have two work days. >> So, um thank you for that. I did bring this to PTO just this morning and there was a trepidation of just the having an early release day and a >> another day >> and a work day both in October. Um, and I see a nod of ahead from a parent who was there in the meeting with me earlier today. And I did explain exactly what

068we said just a moment ago, which are every grade band looks at it differently. So from a high school perspective, yes, they're pretty in grades, but from elementary perspective, they're conferencing with parents, but neither one of them on that teacher workday have addressed the professional learning needed so that we don't have to bring in subs to try to do professional learning. and at a time when really instruction should be happening. So, um I will say that that was what the PTO PTA advisory council uh brought to the my attention about this calendar. >> Um another thing to consider is if we were to add an additional teacher workday, say in the spring, then we start running into some of the priorities that have come out through the surveys before. So if the goal is to

069continue to try to maintain 180 days of instruction, you're now looking at pushing back. And so it it has kind of that domino effect. So we'd have to find where can we find that day to then serve students in addition. So you would look at maybe starting school on Friday, July 30th, for example, or which I know I'm not actually recommending that. I know better. >> There are people with heads shaking behind. >> I just I feel the the the stairs. Um, so we would have to be able to kind of negotiate where that would go or recognize that we would then have to exercise some of our flexibility and waiver on the number of school days which um, you know, we've had discussions before about prioritizing that. >> So maybe and my question may

070be less relevant to the calendar since the calendar appears to be for the elementary schools, the middle schools, and the high schools as a kind of one-sizefits-all. And perhaps later when we're looking at it like in terms of then what makes the teacher work day each day um in terms of what you know students need in particular you know I guess I'm thinking that we have some teachers who aren't classroom teachers I believe like academic coaches they're student support physicians and I think they work 210 days instead of 190 right so there must have been some determination of whatever work they needed for those extra days so maybe my question is not as much for the calendar if a work date can't be included and for a later question about the the process to determine

071the time. Thank you. Go ahead. I so um I was particularly excited to hear about the I forget the term that you used it but the supplementary calendarformational calendar >> calendar companion for um teachers and administrators to know >> when religious events are occurring and things of that nature. I'd love to see that published along with the calendar just for the public at large, right? because I think I think there's probably a lack of awareness of how much is necessary to be sensitive to and work around and and and that's a value I think that we have as a community to commit to that. Um we should publish that along with the calendar for the community >> and and I will say that we do um provide this calendar draft a year and a half

072ahead of time but the interfaith council is not a year and a half ahead. So we're we published this this earlier get this feedback so families are able to plan for lives if you will but the convenes brings uh that companion a year ahead of time not necessarily a year. We're scheduled to meet with the interfaith council in December and during that time we'll look at the calendar that is adopted for next school year to line up all the dates of the faith in the same kind of format every year and make sure the dates are right. We have the people from the faith check the dates confirm the dates and confirm kind of there's >> um you know just because you kind of asked um there's like different columns that says you know yes

073a student in our staff an observer might be fasting this day so be aware or they might be absent. it's likely that many in this space might be absent this day. >> Um so they check all of that. So yeah, we can absolutely make that publicly available. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um I have just one quick question. Um based on this draft, will students across the whole district still be off for election day? Um we've gotten quite a bit of back that being whole learning day versus should they just have the whole day off? Um and if they are going to have that same format, it being a whole virtual day, can you explain the rationale as to why it is set up that way? >> Sure. So this does have that same carried

074through. So it would be counted as a school day. It would be a digital learning day, meaning students stay at home and do not report to school. Um if it was not a digital learning day, it would not count as a school day if they were home. So we would be less than our 180. Um the digital learning day has kind of multiple purposes. Um one is we've all lived lived COVID. Um there's a little bit of of exercising the digital muscle um and understanding that it is also something overwhelmingly in staff feedback um that they appreciate having. Um we are a community that values civic engagement. Um it gives them time to also go vote um on election day as well. Um, and so for those reasons are reasons why it is kind of

075continued on the calendar year-over-year. >> So just to level with the community and with parents, it will continue on for multiple calendar years. Um, but it needs to be considered a virtual day so that it counts as a full a full school day otherwise we're going to be below the 180 threshold. >> We have adopted it for next year and it is all in this proposed draft. Correct. >> Thank you. >> So leap year is our friend. Uh we will start after August 1st and end by Memorial Day and I will continue to engage the superintendent advisory councils just as I did this morning with the PTO. Thank you. Mrs. Lynch community, please take a moment to participate in the survey. We look forward to learning the results at the December board meeting in anticipation

076of a recommendation. Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the next item. >> Thank you, Chair Sultan. I would like to call on Mrs. Karen Nissan Scott, deputy superintendent, to provide an update on high quality professional learning, our capacity building structure. >> Good evening, board chair Dr. Fton, vice chair, members of the board, student representative Fatra, and superintendent Dr. Whitaker. This evening, this afternoon, I'm excited to share the story of how City Schools of Decator is transforming professional learning into a coherent data-driven system that supports every educator and ultimately every student. Our story begins with a challenge. A challenge to cultivate and retain highquality professionals. One powerful way to meet that challenge is by provid providing professional learning that is both timely and purposeful. We recognize that our approach to professional learning had become unstructured and inconsistent resulting

077in uneven quality and limited impact across schools. So our theory of action is simple. If we design and implement a professional learning system that elevates standards, structures and processes making professional learning data driven, job embedded and of high quality, then our staff will be equipped to ensure student growth and equitable outcomes for all learners. So, we set out to level up professional learning with a 4-year initiative focused on enhancing the conditions, content, and processes that make professional learning impactful across CSD. The four foundational factors that ground our professional learning system begins with our strategic plan accelerators which keep the work aligned to our district priorities. Next, equitymindedness ensures that every action we take supports fairness, inclusion, and opportunity for all. In addition to the learning forward standards, I'm sorry, in addition, the learning forward standards

078define what highquality professional learning looks like, sustained, collaborative, and results focused. And finally, the ESA definition, the Every Student Succeeds Act, reminds us that professional learning must be ongoing and directly connected to classroom practice. Together, these elements create a strong and coherent foundation for our system. One example of this work is our new mentor and new teacher program, which includes onetoone mentoring, school-based coordinators, and teachers first two to three years. It's job embedded, feedback driven, and responsive to the needs of new educators. exactly the kind of structured supportive learning experience PL was designed to provide. Now, let's look at what the data tells us. Since August, we have had over 655 unique participants engaging in 56 plus professional learning sess sessions across the district. teachers made up the vast majority of the participants and 99%

079reported being fully engaged at least 75% of the time. We evaluate our PL sessions across five domains. knowledge, skills, attitudes, aspirations, and behaviors using our thumbs up scale where three or more thumbs up represents a strong outcome. Across all domains, our average scores ranged from 3.5 to 3.77 or roughly 87 to 94% positive feedback. That means our staff not only learned new content but believed it was relevant, felt confident applying it and plan to use it in practice. In short, our professional learning is producing transfer of learning which is the ultimate measure of impact. These results indicate that we are transitioning from compliance-based training to transformational professional learning. By aligning our systems to learning forward standards and eth criteria, we're ensuring that our PL content is rigorous, our processes are intentional, and our conditions for

080success are in place. Looking ahead, our next steps include everything listed here, as well as activating the professional learning management system within our existing frontline platform, which is a comprehensive suite of tools to manage administration, human capital, and student information. This new feature will centralize professional learning proposals, evaluations, and attendance, creating a more streamlined and efficient system. We will also continue to establish a datadriven feedback loop that connects professional learning outcomes to student achievement. Conduct a time study to better understand how PL time is used and where we can maximize impact and continue to expand leadership development opportunities for all staff through our PL structures. Excuse me. We're not just delivering sessions. We're building a culture of continuous growth that supports our educators and in turn every student in the city schools of Decator. Thank

081you for your attention and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> I just have to Yeah. >> Um on slide five, it's mentor mentee engagement. So all of this stuff in that white box, Canvas planning, job embedded, is that just for the new teachers because I assume those are the menties. Uh, sorry, am I You know what? I'm looking at my packet. So I think it's >> one of the pictures. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> Next one. >> The next one. >> Here we go. >> Okay. There we go. >> Yeah. And okay so the is that all specifically describing the new teachers or whoever is classified as a mentee? >> Yes. >> Okay. And so then I guess I have three questions now. So the second question to follow up there is when it says

082job embedded so does that mean in addition to those early release days there might be things during the actual school day. Okay. >> And then I don't know if this is the right the PL evaluation. So I see the four domains knowledge gained, relevance, application of learning and I I just wonder because I don't really know even in my own experience will behavior be measured? So like I can attend a PL session and I learn that we have new standards. Um and it I could say it's relevant and I could say I was engaged but then is there going to be something built in for the final component of seeing it in use or is that >> that's a part of our observation. So when we are observing in classrooms, we're observing the quality of

083implementation and if we see the themes that we've planned and talked about and receive professional training on, if we're seeing them being used in the classrooms and at what level. >> Thank you. >> I will say that cultivating and retaining highquality professionals requires high quality professional learning. and uh board member Anderson that evaluation criteria is based upon Guski the most researched evaluator of professional learning and is the foundation of the ESSA framework and that topic is near and dear to my heart as it was the topic of my dissertation and so I know it well. >> Thanks. >> Thank you Mrs. Newton Scott for the update. High quality professional learning is an objective in our strategic committed to a minimum of annual oversight of all 16 objectives in our five-year strategic plan. All indicator. Dr.

084Whitaker, please introduce the next item. Chair Sultan, I would like to call on Mrs. Jennifer Burton, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning to provide the monthly update on the new early childhood learning center and DHS expansion project. Good afternoon, board chair Dr. Sultan, vice chairs, esteemed members of the board, student representative Botra, and superintendent Dr. Dimma Whitaker. I'm pleased to provide an update on the new early childhood learning center and DHS expansion project specifically on instructional program. This project falls in the organizational effectiveness and excellence strategic When the new early childhood learning while the new early learning center is not set to open until the fall of 2027, we are already starting to prepare staff as well as the high school students who will be working with our EPLC children. All current preK teachers are

085enrolled in the Georgia Literacy Academy, which equips them with instructional strategies aligned with the science of reading. We are developing a course plan for our current birth to three child care providers at College Heights and the Frasier Center using coursework provided through Cox Campus as well as expanding our partnerships with our local technical colleges for professional development courses for our high school students, our future instructors. We have already adjusted our teaching as a profession pathway and early childhood education pathway course content to include structured literacy learning experiences also through Cox Campus. These are the same courses that our birth through three and prek teachers are taking. So we have a high quality talent pipeline being built. Oral language is the foundation for literacy. Our brain is wired for language, but we have to expose students

086to language. We use talk to teach. So, I want to show you two videos to show the power language. The first video is a video of an 18month-old. Yeah. >> Did you understand? >> No. I don't know. >> Exactly. >> I go somewhere else. No, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Don't do it. Thank you. Right. >> So, this baby has things to say and is already communicating. This back and forth conversation teaches babies and about the social and interactive nature of language and one that we would expect to see in our classrooms. I'm going to show you a second video of a child that's much older about my guess is two and a half. So, Levi has repeatedly been exposed to words like tender or as he would say tender

087and crispy and encouraged to use those words. So when we teach words explicitly, we'll see strong vocabulary in our students. And not only will we see this through our classroom instruction, but these practices will be shared in our community and family classes as well. So we all know and expect to see our classrooms filled with books like these Jabari tries or spoon. But what makes books so powerful is the conversations and understanding that students gain from books. Our teachers will use a process like dialogic reading which is an evidence-based practice that has a positive impact on vocabulary growth. The first step, our teachers would select pets that are culturally relevant and reinforces our future readiness skills. So here you see the future readiness skill theme. I can be kind to others and myself or I

088can persist. Then these that I've just highlighted are tier 2 words that which we would teach explicitly. Here two words are beyond conversational words like try and help. The teacher will explicitly teach these words and as they're reading will ask students questions to promote dialogue and include practice of the new vocabulary words that are taught. In addition to the needed, our staff will also need to be trained in our adopted curriculum. We've not finalized our curriculum yet, but we hope to go through a curriculum vetting process alongside college the college heights team to find a curriculum that would possibly serve both locations. So, here you see pictures of a classroom design, an outdoor play uh space and high school instructional spaces. Our building will have classrooms for each developmental age. The Early Learning C Center's

089classrooms are developmentally appropriate, inclusive, and purposely designed to meet the needs of young learners. Each space reflects CSD's belief that early education should be joyful, safe, and rooted in exploration. Classrooms will be organized into clearly defined learning zones like dramatic play, literacy, blocks, science, art, and sensory areas that invite exploration and hands-on learning. will procure procure furniture, fixtures, and materials sized for young children to promote their self-sufficiency. Labeled, bins, and reachable supplies will encourage children to make choices to take initiative and care for their environment. And each classroom will provide clear lines of sight for teachers, direct exits to hallways and outdoor learning areas, and safety features consistent with Georgia Decal and state fire codes for early childhood programs. Our ECLC design will also include learning opportunities on the history and celebrations of our Beacon

090Hill community. We will have a multi-functional indoor play space that can be used during inclement weather. And remember, this was a must from Dr. Whitaker's elementary student advisory council that we must have that indoor learning space. This space can also be used for adaptive play, physical therapy needs, and also a space for special guests during indoor field trips. Our classrooms will include direct access to secure outdoor learning spaces that promote growth motor development, sensory exploration, and imaginative play. The Continental Divide themed playground will celebrate the unique geological feature that actually runs through our city with structures and color palettes symbolizing how water flows towards the Atlantic and west to the Gulf of Mexico. The center includes welcoming family spaces for drop off, parent conferences, and parent engagement, reinforcing CSD's commitment to partnership between school and

091home. The early learning center will be a lab school, which means our high school students studying early childhood education will have the opportunity to observe and interact with children, gaining field experience as part of the requirement for obtaining their child development associate or CDA. Each of our classrooms will be connected to an observation room where our high school students can take anecdotal notes and study effective teacher practices in a way that does not distract the children. They will also have a separate classroom where they can receive pathway instruction from the high school teacher. This classroom will be an adaptable space to accommodate pathway curriculum activities like learning how to diaper, wash hands, set up their classrooms. Because the new ECLC is a lab setting, students from birth to 12th grade are learning from one another.

092So, as we continue our collective work toward opening the early learning center, this timeline represents the heartbeat of our progress. In September, several critical milestones were completed. The board of education operations presentation took place, aligning operational logistics with our opening timeline. We completed initial initial planning sessions with human resources to map position descriptions and credentiing requirements. In October, we received our guaranteed maximum price which was approved by the board along with the finance plan on October 14th. In November, our focus shifts towards professional capacity building. We are developing a continuing education plan and partnerships for all CSD early learning staff. We will post the principal position to begin recruiting the instructional leader who will guide this new school community. This is an essential milestone that allows us to begin leadership onboarding and community engagement ahead

093of the 2027 opening. As we close out the year, December will be a major transition month. will finalize the scope and sequence for professional learning, ensuring that alignment between the Frasier Center, College Heights, and this new ECLC. We will celebrate our official groundbreaking ceremony, a visible milestone that symbolizes the start of construction and the tangible realization of CSD's investment in early learning. As we enter January and February, our focus shifts to instructional design and family engagement. In January, we'll begin our enrollment awareness campaign, which is designed to reach families early and provide transparent access to information about eligibility, tuition, and timelines. And in February, we'll finalize our curriculum resources. This timeline represents a living roadmap toward creating equitable access to early learning indices that we are thoughtful, datadriven and intentional about every decision from solidifying

094our foundation this fall to hiring our inaugural principal in December and launching enrollment early in 2026. Our progress reflects a shared commitment to children, families, and the promise of opportunity that early education represents. I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Question. Um, I know you mentioned in terms of looking for curriculum, um, and hopefully, uh, potentially college and the new ECLC will have the same curriculum. So is there a possibility that there there could be two different curriculum? >> It could be that way. Um we certainly we would hope that it would be the same just for continuity. Um but it is possible that there could be other needs needed. you know, if um there is there are special needs classes at, you know, um let's say at College Heights, they may need parts of

095curriculum that may be different than what's needed at the new ECLC, but we want them to be as streamlined as possible just to build that cohesion and that professional learning community across both centers. Um, but I think there is opportunity just like how we in our own school. There are some things that are unique about each building or community. I want to leave space for that. And then the last thing is that I'm just excited about uh the new ECLC being a lab school and the opportunity to nurture homegrown educators um here in Decator who will you know potentially stay here um and continue you know their investment in their community. So I'm excited about that. >> I think I wanted to piggy back. So one of the questions was about the curriculum but I

096understand that part now. And so to the kind of last school thing, my daughter's been teaching as a profession and shout out to Miss Lewis. Um, she loves it. Uh, Miss Lewis seems to love it, but my daughter does too. And I believe it's for the older students, meaning they go to the elementary schools that are indicator right now or she will next year. So I'm curious about the early childhood pathway and the teaching as profession pathway. So I guess I two questions. When the ECLC is built, will it still fundamentally be for the early childhood pathway? Since I thought the teaching as a profession pathway was beyond early childhood or am I wrong? >> It is, but teaching as a profession also covers prek and so our new early learning center will have um

097prek. So it would be both. >> And then the other question is to the I guess the lab component. So right now I know nothing about really the student experience at the Frasier Center other than I think our early childhood student pathway students are working in the Fraser Center. Is that correct? >> That's correct. So when we open the new ECLC, will those high school students in that early childhood pathway still be in the classroom with the students or will they be observationally participating? >> Yeah, both. >> Yeah, we have so many students. um our pathway is actually exploding. Um and so the idea is that kind of when you're new, you're more in the observational phase and then as you learn more, then you start getting more hands-on. So kind of that student teacher

098experience that you had early on and then when you actually got to student teach in the classroom, it's kind of that gradual release. And just a followup that slide with like um I think it's Rollins. Um what is the 40hour principal requirement? Maybe I misread. I'm sorry. I I'm keep using mine. Yeah, >> there >> because am I correct that ultimately the any of this professional learning will be for the existing early childhood teachers and then the new ones? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. So, we want all of our training to be consistent across um across all of our early learning spaces. But when you're talking about an early learning principle, there are additional there's additional training that's involved. So like through Zcal and right from the start and they've got to be CPR trained

099because you're talking about babies. So um highly skilled, highly trained. >> Um I just have uh one comment or question. There's a I think some rumors amongst the community that there is no prek at at this facility. Can you kindly address that there will be a prek class? >> So the all designs we've built it for um to include prek um and um yes we have that that was what we designed the building for to include prek. And the follow-up question that I think I' that I've gotten from a couple of folks is for uh some of our younger learners that one, two, or three years old, will they be guaranteed a spot to metriculate into that prek classroom? So, if they come in at one year old and then metriculate on up, are they

100guaranteed a spot to go right into pre the pre-K classroom? I believe that that's the way it is at college heights where if they come in early, they get first priority into prek. Will it be like this at the new facility if you don't know if we have >> our decided but um but I think our plan is to it may not be at that center you know if we have 43 year olds that need to metriculate up to a prek class that only has 20where >> that's right >> they will get a spot somewhere >> yeah that is our plan >> thank you. >> Okay. So, um for based on the new early childhood learning center indicator high school expansion updates, we plan to continue to provide monthly updates on the progress. So, the

101topics will continue to rotate through the various work streams. Thank you for the update, Mrs. Burton. When we visited the Grand Rapids Community College Early Learning Lab, the observation rooms were an integral part of the design, ensuring that future educators would learn and observe. Next month, we look forward to hearing from Mrs. Walker for the next human resources update. Uh, Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the next presentation. Thank you, Chair Sultan. I would like to call on Dr. Lonita Brun, chief financial officer, to gather feedback on the FY27 budget parameters and priorities. Good evening, board chair, Dr. Sultan, vice chair H, esteemed members of the board, student representative, superintendent Dr. Wick. Fisc year 27 budget parameters and priorities are the guidelines for building the fiscal year 27 budget and ensuring equitable allocation of funds based on

102the district's priorities. The district's budget parameters and priorities are applicable to all four strategic accelerators with a specific focus on strategic accelerator for organizational effectiveness and excellence through financial transparency and the equitable allocation of funds. Today we will review fiscal year 26 budget parameters and priorities for the board to modify as agreed upon. We will continue to obtain feedback from the commu community via the budget feedback link and further discussion on the budget parameters and priorities will take place at the November 18th board retreat and final approval of the budget parameters and priorities is scheduled for December 9th. Under strategic accelerator 4, organizational effectiveness and excellence, the fiscal year 26 budget parameters and priorities are to present a balanced budget where revenue is equal to or greater than expenditure. Seek alternative funding sources such as

103grants and rebates. Maintain fund balance per board policy BCL between four to 15% of expenditures. Develop a revenue neutral budget that will not require any tax increases. Ensure the budget is aligned with the district's for strategic accelerator. Invest in an ERP system, which is a financial and human resource system to manage the day-to-day business activities such as accounting, position control, payroll, procurement, accounts payable, and human resources. We have started this process, and the goal is to have a vendor selected prior to the end of this fiscal year. Ensure transparent modified zerobased budgeting process which requires justification of every operational request. Identify opportunities for cost effectiveness under strategic accelerator 3 cultivating and retaining highquality professionals. The fiscal year 26 budget parameters and priorities are maintain a competitive compensation structure for all employees fund statemandated increases for

104health benefits. I have not heard of any increases as of today. However, this could change. If you will recall, state health benefits increased from $11,340 annually until year 20 to the current amount of $22,620 annually. This is an annual increase of $11,280. State health benefits have doubled over the last five years. Additionally, TRS is expected to increase from the current rate of 21.91% to 22.32% in fiscal year 27. TRS increases every year. Maximize revenue from QBE by carefully monitoring student attendance and class sizes, accurately classifying student programs and special needs, and optimizing teacher assignments based on student needs. Under strategic accelerator 2, building and sustaining and engaging an inclusive culture. The fiscal year 26 budget parameters and priorities are support the launch of a comprehensive social emotional learning framework to help cultivate skills and environments

105that advance all students learning and development. Invest in safety and security to ensure the protection, civility, and well-being of all students and staff. Although strategic accelerators contribute either directly or indirectly to student success, specific budget parameters and priorities listed under strategic accelerator one, student success in all areas are investing in equal outcome for all students through various resources including strategies for closing the achievement gap, strategic staffing and early college readiness inside BLTSAT 8-9 which measures skills and knowledge college to show college and career readiness over invest in an early childhood learning center to equip with the essential tools and skills they need throughout their academic journey in life. The parameters and priorities are not presented or listed in any ranking or order. The fiscal year 27 budget calendar was adopted by the board at the

106October board meeting. This evening we will discuss the fiscal year 25 budget for the month of November. We will also discuss fiscal year 27 school aotment guidelines fiscal year 26 salary and benefits comparison with other districts in the metro area and further discussion on the budget parameters and priorities. The fiscal year 27 school allotment guidelines and the budget parameters and priorities are scheduled to be voted on by the board at next month's board meeting. The final approval of the fiscal year 27 budget is scheduled for June 9th, 2026. Prior to final approval, we will have numerous hearings, budget discussions, and community. The fiscal year 27 budget feedback link is open and we encourage feedback and comments from the community. All feedback will receive a response and will be shared with the board of the education.

107The link is on the district's main page in the finance page. Please provide your feedback with any additions, deletions, or modification for the fiscal year 27 budget surrounded. >> Um, just very quickly make the distinction that that $11,000 unfunded mandate from the state is a per employee mandate. That wasn't in total $11,000. It's however many millions of dollars. Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. Per year. I ask a question about the sorry um school a lotment guidelines is more so I'm sorry but is the original set of guidelines per school something that the school or SLT creates or is it something that the school is given because James I think you've talked about the SLT so then the school is given and then the SLT looks at it so which which comes first is are the guidelines

108given to the school or does the school create the guideline? >> The school allotment guideline is created centrally by the human resources department and approved by the board of education. Once you receive what would be that allotment, there is some flexibility on your per pupil um expenditure dollar amount and ways in which you can flex on items. But things that are uh provided for or allocated essentially is coming through the school allotment guideline and that's what you as the board approves. >> Thank you. And then on page five for the budget parameters and priorities um under cultivating and retaining high quality professionals maximizing revenue from QBE. So I totally understand the FTE count. Um, what would be an example of scheduling to maximize QB? And if we're not going to talk about now, that's fine.

109We can do it at the retreat. Um, and what would be an example of staffing allocation to maximize? So PBE scheduling when I started um wind time was on count days and that was an example of we have to change the master schedule at the high school because you are losing out on funding on a full almost 90 minutes which is really two segments when you look at a sixth period day on um on a block you're losing a lot of money. So moving wind time back then now tools of success because it's not a funded course in the way it was we had to move it because we were leaving money on the table. So that's an example of maximizing scheduling so that you are able to um do that. Um as far as

110staffing allocations are concerned, uh there is a minimum number of children that have to be in a class in order for the class to be funded. And so if you do not have enough children in that class, you forfeit the funding for that class. and dependent upon how many segments. So in an elementary school that could be funding across all six segments meaning top of the day to end of the day minus uh res uh recess and lunch you're losing the funding for that entire class if it's if it's not enough students. Conversely, if you are over class size in certain segments of our population, you will also lose money dependent upon if it's a special ed class or if it's a gifted class. If you are going over, you are also going to lose

111funding. So these are ways in which if you do not understand the the convert scheduling staffing allocations and your master schedule um and ultimately your budget you're going to lose money and you must think about that understanding Georgia Department of Education education and FTE >> I would love this this maybe work >> I'd love to see how much that has brought in since we made that switch to the QBE maybe as part of our FY25 review on the 18th. >> I think that would be informative. It would be a good way to do it. >> Similarly, I'd love I love this phrase, maintain a competitive compensation structure for all employees. I read on the internet today that our teachers make the least amount in any school district in the state of Georgia. Um yeah, someone

112said it with their full chest out and um we were providing that structure. I would love that particularly with an update. I know some other districts did do some big pay increases. I'm okay with maintaining as long as we are competitive maybe as part of the FY25 review how we did, how we're doing um and that sort of stuff. That would that would be great. And then um just like I love right there you said uh lost my page. Just scroll down to follow Tracy. Um, sorry. Uh, to the extent possible revenue as defined by the tax roll back form. When do we expect to get that number? It's all always been confused. >> But to do that from your office, essentially what you're saying is not spend any more money in versus what we

113expect to spend in 26 as we go forward planning stuff. And >> so really to do that, you're going to identify some efficiencies and some cuts and some changes. >> Yeah. And you have to understand in all of that, we do have a series of tax exemptions. And those tax exemptions we do um share with the community. And when um Miss Arnold comes who is our city manager as well as um the tax assessor or not the tax assessor but the tax commissioner um we do let you know >> I will talk about >> we had any update about the amount of revenue we're getting from the previous fls at the last times you reported that and I can ask it because I bet we're going to get an update later tonight. So >> right

114now it's averaging the same. >> It's averaging the same. So it's which is lower >> lower. So it's averaging the same. It's lower. But that's not true for Dicap County at large. >> When I spoke with the DAT CFO, he said they're receiving a fascinating Okay. Okay. So, board members, thank you for your feedback. We will incorporate incorporate this feedback and bring the drafted FY27 parameters and priorities to the board retreat next week. After that review, we anticipate bringing the recommendation to the board meeting that will be held December 9th. >> Thank you, Dr. Broom and thank you board members for your engagement. We look forward to continuing the conversation at our bur retreat next Tuesday, November 18th at the Decator Conference Center. Dr. Whitaker, please introduce the next presentation. Uh uh yes, thank you.

115Call on Mr. Jarvis Adams, Chief Operations Officer, to introduce Mr. James Wilson of Education Planners. Mr. Wilson will seek your guidance on a K2 utilization study anchored in community input. For folks in the back, there are a couple of seats in the front. Thank you. >> A lot of our professionals are here to be honored. I I see their faces. >> Like in church, there's a seat next to you. Can you put your hand up? >> And there's like a whole row right there. No one. >> Okay. >> Good afternoon, board chair Dr. Sultan, vice chair US, senior board members, including Representative Botra, and Superintendent Dr. Whitaker. Tonight's presentation will focus on our continued work with ED planners as we explore facility utilization and long-term sustainability across our K2 schools. Over the past several weeks,

116our district has engaged with families, staff, and community members who care deeply about our neighborhood schools. We are grateful for the level of participation, the honesty of feedback, and the collective desire to ensure that city schools educator's decisions remain thoughtful and student centered. Barely, it's in white up there. This is a discussion item. No action is requested tonight. The purpose of tonight's discussion is to review and discuss option B, which outlines a more deliberate and communitydriven path forward for engagement and facilities planning. This is not an action item or a vote. It is an opportunity for the board to provide guidance on a proposed framework and timeline including including whether you support extended engagement under option B. We want to ensure our process reflects both the community's call for more time and the district's responsibility

117to plan strategically. Option B represents our collective effort to slow down, increase transparency, and involve more voices before any decisions are made. Before I turn it over to Mr. Wilson from Education Planners, I want to briefly ground us in the why. Across our five K2 schools, we currently have 831 students occupying 1,778 seats, which represents a 47% utilization. Three of our K2 schools each enroll fewer than 160 students, which is below the 200 student threshold the Georgia Department of Education uses for eligibility for capital outlay funding. Our challenge is to right side our K2 schools in a way that keeps students first and honor the K's walkable neighborhood identity while also being honest about the fact that we have largely fixed facility and capital cost. With that context in mind, I now turn it over

118to Mr. James Wilson of Education Planners to walk us through the data, community feedback, and the proposed framework for option Madam Chair, board members, student representative, Superintendent Whitaker, it's a pleasure to be with you. try very hard to share good information that will allow all of us have a better understanding of next steps where we are where we want to go. Just trying to make sure that everyone understands our work and our goals. So you see that we've heard from the community. The last community meeting of a week or so ago, we had a very large group of community members attend it uh started with me doing a brief PowerPoint to get it started and then for the next hour and say 15 minutes John walked around and held the mic for each person who

119wanted to speak and they had the opportunity very passionate extremely interested in next steps and where we're going and why we're maybe going too fast and all those kinds so as well attended. It was certainly a valuable part of any decision that you are going to make down the road to make sure that we're listening to our community. That's what it was and very good. They told us pretty uh correctly in some sense that the process feels like it's going too fast. Too many uh stakeholders. There is an interest in having more transparent data analysis. When you start sharing analysis in forums like this, it can be critiqued very carefully and maybe in some cases needs to be clarified even more. It's very clear that there's strong pride in neighborhood schools and their identity. Our

120community was very proud of their school. They like their school. The educators There's a call of course for transparency and consistent updates throughout the process and we're trying to do that. We are constantly working to try and improve any kind of communication that we have. The online survey that we used as it says in this slide, you know, there were over 600 people that responded to that. Again, the community was in in attendance at October 29th forum. So we felt good about hearing from them and the interest in evaluating funding and enrollment appro approaches that could support keeping schools open is really important. Brown said the uh you have you have schools that are in low capac low enrollment according to capacities don't really allow yourselves to utilize state funding those kind of low this

121is an important slide because uh what we have put together and what we recommend is four committees and good part of that is and you have to be careful with this because when you break down into smaller groups, we're not trying to separate anyone. We're trying to make sure we hear everyone. So these are the four committees that we have come up with. We think uh that it gives gives you an opportunity to really learn more about the school day. You can see it's obviously important for safety in the operation of the school which talks about transportation, arrival and dismissal. All of those type of things that make school day good student experience, class size, programs, transitions, afterare services. City educator takes care of their students throughout from preK to 12. And you want to

122make sure that whatever we may do in a different structure that the student experience is a good one. Facilities and finance uh revenue is always a big important part of any school district. Uh CFO Anita Broom was just sharing a few minutes ago because there's always more expenditures and she shared some of that. capital outlay is currently with these schools not available to you and you need to make sure that we discuss that and learn more about just what kind of impact that has and life cycle needs. So then and then the last committee, but not in any particular order of course, but culture and communications, transparency, ongoing engagement. We're interested in talking and meeting with anyone and everyone. Uh we've received a lot of emails. You have too and they're all interesting. They're interested

123in what's going on. So two way communication. Each committee will be co-led by one and then a district staff member. We'll work together with them. We have all of the people who have signed up as an interest. We have their email addresses. We can communicate with them. Uh some of the responses that we're getting back as maybe this next meeting is too early because it's just two days away. Uh but we're hoping for that because we want to keep the momentum going and listening and trying to make sure we learn from everyone. But that's certainly something that can be debated. Committees will be instructed to meet in work sessions to review data. The responsibility of the district staff member to make sure that the data is available for them to make sure that that information

124is shared and we'll obviously share updates. It's important that we balance priorities. You'll see at the bottom of this slide, we'll evaluate both keep open and consolidation scenarios. We'll use these priorities for process integrity, statutory hearings, notices, open decisions, transparent data and updates. We'll do that. Students first, equity and access, safety and operations, fiscal sustainability are all important parts be very strong committees given an opportunity for us all to learn more about this process. So when the time comes, better decisions can be made. Next steps. So the first community meeting is currently set for 13. While in some regards it may be too early but it's an important work process. We've had a tremendous amount of interest. We've had overund you stated this wrong. There it is. 116 community members that have signed up to

125serve on the committees. There's a board retreat coming up as you well know where we'll be able to review refine timeline and engagement. So it's important that we continue to strive to communicate and to listen. And so process framework is supported by engagement under option B. Subcommittee structure. All four subcommittees are comprehensive and appropriately balanced for community needs. We've also already had those members sign up to be on a committee. There are three committees that are pretty balanced. One's a little less than the others, but there's interest in all four committees. The timeline and engagement guidance. What that's very important is considerations to make sure that we if we need to, we'll refine our timeline. The engagement strategy. It's a very important task that you're going through and it's difficult and challenging because we heard

126all kinds of comments, some good, some interesting, and whatever. But it's part of this process to listen, learn, and be able to With that said, I'm certainly open to questions that you're hearing and I know you are. This is the appropriate time. I'll try to answer them. If not, I'll get back to you. But we've been listening and learning and working every day. We think the process is good. Regardless of what the decision may be, the process is good. We're trying to do the best we can to make sure that the information you get questions. >> When will we uh be able to hear the feedback that you've gathered from some of these um stakeholders points? >> Most appropriately maybe at the retreat, but we'll provide it for you whenever you wish to. >> I

127mean, I guess in public comment, we're going to hear some of that feedback tonight, but >> Well, I mean consolidated. >> Yeah. Well, ideally it's supposed to be consolidated from him. >> Yeah. >> So, we've been gathering and we'll be prepared when we get the direction that you I was kind of thinking the retreat. I'll do whatever. >> I'd like clarification about the numbers. Since our August retreat, I've been citing that percentage of households that don't have children is 71%. Um because that's what was presented to us in August. Um but multiple people are providing information and it looks credible but I don't know. Um that says no actually indicators. we have instead of 29% of the households with children, 37% of the households with children. And that's a significant difference. Um, additionally, I'm being

128told this happened when we were refinancing our house. We're two houses from the Atlanta line and so the guy keeps coming and using Memorial Drive. Um, so I'm also told that the data you were using or the data that was used was looking at all of 300030, not just city school dedicator because you have those kind of outscores like Aenddale slivers and so can we get that part clarified? >> I would debate that with whoever's telling you that we try as the first time I'm hard to only respond data data that we receive from reliable sources. So using as an example census data, census data comes out once every 10 years. There is an American community survey group that takes that and updates it every other year or so. So we use that that kind

129of data can be debated. Any data that we come up with and even with the most reliable of sources can be debated. I have it here with me. It it is an update that is used. The Atlanta Regional Commission uses it. Neighborhood Nexus uses it. They all try to give out good accurate information. So if we miss something, it was not intentional because we try to research and find as accurate of data So, uh, just piggybacking on that that question there, um, which of those four committees is actually going to be looking at the underlying data and that analysis, right? Because the the reality is the entirety of this decision really depends on us getting data sources and data credibility right specific for Decar, not the greater area. Um so which which of those committees

130uh is going to actually be working on and ensuring that it either is correct as it is or that it gets updated with uh more precise data >> hopefully to some degree all four. So the one that has the focus of financial impact they're going to be reviewing budget data. They're going to be reviewing data that talks a little bit about uh census data. >> So, okay, specifically that. So, we that group, the finance group, is going to be the one that looks at things like uh you know, households with children ratios. They're going to be looking at things like birth rates, projected birth rates. I just want to make sure that we're crystal clear. >> Well, we're not going to be crystal clear because yes to your answer, but other committees will be responding

131to some of that too. The financial folks I don't think will be able to just stay focused on just some of that like census data, like live birth rates, those kind of things that that will carry over into several committees. >> Let me ask this slightly differently. If I am an expert demographer and I have an interest in this, which committee should I sign up for? >> The financial impact committee is most likely where the demographer will serve. >> Okay. I just wanted to get >> I guess this is where I I just need a little bit of clarification. I think we've gotten a a lot of feedback and I'm not a lot of of concern that maybe the actual the actual census data may have some errors in it. So I think I'm not

132I don't know if I understand if a we've addressed that directly and clarity here that yes the data we're getting here that we've gotten from you is 100% correct. the number of households that have children is actually 71%. Of the number that um actually have children, the number that are in private schools, that that percentage is correct. >> Um that all of the the h the the the households that we're counting are in city of Decar 330 and not the CAB. If and if if that is not if that if those if that data needs to be corrected, I don't know if that falls on the committees versus >> we would do that. Okay. So is is that something that needs to be are you are we saying here with clarity for the record that

133the numbers that you have presented here are 100% correct or if they're not when would we expect that that those numbers will be modified because I think like board member said this we have to make a decision based on >> the accuracy of those numbers. So I just want to be clear with folks. We believe they're correct, but we're going to study it more because we've heard that maybe some of our data isn't accurate and and that's the reason I went to census data because census data is every 10 years, but they're in between that every other year or so there's the American Community Survey and so we're depending on that to learn more, but a lot of that information can get outdated very quickly because of the time span. And so we all are

134accustomed to the census, but we also know it comes around x number of years and then you have others that are trying to support that and give updates and you can get different. So we've just been using the American Community Survey, but even their data, they only do it every other year. So it's it's a potentially not outdated, but most recent we have. But we always search for data that we can trust. That doesn't mean that there's something incorrect because we possibly missed it or it's just interpret we do. >> So could we expect could we expect that those AC those numbers are brought back to us with accuracy from you by the retreat then? >> Sure. Absolutely. We're working on it now because we we heard that maybe someone was debating so we were

135rehearsing and looking again to see okay did we miss something. I would imagine I mean I'm not anywhere near expert in this but I would imagine that if you made a pre this the data could change so quickly and it's difficult to say that the data you prevented last week is 100% accurate that even data that you pulled from last year it just seems like that that can be challenging and tricky. Uh, it can. Yeah. And and thanks for saying that because as much as we try to make sure that anytime and you you know how many times I've shared with you the Atlanta Regional Commission, we depend on them. That's their job to give us this kind of stuff. But it changes. I've been working with them. I was trained by them as several

136years ago. I've been working with them for years. They are a very reliable source, but it changes. So if I look at it today and six months from now I look at it again it's going to be different >> and I would imagine the same will be true for some of the data that we've been receiving from our you know our numbers that are changing status changing >> it does on both and so it's it's a good challenge for someone like myself to try to make sure that I'm going to come up here in front of you I'm giving you the right information but it does change >> so especially with live births and things like that >> because you can look at it by city, you can look at it by county. It just

137doesn't always match. >> Well, remember two more two more things, but um I know that um we have also gotten feedback about I saw that we're going to the committee is going to be co-led by a district staff member as well as a community member. Um and so you know we've got an email saying you know well like that process could be flawed district staff member being on the committee but I want to you know respond that the district our district staff has information that you know our average community members wouldn't have access to. And so I think it's important I I you know I'm hesitant to come up in these meetings without district staff present to fact check the information that we share because there's so much that even as board members we're not

138aware of when it gets into the nitty-gritty of things. So that's one thing I'm I'm glad that we will have. I'm I'm appreciative to our community members who are volunteering to be on these committees and I'm also very appreciative of the staff members that will be co-leading because they will have access to current, you know, updated information. The last but I have two more questions. Um, everyone who signed up for a committee were they have they been assigned to a committee? >> Not not as of yet. >> Okay. All right. >> We have all their email address. >> Okay. So just maybe looking for a little direction tonight for Ray to go with this and email. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you Anderson. >> So first back to the data um you

139know what I've landed on is that you've used reliable sources and provided information but there's additional information. And so I don't think it's a matter of um one person is wrong and one person is right. But I'm going to treat this the same way I do my health or my own finances. I'm going to get a second opinion. And so in this case, I want to know not a second opinion on you. I want to know why we wouldn't be entertaining things like um DPH. So if Census isn't giving birth rates for the first year, then yeah, we need to look at that. Um, so I I would also like to know, I guess it's by our retreat, um, what sources you've used and how you've recognized what's been put forward because the emails I'm

140seeing don't seem to be produced from a generic Google search. And so I do want to make sure that we've got the best information. I don't want to frame it as right or wrong. Um, that's one. Two, I'm really confused about so much of this, and this is for all of us. So the email started with a K through2 utilization and consolidate consolidation. I just checked it and so it is confusing to know what exactly we're doing. What I've heard people ask me over and over is what problem are we solving for? So am I correct in saying the possible problem the snapshot problem of this year might be low enrollment but we've recognize there's variable enrollment and so therefore is the first problem we're trying to address exactly who is in our school district

141in terms of elementary schools and can we keep those schools open if we have under the 200 we have the fixed rate of the school but now we're looking at possible increases in student enrollment through things like tuition and I think we heard 1300 children for many of our ECLC presentations. So I I really want a clear understanding of what we're doing so I can answer the question to people. >> Yeah. Um so again piggybacking off a lot of that member Anderson this is fundamentally a due diligence. The net product is going to be a costbenefit analysis on each of these scenarios. Step one of any due diligence is really to form the hypothesis for what you're going out to test in the data. And so I actually agree we could probably use a clear

142problem statement. Right? It it it seems to me that what we're looking at is we have noticed a significant decline in enrollment and the hypothesis is uh it's it's fiscally prudent to look at consolidation as a way to resolve that enrollment decline. That that assumes a couple of things, right? And those assumptions need to be tested. The first thing that it assumes is that it's a permanent decline in enrollment and that that what we are seeing is a sustained systemic enrollment decline that isn't likely to change. I don't know whether that's true or not. I do know that every two-year data and every 10-year data from the census is probably not resolved enough to truly answer that question. Right? And so there are other data sources. It's not because the data is wrong or that

143your analysis is wrong or that anybody is wrong. It's that we're trying to answer an extraordinarily complicated problem in very quickly moving short time frame quickly moving short time frame data. Rates from DPH for example is a good example of that. Right? So, so we ought to be able to test is enrollment down on a per permanent basis or are we experiencing an unusual decline related to something that might have impacted birth rates five years ago. I don't think anyone I mean I don't know something happened five years ago that might have impacted birth rates. It's something >> realized I looked at it earlier today. It's real. >> Yeah. So, so then that question becomes, are we actually sure that we're at a new normal in terms of birth rate or are do we need

144to actually examine in data whether this might be a temporary situation? I'm not here to prescribe an answer. I am suggesting that that absolutely must be a part of the analysis and not having that as a part of the analysis undermines the credibility of the analysis. Full stop. The second thing that we're suggesting, if it is in fact our hypothesis that that that consolidation is a fiscally responsible thing to approach, we're assuming that there is no other method to account for variances in in demand. Right? So this is the question people have raised regarding uh is preschool a possibility in these schools? Is tuition a possibility in these schools? I'm not suggesting that those are a panacea that solves everything, but it absolutely ought to be a part of the fiscal analysis. And I do

145believe that's what you're saying it's going to be. Uh I just want to be clear and on the record that that is a part of the expectation when we take a look at this. Have we evaluated all options? And just to be intransparently clear, I do understand when you talk about something like tuition or when you talk about something like prek, you better be including the associated costs with that as well as a part of that costbenefit analysis. It isn't free. There are complicating factors. And so and so I think I think coming back to to board member Anderson's question around kind of making a clear statement of the problem that hypothesis helps us understand what data we need to go get to validate it and it helps us understand what we have to answer

146in that costbenefit analysis before any decision can be made. I I think that it's fair to say closing in a school is an extraordinary step to take in a community. Therefore, the business case needs to be extraordinary in order to justify it. >> I think I think the the first thing though to clarify is that we we we don't we need to make one clear variable here because the first thing we need to do is to gather the the feedback from the community. We need to first decide if this committee work is what we are interested in him pursuing. And I want to not make too many confusing factors by making too many business cases because if we have a consolidation model in one arm, but then talking about tuition paying plus prek, which has

147come up in a ton of feedback, I've gotten a lot of feedback about that. That doesn't look like a consolidation model. That looks like more of an expansion model. So you're talking about bringing a different age groups into a school that already exists and although not bad, it's a different way of approaching things. So I don't want it to get too far ahead of things. You know, we can have a discussion about it. Is it good? Is it bad? I have some thoughts about where the where the line would be about tuition students because then are you privatizing a public education? You know, that's a discussion to be had. But um I think the the first thing we need to figure out is is this where we want to go? Does this sound like the

148the way that we want to proceed? And if so, we need to be clear with community members as to what their job is, when they're going to meet, and what their performance metrics are. Because I think that community members get confused when we tell them we're going to send them out to do all this work, put them on committees, and then they're not clear about what their job is and what we're going to do with the information. So, I think that's some of the discussion that we need to have as well. Mhm. >> Um Tracy asked the question, what is the problem that we're trying to solve? And I feel like that's more of a board question than I mean, we hired ED planners. >> No, that's why I'm asking. >> And so I think

149so I think, you know, cuz I don't want, you know, edgy planners and Mr. Wilson to go out and do all this stuff and he hasn't answered the question and we you know throw him under the bus when we maybe we haven't stated a question. >> No, I think I think that's directly what I thought you were getting at Hans because what I appreciated from this slide and I want clarified today by all of us is that it says K through2 utilization. It no longer has consolidation on the slide. Am I correct about this? Mhm. >> And I I think that's a very important first step. I read this as we have seen um changing enrollment. Obviously, money is a factor, but the first thing we need to do is just look at utilization. Then

150once we look at utilization, we see what the next steps have to be. That's how I'm reading this because luckily, you know, so I appreciate that um kind of moving a step back. I've got a whole host of feedback about some of the other stuff, but I just want to make sure that's kind of our operating framework or someone fill it in if I'm wrong. >> Yeah, I mean I think uh I think utilization is the right word because the only way to do a costbenefit analysis is if you're already or if you are also presuming one of the outcomes is keeping a school open, right? And so that that I think that using the word consolidation, I think incorrectly communicated that that was a decision that had already been made. Talking in terms of

151utilization means that we haven't actually made that decision. Keeping the school open is a very possible outcome here. Um to answer uh the board chair's question, I do think this is the approach we should start to take. I mean, I don't feel like there's really an alternative, right? We'd be flying in the face of what the community has clearly requested. So I think it is incumbent to us take a little bit of time step a little bit back engage the community through some of these structures and do that proper costbenefit analysis so that we can make an objective decision. Yeah. >> So just for clarification, I see these things that each committee falls under, you know, these committee's responsibilities, but then I hear um board member ask about um what >> demography and then the

152responses I think everybody would. So, how do we get clarification? How do we come to some some consensus on what these committees I can see this like being very confusing if we're if we're saying verbally that oh that each of them may look at you know demography >> demography you know um so will we clarify that or will they clarify that? >> Can I ask a followup to that? I want to know how those committees were formed. Like did you use the 256 people that showed up at Beacon and the 600 and some odd survey and synthesize that to create those four committees like >> there there was a lot of effort on several people's create those >> but can we can answer Dr. Johnson Davidson's question. How will we clarify what the work of

153the committees what we are asking them to do? Is that something that the board should decide? Is that something that the community is going to decide? >> We have kind of a definition for each committee. >> Okay. when we meet whether that's in two days or later and try to structure and define exactly what their goals are to be. I give you an example, the school safety and mobile zones partnership on safe routes, things like that. We'll try to get them energized and participating so we can get the answers better. So the next time we're here, we have those answers. Uh it's going to have to work a little bit by we're getting there. We don't have it fully defined to the point and we don't even know for sure which person is going to

154be there Thursday night. So we'll do some organization then. pretty quick, but we think it's important to to move forward from our last community. >> It just feels like there should be and I know that there should be some if ultimately the board is going to make this decision on what should happen next that we're clear on what information we need for Yeah. >> um to make that decision. And I'm just I'm I'm hesitant or kind of nervous about >> just turning it over because this is going a lot of different directions and I had I had COVID flashbacks that you and I did where committees came back with things that weren't what we asked or what we had. Uh I I want to >> first of all, Miss Wilson, thank you for for hosting

155our committee and and dealing with our community and >> all the amazingness that it is. Um the question to me I mean I think the call is pretty obvious and you said that there's no arguable data we have three school buildings with less than 160 students and so um there was an article that was referenced earlier like the only decision we made was like hey as a board we have the fiduciary responsibility to evaluate these school buildings and make sure it's a capital LA and if I read Dr. Sultan said one more email that says no decision has been made yet I'm going to pull my hair out. um it is the correct answer, but the fact that it has to continue to be repeat like no decisions can be made. So, I just want

156to kind of share what I'm looking for before I feel comfortable making a decision and you tell me if one of these committees is going to do it or not. So, one of the things I'd like to know is what is the fiscal impact that would come from closing a school and is it sustainable? Because as board member, I've voted for an ECLC that's serving 150 kids at about 3/4 of a mill. Um, and so like I do we is threequarters of a mill to serve 160 students is something that I'm comfortable with as a board. So I'm going to stop and let you answer that question. Who's going to answer that question for me? Like what the fiscal impact is this year and sustainably in the future that would make me want to do

157something I don't want to do, i.e. close school. >> I I agree with you. It is important that we get that data for you. The problem with that is just like Lamina sharing the cost of retirement and health care and all of that it's gone up tremendously over seems like it's going to just continue to go up. So, so the way we attack this is try to do a business process management. So, we look at where we were, then we try to find out exactly where we are, and then we decide and and devise a way to get to those goals. But I can tell you that if we follow that process, we'll come up with good answers. That doesn't mean that we'll have the financial aspect of that accurate just because of the economy

158and the changes. >> We'll have a ballpark. >> A good ballpark. Yes. better than a ballpark. >> Better than a ballpark. >> But we won't. Okay. You're just clarifying that like we don't really know what teachers are going to cost over the next five years and that sort of stuff and that. Okay. And then my second one then is um what what would be the financial impact maybe this is for Dr. Broom of of having 40 extra students at each of these schools. So getting above the 200 that's something that I don't think we've communicated or I fully understand that I can talk with who can answer that for me. Well, the larger the school, and this is just a kind of a comment, the larger the school, you can hold it, then you have

159a better chance of being financially, but if you don't get up to not going to be able to capital outlay a very large potential dollar figure on what what falls under the category of capital outlay from the state, >> there's several things you need to put on a new roof in any of your schools. After that roof is, I'm just using this as an example, but after that roof is 20 years old or older, you are eligible for capital outlay support and go up as high as 50. If the roof cost you $2 million, which is on the side of students, then you're potentially either going to get or losing large percentage. So capital outlay was devised can't remember exactly when it was but it devised to help school districts want say with the example

160of a roof to be able to put on a roof >> because once the roof gets out of uh out of its warranty or to the point it needs to be replaced. A lot of school districts especially smaller ones in rural areas don't have that money. They just simply don't have that money. So Capital outlay was put in place to do just that. So if you can afford not to accept participate with capital outlay don't have to but it's there. >> So so to find that number then we could use some of our five-year capital outlay projects. We know which buildings need new AC which need new roofs. Oak needs a new roof. >> It would be eligible to apply for capital outlay because it's above 200. Yes. Glennwood, Claremont, Westchester would not because they're

161not above 200. So we're asking the taxpayer to put a million dollars to do that. And so is someone going to put those two things together then? I you are that says like these are the capital outlays for this building and the expected and what we could get. And and one one thing that's important and you probably already have it, but one thing that's important is to know the age of your HBAC, your kitchen equipment, your flooring. All of those become eligible at some period of time. >> Okay. And and now I always use roose because it's just a 20-year what it is. HBAC is 10 years. So if one of your schools, whether it's the high school, the elementary school, or whatever, has HVAC equipment that's over 10 years old, you are eligible if

162you have the funds to put with it. Have to have that, too. So Capital Outlet does not give you 100% of that cost. It helps you. And like I said, it was designed for districts that simply couldn't put on a new roof because they didn't have the money. >> I think the the flip side of that question might be to James's point, it would be helpful to know the financial impact or advantage if we kept all five schools going. Um, so you know, uh, I think a lot of the feedback we've gotten from parents is the walkability of all the all five schools. Um, that's probably the biggest point of feedback I've gotten. We've gotten some uh discussion about property taxes um and what that does. Um but it would be helpful to know if

163we kept and it is true that we've had a number of schools that have been well under 150 students for some time. Um definitely well under 200. So if we kept all five schools going knowing their capacity um is there a financial benefit other than the benefit of the culture of the school having one school closer? The other question to that might be, are there some families that are solely dependent on having a school that's walkable? Now, we do have buses, but if some kids have to go to afterare and they can't be immediately bus home and they're reliant on a parent that has to walk to school to pick them up because they can't ride the bus immediately home. um having that data as well if there's any um is there a financial impact

164or financial benefit or any benefit to keeping the school open other than just the walkability's only four four miles could walk a lot of places um but what would be the the benefit to keeping all four schools o all five open school knowing the condition of your facilities. So if if X school has a roof, I'm going to stay with a roof and it's five years old, then you're not going to get any capital outlay funds for the next 15 years. If it's 19 or 20 years old, then you want to make a a good look at that at least because you become eligible. and and I brought with me I keep it close because there's guidelines for that >> and it's not uh and it's important to know that because there are certain things

165like uh athletic facilities are not eligible approvals are not eligible. So there's a set of rules that we go by, but it it is important to at least know the potential of what monies you may be gaining or losing if you do this. >> The last one in mind and just to the last thing that I want to answer to is thank you for putting that you heard strong pride in neighborhood schools and and identities. Um I've said it publicly. I'll say it again. Glennwood Elementary is my second favorite building in the world after my home with my wife >> and it's close. Um I'm that last one though. So given that given that no one on the board wants to close a school, we are hearing lots of stuff. Is that your job to

166evaluate the other funding and enrollment approaches to keep the schools open and how do we get those numbers and that likelihood. I think our goal is always to provide you good accurate information, >> right? To allow you to be in a position to make good decisions. So our goal is not to tell you to close or open. Our goal is to give you the information you need to be able to we're researching every day. >> Okay. I'm going to press you to answer that question a little more directly because you specifically asked about potential opportunities to bring further students in. Is that a part of what we're talking about looking at here? If we have a school that's what we, you know, all said and done, we've got 40 kids before it hits 200, right?

167Yeah. Are there are we as a part of that analysis taking a look at whether something like a mix of prek and tuition closes back out? >> Can and we will. >> Okay. But I will tell you yeah I think we should look at it and see if it'll work. You only need 40 kids and there's 40 kids that are eligible. So >> can I clarify? I'm good. prek play eligible. No. So no prek is capital outlay. >> Does that I've heard repeatedly? >> Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. We need to do >> first. So that >> Okay. >> Sure. So that's that's one thing. And then yeah, I mean I guess I'm just looking at two and so you know we heard earlier how the early childhood education program is grow right

168so then I think along those lines you know what I have heard from a lot of people is how are you looking at some of the largest employers in the area or Decar City that we think already have a relationship with county accessory etc. Um then you're looking so there's that one thing and then there's like that second kind of Faulner like circle where the second thing is who lives outside edar that might want to send their students here but then the third thing I'm wondering is if this early childhood program and the teaching as a profession pathway are growing is there an opportunity for um that program largely expanding to be at a lower enrollment elementary school and then do you get FTE that way? >> Okay. I I I want to suggest that

169we and I know we have an action-packed agenda plan for the work session. >> You mean you mean for the retreat retreat? >> For the retreat. Retreat. >> Okay. if we could take some time to discuss these uh committees at the retreat um and what our expectations are so that we could provide some guidelines to the community. >> Yeah. about those committees and then that would give also but that's not my hope but I want to get clarity on these committees but then I think it would also give educ planners some time >> to get you know the volunteers you know paired up and contacted and then a little more time for them to plan for their first meeting >> would be extremely helpful if you want to do a good job, but we need

170to make sure when we go out they're doing it correctly. >> So, would they have the opportunity to still There's been a lot of confusion about what they're supposed to do on Thursday, their run of show. Would they still have the opportunity to meet on Thursday? >> I would recommend that you do not convene on Thursday and let you all come back at your retreat and spend longer time on what you want them to do. And we postponed the we postponed the committee meeting that was planned on Thursday for it to to be announced date. >> I just I hate to cancel a meeting on 48 hours notice. Um if people have already it's been on that calendar for some time. I know people get child care in place. Like I hate to cancel a

171meeting like that quickly. Is there anything that um any productive way to use your time given that you've already scheduled it and people have already dedicated their time? Maybe they've gotten child care. They've we've already used their time. Is there any It doesn't have to be I understand where do where Dr. Johnson Davis is coming from. I do think that we need to come up with a global mission statement for this and then KPIs for each individual committee and then give that to you for you to give back to them. But um I do if a meeting is a community meeting is already in place. I do think we need to be good stewards of people's time and figure out a way to maybe utilize them productively. I really want hate to cancel on folks

172with like >> why wouldn't we perhaps on Thursday seek the community's input for what their perspective is on what the KPIs and things are that I mean I >> so we're going to have to have good input from them to help organize it >> do you think that addresses your concern I mean we the meeting is still there it's not actually doing the analysis yet. It does not appear that we're prepared for that, right? But it is helping frame what is going to come out of this and then that can be a direct input into the work session. I'm sorry, what do you call it? The retreat >> where we're able to crystallize that detail. >> So, will these folks be notified sometime today that they because it's not an application process. So, will they

173be notified today as to what committee they are on? We we have their email address. We have the choices that we made. We know how many past we're on such a tight timeline. So we can communicate. So you're asking Dr. Pson for them to be communicated to for educators to inform community members tonight of what committee they're on? I know I wasn't advocating either way. I was just asking if that was his plan. Just because we've gotten so much feedback that they hadn't gotten >> time to do that >> that they haven't gotten any correspondence at all. Like they filled out a form, the form doesn't tell you um which way the communication is going. Just so that they get folks get some feedback as to what direction they're going. It's not an application process.

174It's not like they have to apply and be accepted. just so that folks don't come. I think you wanted more time to do that to notify community members. I don't think it's not it'll be difficult to happen by Thursday. It will be, but we're we're prepared to do that because that was the plan. But to try to get as organized as we can so when the members come they know what committee they're on and some direction for that it would be. So I think we're looking at two things. We're going to send out the emails, not tonight but tomorrow. Then we'll meet on Thursday. We'll come to the retreat, have ourselves better organized, and then go out with the board's direction and start my only thing is well, it would it could be a way

175the community could meet on Thursday to give their input on their expectations for the committee, what they want to see the committee come up with. That that could happen without the committee assignment. Um, I don't want to I don't want to have a meeting just to have a meeting and folks would expect you to do one thing, but it seemed like we got a lot of feedback saying that this wasn't enough time. >> Yeah. >> That Thursday wasn't enough time. It felt like to me that was the overwhelming sentiment in the emails we received about Thursday's meeting. >> I got the feeling that people were saying that they had planned to come on Thursday, but they didn't know what they were supposed to do. that they got the they did they hadn't heard what committee

176they were supposed to be meeting in and that it was supposed to be a committee work group, but they had no idea what committee they had gotten. So, I like I said, I I I know that I get irritated when I have something on my schedule and then somebody cancels like the day before. So, I'm just advocating that we get we make good use of people's time who are dedicated to giving us feedback. It doesn't have to be that they meet in committees. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, that I feel strongly that the Thursday meeting should take place. Um that everyone has already, you know, scheduled their time, be able to go and then they can give their feedback and perhaps even confirm committees because when I tried the form, you can only pick one.

177So if you had a hundred people that wanted to do the finance committee and only five that wanted culture, you know, that's already going to be a logistical thing. The other thing since we do have a student board rep um you know I have two questions. How are we including students that's one and then two whether it's um 63% or 71% or somewhere in the middle all the people that don't have children um it's still not clear to me what we've done to let what appears to be the majority of Decatur homeowners know that we are looking at allstaining school utilization. two questions numbers um where they only could for one that allowed us to see a fairly good got one that's a little less than the other three but that's still enough members to

178but we kind of know we've got 30 here >> so so it sounds like there's some emerging consensus that Thursday happens that They learn the committees that they have applied for and where they are and the meeting is spent to put some structure around what the community believes the outputs of these groups ought to be. That feels like a reasonable use. It still accomplishes some of what Dr. Sultan is describing. Um, and it allows to inform us in the retreat around our expectations of what we see come out of these committees as well. Am I correct in saying that? Is that sounded right to me? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Just to clarify, have there been like a location or time tied to the correspondence? >> Four different locations, the committee member and employee including myself,

179one of them. So, we'll have two people there to try to make sure we get organized and try to get as much information as we can. >> That would be that would be moving forward after once we get after we get it all settled. >> So, I can see that in about Thursday. >> Thursday is just Beacon Hill Middle School at 6:30. After we get it all settled, then it will be different locations so that we can um be able to maximize participation, have a small group, so forth. >> And leaders and district staff haven't been identified yet or they have >> district staff. >> Um like the co-leaders, have those been identified >> of district staff? >> No, the community. No, they >> Oh, the committee. >> And Mr. Wilson, where will you be

180publishing data as you get it? So, as you coate your community feedback, when you get committees together, who the district leader is, uh, where will folks be able to access that data if they want to see it? >> At this time, we have set it up where go to Wilson, >> I'm sorry, >> J Wilson. >> So, they'll have to go to your website. >> That's the tenative plan. because we were debating just how we were going to communicate with everyone. So, we kind of just set that up as a temporary to get started. >> Oh, he's talking about email. No, we we will. Okay. I think he's he was giving his email address. We will have um information obviously shared in work sessions and retreats that we will also put up on our website.

181So it'll all be on the same like folk can go to the same link at the top of the PSD website and then all data as he gets it can >> be found there >> that way. >> So okay >> can I also just make a a general request that that um if we're going to be having community meetings the full communication to the community around the content and what's going to be happening in that meeting happens at least a week in advance. I think that this is a little bit last minute here and I I'd like to see us be more disciplined about uh and that includes saying if something comes up that that inhibits us from being ready right in whatever that event then that meeting pushes out right I I do think

182timeliness is a critical part of communication and and this feels quite last minute frankly >> I think this is on that's on that's on us isn't it >> yeah that's what I'm saying I mean that's all of us right like jointly not just I'm I'm not blaming you for that, right? No, no, like us as a entity should be able to communicate at least a week in advance. >> I think one of the other data points that maybe we could consider um looking at which we've gotten some feedback about is classroom utilization. So, within the school buildings, um I think folks have gotten confused about how many of the classrooms are at full capacity, how many are being used for um specials like art, that sort of thing. um and including if we were to

183consolidate a school um to push a school up to absorbing 40 or 50 more kids, how that might affect some of our uh students with special needs. Um so I would just be interested in um knowing some of those things as well. >> Actually, one of the first things that we would want to do is to find out true utilization of the school. And gosh, while the numbers say this and the capacity says this and state capacity and all that kind of thing when you've got specials, when you've got small groups, large groups and all, it is really important to know how many classrooms you need to house X number of not just the formula capacity and you got 120 students. So do that all the time with every district really know what's going on.

184to the communication part. If we go to the top of the website, then are we going to change that? Because I I think we need to be far more consistent with the way we communicate. So, our slide says K through2 um utilization. This says school consolidation and redistricting. So, any community member not engaged is going to look at that and then continue to tell us why are you closing my school? So, are we going to have a consistent description that thus far is K through2 utilization? And are we going to make sure on the website and anything else that we're sharing that that is consistent? Because Hans, I feel like that's the same thing as being on top of it and not last minute. >> I agree. I mean, I I yeah, I do I

185absolutely think the way that it's it's written, communicated, and and uh structured anywhere needs to be cons. Again, that is not you specifically. That is us. We need to make sure that that happens. >> Sorry. Can I just let me just clarify everyone's jobs to my understanding. Um so the community on Thursday will go to the community meeting and there they will give um just they'll understand their assignments and um give us feedback on um how the community process committee process should go and then we will work with other planners to come up with our own vision of what committee process will look like. and then you until you and your team until the board meeting will answer some of our questions that we still haven't answered about the data. I think some of the

186other thing that we as board members need to come to understand at our board retreat and I think that's a good synopsis is how much of the committee's feedback we can actually realistically implement. Um so uh there were some people that were giving feedback about when we you know if there's a time if we plan to consolidate the school do it but don't do it until this date. that may not be realistic. You know, we may not be able to have a committee tell us exactly the timeline. Um there's way too many other factors. So, I think that might be just something for us to noodle on. Um, we may need to be able we may need to figure out exactly how much committee input we can actually realistically implement so that we're honest with

187people um and able to tell them also in real time and communicate back in our next meeting. You know, we've these are what our expectations are. These are what your expectations are of us. Um, and here's where the middle is so that it doesn't look like we're taking what you're saying and just not listening. Some of it is realistic and some of it just may not may not be, you know. >> So, can I clarify two things? I think me and to your point. So, my understanding is some people are prepared to go out there. So, on one hand, Dr. Selton and I are talking about the people that were prepared to go, but then there were other people that I thought read the email as board has to accept the recommendation of the committee.

188So, therefore, I'm not scheduling to go on Thursday. So, I do think that needs to be clarified for people who volunteered to go on a committee but can't go on Thursday. That's one. And then two, while I realize it's not like my classroom and there's a Google form and everyone gets to put their questions at the end so we can literally look at all of them together, I'd like something that's a little more concrete about this feedback that people are providing and the kind of actionable explanations they're getting. So, you know, I think we can be in agreement that no, we're not going to set up an ice cream shop next to your school and maybe we don't need to respond to that, but where is the middle ground for the suggestions that people want

189to provide so that it's not just a blanket, hey, sorry, we couldn't do that. >> Think that can depend on what the suggestion is. I I won't be able to answer that question till we till we get the feedback from the community >> and and you really need to hope that through this process the committee is successful so they give good information to you not just one >> then are we not sorry but there's so much here what's going on with the 600 surveys that were completed is that just stopping at your doorstep and we're moving forward with committees Where does that information go? >> I think we they're going to consolidate. There's always been that they were going to consolidate that information and get back to us at the retreat. That's what Dr. Scholson

190asked about earlier. And >> okay, to reiterate, move forward with Thursday, people get their assignments, provide feedback on what the output should be. that comes back to us for our board retreat where we also synthesize and help dis you know lay out what those committees are going to do and that and that that means in both steps we're moving forward with option B we are not we are going to slow down per community feedback follow option B and the next couple of weeks are going to be the work to flesh out what each of those committees is going to be providing Are all board members okay with option B? >> Yes. >> I have a question. >> Okay. Are we board members going to be there on Thursday? Because it it is no longer what

191it was like before and if not it's not why not. I think it's the same reason we weren't participating because you know board member Hearning kind of gave the example of when we were going through the superintendent search and how you know GSBA suggested that we are not there so that we are not biased >> putting our hands on the scale. So we're going to get the feedback from Mr. Wilson that he collects on Thursday from stakeholders in terms of what they would like to see the committee see. >> Now yes. >> Okay. >> And so just to clarify option B what is option? >> Option. Yeah. Option B. >> Option A I guess which we did not say. Option A is completing the analysis in time for a December vote as to whether we

192want to close the school. I think we are all uniformly saying we're not interested in option A. We are not going to be taking a vote in December around whether or not we close a school. We instead are accepting the recommendation largely driven by the community around option B which is slow down form the communities seek the community input through the analysis as well and allow that analysis to come back to us likely in a March or April time frame for us to make a decision at that point >> and it's important you said March time this I mean each committee uessful and quicker at getting moved. But we've got a good challenge in front of us to make these or help these committees be successful, but it may take some time. >> I am

193still confused because Thursday was still this kind of almost exploratory the committees are going to start. So >> yeah, >> I but either way I thought we were talking solely about K through2 utilization and then once we got that we were framing our kind of problem statement. So with that in mind, I don't understand why we can't go out there and say totally accept what y'all are saying in terms of hey, if we're talking about closing a school, which we're not, then we don't want board members there because that could tip the scale. But I thought this was more we took taking a step back. we've taken consolidation and uh whatever restructuring of >> utilization >> right so if it is simply for utilization on Thursday I I don't >> no no it's it's simply

194for utilization is the work to collect the data run the analysis and bring forward a recommendation fueled from the community as to whether we are talking about closing a school or expanding uh enrollment options to get to whatever threshold we need to make it fiscally prudent. So Thursday is still the work of uh the analysis to us as to what our decision should be. >> So the will of the board is >> option B. I believe that is >> yes any anybody who has any >> does everybody >> can I just offer I again I think we should all acknowledge that Thursday isn't going to be perfect and that we're navigating something new that doesn't have a lot of precedent so a lot of answers won't be clear and that's why I really appreciate that

195we're taking the time to do this and I would love the public to know that the board is really vested in making sure we're doing this process as perfect as we can. Um, I also want to offer that while I don't think the board should be there on Thursday, I would love the community, I would encourage the community and their own feedback to discuss if this board should be there because I think that would be a great idea, especially because if the board was distributed as opposed to just being one body, I think that's I think we all have a lot more knowledge on this. so much. >> But that's up to the community feedback could help guide our own um agreement on the presence of >> but the feedback from a legal perspective is

196that when the board attends community engagements, it is frowned upon because you're saying the board attends and then let's just I love throwing Hans under the bus. Han starts answering questions of people's community and he's recorded or maybe just someone remembers it or maybe Jim's sitting there and he writes an article because the board said it and the board did it because it came out of Hans's mouth speaking at a board member which is fine if he's in his neighborhood but it is an event where the board said they will attend that is a very different number two when we went through the superintendent hiring and we got feedback on what you attend where you go what you do number one where do school board show up is a go to public meetings where people

197are on people who want to shut a school are not showing up to this meeting but I've heard from five independently that did show up to speak and because there was no breakout they didn't feel like they had the room to speak or whatever they're like no one agrees with me I'm not going to stand up in the middle of this group and say I want to shut this school or whatever that sort of stuff and they were making a fiscal argument one of them has spoken publicly previously and that sort of that it that it undermines the data if you will as opposed to Mr. Wilson providing saying like this is the number of people that is a large number of people we can compare that to previous public savings how many people show

198up give us the data on what they say that is the way to go about making a good decision and the combination of those two things plus I'll be out of town I'm not going to do those >> it's a yeah it's a governance decision but the board I mean if you want to show up you can't obviously like no one's stopping you >> I think I I want these folks to show up on Thursday I think there are like James said a lot of people that have not spoken up in these large forums um that you know some people speak up more in small groups um and I want them to get to work. I think I have a couple of questions um that I would like these committees to address. I've got a

199couple questions for the transportation committee specifically. >> Um but I want them to uh get themselves organized, get their uh leaders together and help us out. Um and I think if we show up, we may distract them. um really need organized. >> Yeah, I think if we show up, it may be other questions that people have for us about things that don't have to do with this. Um and I would rather stay out of their way. >> We're pretty positive with this, but we we definitely need this coming Thursday to get organized. Chaos there, but we really have a challenge to make sure that we get organized to the point where all four of those committed. Any other thoughts now that we're a solid hour? >> I was just gonna make sure that we all

200agreed option B. We are >> option B. Option B. >> Yes, there's no other options been presented. It would be weird to not >> Okay, >> board members. Thank you board members. >> Thank you. Thank you for your reminder. The K2 utilization study committee organizational session will launch on Thursday, November the 13th, 6:30 to 8 at Beacon Hill Middle School. Those who have completed the form will receive a communication in the morning regarding the meeting. I say in the morning because we're an hour behind right now. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wilson. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wilson. I want to reiterate to the public that no decisions have been made. We have we have heard from you and are slowing the process down. The board of education will receive updates

201from these committees throughout the process at an up at upcoming work sessions. I am a member of this community and would like Oh, if a member of this community would like to join a committee, please go on Thursday. This concludes our work session. As a reminder, the 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 board meeting agenda items, including consent agenda. room. >> All right, we're going to take a brief recess for 10 minutes and come back at 5:55 and we'll recess and come back at 5:55 >> 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

202that legal and transparent decision-making on policies, budgets, and district priorities. There being no further business, this work session is adjourned at 5:45 p.m. Thank All right, we will now call the order at 5:57 p.m. I ask that you silence all cell phones at this time. We will now begin with a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. At this time, I ask everyone to join me in a brief moment of silent reflection. Now I ask all who are able to please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance 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

203supported by highly qualified and caring educators in a safe and inviting environment. All right, board members, there is a need to revise tonight's agenda. Item 10, future dates in light of the work session discussion of today's K to2 utilization. Um, ED planners will meet with all community members, all community members on Thursday, November 13th at Beacon Hill Middle School at 6:30 p.m. Also, due to a scheduling conflict for our retreat, it will start at 12:30 p.m. on next Tuesday, November 18th. Okay. Do I have a motion to amend today's agenda item 10 for future dates? >> Makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Board member Johnson Davis seconds the motion. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? >> Chair votes I. Is there any opposed? The motion carries unanimously.

204Our next agenda item is the approval of the minutes from previous board meetings. Do I have a motion to approve October's regular and special called board meetings? >> Moved. >> Uh board member Hernand makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh board member seconds the motion. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor. I chair votes I. Any oppose? The motion carries unanimously. Dr. Whitaker, I see some people have joined us. Do we have any recognitions tonight? >> Yes, Chair Sultan. To facilitate tonight's recognitions, I would like to call upon deputy superintendent Karen Newton Scott. >> Thank you, board chair Dr. Soulton, vice chairs, esteemed members of the board, student representative, and superintendent Dr. Gimma Whitaker. This evening, I am honored to present three recognitions highlighting the achievements of

205Decada High School and Claremont Elementary. As we honor each individual, please refrain from taking your seats. Instead, we'd like you to stay along the wall to my left and your right for a photo opportunity with our board members. We will begin this evening's recognition with Claremont Elementary. Principal Lwood, would you please join us up front? Our youngest learners are stepping into the spotlight tonight at Claremont Elementary. Second graders are serving as news anchors for our new Bulldog News broadcast celebrated by students or created by students for students. We have just a short clip of their work. Good morning. My name is My name is classelcome to edition class. We are the We We are the green. I don't know what Happy Friday. Deserves a round of applause. Each episode of the show we just watched

206airs during school crew twice a month, highlighting what happens across the school. For this project, students are building confidence, teamwork, and communication skills while keeping their community informed and inspired. Tonight, we have just a few of our news anchors here with us. So, we would like to recognize Amelia Wayne, Charlie Walker, Louisa Wolf, Martinez, Ryland, we're just a little bit behind schedule. So, we're going to ask that our board members come down to take a picture with our Claremont Bulldog so that they can get home, get dinner, and get ready for school tomorrow. on the board. You're going to get behind. >> Okay. All right. Congratulations. >> Yep. I think we can we can get through quickly. Okay. Next we have recognition from Decada High School Principal School is joining us. Our first recognition is

207Muhammad Ai Masters International Empowers individuals to become confident communicators and leaders. You all can take your photograph as I read. All right. >> On Saturday, October 18th, the Dawn Breakers Toast Masters Club celebrated its 30th anniversary open house gayla themed a toast to the home of rising stars. Decada High School senior Muhammad Atik represented the Gala Club with a powerful recital of the man who thinks he can by Walter E. Wel. He showcased his growth, eloquence and poise through the toast masters program. We congratulate you this evening, Muhammad. >> Thank you. Thank you. Next we recognize Bennett and Keegan Moli. Saturday, October 25th, High School acting students competed in the GHSA region 5 one act competition at Tri City High School under the direction of Emily Nichols. They performed Radium Girls by DW Gregory, a

208moving historical drama. The team earned runner up, finishing just four points behind Tri Cities High School. and Renee to the Allstar cast for their outstanding performances. Congratulations. Next up, we will be recognizing our professional employees of the year. Board members, please stay as um I invite our chief of human resources to the mic to present the award. Thank you, Miss New Scott. We are excited about this opportunity to honor our non-eing professionals whose dedication and daily contribution play a vital role in the success of our district. In October, we requested nominations for the professional employee of the year award. This award recogniz outstanding individuals who demonstrate leadership within school or school system, works as a collaborative uh team member in the works well with parents, staff, and administrators and provides evidence of student achievement or

209exceptional job performance. Here to help us congratulate our professionals of the year is the Kar Educational Foundation's executive director Megan Barardi. BES continues to support our staff by generously awarding these deserving individuals with a token of appreciation. When I call your name, please come up and we will have a picture with the board. Dr. Whiter, first we have Miss Anisha Edwards, childcare provider assistant. always willing to help colleagues take an extra take on extra responsibilities and do so whenever it whatever it takes to support the school family. She engages children throughout story through stories, art, play and using her deep understanding of child development. She brings patience, commit, compassion, and creativity to everyone she encounters. We thank Miss Anisha, Mr. Harlo Williams, custodian at Fairmont Elementary. uh bring our professional your principal if you are

210here you can come up with your employee as well. Carlos is the heart of Fairmont Elementary consistently going above and beyond to keep the school clean, safe and welcoming. His hard work and friendly demeanor make him a joy to be around. He is always ready to lend a helping hand to staff and to students. He leads by example, inspiring others to take pride in their spaces and supporting the school with kindness and respect. Thank you, Mr. We have Mr. Michael Kalivan, hair professional at Glenwood Elementary. supporting students, staff in the school community. He demonstrates deep knowledge as a pair professional implementing individualized uh strategies, managing groups, and expertly supporting technology through classroom. His dedication, positivity, and commitment to growth is deserving of this recognition. Next, we have Miss Celeste B, custodian at Oak Elementary. Celeste

211is a central member of the Oak Elementary family, ensuring the school is clean, safe, and welcoming. She approaches her work with pride, attention to detail, and a positive attitude. Through her dedication in care, Celeste of City Schools of the Care is Cynthia Howdian at Westchester Elementary. member of Westchester City, ensuring the school is safe and wellmaintained for students, staff, and families. Cynthia leads by supporting students at events, cafeteria, and by holding them accountable with modeling school guidance. Valencia Johnson, care professional at Winona Park Elementary. She was not able to be here, but I will read a few words about her. Valencia is an exemplary member of the Winona Park family and her dedication and professionalism makes her a lasting she makes a lasting impact on the whole school community. So, thank you, Miss Johnson. Next,

212we have Miss Jennifer San Angelo. Jennifer is the heart of talent, ensuring that school runs smoothly so teachers can teach and students can learn without interruption. She demonstrates deep knowledge of school operations, balancing of the organization with flexibility and empathy to handle any challenge that comes her way. Her commitment to the CSD mission creates a welcome and safe environment for all. >> Mr. Ronda at workkeeper at this Avenue is a final of ensuring school finances and programs run smoothly and efficiently. She demonstrates the knowledge and expertise as a school's foot. Her professionalism and re reliability make her an indispensable member of the same community. You know, hair professional at Deacon Hill Middle School. is an outstanding special education professional who is consistently support students academic, social and emotional growth. She demonstrates deep knowledge of best

213practices and individualizing support and interventions in collaborating with teach. Her dedication, empathy, and expertise make a lasting meaningful impact on students, families, and colleagues. Next, we have Miss Wanda Goodman, food nutrition manager at Kater. Wanda is a dedicated member of the school community going above and beyond to support students, staff, and colleagues. Wanda leads by taking initiative, finding solutions, and helping others across departments with whatever they need. Her reliability, helpfulness, and positive attitudes make her a valuable member of the school community. Mr. Ahmad Bracken, maintenance technician. If not, his I will read a few words about Mr. Brackets. His exceptional general maintenance uh embodies prove the the CFB's mission above all. His reliability and teamwork make him someone the department can always count. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Brian Gro bus driver. All righty. But he

214is a dedicated bus driver and always makes sure that he has a positive attitude with the with the students and he is a true valuable member of the transportation department. Last but not le He is an invaluable member of the CST family and has been for over 25 years. He demonstrates exceptional expertise in solving technical issues quickly while teaching others how to prevent and address problems in the future. his dedication, knowledge and commitment and he makes a lasting impression on the students and the staff in a broader school like all of our professionals. One last round of applause. How many of the members are here? If they're not here, you can just ask you can because people are here. Many of the people are here. >> I need to make a motion to amend the

215agenda to go out of order. Oh, you want me to get did it? Okay, I did it. Okay, I'll get it. >> 12 minutes. >> Okay. All right. Okay. >> 12 minutes. >> Thank you, Miss Thank you. Look, I'm gonna do superintendent report. >> What? >> I'm gonna do the superintendent report. So, we got to slide up a little bit here. >> Okay. Sorry. Thank you, Mrs. Newton Scott. Dr. Whitaker, do you have a superintendent report? >> Yes, Chair Sultan. Good evening, CSD. Today we join the nation in expressing our gratitude to the generations of American veterans for their bravery, dedication, and sacrifices in service to our country. I had the privilege of serving our comm at the Decatur family YMCA this morning at their annual Veterans Day breakfast. This month, CSD and school districts

216are recognizing the contributions of our school psychologists and support professionals. Thank you. We will celebrate American Education Week, which highlights the transformative role of public education in the lives of students around the country. We also recognize the vital role of our parents and families in the education and well-being of their children. Last month before the public announcement at the Atlanta Falcons game, DHS administrators, cheerleaders, and and one goal students partnered with the Atlanta Falcons to honor Dr. Charlie McAdoo, the DHS one goal program director for being named the 2025 Atlanta Falcons fan of the year. Dr. Makadoo is now headed to the Super Bowl 60 and is competing for the NFL fan of the year. Please take a moment to rise up CSD and vote daily for Dr. Maradu on the NFL website. The link

217is also available in your CSD weekly and on all social media channels. We are also proud of Fifth Avenue upper elementary and Beacon Hill Middle for their recent recognition by the Georgia Department of Education. Congratulations to Fifth Avenue for being named a state literacy leader school and kudos to Beacon Hill Middle School for being recognized as a state math leader school for the second consecutive year. We applaud the students, staff, and families at both schools for their achievement. Before I conclude my remarks, I would like to address some of the concerns raised by members of the community, particularly around um board meeting cadence and public engagement at CSD board meetings. It is clear that many members of the community are unaware of what constitutes as board's oversight as well as the administration's role, including the

218systems and engagement strategies implemented since my arrival in 2023 to enhance transparency and engagement with students, families, and the greater community. Additionally, the CSD committee is well known for being proactive and knowledgeable in accessing and understanding information of interest to them, including the business operations, our financial documents, and analyzing our metrics and our spreadsheets. Given the length the level of angst and misinformation in the community, I think it's essential that we are also ensure that the community is aware of where to find credible official and CSD authorized sources of information. Each board member has a full-time job. Serving as a board member of a school district is also a full-time job. As a superintendent, I serve as a secretary of the board. And this is my full-time job. And together, we are responsible for upholding

219the mission and the vision for the school district. Therefore, one of my first acts as superintendent was to establish systems to ensure that every time the board convenes, it's purposeful and productive in providing oversight of the budget policy and my work as the superintendent, the student outcomes. I will begin by introducing the board management oversight plan also known as BMOP to the community. I implemented the BMOP early in my tenure to serve as a monthby-month governance plan of the board. It is always available to the public on the CSD website located on the board of education page. You can visit the site presentations planned for every board meeting, work session, and regular meeting from now until June of 2026. The board will meet in May of 2026 to determine the for the following year. Of

220course, in these unprecedented times, unexpected issues may arise and they are added to the monthly agenda which is also public. The board of education section of the website is also where you that is a board management software that streamlines governance processes, monthly board meeting agendas, board meeting documents and more helping um and even more it helps boards enhance efficiency, transparency and decisionmaking. We agree that the public should not learn about a board agenda item solely from the local media. It is also available to all insembly. The local media is aware. So we want to ensure that the public is aware that in accordance to Georgia open meetings act, the agenda for the board of education must be posted on the CSD website insemly 48 hours before the board meeting. Then CSD board meetings are held.

221The agenda is posted the Friday before the meeting, providing the public with more than two additional days in advance of the meeting to review the agenda beyond what the law requires, preventing any surprises. Now, this is what we call the board meeting day because it really is a full day. The board meeting day consists of four sessions which since my tenure are all held on the same day. The first portion of the day is executive session. The board moves into executive session for the purpose of discussing land legal personnel andor safety matters. These are closed meetings to the public. Second, during the pre-work session, which is open to the public, pre-work provides an opportunity for the board to discuss the direction it would like to take collectively. For the CSD board, this also includes a

222book study. We typically have one. This is this year's book study. Additionally, pre-work. Um during pre-work the administration pro information presentation and policy draft for initial review before they are moved forward to the public for input. The board may ask questions or request additional details but the board takes no action and no vote. So today we did that with DJ a policy on purchasing. Next the board conducts a work session. The work sessions are designed for an in-depth study and indepth discussion study planning regarding district policies issues and upcoming upcoming decisions. Many items presented in the work session inform board meeting agenda items, including the consent agenda. I often refer to this session as the one where the board determines the what of the direction it would like the administration to take on the information

223previously presented during the pre-work session. Again, the board may ask questions or request details. They may actually take a vote for policy drafts to the public so that you can then provide input. That is also known as first read. As a result, you may comment on assembly on that policy draft. The board then proceeds immediately to the regular meeting. The slight change may be the source of some of the angst and the confusion in the community as during previous administrations the regular meeting was held two weeks after the work session. The purpose of the regular meeting is to conduct the official business of the school district through discussion and formal voting ensuring legal and transparent decisionmaking on policies, budgets and district priorities. These policies that the policies that were previously presented during the prior month's

224work session or first read are presented for second read action which is essentially meaning they're adopted. The consent agenda includes traditional items such as the monthly financial report, personnel reports, and contracts that are over $100,000. For example, in February, the board approved the recommendation for a school roof repair or replacement services with an estimated cost of $153,000. The solicitation for that service was through an RFP and the summary, the history of that process, all of that is noted in the item. And finally, at times the consent agenda will include items that have been previously discussed in the work session, such as draft legislative priorities that were discussed in October, now are moving to the consent agenda in November, which we're going to talk about tonight. The board engages the public and collects your feedback on

225the regular meeting agenda items via an official board of education Google form. The link to the form is available in the CSC bulletin board newsletter which is distributed to our families and our staff and community subscribers within uh the days of the board meeting. And the form link is also section of the CSD website in assembly. At the end of the board meeting or really right now for today, we move into public comment which is scheduled at 6:30 with a deadline sign up for 5:30 p.m. And that's for community members to address the board. But the board does not engage in dialogue or question and answer sessions during that time. Today a little while earlier we talked about retreats. So, a board day beginning with executive session which typically starts about 12:30 and ending typically

226with public comment around 6:30 7:00 still does not allow much time to thoroughly ex more detailed information. Therefore, when I came, I instituted quarterly board of education retreats. For complete transparency, the board retreats are open to the public inperson, virtually, and recorded. The retreat provides an opportunity for the administration to present and have continued dialogue like we did today with the board. This information may have been presented at a high level at a work session, but now it's time for us to go a bit deeper and it also usually informs future work. Similar to the work sessions on a board day, board members ask questions. They request additional information. However, the board does not take action or vote. There are no public comments, but if needed, the chair can call for an executive session. When

227I came, I also saw an opportunity to increase two-way communication between the board and the community. The seasonal board community meetings provide a public forum for the board to present information discussed either in pre-work, work sessions, board meetings, or even retreats. to engage with the public so you can have immediate feedback and response to your questions. All of this is in addition to public hearings which are held in person and virtually as required by law before the board takes final votes typically on items that will impact taxpayer dollars. As evidenced by recent recognition from the Georgia Board School uh Georgia Board School Association, this board not only understands what it is to be a quality board, but also what a quality board does. Once again, all of the dates are on the the board management

228oversight plan. Engagement has always been a core value of my leadership as as is transparency. In addition to participating in board engagement opportunities, I host my own listening sessions for the community. I have advisory councils with representatives from various stakeholder groups. I have soup with the soup in our schools. All of which are open to the teachers, school-based staff, and any CSD employees. Additionally, upon my arrival, I hired two key positions. One, a chief of communications to oversee the equitable, accurate, timely, and professional distribution of internal and external communication. And then I also hire a coordinator of audits and investigations to provide timely responses to open records requests and coordinate investigations designed to detect and deter fraud, waste, financial management, fiscal misconduct, and other abuses or wrongdoing in the district. Finally, CSD is currently undergoing

229the accreditation process. CSD is being evaluated as one school system, not a school district with 10 separate schools. Let the collective efforts of the board, the administration, the schools, the students, the families and community. Continue to make us a high performing school district. Chair Sultan, that completes my report and I wish everyone a very enjoyable Thanksgiving. Thank you. Um, it's 6:35, so we'll move to public comment. All right. The following information is included in the board policy manual and members of the public also acknowledge this information when they sign up to speak. This serves as a reminder for all speakers and members of the audience. The opportunity to address the board during public comment is limited to district parents, students, residents, employees, businesses, and organizations. Persons wishing to address the board during public comment must

230sign up by 5:30 p.m. and in doing so will be asked to state their connection to CSD and/or the city of Decatur to allow for time for the board's other business. Public comment will be ordinarily limited to one hour or 20 speakers at the board's discretion. Public comment the public comment period may be extended for a specified amount of time or 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 time 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 chairs or chair's discretion, persons violating this policy may be asked to step down. Speakers should be courteous

231and 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, cheers, applause, or shouts from the floor. Disruptive persons will be asked to leave the meeting room. The chair may terminate public commentsatory or disruptive. If any speakers comments begin to verge into areas of hate speech or defamation, I will have to ask 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 speaking at the board meeting. Dr.

232Whitaker, will you please call our first speaker, Bernard Frager? >> Hello members of the board. My name is Bernard Fraa and I am a professor at Emory and a parent of a child at Westchester Elementary. I sent the board a three-page memo indicating errors in the statistics provided by the consultant and some misinterpretations of data. I just want to provide a few highlights. According to the Census Bureau and the population estimates program that the census runs, Decar is a growing city. It is not shrinking. The population has gone up 20% in 10 years and up about a percent since the pandemic. Now, the consultant has cited statistics saying that it dropped by 4% since the pandemic. I can't verify that information. I looked at the same data. I can't find it. Maybe he's looking at

233a different place. When it comes to enrollment, enrollment is up 20% in city of Decator schools in the last 10 years and up 118% that is it more than doubled since the board of education, not you all but the previous board voted to close a school in 2003. schools that saw the largest drop in K enrollment since 2019 when this decline began uh between 2019 and 2024 were Winona Park where the kindergarten class dropped by 44%. And Oakurst where it dropped by 68%. More than half. I also want to cite that as I mentioned in the memo 61% of black students right now in CSD schools attend the or zoned for the north side schools the three north side lower elementaryaries and 68% of free and reduced lunch eligible students are zoned for the three

234north side elementary schools so um in the previous meeting um or in the work session that was a discussion of what problem we're solving I wanted to briefly mention um this idea of utilization I think this which is important. 47% utilization is a statistic we've heard. Our lower elementaryaries have not been over roughly 55% to 60% utilization since tally opened in 2019. This is by design. There are three grades fewer than the standard K through five and are lower utilization is less than 50% but very close to it. This is by design. It was a known outcome. Every single projection that was generated since tally opened, including the year before, said that by going K to2, you're going to have lower elementarymentaries under 200 students. 2019, 2018, 2019, 2022, 23, 24, 25, all of them

235say schools will be under 200. This is by design. This was intentional. I don't think the previous board would have said open tally that meant you have to close a lower elementary because it has too few students. So why now? Why the rush? And this is why I've asked the board to consider not just slowing down and waiting for committees, but to provide security to teachers, wait for better data, and pause implementation if you vote to have a closure until at least 2027. Thank you very much. >> The next speaker is Thomas Moore. How y'all doing? Uh, I'm Thomas. I have a first grader at Westchester. Um, I had whole thing here printed it out. I edited. Um, but I'm I'm going to change that. I'm going to wing it. This is going to be

236roughly 2 minutes and 45 seconds of me winging it. Um, first off, I should say that uh the person that uh sorry, Miss Anderson mentioned that wrote the opet about trust, that was me. Um, and I want to say that what I witnessed tonight goes a long way towards showing me that this board is worth being trusted. Um, I think that is a huge step. Um I think that um the actions you showed show ownership and they show responsibility. Those are the two main things in my mind that can help us trust this organization or this group. Um I think you correctly identify that there are still questions. There's still a lot of questions around not just what we should do but the process itself. I think that's very important. I think the fact that

237we haven't necessarily defined the problem that we're trying to solve very important. Um, so I I just again I really appreciate the fact that you asked the questions that we spent the time and I know I know it was a long time but you spent the time because this is a generational decision. Um, I mean I have a neighbor who uh had a a 5-year-old in Westchester when it closed. That was 21 years ago. And I spoke to him about it and he still has bitterness in his voice talking about that decision, talking about the fact that there's still people in the community that he doesn't necessarily trust, neighbors that he doesn't necessarily trust after that decision. This is a generational decision. So the fact that you are taking responsibility for that is huge. Fact

238that you're taking ownership for that is huge. Um, I can't overstate that because I have to admit I did not come in expecting that and that's a big deal. Um, and I definitely want to acknowledge that. Um, I think I certainly encourage you to come to the session on Thursday. I think that um, above all, above being board members, you're you're neighbors. You are the community. You're this is your city. You live here. Um, so I think you should be invested in that aspect as well. Um, and again, this is probably going to be reiterated several times, but I think the decision to slow down this process, the decision-m process is huge. I definitely encourage um slowing down the implementation as well. So, if we're going to look at a possible closure, let's move that,

239as Bernard just mentioned, to that 2728. Um, and in my last two seconds, I just want to say Corin, uh, in relation to the, um, budget discussion, uh, it's been about a month that Westchester had a non- workinging, um, ice machine. So, we'd love to get that that sorted off. Thank you. Thank you. >> The next speaker is Cara Amul. Is she online? >> Is she online? Cara, do you want >> Hello. >> Unmute yourself. There we go. Yep. And now we can hear you. >> Okay. Thank Thank you uh for allowing me to pivot because I was I was um planning on being there in person. Um, I am the mom of a kindergarter at Westchester who's actually sitting right here next to me. She's really actually enjoyed watching this board meeting surprisingly. Um,

240and first of all, I want to say thank you to you guys because it is clear that you have listened to us so far, that you have listened to the points that we've brought to you, to the information that we've brought to you. And so what I would ask of you is to use this energy. You I I think you probably know maybe by the amount of slideshows you've been sent and decks you've been handed and things you've been emailed how much work we are willing to do to keep our schools open. And when I say we, I mean the 300 parents um on our WhatsApp chat. And we are willing to do this work. We are willing to do hard work and good work. Um because how amazing would it be if we could

241all come together and find a sustainable solution to the problem we're facing? If we say the problem is we have to have 200 kids, I think we can actually find a solution to that problem. creative means, but when I'm looking at the committees as they're proposed, I really don't see how we can do it. I see committees proposed by someone um and I don't mean to disrespect to Mr. Wilson, but that doesn't truly understand some of the problems and solutions that we've been talking about with you guys. Um and I I actually wrote you all a very lengthy email last night. So, sorry about that also. But one of my examples was which committee is doing uh looking at putting prek into the schools. Which committee is looking at the feasibility of that of how

242afterare would work about if they would need one principal across all the schools or would each school need a new principal is that one committee is should there be a prek committee or I just don't see how that naturally splits up among the proposed committees and then I'm looking at that also for tuition students. Um, I'm looking at that for and um, Hans, I think you made a great point of where does someone who's interested in looking at population growth and the data we have around that, where do they go? And I hope you guys instead of just moving forward with the committees proposed asis, think about what what we need and then build the committees around that. And that's what I'm hoping that we can use Thursday night for instead of already going ahead

243and splitting into the committees as proposed. I think there are just like huge gaps that that will not be filled by the proposed committees. Um but once again, thank you again for for the listening that you've done to us for us so far and please let us continue to help you. >> Thank you. The next speaker is Rudy Holber. >> Good evening, Gord. I am a kindergarten part, a parent. Um, I'll start with three simple points up front based on deep analysis that I've done. First is closing a school will make our finances worse. It's not fact. This is fact. is not opinion. The case for closure so far rests on incomplete, inconsistent and sometimes incorrect data. The board and the community deserve better than that. Third, that the lower operational risk and financially sound

244alternatives exist if we first define the problem we're trying to solve. We are all in to lead as want to cater and collaborate with you. So, short note on my background. I work professionally in business planning operations focused on analytics decision making and I've long long worked in educational equity. I serve as on the board of a nonprofit serving the Hispanic community that I belong to. That perspective informs it analysis. When strong organizations face uncertainty, they do two things. They clearly define problems to solve with both decision and success criteria. Second is they evaluate choices with comprehensive accurate analysis costs, revenue, risk, alternatives, tradeoffs. Instead of starting with a default outcome, prove or disprove. From my vantage point as an engaged community member, that discipline has so far been missing here and in many ways

245will be as long as closure is the main option being considered. But I want to emphasize I really appreciate your push today to give committees to find problems to solve and I ask you to give them the ability to make recommendations not just to prove the RNA on a closure and also please come and listen on Thursday. You do not need to comment. You do not need to violate the legal advice and just actively listen. But first, we need better data. And what been shared so far contains errors, inconsistency in methods, flaw conclusions. Those flaws are driving misconceptions. Misconception number one, closing saves money. Once you add the higher cost at the receiving schools, whatever is closed, extra transportation, maintenance, and other additional expenses, a little over a million dollars. Crucially, CSU will likely lose

2462.3 off of $4 million in tax revenue. No responsible organization would accept the plan. Second misconception, this historical tax revenue gap is just because of Boer's growth. You remove ochres from the data and does not change the decline in tax revenue exists and it has broadverifiable fiscal harm. This is not about property values. This is a community that is worried we won't be able to sustain our entire school system and the quality of education we pursue. Third misconception is that our facilities are unbalanced. Counting only elementaryaries on one side or other of town is arbitrary and misleading. The full footprint shows a different picture when you consider elementary, prek, middle schools, one school system. More important, closing any high performing school and selling or leasing facility reduces long-term flexibility and increases risk. Leaving organizations build

247operational flexibility and even redundancy so they can adapt. Closing strong assets now limits your ability to be competitive today to respond to challenges later. So please let's abandon the outdated close and consolidate playbook. Playbook defines decision criteria, require comprehensive accurate analysis and task the committees to explore options. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank the next person is Kyle Nuome. All right. Uh, nice to meet all y'all. Uh, this little bit we have. So, I am Kyle Newsome. Um, I was at Westchester as a fourth grader when Westchester was closed in 2004. Um, I hoped that my uh, three-year-old or new to the three-year-old in February uh, will go to Westchester like I did, like my mom did. So, this is deeply personal school system. Um, I have multiple generations have been in the school

248district and hopefully future generations to come. Um, I first like to thank everyone who voted for me as a writing candidate. Um, according to Katerish, there are upwards of,300 people who wrote in my name even though I started a campaign on the first day of early voting. Um, I really hope that you'all listen to the community what they're trying to tell you. Um, so far many people in the community um, I would have represented district one, not that I was legally able to win. Um, and we're not happy with how the uh, decisions and processes have been going. So, I really hope that y'all listen to what we're trying to tell y'all. Um, some questions for y'all. Um, they'll talk about a little bit in the work session, but I don't think we've ever actually

249clarified what the priorities are of the district and the board in all of these decisions we're making, at least not that I have seen. And then also what problems we're trying to solve. I'd really like for us to define those problems not just at the committee meeting, but you guys. what are y'all's uh decision criteria and how are y'all making decisions? Um what will the process be for these uh plans that the committees come up with? Um as we've heard and I also have feared the committees um that have been designed so far uh do not give us the flexibility to present ideas that could actually help keep schools open. It still seems to be in that old model of closing a school. Um but if all these plans and processes that we are coming

250up with uh get filtered through the um consultant uh we have a fear that our great ideas could be drowned out uh through that filter. Um so we'd love to hear what the actual process is for our ideas to come to y'all. Um, as you heard from a lot of these people, there's a ton of really, really smart people in this community um, who have put in a ton of work already and would like to put in a lot of work in the future to help save our schools and make this district stronger um, in the future moving forward. Um, I don't know the legal risk and whatnot, but honestly, um, I would love if board members join committee. Why not work with us? Roll your sleeves, do the work. Um, we can show you

251all of the wonderful information that we have dug up, the research we've done, the plans we've already come up with, the ideas that we have. Look, I'm not a lawyer. I don't know what y'all can and cannot do, but why not join your neighbors and let's solve this problem together. Um, and then two last points. Um, I heard mention in the work session that some ideas may not be feasible. You couldn't do some of the plans committees might come up with. Um, as we've already said and discussed or I've got really smart come with great ideas. I think it is owed to us and the time that we have put in that you tell us why ideas that we come up with are not actually actionable. Um not just them being thrown to the wind

252and never seen again. And then finally, um, as has been spoken and as an educator myself, if any, uh, decisions are made, especially if we're not voting until next semester, for those not to take effect until the following school year, 2728, mainly for the educators that could potentially lose their jobs in this unstable economy and be behind the eight-ball applying for new jobs that they were to be told, "Your school is closing, you no longer have a job uh, next semester." Thank you. >> The next person is Austria Jordan. That was a good um way to pronounce it. It's Ashtria, but I go by Amazing. >> Um I am a current parent of a fourth grader in Tally and I have a second grader in Claremont. Um so um this is what I what I

253have written. Good evening members of the board, the amazing parents of past um students and current students and those who have students that will be attending to hence one of the reasons why we moved into the district because of the amazing parents and teachers along with the school system. Um thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here because our schools are more than just a building. They are the heart of our community and closing them would not only disrupt the education of our students but um also erode the sense of connection, safety and pride that binds our neighborhoods together. Um when you close a school, you don't just save money on a building. um you take away from you take away a gathering place that shapes our next generation as to

254young gentlemen spoke um just a moment ago and supports the community long term um learn long long term we risk undergoing process we've made while um stagnating future outcomes while the case through two population is evenly spread across the city 68% of lower inome families attend schools on the north side. Two out of three children of color attend schools on the north side. A top title one school in the state, Claremont, and the school with the highest proportion of Hispanic children in this district Westchester are on the north side. For black, Hispanic, and lowincome children, for example, school disruptions would take a 60% ELA proficiency proficiency rate down to 52 to 58% for affected children based on the number of retrospective reviews. Out of view of Chicago, equity of access is already divided. three elementary

255schools on the north side, four on the south side, and only prek plus DHMS. 90% of childrens on the south side have a walkable elementary school. 75% of the children on the north side do, and a school closure would likely cut that in half. Given the notes on demographics above, the school closure on the north side would disproportionately affect families who are less likely to have cars and how would we expect them to get their children to school. We understand that budgets are tight and tough choices must be made. Um, I ask that you remember that what makes a community thrive is not just finances, but it's the parents and people, the community um that it serves and the shared belief that every student deserves access to quality education close to home. Um, if we

256can continue to work together to find a path forward that responsibility and human value our schools bring. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. The next speaker is Matthew Woodruff. >> Wrong way around. Sorry. Um, yeah. So, I don't think I'm going to say anything that you haven't just heard um from a number of parents, but uh I wanted to come and first of all say that I'm extremely appreciative of the work that you all have done since our last board meeting. Uh last time I was up here, I cautioned that the decision to abruptly announce a closure had the ability or the unintended consequence of potentially pitting neighborhoods against each other. uh and that um that had gotten out of hand the last time this discussion happened. I will tell you

257that I've been in a lot of the conversations obviously on the parent side and I've been on several of the conversations on the board side and I will tell you that the parents are hard at work making sure that that is not happening. But a big part of that is that y'all have been willing to engage with those parents and so that void of information has somewhat closed. that does not mean there's not work to be done, but I will say that the conversations you've had have helped us stay positive and stay productive through this conversation. So, I appreciate all of that. In addition to that, I think um as has been mentioned before, uh I think you're hearing some surprise from the community to be honest with you because I think everybody is uh

258honestly pleasantly surprised that a lot of the concerns and questions that we have had have come uh from the board and this meeting. I think you're asking the right questions. I think you're clearly listening to the people that are talking to you and I really appreciate that. Um, I think that honestly there I share I think some concerns as to what this committee process is going to look like. I think it might be a bit of a mess. I think it's going to take a board retreat to sit down and figure out what actually is needed to make some of these decisions. I think you're going to have the tools to use it and I think you've already shown that you can listen to some of the folks that have already spoken that really have

259access to what I believe to be pretty high quality data. So I will leave it at that. I think you've set a foundation here for making use of a lot of really good resources at your disposal. I appreciate your continued conversations with parents and I look forward to continuing to contribute to a positive outcome through all this. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Roy. >> Okay, give it to me. I want to hear it. Say it. >> I will. I will. >> Good evening. Or should I? >> Yeah. Okay, cool. >> Hello. >> Good evening. Uh my name is Rowey Higi and I have a daughter in kindergarten at Westchester and a three-year-old son who can't wait to be a Westchester Wolf watchers big sister. Uh I'm here

260today in support of keeping all of our K through2 schools open and to agree with a lot of what you all stated earlier. Uh that we clearly state exactly what the goal of this process is and what the problems we're trying to solve are. Uh I really wanted to thank you for listening to a lot of the feedback from the community. uh and commend the board for bringing up many of the themes from that feedback earlier during the work session. Uh the big concrete problem I've seen called out is that three of our K through2 schools are below the 200 student minimum to qualify for capital outlay uh which is a state number uh meant for prek through five schools and we have half the number of those grades. Uh if that's our only problem,

261it's critical that this really officially goes from being the K through2 school consolidation and redistricting process to something like a boosting enrollment and getting capital outlay process. That's the problem. Um I was really happy to hear some of those same thoughts from board members earlier this afternoon and I wanted to thank you for your thoughtful question insights. Uh, I want to encourage the board and district to take all the time to uh to take the time to thoroughly consider all possible options to address any funding or capital issues and to bring these problems to the public before reaching for a nuclear option of shutting down a neighborhood school. Again, I was glad to hear a lot of those same sentiments expressed earlier. Uh, I want the board to think about what exactly a full capacity

262school would mean for our kids and teachers. special teachers on carts, oversted classrooms bursting at the seams. Uh this was the reality of our school district not that long ago during the last enrollment boom and it can be again if we make a short-sighted decision to close school on flawed and incomplete data and there's a lot of uncertainty regarding the projected decline in enrollment. There's known issues in the methodology used by Walpert reliance on COVID outlier data and it's simply not on the ground in our neighborhoods. not consistent with the latest birth rate data from the Department of Public Health. Uh before closing the school, let's do some community surveys. Let's get better, more accurate data, then make a decision. Should a committee have a mandate to dig deeper into the data here? The current

263committee structure proposed by our planners doesn't really seem to fit that. I think it needs to. And we're a great school district. Folks hear city of indicator and immediately think schools. The great and walkable schools are why we moved here and why we bought our house indicator. Let's use that reputation to boost enrollment. We have tuition students and increase revenue just like Buford City Schools does. Another top rated school district in Georgia. We're one of the best school districts in the state. Let's let's act like it. We're really not that far off from 200 students in each school. Uh I was going to talk about prek. We really should do prek. If afterare is the issue, uh like it says in the FAQ on the website, let's solve that problem. Not rather than dismissing it

264entirely. PreK afterare is offered at Morningside Elementary School and lots of uh elementary schools in the area. So, this is doable. Uh sorry, ran out of time, but let's make this a dialogue. I'd love we'd love to talk to you all. Thank you. >> The next speaker is Jonathan Block. Hello board Jonathan. No bud stand by me. Stand by me. This is my son Theodore. The first grader. He has two little sisters. Walking to school every day and can't wait to be a Glenwood Eagle very soon. Almost every he's also my resident fact checker. We moved to to Glenwood specifically for the Glenwood Elementary. Um, and we have lots of friends there, including many of you on the board. We've seen you all at community events and protests and other places. Uh, and so as

265so many others have said, thank you for the listening that you've done already, for the feedback you've given already in the session earlier and the way that you've feels like this is becoming more of a dialogue between friends and folks who want to make this country better together. Um, I am a consultant. I've been with Chrysler Coopers and with Accenture before that for the better part of the last 20 years. So, I've been on the same side of the table um with leaders like you during moments like this. And it seems to me that this decision up until recent days, recent moments, has felt pretty rushed. And I think you sort of acknowledge that. Um and more than that, it seems like it's been limited by really one of two outcomes. Um and from my

266time as a consultant, as a member of this community, that sense of rush and limited outcomes seem just unusual. And I'm I'm I'm I'm hopeful um that you continue the path that you've been on over the past few days of moving more slowly and considering different outcomes. I'm going to read a letter from Theo, if that's okay, that he also sent to you, unless you want to read it, but you read it. Cardinal on that. He wrote, "Dear Board of Education, why would you like to close a school? Glenwood is special to me. I have ADHD and big schools overwhelm me. The teachers know and support me at Glendwood and I like walking to school with my friends. Thanks Blog. And so with that in mind, one of the alternative options that I encourage you

267to think about, and I know it's not the first time you've heard it, is adding third grade back to the lower elementaryaries. Uh that would or or potentially could ensure that each lower elementary hits 200. Obviously affects the upper elementary. Um, but it is an option and would provide greater stability in the lower elementary a little bit less intense. That'll see the rest of my time. But again, thank you all. >> Thank you, Peter. >> The next speaker is Philip McInness. My son is a much better speaker. as the last meeting and well some other things but um seventh grade at Beacon Hill and I'm coming at this from a little bit of a different perspective um more about the ECLC and I think it's false to say the two are not connected the ECLC

268and a potential school closure or redistricting or whatever it's all because of the grant for capital funds proven that you can raise $34 million in capital funding to see. So at the last meeting, some relevant questions were asked by a board member about why does it have to be so big? Why is there so much? Why is there and the proposed building is 35,000? Put that into perspective. That's larger than the admin building. It's larger than College Heights, larger than Claremont, it's larger than Westchester. Um, so let's look at the private. You're looking at 150 of students. It's your capacity. The three daycarees that I looked at that are over 100 capacity are Smarties. You're doing 40 students less than Smarties. You're doing 63 less students than primrose at Hills and you're doing 79 th

26979 less than the Goddard school um of Decator. All three of those facilities are in buildings between 13 and 15,000. That's total right from the start, which is kind of your guidelines utilization capacities on that. For 150 students, you need 5200 give or take square feet for classroom space. You double that, you're looking at,000 So, you're building 35,800. So, I think you were kind of over building. Um, I just question $22 million is a lot. You're building a huge building that only is going to serve 150 students. Put it on that site, but build a more smaller building, efficient, easier to use. Consider a public private emotional apples here. Those are all of our speakers. Chair, thank you. We would like to thank all the speakers for taking the time to be here tonight. As

270board members, it is important for us to hear the concerns from our communities. We we will take your comments into consideration and back up to chair's report. Okay. Thank you. On behalf of the city schools of Decar Board of Education, thank you for joining us in person and virtually to learn about the progress of our strategic goals. Just before our board meeting today, board members join the district's executive cabinet in hosting the annual legislative lunchon. We were also fortunate to have the mayor and the city manager in attendance for our discussion with all three members of the Decatur delegation on the proposed 2026 CSC priorities which we will vote on today as well as to hear from the delegation what we can expect during the upcoming legislative session. I want to publicly thank our delegation

271and city officials for attending the lunchon for their continued support of CSD and for partnering with us on education legislation. Before I proceed, I would like to take a moment to address the community's concerns regarding the board's transparency and community engagement. Dr. Whitaker provided a comprehensive overview of the board's oversight of the district as well as the administration's role. This included the introduction of a new systems and engagement strategy designed to enhance transparency and interaction with students, families, and the broader community. While the community may not always understand our decisions nor agree with them, this does not imply a lack of transparency or engagement on our part. As a board, we are fully aware of the trauma that exists within the community as a result of the actions taken by CSC dating back decades. For

272this reason, we have prioritized collaborating closely with the administration to ensure more information is accessible to the public and to create more opportunities for engagement than ever before. Another example of our efforts to enhance engagement is the book study that the board continued during today's pre-work session focusing on modern-day strategies on community engagement. Pre-work also included a review of the initial draft of of a purchasing policy. There were five presentations during the work session. The the board received an initial draft of the 2027 2028 academic calendar for review along with an outline on the district's progress in developing a high quality professional learning system designed to ensure that every educator in CSD is supported, challenged, and equipped for excellence. During the next two presentations, teaching and learning provided an update on the instructional programming for

273the new early childhood learning center, which included information about the training that Decar High School students receive in teaching as a profession and early childhood education pathways. We also received a summary of the fiscal year 27 budget parameters and priorities. The final presentation was co-presented by education planners CEO James Wilson and CSSE chief operations officer updating the board on K to2 utilization studies. The update summarized engagement, community participation and themes to date. The board was asked to review and discuss option B as the proposed path for continued community engagement. Again, all presentations from this and past meetings are a are available on the CSD website and assembly. Last month, our school community hosted a variety of events and celebrations to honor Hispanic Heritage Month in Diwali. In November, we observe Native American Heritage Month, a

274time to acknowledge the rich culture, tradition, and achievement of Native Americans, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiians, and their affiliated island communities. We also acknowledge the contribution of indigenous peoples to the United States and the world. This afternoon, we also celebrated the many achievements of our CSD students and staff during our board recognitions, including the CSSE professional employees of the year. Congratulations to all of you for exemplifying the best of our school district. Along with our school psychologists and support staff, we are joining the city of Decar and the entire community in celebrating our dedicated dedicated crossing guards this week. Please take a moment to stop and show your gratitude commitment to helping our children keep our keep in keeping our children safe as they travel to and from school every single day. This evening, we want

275to applaud the achievement of our DHS marching band for their history making victory of being named grand champions at the White Columns Invitational and the DHS cross country girls team won the region 4 to 5A the 4 to 5A championship. The boys team finished an impressive third in the region. Finally, the next board retreat will be held on Tuesday, November 18th from 12:30 p.m. to 4 at the Decatur Conference Center. That concludes my remarks from this evening. Board members, do you have any thoughts? Board member. >> Uh, yes. I would just like to ask if there's anyone in this room that is a veteran of the United States military, would you please stand to be recognized by your peers on this veteran today? Thank you sir. Thank you for your service. >> Slightly self- serving

276but yes >> Dr. Waker please introduce the next item. >> Thank you Chair Sultan. I would like to call on Dr. Lonita Broom, chief financial officer to provide the FY25 budget. Good evening again. We have closed the book for fiscal year 25 and this evening's fiscal year 2025 budget review is unudited and the numbers are subject to change. The district is currently in the process of an external audit review by Malden and Jenkins and final numbers will be presented to the board at the January 2026 board meeting. Although the budget and all financial transactions impact all four strategic accelerators, the fiscical year 2025 budget process falls under organizational effectiveness and excellence with a specific focus on financial equity and transparency. A budget is a spending plan based on estimated revenues and expenditures. It is an

277estimate of how much the district anticipates receiving in revenue and how much we project to spend for one fiscal year. If the district spends more than anticipated, the additional funds are deducted from the fund balance. If the district spends less than anticipated, the additional funds are added to the fund balance. This slide compares the fiscal year 25 budget with the fiscal year 26 budget. The final fiscal year 25 general fund budget consisted of total anticipated revenue of $14.3 million and total projected expenditures of $16.5 million. The current fiscal year 26 board approved revenue budget increase from $104.3 million in fiscal year 25 to 108.7 million in fiscal year 26, representing an increase of $4.4 4 million or 4%. The most significant contri contributor to this growth is taxes with an increase of $5.2 million which

278shows continued strength in local tax collections and anticipated growth in the property tax budget. Property taxes are the district's largest source of revenue. For fiscal year 26, property taxes make up 59% of the revenue budget. Proxy tax are an adversal tax levit on real estate to fund public services like schools. The mill rate is a tax rate used to calculate property tax. All property owners are legally responsible for paying property tax. The district offers several property tax exemptions for which resident homeowners may qualify. A homestead exemption reduces the taxable value of your home. For example, if your home is appraised at $400,000, then the assessed value is 50% of that amount or $200,000. With a $50,000 homestead exemption, you only pay taxes on $150,000. To qualify for exemptions, you must reside at the property. Categories

279of school exemptions are S1. Individuals aged 62 or older with non-retirement income under $10,000 are eligible for a $10,000 exemption. Individuals age 62 or older with income under $25,000 are eligible for a $50,000 exemption. S5 individuals ages 65 to 69 with household federal adjusted gross income under $62,000 are eligible for a $200,000 exemption. S6, individuals age 70 or older are eligible for a $200,000 exemption. S2 individuals aged 80 and older with a federal adjusted gross income under $40,000 are eligible for full exemption. Disabled veterans with 100% disability per the Department of Veterans Affairs are eligible for $121,8. Other revenue sources include other local revenue which increased due to anticipated tuition from non-resident students in grade H increase is modest modest and remains pretty stable for fiscal year 25. Last year the district budgeted $1.4 million

280in state grants in the general fund. This year we did not budget for grants but we will add them monthly to the budget as they are approved. Grants are budget neutral and that revenues and expenditures are increased by the same amount. Overall the revenue budget increased by $4.4 million or 4.22%. 22%. If you remove the grant line just to compare apples to apples, the increase in the revenue budget from fiscal year 25 to fiscal year 26 is $5.8 million or 6%. Total expenditures were budgeted to increase from $106.5 million in fiscal year 25 to $111.9 million in fiscal year 26, which is a 5% increase. The majority of the expenditure growth occurs within instruction, which increased by $3.4 million or 5.36%. Maintaining the district's focus on classroombased services with the majority of the increase in

281salaries and benefits. Other notable changes between the fiscal year 25 and fiscal year 26 budget as discussed during the fiscal year 26 budget process includes a decrease of right at $13,000 or 87% in instructional staff training. This decrease is due to changes in how the district offers professional learning. As presented by deputy superintendent Miss Newton Scott during work session, we are building capacity internally to offer a high quality professional learning system. The 100% decrease in federal grant administration is a grant. The 18% increase in support services business is due to increases in the district insurance costs, postage, and increases for salaries and benefits. The 17% decrease in safety and security is due to the reallocation of funds from the general fund supplies. The 10.67% in support services central is due to a one-time increased cost

282for the district's portion of paying city of the cater contractors to identify fiber cables prior to construction. increases in other salaries and compensation, including hiring incentives, TRS increases, state health increases, and new hires qualifying for salaries above the average budgeted salary, and the consolidation of all siphons into the HR budget. The 249% increase in other support services is due to increased cost for professional services in the operational budget. and the 205% increase in transfer to other funds is due to the anticipated supplement from the general fund for the school nutrition program. Also, be mindful that at the end of the year, finance is a cleanup of the financial system to make sure everyone is paid out of the correct function and to make changes in account as directed by the state. Overall, the fiscal year

28326 budget reflects a strategically aligned financial plan with expenditures growth slightly outpacing revenue growth. The fiscal year 26 budget was built based on a beginning fund balance of $20.8 million as shown in the table to the right. The $20.8 million was based on the fiscal year 25 budget end of year projection. The ending fund balance for fiscal year 26 based on the fiscal year 25 budget was estimated at 17.7 million or 15% fund balance percent. Now that we have closed fiscal year 25 and posted all revenues and expenditures, we can compare the unodudited actual revenues and expenditures with budgeted revenues and expenditures. The total revenue for fiscal year 25 actuals exceeded the fiscal year 25 budget by $4 million resulting in an overall overall increase right under 4%. Taxes were the primary driver of the

284revenue barren surpassing the budget by $3.5 million or 6% increase. This accounts for the majority of the total revenue increase. The overages due to the additional revenue of approximately $3 million that the district received from the county last year resulting from an adjustment by Decap County government for transfer and intangible tax dating back to October 2023. The mill rate the county applied during this time was incorrect for Decator's distribution share. Other local came in slightly under budget. QPE was essentially on target with minimal barren and Georgia Department of Education grants came in about 34% lower. The remaining budgeted revenue and revenue and expenditures of the grant will roll over into fiscal year 26 as carryover funds. On behalf payments are revenue recognition for employer paid benefits on behalf of the district. Overall revenue exceeded budget

285by over $4 million. most mostly from higher tax collection and behalf payments. Expenditure analysis. The total expenditures for fiscal year 25 actuals were less than the fiscal year 25 budget by $2.6 million representing a 2.45% decrease from the budgeted amount. The 2% barren is a significant reduction from last year of 5%. Instruction. The largest expenditure category was $833,599 under budget. 1.32% var represents 63,548 in savings on salary and benefits from positions that may have been vacant at some point during the year. Tired of new employees with lower salaries and employees on leave. Operational expenses came in $230,050 under budget. People services also came in under budget by $474,868. 7.25 salary and benefits accounted for the largest portion of the 7.25% decrease at $348,863. The highest percentage fair was in federal grant administration at 98% or

286$16,326 and other support services at 39.04% or $16,425 under budget. The main contributing factor to the variance for federal grant administration was the balance left in the federal grant which will roll over into fiscal year 26. and for other support services. The remaining $15,352 in the translation budget, which was not utilized primarily because the district received a grant with translation expenses as an allowable purchase. Overall, the district is in a stronger fiscal position than budgeted, primarily due to higher than anticipated tax revenue and lower than anticipated total expenditures. This combined effect results in a substantially larger positive difference between actual revenue and actual expenditures compared to the budget fix. The impact on the fund balance is shown on the chart to the right. The fiscal year 25 budget anticipated utilizing $2.2 million from the fund

287balance. How to reduce the revenue gain and expenditure savings? $4.4 million was added to the fund balance. The increase in fund balance result resulted in a projected ending fund balance of $23.6 million, significantly higher than the budgeted $16.9 million. The ending fund balance now represents 22.7% of total expenditures compared to 15.9% in the fiscal year 25 budget, demonstrating a strong financial reser reserve and improved fiscal stability. The district maintains a millage rate of 20.30 mill consistent with prior years, ensuring stable local tax support while maintain a strong overall financial position. In summary, fiscal year 25 closed with revenues outperforming projections and expenditures below budget leading to a stronger than expected fund balance. The district continues to demonstrate sound fiscal management with growth in local revenue, controlled spending, and increased reserves. This strong financial performance positions

288the district well to support ongoing instructional priorities and future operational needs. This is a visual of the fiscal year 25 budget and actuals, revenues, and expenditures. Expenditures are broken out by salary, benefits, and operational costs. The yellow lines represent the fiscal year 25 budget and the blue lines represent the fiscal year 25 actual. The graph to the right gives you a visual of the district expenditures which clearly shows that salary and benefits are the district's largest cost which makes up over 80% of the budget. Operational costs are all costs outside of salary and benefits including professional services, repair and maintenance supplies and equipment. Overall, the variance between fiscal year 25 budget and expenditures was about 2% which is within the ideal range of where the variance should be considering you are going to always have

289vacant positions, employees on leave, less than budgeted salaries and remaining operational. The graph to the right is a visual of the fiscal year 25 budget versus actual revenues. The largest variance was in taxes which we expected based on the receipt of the additional tax revenue. Other local and QBE budget and actuals were pretty close. The most notable expenditure variances were in instruction, funeral services, maintenance and operation, and general administration. Instruction had a surplus of $833,599. The majority of the surplus was in salary and benefits. People services had a surplus of $474,868. Of that amount, $3660,863 was in salaries and benefits. Maintenance and operation had a surplus of $49,764 with the majority of that amount in salaries and benefits. General Administration had a surplus of 27,83,366 with an operational budget such as attorney services, supplies, and

290consulting. The fiscal year 27 budget calendar started in September with a presentation of the budget timeline. This month, the board discussed the fiscal year 27 budget parameters and priorities and we just reviewed the fiscal year 25 budget. At the November 19th board retreat, the board will discuss the fiscal year 27 school a lotment guidelines and the fiscal year 26 salary and benefit comparison to other metro Atlanta districts. Next month, the board will be presented with a fiscal year 26 mid-year budget amendment, which we do not expect any, and will adopt the fiscal year 27 school aotment guidelines and the budget parameters and priorities. Again, the budget calendar on the finance section of the district's website. Final adoption of the fiscal year 27 budget is scheduled for June 9th, 2026 after community meetings, two public budget

291hearing and three public mill rate. The fiscal year 27 budget feedback link is live and we encourage you to submit your feedback. I read and respond to all feedback. Additionally, a monthly copy of all feed with the board. I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have or provide clarification as needed. >> And I don't even know be fully answered tonight or needs to be, but I would like to have it explored before um the building of the FY27 budget. On slide three, um I see instru instructional staff training. So tonight we had a great presentation about professional development. And then I believe we had 655 participants if I'm not mistaken. That is a category that does not include um salaries and benefits or so you can look at improvement of instructional

292services and that can include technology specialists that can include platforms etc. I guess I'm just trying to understand how we're offering that professional development because I think instructional staff training is called professional development in the budget category district at such a little cost and I don't know like I said if it could be answered now but it's you when they're looking at 655 people just for this year getting professional development and I think we spent $2,000 on it this year. It would look like it was >> 4. That's what was budgeted for this year's $2,000. >> Well, just just as a point of clarification, I think because that is not that $2,000 is not what was spent on all training. I think what you said was a significant like we're not outsourcing this anymore. We're

293we're doing this internally. So, a significant amount of the expense that we're spending on staff training is actually probably in instruction and some of the other buckets to to the question that I think uh board member Anderson is asking is is there is there a way I I get that staff training budget line item separate from where we're actually doing it because we're not hiring consultants or other people to do that anymore. Is there a way to estimate what we actually are spending on staff training within the within the budget? And I realize it might not be a separate line item, but that would help I think in the question that you're >> each function has a professional learning line also. >> Got it. So we >> the function >> within the function. >> So

294we could add up and and just come up with a number. Okay. That's right. >> Couple things that stood out to me. good job anticipating what QBE was going to be like 0.06 06. Is that how close you were? Really good. That's very helpful. Um I also 4 million extra three and a half three and a half >> four which >> FY25 overall that yellow part right >> a we have an illegally high fund balance. >> I won't say illegally. >> Okay. I apologize. that from the record. >> Yeah, please write that >> per board policy was 5 to 15%. >> And you're saying as a result of that budget >> where >> Okay. Okay. And then that the the actual versus the projected to put that in the numbers was 4 point a difference

295of 4.4 >> a difference of about 6, >> right? Because initially we budgeted to reduce it by 2.2 but instead we added 4.4 add >> and so that's more than almost two two plus years of a bond payment and some debt and some other stuff and then absolutely and then the and then the other thing that stood out to me that never gets talked about and I want to start screaming it more was the uh instruction increase if it one one slide up that was great that you said that that was largely stuff but but so an extra 3.4% 4% 3.4 million in in the is almost exclusively I mean there's some other small things but that's a that's the majority of where our money goes and that's what we added was was compensate does

296that include health the health care >> okay so that's cheating >> aggressive increase year-over-year to add $3.4 $4 million to the instruction line and add six million to it and and you know Yep. That's it. >> Just can you clarify again that uh that money that rolled over into the fund balance was that largely because of the overage from Dicab? >> That was part of it. It was between the when you look at this slide, not this slide. When you look at this slide, you see with the revenue, we came in four million over in revenue and then for expenditures, we spent 2 million less. So those two numbers add that together and that's went to the fund balance. >> And so all of that went into the fund balance that overturn from CAP just

297went directly into the fund balance. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So so I realized that that a couple things are happening in the numbers that aren't really our fault, right? like the $3.5 million of extra tax revenue that the cap had withheld from us showing up all in one year that's going to go into the fund balance. We didn't anticipate that until really the end of the budget cycle. I'm I'm more interested in the two and a half $2.6 million less expense. I mean, you you mentioned yourself that you're always going to have vacant positions. You're always going to have, you know, shifts like that that happen in the in the budget. I know we're in the process of putting an ERP system which will help us more tightly anticipate that. But we do have historical

298data that can help guide us when we choose if we chose to withhold budgeting. You can authorize a position and withhold the funding for that position presumptively on the uh the expectation that there's going to be vacant positions for a period of time. And I I think it's important that we start to to do that, right? I mean, we we have I want to congratulate you. I mean, we've moved from years where our budget unfortunately whipssawed over under over under and it could whipsaw substantially over and substantially under that reserve fund. We've we've stopped that. We are now in a place where we have real control over what we're spending and that's due to your work. So, I don't I don't fail to recognize that we're now very conservative in the way that we do

299this. And consistently, we're putting more money than anticipated into the reserve. Right? So, the reserve is actually consistently growing. We're above the 15%. That 22% isn't our fault. Again, a lot of that came from the state, but we would still end up uh without, you know, threeish million or so dollars. That is one mil. Right? So I I know I'm going to harp on this a lot, but but we we because we are budgeting much more tightly and we have chosen to budget conservatively, what we are basically doing is uh taxing a mill of additional dollars to ensure that. And so this is where I want us to get a little bit more tight and sophisticated and be willing to not budget for positions that we know are going to be vacant on just I

300mean not even that we know but we might anticipate are going to be vacant, right? >> Really we really can't anticipate what >> that's why it isn't a specific position. If I know that I run a department with X number of people and there is a percent of that number that is consistently vacant every year, I can short that budget by that consistent amount. Even though I don't know which position is going to be vacant over the course of the year, I will know that some of the positions will be vacant over the course of the year. And it means that I'm tighter to what I anticipate. It also means for our purposes every once in a while we're going to come in where we overspent our budget rather than underspent it by a small

301percentage. >> That is what the reserve is for because otherwise what we are doing is we are consistently taking an extra mill and putting it into our reserve. >> And so I do I recognize that the ERP is going to make a lot of this much easier. I do think that we can be even tighter. I feel like I've heard this I feel like I've heard this speech at least twice. >> This is my third time saying this. My annual revision. >> I feel like I get my question. How is how is she which position >> consider and I don't I totally understand the logic. How is she supposed and James is over here grumbling like how how is she supposed to anticipate which positions to consider taking out of the budget and at and

302how much like I mean >> so the the quick answer sorry I don't mean to interrupt the the quick answer is you don't have to know which position is going to be vacant to reduce the budget for all of the positions by a certain percentage because during the course of the budget cycle you can move money as needed. We even talked about this earlier today for the positions that are filled from the positions that aren't filled. That can be active as the budget goes over the course of the year. And I'm not talking about 10% or 15% reductions. We're talking about 1 or 2% in the course of some of these these positions, right? Uh what I would suggest that we do is let's take it conservatively this year. I mean, we are consistently 2%

303or so over >> usually >> under budget, but So we're down to two. >> And is that the And is that the goal? The goal is the goal is two. >> That's the KPI. >> So to answer your question, you don't know which ones, but if every year for the last 10 years, we have half a million dollars that we have not been spending. That's a good question. >> Next year's budget should start with there will be about half a million. And if we're short, we're short. That's what we have a budget deficit for. If we're high, at least we're not taxing people money we don't technically need. >> So the position in of itself doesn't matter. The total volume of money does. And you can move the position around from one place to the

304next to compensate. >> Move the money around. >> Imagine someone would have to move the money around for each position and every health benefits >> would have to go with it. >> I understand. So now I do have a question because maybe I'm misremembering like in this particular budget review I think we learned one of the biggest categories um with extra money for lack of a better word um was instruction. So if instruction is our biggest bucket and I think I hear you saying you can look historically and I'm going to guess instruction's always going to have because it's just the biggest bucket with the number of employees. So it sounds like it's amount of money and specific test. >> Yeah. I mean I I do want to be ex expressly clear. I am not

305suggesting reduction in positions. You can choose to not fund positions based on historical knowledge and then move the funds to the positions that are filled and defund the positions that aren't to get even tighter. Right? We don't see any sort of the attrition that that that for example the the city sees but but consistently you would fund fewer personnel than actually authorized because you knew you saw that much churn over the course of a year and it's just a way to tighten that budget a little bit further. Right. >> At the end of the year kind of do that as a cleanup. >> Yeah. >> But it would require moving like I might have to move money from instruction to support services. Do I have to move money? >> Fully understood. Yeah. Fully fully understand

306that. And I know ERP will make that easier on you, right? Um and and I actually sort of like the way James has described it. It's not necessarily saying, "Okay, so we've got $4 million. Let's pull $4 million out of the budget the first year because that might be aggressive." But my guess is we can consistently say, "Let's take a million third of a mill." It would basically take us to the 20 uh uh 20 even millage rate as opposed to a 20.3 uh and we would still have a balanced budget. >> And it would almost cover the entirety of the bond. >> Yes, that's true. >> Say that. >> Just what he's talking about is the entire That's what I'm I'm saying. It's you sweep the corners is what I'm suggesting. Mhm. So board

307members, I remember when we were setting the KPI for the strategic plan and I suggested 2% variance for revenues and expenditures with the feedback provided by the board. It was changed to just expenditures >> as we cannot control revenue. And I want to say thank you for that because this unexpected revenue from the cab county shifted our fiscal year 25 budget tremendously. Additionally, I expect to select that ERP this year. We published the ERP last year, but those who responded could not meet our criteria. Therefore, we have to go back out again with another round of solicitation. Thank you Dr. Broom for the FY25 budget review. I understand this is un audited and I look forward to the and we look forward to the auditor providing his opinion in January. Board will now move on

308to consent agenda items which include monthly items such as financial, nutrition and personnel reports. The first item includes a report. There will be a motion to accept the consent agenda in totality. Dr. Whitaker, do we have a monthly financial report? Yes, Chair Sen Dr. Nolita Broom, chief financial officer will present the monthly financial report. >> Good evening, board chair and everyone. Uh, fiscal year 27. Oh, that's good. >> The September 2025 financial reports and definition of function codes are located in assembly agenda. The finance department operates based on the district's four strategic accelerators with a specific focus on accelerator 4, organizational effectiveness and excellence through financial transparency. For the general fund, as of September, the district collected 31% or approximately $4.4 million of the budgeted revenue year to date, which is in line with the

309percentage that was collected last year. This time, expenditures are normal for this time of the year. The district has expended 18% of the overall budget or approximately $9 million year to date. Last year this time, the district had expended 21% of the overall budget. The majority of September expenditures are the salaries and benefits of 10-month employees who knew whose new fiscal year 25 salary started in September. For the month of September, there was a deficit of approximately $5 million, which means the district's expenditures for the month were $5 million more than the monthly revenue. Last year at this time, the deficit was $4 million. The approximately $5 million has been deducted from the fund balance, which is normal for this time of the year. Overall year to date, there's a surplus of approximately $13 million

310due to receipt of property tax collection posted in July. Last year, this time there was a surplus of $12 million. The surplus of revenue is normal at this time of the year and accounts for the healthy fund balance of approximately $37 million, which includes the unodudited beginning fund balance of approximately $24 million. Please note that the fund balance will continue to decrease as expenditures increase. September revenue for capital fund consists approximately $596,976 from flock six proceeds and earnings on investments. Expenditures are significantly lower than last year and the $930,930 $930,714 deficit was deducted from the fund balance. The district collected 17% of budgeted revenue and expended 26% of budgeted expenditures. Special revenue funds consist mainly of federal, local, and state grants, not budgeted in general funds. In September, we were closing out fiscal year 25

311grants, receiving fiscal year 26. The district collected 10% of the budget revenue and expended 18% of the budget expenditures. Reimburseable grants require the district to spend the funds prior to receiving reimbursement. Food nutrition revenue and expenditures are trending within the same range as previous years for the month of September. 21% of the budgeted revenue was received and 17% of the budgeted expenditures were spent. School nutrition operated at a deficit of 12,487 which has been deducted from the fund balance. As of September, the school nutrition fund balance was approximately $1.4 million. This time last year, the fund balance was $1.8 million. I will be happy to respond to any questions or provide clarification as needed. Thank you, Dr. Broom. Any questions or comments from the board? No. This item is on to consent. Dr. Whitaker, do

312we have another presentation? >> Uh, it's actually going to be yes and I will do it. Okay. it will be click. So, uh last yes. Um so, it is regarding the uh legislative priorities and so the legislative priorities that were drafted or proposed in uh October of last year have been are on the consent agenda. Next slide. the proposed uh all of our uh legislative priorities are part of all parts of the strategic plan, but they really do focus on the organizational effectiveness and excellence strategic accelerator. Our first priority remains the same as um presented in October session and we have added a specific priority to continue to allow the operation of enforcement of school zone speed cameras. So that is added from last year but is in this one. Moving next slide. The mental

313health priorities still remain the same. There has been no changes. Next slide. The funding C funding legislative priority remains the same from the work session. No changes. And this is a continuation of that funding priority. No changes. But um we did want to make sure that you knew and this is not Yeah, this is not the latest cuz it's missing her bullet. is the bullet including the okay >> the bullet that is missing is a red bullet that says that there is a priority to ensure that um we are going to advocate to have a student member of the board at the legisl under the gold zone. So that will be part of the legislative priorities for this year. That is the one bullet that was added to what was in the work session agenda

314and needs to um >> Sure. Please read it. >> The only bullet that changed one for amplify student voice >> and now says urge local school districts to amplify student voice by adding a student representative to education. >> Yeah. So that is a bullet that is missing from this slide but that is a part of the legislative pro >> and and I don't want to and >> just to be transparent with the public the situation as it stands because we are a charter district and have uh particular exemptions that we can take with the state we are able to put a student board representative on our for but it's my understanding is public school systems in Georgia that are not charter systems don't have that flexibility and so we are advocating at the state house

315to include the Georgia dome I'm sorry to include uh other >> okay yes that's a good way of Yes. And the right one is on assembly. It just was not projected. >> Got it. All right. >> Yes. So, Chair Sultan, may I read? Oh, you want to move it to consider? >> All right. Thank you. Any uh Thank you, Dr. Whitaker. Any comments or questions from the board? Hey, I want to just I really appreciated Senator Parent speaking up about the way QBE and we have stuff and how important the governor because in the state of Georgia >> governor sets the budget the just basically their office just gets to say this is how much money we think we're going to make and then they have >> and that election and probably more important for

316educational funding and priorities and being able to do anything than >> than than almost anything >> than any other human being person or office that exists. Um, you know, the governor just and and we have a massive budget in the state. Mary Margaret Oliver said she thinks it's $17 billion that all it would take is a different governor or a different different group to say like we do do have this money. We do care about QBE. We do care about these things and we would have a lot more because the problem is we have the priorities. They seem very non-controversial, right? Like the school govern, you know, and more mental health. But until they fix that budget and you as as a citizen who we vote for, it's incredibly important. >> Yeah. She also described

317they only get so many bites at the apple. You know, they can only go back so many times. Um so it's not out of >> lack of desire. Um sometimes it's just a finite amount of dollars. Any other um questions or comments? All right. This item is on to consent. All right. Shar Sal, may I read the recommendation? >> Yes, please. >> I recommend that the City Schools of Decator Board of Education approve consent agenda items 1 through six. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items 1 through six? >> Move. >> Board member US makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh, board member Anderson seconds. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Chair votes I. Any opposed? The motion carries unanimous and please introduce

318the next item. >> First also I would like to call on Mrs. Amanda Lynch chief of staff to discuss three policies for first read. >> Good evening once again board chair Dr. Sultan vice chair let's see members of the board and superintendent Dr. Gina Whitaker. Tonight we have three policies on the agenda for action. These policies are SD, facilities longrange planning, FDB, long range needs determination, and JCDAS, use of electronic devices by students. First of policy SD, facilities long-range planning. This policy was presented last month for first read and has been available for public comment through assembly. No public comment was received and no changes were made to the version presented last month. Now, is the recommendation? >> Yes, please. is the recommendation or it is recommended that the city school board of education approve

319policy FD facilities long range planning for action. Do I have a motion to approve the recommendation of policy FD facilities long range planning for second read action? >> So move for member Hernand makes a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Member Johnson Davis seconds the motion. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor chair votes I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. >> Next is policy SD, long range needs determination. This policy was presented last month for first read and has been available for public comment through assembly. We did receive one public comment requesting the inclusion of timelines specifically for community input and informing families of a potential school closure. Based on the board's initial discussion and pre-work, specific timelines were discussed but determined not to be included. Importantly, state law

320provides for community input opportunities related to school closures. Therefore, no changes were made to the version presented last month. May I read the recommendation? >> Yes, please. >> It is recommended the City Schools of Decator Board of Education approve policy FDB, long range needs determination for action. Do >> I have a motion to approve the recommendation of policy FDB, long range needs determination for second read action? >> So move. >> Board member makes a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. Board member Hearnen seconds the motion. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor votes I. Any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. >> Finally is policy JCCF, use of electronic devices by students. This policy was presented last month for first reading. Has been available for public comment through assembly. We received four

321public comments via all of which were comments in support of the policy. Respondents indicated comfort with students not having access to their devices during the school day, but still desired students to have access before and after school, especially for safety purposes and tracking students during arrival and dismissal. One respondent emphasized the importance of the policy restricting access throughout the day, and emphasized that students should not be able to easily sneak devices during the school day. We appreciate this affirming feedback. No changes were made to the version of the policy presented last month. Next steps will be to work with schools on the implementation plan for when the policy goes into effect next school year. May I read the recommendation? Yes, please. It is recommended the city school educator board of education approve policy JCD AF

322by students for to approve the recommendation of policy J CD AF use of electronic devices by students for second read action. >> Board member Anderson makes a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh board member seconds a motion. Is there any discussion >> just very very quickly the timeline is for public to understand the timeline is the next school year and that is this was driven by state law I'm not >> state law required us to put a bell-to- bell prohibition on K through eight um use of electronic devices during the school day it has to be adopted by January 1st of 2026 so we are now once the if the vote goes through we'll be compliance with that and it has to go into effect um for the July 1st. So really

323for us next school year so that will be noted on the policy. >> Okay. Thank you. So even though we're passing this, there's no intent to implement it until >> correct. >> All right. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none. All those in favor? >> Chair votes I. Any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Okay. Did that part. Moving on to future dates. Okay. The K to2 utilization study committees um will launch on November 13th at 6:30 um at Beacon Hill Middle School. So everybody should go to Beacon Hill Middle School. Uh the board will host a retreat on November 18th um at from 12:30 p.m. to 4 pm at the Decatur Conference Center. Topics slated for discussion are return on investment compensation first look school aotment guidelines which is a continuation from October's work session,

324budget parameters and priorities continuation from uh today's work session. Balance scorecard and updated from the allindicator strategic plan. The next board meeting will be held on December 9th, 2025 at the Wilson Center. Uh there being no further business, this meeting is >> actually >> the special call meeting that was tentatively still tensive. It's not we have to wait. >> And then if I may, I had a quick question about the reward retreat. I felt like we talked as a group here that we would be providing a perspective on Yeah. what we wanted as output from those groups. So that'll >> knock something else off that agenda. >> That's it. >> Or you're just going to you're going to circle a square. >> Figure it out. >> I've looked at the the the time aotment. It's

325I need to talk to you guys to think about. So you guys can give me how much time you need for that and then where we'll shave. So we'll add it. >> Um >> okay. >> Any any other >> and just for clarification um on Thursday everybody goes to Beacon Hill but there the committees may not launch. They just will be meeting to discuss how their committees will go. >> I just I feel like the word launch may be a little confusing. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Any other any other discussion? Okay. There being no further business, this meeting is adjourned at 8:04