001On January [music] 1st, 1950, 75 years ago, two school systems united with one dream to educate every [music] child, every family, every future. From that dream, the Muscogee County School District was born. Georgia's first [music] consolidated district. bold, visionary, unifying, a model that [music] would change education across Georgia forever. From the first in the state of Georgia to offer kindergarten classes in 1953 to the founding of Columbus College. From integration to innovation, from new school buildings to reaching new heights, Muscogee County has always risen to the challenge. Few communities can say their school district stretches beyond classrooms. [music] In Muscogee County, education means more than schools. It means culture. The Chattahuchi Valley Library System [music] and the Columbus Museum are a part of the Muscogee County School District, making learning [music] not just a lesson
002in a book, but a living experience in art, history, and discovery. This visionary connection shows that from the very beginning, MCSD was committed to enriching [music] the mind, inspiring the spirit, and serving the whole community. Strong leadership is the [music] foundation of a strong school district. For generations, our board of [music] education, superintendent, and community partners have stood united, turning vision into reality, building schools that inspire and ensuring every choice reflects an unwavering commitment to excellence, [music] equity, and opportunity for all. For 75 years, [music] Muscogee County School District leaders have been pioneers reshaping education, setting the standard for Georgia, and changing its future for the better. Through six successful [music] splast referendums, they have invested not just in buildings, technology, and safety initiatives, but in possibility, [music] in opportunity, and in the limitless future
003of every child in Muscogee County. At the heart of our story are the people. The educators who inspire, the families who believe, the students who achieve, and the community that supports them. Together, we've created opportunities [music] for over seven decades, shaping not only students, but the future of Columbus, Georgia. Today, under the leadership of our board of [music] education and superintendent Dr. David Lewis, Muscogi County students are reaching all-time [music] highs in graduation rates, SAT, ACT, and advanced placement performance. With innovation, equity, and excellence as our guide, we remain committed to equipping every child with the tools to succeed in a changing world. For 75 years, Muscogee County Schools have been the cornerstone of opportunity, progress, and hope. Together, we celebrate our past, [music] embrace our present, and build a future where every child can
004thrive. Muscogee County School District, learning, leading, inspiring together since 1950. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Good evening and happy new year to everyone. Welcome back to um another exciting year at Msco School District. So, we have some technical issues if you see a lot of movement up here, but we should be able to operate just fine. And so, I do want to welcome everybody. Um, if there are any building leaders or on the leadership team, if you would just wave. Yeah, it's just us, huh? Okay. And of course, we always want to thank and welcome the the our partners with the Chattahuchi Valley Library, Alan Harkness, and the Muscogi County, the Muscogi Columbus Museum with U. Mary and Richner and representives. >> Some recent representatives. Okay. >> Department of Education.
005>> Georgia Department of Education. Thank you for joining us. Welcome to our regularly scheduled um board work session. And um we have a public agenda. Um we don't have anyone uh signed up for the public agenda this time, but we are sure that we'll see them next week. It was someone on there, but they have they will check in with us later. They're unable to make it this evening. And so we'll see them all next week. If my computer was up, I'll read a disclaimer. I do like to take this opportunity to to read it, um into the record. And so, uh we can skip education committee and um come back to it. We'll just go to our our discipline committee, Miss Slot. Chair, there are no uh items submitted for the discipline committee. >>
006Thank you so much. And then uh next we have our policy committee by Miss Tillery. Are you on Miss Frank? Okay. Or someone that could go to do the policy committee as I can't. In accordance with the board policy, the board of education shall establish regular monthly meeting dates with its annual board meeting calendar running from February through the following January. Monthly meeting dates shall be published for two consecutive weeks in the official county, Oregon following the setting of the dates. Meeting dates shall also appear on the MSCO County School District website. Um the board uh calendar deviates a few times this year. Uh in February, May 6, I'm sorry, February 16th, uh President's Day, there will be a deviation. Uh obviously, we will not meet on President's Day. March 23rd, there will be a
007board required training. June 22nd, we for budget combined work session in July of July 20th. Combined work session in the month of December as well for uh December the 14th and in January 2027. uh moving to the 19th of January instead of the 18th in observance of the Martin Luther King Day holiday and the board uh projected uh or the proposed meeting schedule is attached. Any questions? >> Thank you so very much. Uh next, Miss Jackson with our personnel committee. personnel report. We have, if you pull your mic down just a little bit, >> our personnel report, we have four attachments. Um, the vacancies, the new hire, um, inactive, and the operation. Are there any questions hearing? None. Back to you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Canrell. Our property committee. I'm sorry.
008>> No, the next one is property. >> Uh Pat Frey, >> thank you, Madam Chair. U for our library report. Lots of interesting things that continue to have going at the library, but I think the uh the author series this month regarding uh food and and how things came about and Adrien Miller will be the first in that series talking about the history of barbecue. Uh that's pretty pretty a neat concept of having uh those authors come in and meet our their readers in our in our city. Also, there was a a a customer from Columbus, Ohio, who mistakenly got in contact with the Columbus, Georgia library, and while they were trying to do some genealogy research, and the folks here said, "Well, we're not Columbus, Ohio, but we can still help you." And they
009did. So, they got him through and got got him all the information. So, ready to serve no matter where the person is. So, I thought that was pretty cool. Um, the library continues to serve no matter what and no matter who. Uh, going back here to our museum report at Maryanne and I were talking earlier. My family has already signed up for the glass blowing classes at the end of February. Very exciting. Um, Winter Wonderland in December reached another record attendance in December of over 1,600 almost 1,700. Um and and the PAL's program uh from preK students continues to be a huge success. And the uh the uh John Miller the daily special the the art uh as depicting uh old diner foods for lack of a better term. Um it's the art version of
010Diner Drive-In Dives I think uh just just closed. So, lots of new things coming up and the heist where folks get to do almost a a sleuth kind of adventure in at the library is uh is coming up. So, lots of interesting not the library, I'm sorry, at the museum. So, really cool stuff going on. Uh and that's it for the property report. >> Thank you so much, Miss F. Mr. Canrell construction. >> Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Moving on to item number one, uh, agenda H1, budget HVAC project. The Department of Construction seeks approval of the COP HVAC project budget developed by the approved construction manager, Freeman and Associates Construction Company. The project budget will include work at Blackman Road Middle School and Downtown Elementary School. The budgetary impact funding for this purchase
011includes $9,53,414 will be expanded from the capital projects fund east plots. The superintendent's recommendation approve the cop 2027 HVAC project budget developed by Freeman Associates for the Blackman Road Middle School and Downtown Elementary School. Any questions, ladies? If not, we move to our next agenda. Agenda item number H2, the budget chiller replacement project. The Department of Construction seeks approval of the Rigdon Road Elementary Chiller Replacement Project developed by the approval construction manager Freeman and Associates Construction Company. The budgetary impact will total $431,916 will be expanded from the capital projects fund east blocks. The superintendent's recommendation approved the project budget developed by Freeman and Associates Construction Company for the chiller replacement at Rigdon Road Elementary. Any questions? If not, we move on to our last agenda number H3, the construction status report. And Mr. Ward Autumn
012will present the construction slideshow board. Thank you, sir. >> Good evening. So, for the January uh by monthly slideshow on update us on our construction updates. So, we have the Blackman Road cooling tower project. That's the uh completed cooling tower that was put in right before Thanksgiving. Looks good. Run at school. And of course, one of the HVAC will be uh this upcoming summer at that school. The Connect Stadium upgrade project. Um what you what you have here, I'm got quite a few pictures on Connect Stadium. Uh but to your left would be the visitor side and the home side to your right. And of course, I put this in there so you can see again the field and the track has already been completed on another project. That's the demolition of the visitor side
013halfway through. That's what it looks like when they complete it. So, a lot of lot of dirt. Yes. So, on that uh the home side, uh that's the demolition of the home side. Then on the visitor side where we're going to replace the ticket booth and the concession building, that's what it looks like now. So, we could have a before. Uh, and then of course you can see the base going in with all the M10 and the plumbing that's up top. That was beautiful weather that day. So, we have we have the slab that's being put in place and they're actually putting CMU up right now. >> What is this? >> This is the concession uh the visitor side concession and ticket booth. >> Okay. At Connect. >> Uh then we would move on to
014we had the warehouse lighting uh project. In your left that's kind of the old fixtures. Um, in the right you see the new LEDs. It's made a huge difference out there. Workers can actually see what's going on inside. So, and as always, I mean, we have the auditorium upgrade. Um, coming up next, Shaw, St. Elmo and Winton, uh, Blackton Road in downtown, Double Church's elementary upgrade, Rigdon Road, cooling tower upgrade, and and the Rothschild gym. Uh, Rothchild gym will be starting some midFebruary. So, we'll present on that next month. And as always, we think this is for the east plus without which that vote, we couldn't do any of these projects for the students. So, thank you'all. >> Thank you so much, Ward. Any questions, ladies? If not, Madam Chair, that's all for the construction
015committee. >> Thank you, Mr. Canro. Up next, we have finance, Dr. Chambers. >> Thank you so much, Madam Chair. On the finance committee, there are 10 sections. The first section is purchase exception A and B. Um this is for the department of program for exceptional students seeking to approve to issue a purchase request for ENOMI Inc. which is um called Gold Book and this is a partial district membership for up to 110 users. The cost of that funding for this purchase is totaling $65,450. Um, are there any questions in reference to this particular program? Okay. Hearing none, I'll go on to item two, which is purchase exception E, additional purchases. This is for psychological services and this is the department of um program for exception of students and they are seeking approval to increase the
016purchase order for Odell vining. This increase will support the growth demand for psychological evaluations um including proportionate share students and students with disabilities attending eligible private schools, home schools, and other students served by the Mscoia County School District. Funding for this purchase is not to exceed 125,000. And I was wondering if we could get some additional information on that item if no one has a Oh, well um Miss Buckner, did you have a question about that item? Okay, Miss Buckner, >> I was wondering um when in the reference to homeschooling and private schools. Um so are these are students who have uh elected to are these students the ones who have elected to take their funds to private schools or to be okay. Yeah. >> Get the information on it because I'm trying to figure
017that out. >> No ma'am. These these are the students that we have to set aside a portion of the money that we get for special ed to provide for for private services. That those are the students we're talking about. not the promise scholarship students. These are not those students. >> Okay. And that's that's >> it's the proportionate share that we have to set aside to to work with homeschooler and students that's home school that are in private placements. >> Okay. I thought we did it depending on who was in >> Did we do it during Did we um did we do it back in 194? Did we do it Did we do it in uh 20 20? It's 26 now. Did we do it in 2021, 2022, and 2023? >> I believe we have to.
018So, we have to do the proportionate share every year. It's a it's a portion of the budget that they set aside when we >> No. Yeah, we have to depending on what the uh law says. And when you have different people in government, the laws changed. I thought we I thought we did not have to do that in the years of 2020 through 2023, but we did do it. >> I'm not certain if we did. I imagine if they waved it because of COVID or something like that, they might have waved waved that that requirement, but the requirement is there now. I know that. And >> yeah, I know it's not now because government has changed. I was just wondering did we do it in 2020 2023? >> I can try to find out. Can
019you talk to us a little bit about how those funds will be um distributed? Do they apply to get those funds or how how does that um work? >> Usually what happens is we meet with the um with the community and get feedback from them on what services they want. >> Okay. >> And then we look at the portion of the money that that is set aside and what we're required to provide and we use that as a guide using people's like hourly rate and things like that to get an idea of how much proportionate share we have to spend. But we do it in consultation with the community. >> Okay? >> So we get feedback from them on what services do they want. And generally speaking, it's it's usually they want speech therapy, they
020want psychological services. [snorts] It's not usually instructional. They usually want therapies and and diagnostic stuff like that is usually what they want. >> Okay, perfect. Sounds good. I appreciate it. Then um additional information on the vendor and the provider. I guess I was curious, but we get to decide who provides those services to them. Yes. Okay. Yes. >> Decided it said to some private >> schools. >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I mean, >> how do how do you decide that [snorts] and which ones? And maybe I'm looking at the wrong thing. I might have been looking at the other one. >> What says when I was reading over this, it said to some eligible private Elder, what's the um what's the eligibility criteria for the schools that receive the money? >> The Well, they have
021students that would qualify for services >> under Yeah. under IDA. There's students that would qualify have students that would qualify under IDA for services. >> So, this may So, students with disabilities attending eligible, this thing says students with disability attending eligible private school. >> So that suggests that >> if you're not >> It doesn't merely mean students with disability disabilities. It means students with abilities attending certain would it be the schools that um service that provide the services for >> we providing? >> No, I'm talking about the you're trying to figure out why is it a distinction between which private schools some private schools. So it says eligible. >> Yeah. >> And she's trying to ask >> what makes a private school eligible. Is it is it the private school that's >> that's choosing to
022serve students with special needs? Then probably should say it that way. Who offer the service >> instead of >> who pro you know because all private schools don't service special needs. >> No they don't. >> All right. Good deal. >> Thank you. >> Dr. off. When you get ready to meet with the community, can you let us know so if we would like to attend, we can attend and and sort of get more information on this item. >> We do it every October, but I will make sure Yes, ma'am. But I will make sure that you >> All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate you clarifying that for us. >> All right. Any other questions, board members, before we move on to item three? All right. Hearing [snorts] none, I'm going to move forward
023with item 1.3, which is purchase exception F, invitation to bid. The first invitation to bid is on schools specialty inc. And this is the department of plant services seeking approval to issue a purchase request to school specialty for purchasing event chairs. And so you see that it is attached. Looks like um we approved purchases for this vendor totaling $30,000 before. If we approve this item, the total expenditures will be 76,915. And so this is for removable chairs. Looks like 200 maybe 200 of 500 of them for 46,000. Any questions board members? Okay, hearing none, I'll move on to item two, Lenovo computers. This is for the Chattahuchi Valley Library and they seek to approve to issue a purchase request to purchase more computers and it is attached. The quote is attached. Any questions about that
024board members? Okay. Hearing none, we'll go to the next item. And all of these were um bid out. The next one is for the Department of Athletics and they seek to issue a purchase request for a Viva or a VV um solutions and this is for defibrillators and I wanted just some clarification on that as far as how many where these are housed and things of that nature. Can someone speak to that? I guess that's you as well, Mr. N. Oh, okay. Mr. Battles. Okay. [clears throat] Good evening. Jeff Battles, director of construction, but I also serve on the health and safety committee for Msco County School District, and that's where this is coming from. Um, we [clears throat] are looking to upgrade our defibrills, our AEDs. um these specific ones that we are purchasing
025here. The majority of these would go into our police vehicles. Uh right now our police vehicles do not have um operating AEDs in them. This is uh so that they have whenever they're on a scene or at a school or whatever, they have an a functioning AED in their vehicle so that they um again are an emergency personnel. These would also replace the ones that are at Otis Spencer Stadium and Ket Stadium. Um, this would put the Vive ADS there. >> Okay, sounds good. And where will they be housed? Because it says we're buying a cabinet to secure and to store them >> there. There's only a few cabinets that will be bought and those are the ones at the stadiums. The the the ones for the police vehicles won't have cabinets. >> Okay, sounds
026good. Thank you so much for the clarification. We appreciate it. All right, moving right along. Exception G, professional services. There are four items. The first one is for Shaw High School and it's leadership support for 25,000. It's professional development. Any questions board members? Okay. The second one is also show high school teacher support and this is for individual Terry Meyers. The resume and everything is attached and that is for 24,000. The third one is for mental health services and and this is a series of mental health services um equaling $234,000. Any questions about the mental health services? And the last one is a Oxbow Meadows field trip. That is so we can take our third grade and fifth grade students to Oxbow Meadows. And as soon as my system um stops thinking, I will go
027on to the next one, which I know is uh number five, competitively bid purchases. And so glad I printed out my agenda items because it is still thinking. [laughter] Okay. All right. Competitively bid purchases. The first one is banking services and we have talked about this board members for a while now and um we asked the administration to go back and review our banking services and this is coming from the division of financial services. A competitive solicitation process was completed for banking service for banking services for Mscogi County School District and they are proposing that we continue to use Senova's bank. If you look at the attachment, there is a summary of different banks that were that responded to the RFP and who went through the process and they were weighted and evaluated. Any questions
028about this or does the CEO CFO have anything she'd like to add? No. Miss Buckner, go right ahead. Uh I just um I thought they did a good job in explaining the uh two aspects of what they uh used. Um it seems that they analyze the banks >> um according to um what's called um the technical part technical evaluation and then there was the financial uh evaluation. on the uh technical evaluation, it was explained to us what that meant and there were three things that they considered >> in that explanation and then each of the five raiders gave their own uh ratings and um and then they they gave up um the technical score was 600s. So what I was wondering uh they just gave uh the technical score value was 600 each of them
029gave something like 444 or maybe four 552 so um I'd like to see how was that considered how was the three areas applied to that And when you finish that so I won't have to go again in in the financial part uh could you tell me um it seems that had the um they gave us they gave us the best they had the best uh earnings on um interest and then they also uh had U the fees they had they gave us um they were had better uh fees less fees. So on that question and then you have some numbers 160 16 I wonder what numbers you use for that. How did we get those numbers? How did you get that? >> Okay. Um Edwin Joseph, senior director of procurement and supply management. Um, basically,
030and it's going to be the easiest answer, um, because without running into a lot of mathematics and a rubrics and a formulas and just confusing the situation, um, the bid and the bid proposal are all based on mathematics with with the rubric. So, the rubrics actually does like something called like a weight average. So, with the weight average, for example, the first one, um, category, the first category gives you 20%. >> So, it's 20% out of 600. 600 being the maximum amount of point that you can actually get for the technical part of the bid. Um once you multiply the 20% by the 600 that gives you a maximum point that you can actually pick up is about 120 points. Okay. So holding on to that 120 right the evaluators can evaluate between 1 to
03110. One being the lowest rating and 10 being the highest rating. So what we do is we take the multiplier which would be the 120 simple math brings it down to a multiplier of 12. If I score any a a a um bid a section a category 10 points saying that it's the highest rating that I want to give him. You multiply that 10 by the multiplier of 12. >> So each category had like were rated with 10. >> Yes. Yes. One to 10. >> That's what I'm trying to figure. Yeah. >> So each category was rated >> one to 10. >> Oh, okay. I was trying to get some understanding. So each category had like a rating of 10. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Per evaluator. >> Right. >> Per Okay. So that one
032through 10 was just a blanket one through 10 for uh technical or or did you divide any of this up instructional qualifications, account structure? >> Right. So it's 1 to 10 per category. So there's three categories. That's why I said it's going to be a lot of math. So, I'm throwing a lot at you. >> I'm trying to figure out how you did. >> Yep. Yep. No problem. So, I'm going to give you the simplest one. >> I'm not doing the math. I'm trying to figure out how you got that. How you got it, right? You know. >> Yep. Exactly. So, so we're going to go >> I only I can't even do the math, but I just wanted to see how we came if you >> So, there were numbers. So, you did uh
033separate those three categories. >> Yes. >> And each evaluator responded to those and then you applied the math that you need. >> Correct. Yes. We applied the rubrics to that. >> Okay. Yeah, >> that's that's pretty much all I needed. on that and the the second one I was trying to figure how you pulled in numbers to get like one >> 16. How did you evaluate that? >> That was based off of the 300 37.5 million. What we did is we gave an average amount to all the evaluators and then when they came back then they gave us their interest rate multiplied the interest rate and that was the amount that we would actually make on interest. So that we took that straight from MA >> applied it to the other other bank. >> Correct.
034Yeah, same same 3 37.5 million across the board >> to both >> and um I don't know what the public wanted to know. We had we sent out how many we sent out six. We only got two. We only two banks responded. >> And we also Well, three was too late. So >> the third one was too right. Correct. >> And we also posted on our website. >> Right. And we also posted on just to let you know that we did send it out. It was to a number of banks. We had well we had and there were only two eligible ones out of the ones that we sent. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Ah you're very welcome. >> Thank you madam chair. >> So um so we've all of
035the banking all of our financial everything is with one bank. Am I did did I understand that correct? separate >> our day-to-day all of our day-to-day banking financial stuff is with one vendor the bonds are separate with a separate vendor >> we put it out to for bid it separately so um I guess my question is was there any um requirement or uh criteria for or anything weighted that we um just only bank with one vendor. Was there any suggestion or this or are we just strictly going by the formula that >> the formula >> was there any other part of the formula or any other part of the requirement not the formula but any other requirement that we would just put everything with one vendor? Um well right now the way we have our
036accounts set up is that we technically only have one bank account for all of the schools. All us and the schools all use the same one account and we don't allow the um schools to open up their own individual accounts. >> I don't mean like that. I mean, um, so if we had our day-to-day with the vendor, if we had PE cards with the vendor or that I that's what I'm trying to ask. Is there is was it the goal to just have one vendor? >> Well, the PECARD, we have that with a with Bank of America. >> Okay. >> Um, the PE cards are >> that wouldn't have been a part of this bid because I don't see that name on here. >> Uhuh. No. Okay. Um, >> is that part bid? >> Did
037they respond? Okay. >> At another time. >> Okay. So, is there a reason why is is there anything else that wasn't bidded out that's related to vendors or financial services other than the pecards? >> We have something different. >> We have an investment. That's what I was why I had chimed in when you were asking about other accounts. Our investments are um that we have um are with uh uh multi-bank securities. Um and that's on the financial statements. >> Yes. on the monthly um in list of investments. >> Would a vendor having a major merger impact anything >> as far as the bid that we all of the criteria that we went through with the bidding out um with um this whole rubric that was applied to the previous owner. I guess now that it's
038a merger would any would that impact anything or would it would it impact um the process that we went through that they qualified for under a different owner and now that it's changed that would that have any impact? This is a this is a valid question may not be anything I want to know but this is a valid question >> um that we will because the um the way things are structured and even with the bank and the the way the merger could have happened we were that at this point there will be >> the contract that we're entering into now is going to be the same contract that will carry forward >> to any changes that would be made. >> Okay. So if if the changes if the if the vendor has changed not
039just name but potentially operations products all of that my question is would that have an impact because they were evaluated based on the previous owner's products or services or fees. They were the valuation was was based on the previous owner's information, services, products, fees, everything that was in the rubric. And now that if there if a merger if a major merger takes place and any of those things change >> would be like with any vendor that we would have um that we that contract just carries over um and we would evaluate if there were any significant changes through that process which we are not anticipating. >> Correct. um that >> uh that it would be with any company that is changing like that >> um the process would be the same that we would if
040there were significant changes that's why you know the um contracts typically are um reviewed um annually and and then if there's any changes you know if there's any concerns that we have then we could go out for bid again um at any point in the future. Yeah, they're picking up the contract and basically we do renew annually. So if there were to be a change or deviation from then we could reassess and go from there. But >> we don't anticipate that at all. Correct. >> Yes. >> It is just >> hold on. >> The contracts for one year at a time. We have said we're going to reevaluate what every I mean y'all bring it us every 10 years. But in the meantime, yes, if for some reason, which I am in no way saying
041this is going to happen, but if there was a March difference in the service we received or for some reason some branches were closed or something and it made things different, we're only obligated for one year and we could just need to say that we're voting for I mean I do think it's very good to say that while we don't put out the RFP but every 10 years, we can change it any >> at any time that we want to anytime we need to. Yes. Yeah. And and and to Miss Mrs. Green's point, one of the categories I thought about what she said today, what she was talking about too. And one of the categories did address stability, you know, and I'm sure just like Lori said, we're doing it every year anyway because that's
042on this thing. It talked about institutional qualifications, experience, support, and stability. So if a bank is changing and merging, that might have impact. But we base the information on what is happening right now as Janice said >> and uh every year we evaluate our stuff. Even though we are voting for five years, it's still on a year-to-year basis up to five years. >> All right, board members, any more questions? Thank you so much, sir. We appreciate you. >> Yes. All right, hearing no more questions, I'll move on to item two, which is the North Side High School band uniforms and the vendor and the purchase amount is attached. If there are no questions, I'll move on to item >> just a moment for the record. Just like to remind everyone that we provide our portion
043for all banning forms for all high schools. So this is on a rotational basis. >> Yes. >> I was just going to ask you important if there's a list that we will know >> the rotation. >> It's okay. >> Yep. There is a rotation annually. >> Okay. [snorts] >> I got to that item. >> I was reading all the way down. I almost scared >> trying to figure out what was going. Then I got to the part that says up to 25,000 because I knew >> Yeah. >> We raised money for being uniforms at my high school >> and we we didn't get by $25,000 all the way down to the bottom. It said 20 up to 25,000. >> Not to That's all not to exceed 25. >> Yeah. Up to 20. >> Yep. All
044right. Any more questions about the ban uniforms and our role in assisting with that? Okay. Hearing none, I'll move on to item six, which is the soul source and volatile purchases, and that is for fuel purchases, and it is attached. And as soon as my computer is ready to move on, we'll move on to >> number seven. I think all of our computers froze at this point. >> Number seven are the budget adjustments. >> Number seven is the budget adjustment. Number seven. Oh, there we go. Okay. There is a reallocation of funds for the blended head start program and that is attached. There is no change in revenue but there is a reallocation of funds and I did have a question about this item as well. This is for the blended um head start. I'm
045not sure who can answer that question but >> okay I just wanted to know what these changes mean as far as personnel are concerned because it looks like we've um taken away the aids and parapros if I'm reading it correctly. >> Hi I'm Kimberly Thomas I'm the prek director and that's a great question. So this year unfortunately we had a lot of transitions. Employees starting the school year with us then resigning. >> Okay. >> U credentials change. New employees may possess an associate degree. There are others that possess a CDA and a bachelor's degree. So depending on the qualifications and credentials that may mean we need to shift the funds >> to be able to meet those credentials and years of experience. >> Okay, sounds good. So are we um losing some pair of professionals?
046>> No, ma'am. We're maintaining Okay. um based on the workforce right now. Unfortunately, we have six blended prek classes and currently two of them have vacancies and we're looking for pair of professionals. Um they're advertising but unfortunately we haven't been able to locate >> so we're using substitutes in the meantime. >> Okay. All right. Sounds good. Miss um McCree. >> Do we have any idea why we've had a lot of transition or switch over in that area? >> Well, pair of professionals only earn uh $24,000 >> and so the income doesn't necessarily meet everyone's um household uh expenses and so some are finding higher paying positions. >> Are the prek ones paid the same as our the rest of the district. >> Yes, actually the prek pair of professionals make a couple of dollars more
047than the kindergarten pair of professionals. >> I thought we did something recently to do that. Okay. I was just curious as to why I mean so this isn't something that was just happening with prek. It's across >> No. I wish I had a magic answer and we had an unlimited budget but we don't. >> Okay. >> But guess what? The state is looking at increasing classified employees salaries and benefits. So, I hope it passes >> in the legislation. >> Sounds good. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Question. >> And my question is is it's is going to go under HR I suppose. Um so the subfinder because I don't know what else to call it. Um >> the old version. >> Yeah. Does that >> ESS >> ES Okay. ESS um the blended prek program
048has use the same ESS service >> for all. Okay. Okay. >> Thank you so much. The next item is about preK as well. PreK lottery grant and u looks like there is an adjustment. Looks like we received more than we originally anticipated and that is attached. [clears throat] >> Bless you. Okay. Hearing no more questions, I'll go on to the um item number three which is CTE grant and um this is an additional allocation of budgeted funds because we received an increase in revenue and that is attached an extra $18,824. All right, item number eight are our financial statements. We receive those each month. Item number nine is the quarterly audit summary and that is attached from our audit meeting back in December on the 15th. And the last item, item number 10 are our
049donations and we want to say to the community, we thank you for um knowing that stu schools can't do it alone and we thank you for your donations. Um, Madam Chair, that concludes the finance committee and I'll turn it back over to you. >> Thank you um so very much. Um, we do need to go back to our education uh committee, but Dr. Lewis, did you want to do a recognition before >> I'll do those at the end, but I did want this you may call is a followup to a request from the board for a math update. So, that's what we have. We graciously and very much appreciate having folks from both RHSA and from Department of Education as well as our own internal staff here to bring us that update >> and then
050we'll go right into education after that. >> Well, this is part of the education. >> Part of it. Okay. So, any other thing I guess is what I'm trying to say. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> [snorts] >> microphone here. >> Good evening. Quint Delo, K5 mathematics content specialist, and I'm going to start us out tonight with our K12 mathematics update. So before we jump into kind of what we've been doing and how we know it's working, I wanted to take a few minutes just to talk about our standardsbased instructional framework. Um the Georgia instructional framework emphasizes student centered learning, high quality tasks, mathematical discourse, and productive efforts for learning or of learning. So one of the things we're trying to do in the math classroom now is make sure that we better prepare our students
051to be lifelong learners. doers and um learner I'm sorry lifelong learners and doers of mathematics. So we're not just teaching them math content in isolation um to pass a test but we're trying to make sure they're prepared to enter a workforce train to be able to reason and to be able to problem solve. So instruction is intentionally structured to move students away um from just engagement to deep understanding and application. and our K12 mathematics standards have three pillars, mathematical modeling, statistical reasoning, and interdisciplinary connections. So, the benefits of using Georgia's instructional units and learning plans is that this is the one resource that we can say is aligned to Georgia's K12 mathematics standards. It was created by expert Georgia educators. Um, some people from our team took part in helping develop the instructional resources as
052well as going through the standard revision process with the Georgia Department of Education. And the resources are intentionally built around Georgia standardsbased instructional frameworks. So our instructional framework has four components. Engage, explore, apply, and reflect. And in the next slide, I'll actually go through and describe each one of those to you. But they include high quality task, purposeful questioning, and opportunities for discussion and reflection. So the students are not just sitting in math class having a strategy, one strategy regurgitated to them. The teacher's doing some guided practice and then they go back to their seat and they act as robots doing the same thing over and over again. We're trying to make sure they have that deep level of understanding. So the resources are designed to or for the framework, they're not adapted to it.
053So that instructional framework, as I said, has four components. In the engage component, this is where we're trying to activate students thinking and access prior knowledge. So, we're making connections to content learned in a previous unit or previous grade level so they can see how the mathematics skills interconnect. During the explore phase of the framework, students investigate, reason, and make sense of problems. And this is where they begin to develop their understanding of the grade level standards. One of the things I do want to add is that all four of these components are really student centered. So, the teacher is not the sage on the stage. In our math classrooms, we should be hearing students talking about their mathematical thinking as well as them having that one-on-one conversation with their teachers and their classmates. And
054I've been really excited. This morning, I was at downtown doing some observations. And it was really cool, even our kindergarten students talking about their mathematical thinking um at a deeper level than one may imagine. When our students move into the apply phase of the instructional framework, this is where they start deepening their understanding and building that fluency and they're also making connections to real life mathematics. They're learning mathematics in context rather than just thinking they're learning it to pass a test, but we're trying to make sure that they have an understanding of how the mathematics is involved outside of the classroom. And then finally, the instructional framework wraps up with a reflect. And this is where students are explaining, they're justifying, and they're connecting ideas. They're talking about, they're learning, and the teachers able to
055gauge how much the students have grown throughout the instructional process. This structure define how mathematics is taught. It's not just what is taught. So from there, we'll take a look at some of our Georgia Milestones data. I'll remind you that the Georgia K through2 mathematics standards were implemented during the 23 24 school year. So, our first year of Georgia Milestones data with these standards are reflected in that 2024 column. Um, 2025 was our second year and that was this past spring's data. So, in third grade, we did see a 3/10enth percent drop from 24 to 25. Likewise, in fourth grade, we saw a -2 um and two10 percentage drop. So, one of the things that I've been really working on this year with our academic coaches and schools is making sure that our instruction is
056consistent from kindergarten all the way through fifth grade and it continues on into secondary. Because one of the things that we have noticed, especially in that first year, is a lot of emphasis was placed on the tested grade levels, but we have to make sure those students have those foundational skills when they leave second grade and enter third grade. And we can't wait until third grade to say, "Okay, you have Georgia Milestones. Now it's time for us to hold you accountable for that level of reasoning that's um important for our students to be successful with their testing. And then for fifth grade, we were stagnant last year. Um 23 and three or 26 and 3/10 percentage is where we were in 23 and 24. When we look at cohort data um from 24 to 25,
057if you look at that third grade cohort that was in fourth grade last year, um they had a two and a half% increase there. Um which was some positive news. One of the things we're looking at and trying to figure out why we see this drop is when we look at fourth grade, um that transition from fourth grade to fifth grade. Um because actually as you can see there was a 6% drop for that cohort from their fourth grade year to fifth grade. >> All right. James Special 6th through 12 mathematics content specialist from Muscogee County. Um I did want to talk uh kind of go back a slide and talk a little bit about what we're seeing in the in the mile in the milestones data for middle school as well as high school.
058So we notice that middle school has been experiencing growth in the number of students uh that are proficient and above since implementation of Georgia's instructional units and learning plans. So that I think is a is is a is a massive plus. In fact uh if you look at a uh 8th grade as well as algebra concepts and connection scores u they are finally above precoid levels. Um while algebra concepts and connection scores did dip a little bit 2425 uh it is worth noting um that this is following an over 10% increase in proficiency or better in the first year of implementation that actually outpaced the state. Um, in fact, I think if we're looking at effectiveness, um, if you look at um, the last column, which is the two-year trend, I think the two-year trends
059are showing that as a district, we are seeing growth in mathematics proficiency since implementation of the instructional units and learning plans as our core resource in secondary. Um if we go on to the next slide which is the cohort data um what we are seeing is uh you know we're seeing some drops as students transition from fifth grade to sixth grade and I think a lot of times that's that mo that that movement from elementary school uh to middle school. However, we can see that the middle school cohorts are working very quickly to adjust. For example, as we look at sixth grade to 7th grade data that's up 7%. So as those students move from sixth to seventh, their proficiency levels are increasing. As they moved from seventh grade to eighth graders last year, we
060saw that they increased 10%. Uh and eighth grade to algebra up 3%. Um and then one thing to note too is that you know the first year of implement implementation of 2023 2024 the cohort from 8th grade algebra concepts and connections actually increased over 10% proficiency levels. So that I think that's good news. Um, one might ask, well, how do we know that this is working? Well, when we talk about the effectiveness of our current resources, we should be intentional in defining working as relying on multiple aligned sources of evidence that reflect what teaching and learning in mathematics should look like. Um, we look for evidence through classroom observations. We look for whether or not the lesson is aligned to the new instructional framework for mathematics. We look for whether students are doing the cognitive
061work while teachers are facilitating the learning through purposeful questioning and discourse. We look at student work and discourse uh to see evidence of conceptual understanding multiple strategies and justification mathematically. Um are students talking more questioning critiquing and building upon each other's u u understandings? Uh there's been multiple instances for example myself that I've seen I've gone into a classroom and I've seen students having conversations with each other um in fact there was a sixth grade classroom that I was in just this year um and listening to this group of students conceptually understanding basic operations with fractions at a level quite frankly that I've heard very few adults even talk about because I mean it just it was just fantastic. Fantastic. Um, you know, we also want to look at assessment data through the lens of
062the achievement level descriptors to uh examine whether student performance is actually aligning to what proficiency is supposed to look like in Georgia. So, is the work strengthened? Uh, you know, one of the things that we want to look at too is whether or not that work is strengthened through ongoing coaching and professional learning to ensure that the teachers are not using these resources in isolation because it is there there's there is a lift for teachers in in utilizing these because for some of our veteran uh veteran instructions, it's a instructors. It's a change and and they need to be supported in that change. But ultimately, we're making that change for the good of our students. I think the most important evidence really comes from what we see happening in those classrooms. We're seeing increased student
063engagement, reasoning, and mathematical discourse. Students are actively solving problems, explaining their thinking, and engaging in meaningful conversations. There is clearer alignment between instruction and assessment expectations. Because learning plans are built directly from the standards and the achievement level descriptors, what students experience during instruction mirrors what they're expected to demonstrate on assessments. We see more consistent instructional practices across schools so that the core educational experience is mo more coherent districtwide and ensure that the students have equitable access to highquality instruction regardless of the school that they attend. Finally, teachers are using the achievement level descriptors to define success, plan implementation, and analyze student work around what proficiency looks like. At this time, I would like to introduce Dr. Leah Snell. She's the mathematics program manager at the Georgia Department of Education. She will provide some additional
064clarity on Georgia's mathematics resources as well as the impact of these resources at the state level. Dr. Schnell, >> thank you so much. And good evening, board members and Superintendent Lewis. Thank you for the opportunity to come before you. I'd love to share some information about the context of the resources that u Mr. Delo and Mr. Special spoke about in 2019, Governor Kemp authorized the review and revision of all of Georgia's math standards. And with that process, I had the opport the honor and privilege and opportunity to lead that for the state of Georgia. And through that, it um led to unanimous approval of brand new standards in 2021 to be used across Georgia. And we asked teachers at that time, what is it that you would need? we've gone through lots of standards review,
065lots of standards revisions in mathematics. What is it that you would need to implement these standards effectively and what they said was, "Show us exactly how to do it. Show us how to do it. Give us the resources in the classroom where we can do that." And so, um, Superintendent Woods and Governor Kim provided funding to bring teachers from all over the state together to create a fully fleshed out set of resources that can be used in classrooms for students to show teachers exactly how to implement the standards with fidelity. And so, with that, I'll share um some information about those Georgia mathematics resources. Inspire was birthed in at this time in 2023. All of the new standards were implemented for the first time in classrooms as um was just described and at that time
066the resources to teach every single standard kindergarten through 12th grade were also released for teachers and the instructional materials were provided and these materials are 100% aligned to Georgia's K12 mathematics standards. For all of our state assessment programs, we require that the writers of the assessment items use these resources that are available free and open access to help them write the items. So, as we're training teachers throughout the state, we're training them on this full curriculum with embedded student learning supports. All of that is centered around a focus on reasoning, critical thinking, and comprehension. And where the lens is clear for teachers and for districts is utilizing Georgia's K12 mathematics instructional resources. Those resources are available on a platform as you can see here for K5 68 as well as 912. So every math teacher
067in the state of Georgia, it does not matter the zip code, it does not matter the location. It does not matter the property tax value of their area. They have access to high quality free open access resources to teach mathematics at high levels. And um as you can see here, it's open access for anyone to actually see that any of the answers and assessments. We even provide assessment items for teachers to utilize to inform how they write their assessments and to train them on what a rigorous assessment item looks like. Those are all behind a secure wall where you have to be an educator in Georgia to access. But all of the basic curriculum materials, parents, community members, teachers, students, anyone can have access to this. Our goal is to make sure that mathematics is
068accessible for all. And so with that, um, there [clears throat] are instructional units and learning plans available for all standards. And this is just a sampling of what they look like provided by the Georgia Department of Education. And so in all the districts throughout the state, they are having conversations about how to effectively implement these and how to train the teachers on understanding the content. [clears throat] The beautiful thing is as teachers are getting more and more equipped with utilizing these resources, they are also developing and building their understanding of mathematics. Not just mathematics in isolation and but mathematics in content in context. It was such a beautiful display to see the procurement officer talk about the importance of math of making decisions in the accounting field. Um that is what we're talking about. Math
069really everyone should see the world through a mathematical lens because math is such a social determinant of wealth. So in all of the resources they're are comprehensive. Every single grade level on high school course has a unit of study and the units of study are all aligned to to the Georgia K12 mathematics standards and thanks to the support of our state governor and our state school superintendent these are available at no cost. There was a cost to develop them. So they weren't free to develop but that cost was ab absorbed at the state level. So those are available at no cost to districts. And so therefore as we focus as um Mr. Delo mentioned earlier on mathematical modeling, statistical reasoning and interdisciplinary connections. We support districts throughout the state on implementing these resources uh at
070a high level and with excellence. And so providing that support is essential. We um also hear teachers saying show us what it looks like in the classroom. So we visited six different districts throughout the state and Muski County was one of them. from Hardaway High School where we brought a film crew from Georgia Public Broadcasting into the classroom to film these instructional units and learning plans in action. And so on this particular slide, it shows the six videos. The high school one video is a featured teacher here in Muscogee County showing what it looks like and showing how exciting it is for students to engage in mathematics at high levels. Additionally, we wanted to show what it transcends to in terms of data. So, this is our CCRPI, our accountability measure, and I want to
071show you some of the content mastery data after two years of implementing these instructional units and learning plans across the state. As you can see in elementary school mathematics um overall CCPI content mastery score was 72.9 and that is an increase from the previous um previous year. Also middle school as you can see is 69.88 which also is an increase of over three points. And then in high school as you can see algebra concepts and connections is an increase as well and it is uh 69.95. Also if you look at growth and closing gaps specifically for our various demographic groups for elementary school we have green flags and then also green flags and gold stars across the board with specifically looking at students with disabilities in elementary particularly third grade. Um but all other areas
072and all other demographic groups we met um the target for middle school sweeping green flags across the board for all of our demographic groups and then also green flags and gold stars for economically disadvantaged English learners as well as students with disabilities met the targets in all of those areas. And then lastly high school algebra concepts and connections sweeping green flags across the board as well. This is in direct a direct result of providing high quality resources that are aligned to the standards that are open access free of charge for all teachers to utilize. We also share success stories. Several districts provided us with success stories that we share when we go throughout the state. Dalton public schools for the first time in CCRPI history or accountability history met the target in all areas in
073their green flags sweepingly across the board. K through high or elementary through high school. They attribute this to the expectation that all teachers in their district are using the state resources as their primary resource to teach mathematics. Additionally, Decar City Schools of Decar, they also created an expectation that the instructional units and learning plans are the instructional resource that teachers should be using. And as you can see, the orange represents the growth where in every single grade level um third grade through 8th grade, they saw an increase when they focused in on those resources. And then similarly, another um school at Elm Street Elementary School and Rome City School shared their data with us as well. They had an expectation of using those resources and you can see the increases that are shown here on
074the screen. So I close out by sharing some stories of impact. These are actually stories that individuals throughout the state have shared about their the impact of these resources, but also the implementation of Georgia's K12 mathematics standards. Um, one educator shared, "There's evidence that our district is building momentum toward improved student achievement over several years. For 2024 to 25, algebra concepts and connections saw improvements across all three high schools and doubledigit gains in seventh grade math for some schools. We continually work with our teachers to use GADE inspire resources in math classrooms. Another educator in our second year of implementation using the learning plans, we were able to outscore the state in all but one grade level in mathematics as well as grow our rate of success. And then another educator. This past year, the
075elementary school has implemented the capstone projects which are part of those instructional resources. It has had significant impact on the teachers and students mindsets to see how mathematics is embedded in our everyday lives. And then I want to read one more that's not on the screen. FY25 was my 32nd year of teaching and I had decided that I would retire at the end of the year. I committed to serving my students to the best of my abilities by using the K12 mathematics standards and the resources offered through GADOE as my guide. After teaching and um serving in my new role as math mentor specialist at Chatplant Resa for a couple weeks, my former district administrator called to ask me what I had done to show the greatest gains in all of the test results he
076had seen for seventh graders in Muscogee County School District. My seventh graders had grown 111%. And I was stunned. I had no idea the impact to use the instructional units and learning plans would have on my students. I'm honored to be able to use my own experiences as a testimony to the effectiveness of implementing the standards with fidelity. the learning plans, specifically the unit overviews which house the links for the presentation slides along with the teacher guidance and student student reproducibles are very helpful and I wanted to share that because additionally we provide support at all levels the the state level as well as the RISA level. So our two RISA specialists are here serving um the Chad Flint Resa Miss Angie Brunson and Miss Larice Snipes. Um, and so they have, Miss Snipes is
077who I was just reading that testimony for, direct specific impact in the classroom. And so we provide support to you and our goal is to mathematize the world one person at a time. So join us in this journey, promote the use of the instructional units and learning plans free of charge, fully um, comprehensive curriculum aligned to the state standards and your students will continue to soar. Thank you. So to continue, >> I do have one question. >> Oh yes, ma'am. >> I do have one question. So did did I hear you say that the vendors that are writing the assessments are going to >> um use those free resources that you train the teachers all over the state to write their >> That is our expectation. That's the expectation. >> That is our expectation. So
078when we review all the items before they go on the test and our expectation is that any item they present for us for approval, they have to have find evidence of a similar item inside of our resources. So they have to use those and become familiar with those when writing the items. >> Was that last testimonial? Um is it from a Muscogi County teacher? >> A retired teacher from Muscogi County. >> That was the last one. Okay. Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. Yes. >> All right. To so to support the state in moving forward and mathematizing Georgia, um we realized that helping our teachers um understand the um depth of the instructional learning plans and how to actually implement them and is is an important part of the process. So based on the classroom
079observations that we conducted last year looking at test data as well and speaking with our administrators and academic coaches this school year we provide multip we've provided multiple opportunities for support through instructional coaches meeting district contact day sessions after school sessions um professional development days secondary department chair meetings grade level and teacher planning meetings. We have also done a really good job this year um alongside the PS department to ensure that our teachers who support our students with disabilities are also equipped to better support those students as they um dig into the math standards and the instructional learning plans and units. And then we also have support of Rhysa uh Miss Bronson and Miss Snipes um provide training and support to our teachers whether it be at Rhysa in Elville and sometimes they're in the
080buildings meeting with the teachers during their grade level planning. So the topics for professional development this year have been instructional learning plans and action. And this is where um we model the instructional learning plans with the teachers as if they're students so that they can have the opportunity to think about the instructional learning plan and the implementation of it not only from the teacher side but understanding what misconceptions the students might run into, what scaffolds they may need to put in place to help support those students in accessing the content. Um building number sense in elementary school. It's been a focus this year that we have number sense routines each and every day so that our students um can have a better understanding of a numbers and how they work together and not just strategies
081and algorithms um but actually being able to use their number sense to determine whether or not answers are reasonable. We've really looked at the achievement level descriptors um at a really indepth level making sure that our teachers as Mr. special alluded to earlier, have an understanding of what proficiency actually means because in the past we notice that sometimes instruction only matches what might get a student to the developing learner stage. But if we really want to increase proficiency in Muscogee County, we have to make sure that the instruction that is provided in the classroom meets the level of rigor in the assessments. And as um Dr. Snow just pointed out these instructional learning plans and the state assessment department working together to make sure that um the assessment questions that our students see um are
082not unfamiliar to them when Georgia Milestones comes around in April. And then we've also been focusing on building collaborative mathematical culture and mindset. We realize that a lot of our teachers like a lot of our students have some sort of negative connotation or um just feeling about math and that a lot of times bleeds over into the classroom especially at the elementary level when the teachers are teaching all the content areas. So making sure that not only our students have a positive mathematical mindset but we're making sure that that's instilled in our teachers as well. We've done co-eing with mathematics in mind. This is where we're going in and using the instructional learning plans and supporting those inclusion classrooms where the there's a generally a teacher and a co-teer who are working together to make
083sure that all the students even those with disabilities are able to understand the Georgia K12 mathematics standards. And then finally, we've been working on making sure that our teachers are trained to use the Georgia Numeracy Project, which is an intervention resource that supports Georgia K12 mathematics standards. Um, so with that being said, we'll open up to any questions that you may have. Um, she probably [snorts] was getting ready to go to the next thing. Um, I do have one question. I I think so. Will this be the um only district-wide initiative that we are working with to improve numerousy or is this in addition to >> so in or if you can just briefly tell us >> in elementary >> we have I ready um which you all approved in the 23 20 or 22
08423 school year as a supplement but the instructional learning plans come first and foremost but within I ready our students take take a diagnostic three times a year and they're placed on a path. There's also a report in there that provides prerequisite information so the teachers when they're working with those small groups can use that data as well to help support those prerequisites that may be a roadblock for the students accessing grade level content. Yeah, I was um as you explained, you know, how the system work and it's very good. You're engaging students exploring the blind and then goal is to have students reflect and the um teachers are have learning plans demonstrate those. I was going to see what they're saying is very good. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. what they what they are what
085they have described what they're saying is what everybody anywhere want to say that's what everybody tries to get out of students uh that's general it's not especially different uh you know the goals are not especially different it's what everybody wants to do what they're doing now is what Georgia they've taken what I do like they've taken actual teachers they said and they've developed some standards from actual teachers and uh and they even questioned um educators in terms of what they uh uh what they wanted included. And um the key here is always like he said um for me the key is um the effective implementation. >> The key is the effective implementation of the system. And then you did went on to say some of the things you did like you said um the teachers
086and their um uh planning periods they have those um uh when they get together and then they talk about stuff and I think y'all come around and uh demonstrate a lesson we said. So um and and then and what I actually have to do is I think you said y'all actually asking a question. You see, y'all actually have uh actual classroom situation where somebody to where we can actually see it demonstrated on on on So, I know I need to do that because I was trying to imagine the classroom all while y'all were talking. So, I know I have to go back and look at that. But what I was what what was important to me is that um I've heard some teachers have they have difficulty with this. They've expressed to me difficulty in
087implementing the uh uh the standards or the uh and using the resources that are on the standards from this program. So my my point is that I know we are making a whole lot of effort to try to get across to these teachers and all teachers how to implement the um how to instrument and use the resources and how to understand it so that they can implement it with as you said effectively with fidelity. So um to me that's that's the whole thing right here because see with me I just hear a lot of com complaints about the math and probably because the people who are having success you probably don't ever hear from those a lot of times you don't hear stuff from people who are okay you generally hear what's not and um
088and and see I too have difficulty with this because like I said I haven't seen it you know and and I can't I have no imagination for it and to me it just seems hard you know and and it might be because my like I always pref uh always say I have difficulty with math too and one one other thing about when you talked about the co-eing with the uh spa teacher I have problems with uh teachers teachers always um the content teacher sometime complains that the um that the co-teer doesn't understand the content which is probably I know I wouldn't be able to understand the content. So do you try to put in in those co-eing do you try to put uh do we try to put uh teachers who have some math background
089in those math classes? I don't know whether that's Mr. M Dr. Smith you know and I know that's a problem with what you have at your school. See because to implement this with f fidelity and if you're trying if you have um students and so many students in classroom who have a deficiencies in uh learning and then the teacher the other teacher is um for the teacher is trying to uh teach the whole subject implement this with fidelity and um so I was wondering if we try to have in the math room in the math classes co- teachers with at least some math background do we try to do that >> so we encourage principles to do that but ultimately that's a school-based decision on who they have in which classroom >> okay so I'm
090just saying you know that that we need to work on that I know it's hard because like with me sometimes I wouldn't I was just be a teacher and I just traded tried to tried to have some faith in my own with the principal to not put me in a math class. you know, I'm just saying. But uh but those kinds of things also, you need to have more support in those classrooms because those those teachers get very frustrated when um they have that um the numbers are not their classroom numbers are not reduced because the co-teer is expected to um to take on that um to to help with that number. And I'm just saying hopefully if we could just have some kind of review on that, you know, and you and it's like
091you said, it might be ultimately to what the the principal has in his classroom, but that will help too. But but didn't I think somebody said, didn't you say we were improving in all those areas also with the minorities and with the uh speds. So, so that's a good thing, but it's still something that we need to work on. And my whole thing is like I said, I have no imagination and I will try to go and look at these classrooms because see and I'm also thinking when you when you assess, you have to teach the classroom like you're doing the assessment because those tests are hard. those tests go by. Not only I was looking at some not only do they ask you to solve a math problem after you solve a math problem
092and get an answer then the question would not be for just that answer question may be so how many of these uh questions uh answer that you know so you got to apply all that it's just hard you know so I'm just saying that the more that we can make sure that our teachers can understand what they're doing and then try to and then implement it in in that in that way the better. And I know y'all working on it because you you named somebody named about four or five things. You know, they just named off and and I've been just saying that we need just keep on working on that because I know I just have a lot of people have say that they have difficulty with it with >> the implementation. Yeah, the
093resources sound good. >> I wanted to add that the video specifically in Muscogee County was a code talk classroom. So, you'll see the general education teacher and the special education teacher at Hardway High School talking about their experience with um working together collaboratively to implement the standards for those students in the classroom. >> That's good. It might be >> So, we have a video that that we're going to watch tonight. >> No, it's on the presentation. >> It's on the presentation for us to look at our leisure. >> They said they have middle school. We got a couple questions down there. >> Yeah. Oh, okay. I was just saying they said they had little elementary and uh [laughter] >> um first of all I want to say thank you so much for your presentation and
094I'm glad to hear that we have the real world application embedded into this program. I think that is key. Um I have three questions and they're inter um connected. So I'm going to ask them all at one time. The first one is you all mentioned something about evaluation. I want to know is there a diagnostic component that shows where their learning gaps are for each student? And then if there is no math book, um what does it look like for the student in the classroom and at home? What do they have access to? And then my last question is for your um students who have already mastered the standard. If it is it progressive if I have a student in my class and they have already mastered the standard are they having to wait or
095can they progress on through the program at at a rate that's good for them so that they have a year's worth of growth as well >> right I'll speak about it from the actual resources so within every learning plan that's addressing every standard um each learning plan has a diagnostic assessment for that particular concept and teachers administer that diagnostic before prior to beginning the learning plan and it tells what the students understand and what the students maybe have a misunderstanding of and then the teachers are trained to then form their flexible groups based on that. If all the students in the class are ready to move forward then they move forward. Um if all the students in the class are on different levels then they're trained on how do you support those various levels. And
096um I also wanted to mention that there are companions to the learning plan. So the instructional units and learning plans are like the tier one, but specially designed instruction is required by law to support our students with disabilities. So there is a resource companion to support students with disabilities that says if the learning plan includes this activity, here is the universal strategy. Here's the speciallydesed instruction that the co-teer or the classroom teacher should utilize to support the student in scaffolding their understanding. Similarly, there is um a resource for um language supports for our multilingual learners. If there is a student that doesn't have a command of the English language, here's the resource companion that shows you for this activity, here are the English language development strategies you should do in concert with that learning plan
097so that they can access the materials. So, we provide that additional support and additional resources for what we call learner variability. And that includes gifted students, that includes English learners, that includes students with disabilities, that includes all the variable learners in the classroom. So that's part of the training that teachers get and also Dr. Smith, Miss Hull, I commend them and also um Mr. Delo and Mr. Special because they do that on the ground training with those resources but also with those supplemental materials to support the students >> access to. >> Great question. So, um, and and I'll I'll yield also to the district to speak about this, but every learning plan comes with what's called student reproducibles. >> And the student reproducibles is the in front of the student resource. So, it's like what
098the students are actually engaged in. And also there is um engaging families or like a homework section of every learning plan that says as you are supporting students in learning this concept this is what you can assign for them to do at home with family or by themselves independently to continue the learning. So it's all really embedded. The learning plan is is the general term for a lot of layers of information that's embedded for the teacher. >> Perfect. Okay. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. So for the this question is for the district. So then are we going to share those um sections or resources with our partners that provide after school services or you know the rec centers, the YMCA so that the students can or that the centers can know how to
099access that those resources um because they do have their power hour, homework time, whatever. Um and if they are aware um of how to access those resources and that would be an additional layer because just speaking for the parents who work those long hours and you know when they pick them up it's really time for food and bed and so the those after school programs offer additional learning opportunities or time and so I just my question is are we going to train our partners on these resources? U and I can speak uh that that's a very good question. Uh I I personally have been very invested in making sure that the teachers of the district have been able to utilize the resources and and I think that's something that I potentially have overlooked and that's
100something that uh that I I would I'm definitely going to make uh make it a point to reach out because ultimately that is very important because the community is a part of making sure that we that you know our our students are getting what they need and we're doing the best by our students. So yes, that is now on my radar and is definitely going to happen. Thank you. >> Just because it's conceptbased and when you're teaching mathematics from a concept base, that teacher or instructor has to have a very good background knowledge on how the concepts relate to each other. So, I just want to make sure that we're not talking about the afterchool program continuing the concept necessarily, but just being >> just being able to do the sort of the access or
101help the kids access what they need to access, but not the teaching portion. >> I think I heard her mention there was a resource for home in homework. So if the parent can assist, so can those partners is what I was just speaking to. Okay. >> Did I hear that wrong? That there was a homework section for parents. >> It's an engaging family section and it's not engaging knowledge. It's not new knowledge >> and it's not conceptual based. So they >> it supports their conceptual understanding, but they don't have to necessarily have the knowledge or the degree or anything like that to work with them. It extends what they're already doing in the classroom. >> Okay. That's what I thought I heard. I just wanted to make sure >> that's what I wanted because I
102wasn't clear. Now that you heard her, it's the engagement section, whatever. >> But but at the same time, they they outside organizations do need to know how to access that information. And that's something that I want to make sure to >> to work on. Yes, ma'am. >> Were you done? Thank you all very much. We appreciate your pres. >> Thank you so very much. >> Appreciate your patience. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate your nice report with all the information. >> Item number two is about um Columbus and um our relationship with is that car you uh our relationship with Kiru and uh it's been in Columbus since the late 1970s. Kiru has prioritized its partnership with Muscogi County sending delegations since 2017 and now we are proposing a reciprocal exchange offering our delegate delegation the
103opportunity to experience Japanese firsthand and further strengthen the bond between our communities. Um, what does that look? Does that mean that we're sending uh what does our delegation look like? Is that students? >> Oh, first of all, first of all, you have to know that they have a presentation. >> Thank you. I would let I will gladly let them make the presentation. >> Good afternoon, board, Dr. Lewis, directors. Uh, Ben Travers, K5 science and social studies cont uh content specialist the department of uh learning. So basically Virginia and I have had the pleasure over the last couple years of reopening our cultural exchange program with Kiru Japan. Um so basically Kiru is a city very similar to Columbus, Georgia. Um logistically textile uh business on a river and we've actually been partners with them a
104sister city since 1977. Um, we are actually coming up on our 50-year milestone. We, uh, had them come over multiple times pre-COVID and now two times after CO and we're proposing that we bring a number of our scholars and students over to Japan. >> So, Kiru has been um, part of Columbus more than you know, more than you realize. If you look around at our some of our community spaces and other areas, you'll see a lot of contributions by Kiru Japan. And it's been meaningful to me as well. until I was actually able to study my last part of um my last degree um in Kiru and it is very similar to our city and they are very welcoming and they hold us very close to um to them as far as it's a true
105sisterhood and we have really enjoyed seeing these students um delegations come to see us for the past several years and being personally involved and in the since I've came on the um came to Msogi County has been very important. So, we want to talk to you a little bit about how impactful um Kiru uh Japan is to us and why we feel like it's important for us to be reciprocal in our um delegations that we go see them as they have come to see us. >> And of course, our community uh in Columbus. Um, as we started looking into this, we didn't realize that uh Columbus has one of the largest growing uh Japanese Americans in Georgia. So, of course, we we know all about AFLAC and all of that, but we've been able to
106meet a number of uh interesting people with this Kiru exchange. Um, with AFLAC, one of the employees, Michoko Porter, she actually worked with us on our first uh year of doing this. Then Miss Chia Sun's come along and she's been an interpreter and has really grown the relationships between us and our friends in Kiru. We meet with them monthly. We've met with them monthly for over two years now and they're extremely excited about bringing us over to Kiru >> potentially. Yes, >> potentially. >> So, as we've talked about, they have long prioritized coming to us. Um, in fact, they're coming again in August. And uh we have basically um based our experiences mainly in the arts and in our social connections and it's just been a very meaningful expo um exposure for our students and
107building their global competency skills and and um and forming that true sisterhood. They come for not a long time but at the culminating event Dr. Lewis can um attest to this and so can Miss Hull and Mr. Smith Dr. Smith as well. um they're tears when we when we separate when we have to leave and they are ready for their friends to come and visit them. It's it's it's a very very meaningful connecting thing that um is is is beautiful to witness and a privilege to be involved in that. So we are proposing that we uh these are the dates that we would send our students um to Kiru Japan which would not obviously um interfere with their um schooling um but only build their global capacities and prepare them. You'll see here on the
108slides a couple of our host families that have already been so gracious to accept um and welcome Japanese students into their homes. And this is our proposed delegation and what it would uh consist of. >> First right of refusal would be given to the students that have already participated in the exchange program the last two years in person. and what who will will the host families will be this year coming this August and um then we would also would like to include students from the IB program in Richards Richards and Randy McCullers have been our schools that we have been used have used to um build this uh cultural exchange for the since I've been involved so they have they're integral to this process and those would uh those are the students that we'd be
109looking at taking >> just a quick itinerary. One of the things we've noticed with our friends from Kru, they actually only came for five days. I'm sorry. So, uh, our friends in Cuba that came, they actually arrived at Friday night at about, you know, 7 8:00 from a 15 hour flight and we hit the ground running on Saturday and then they were leaving Wednesday morning. It was more of a whirlwind to a lot of those students. We want we want to step it out a little bit and spend about 10 days uh a day for travel there, a day for travel back. We're going to uh actually spend four days in Kiru where these students can visit their friends, visit the school systems there, but then give them some experiences rural, urban throughout Japan. >>
110These are our projected cost per student and we would also be offering um adults or parents to come along as well. Um, and that's what a quick overview of what that would entail, what that would include. What we're asking you tonight for is a board vote next week on the concept of this proposal. And if approved, if you felt like this is something we would want to dive into, um, we would start by holding a parent meeting, interest meeting in early year, I mean February or March. So I see the cost per student per adult. So the funding source. So only the students who can raise that money can participate. >> Well, when we have the parent interest meeting, we will be working with all students um to be able there'll be plenty of uh
111fundraising opportunities and saving opportunities they can work. So this would be a year and a half out for the students to come. So we would be hopefully working towards you know you know make assuring that the students that wanted to go could go through fundraising efforts. >> So you wouldn't be asking the so the district would not be funding. >> Okay. >> Not any of it. >> So I that's why I'm just trying to be correct. >> That is correct. We're not asking the money any money from the district. >> And that's pretty consistent what we've done in the past when we've done various types of trips. So, it's primarily fallen on them to do the fundraising activities and participate in that. And then they typically um appreciate it more because they've actually put some
112sweat equity into it as well. >> So, that 6589 would cover the 10 11 days whatever. >> Yes. >> Flights, hotels, meals. >> Correct. Everything. >> Everything. >> Now, the students are saying with with uh families, right? >> The students would not be this in Yeah. No, we're not this trip. We're not comfortable necessarily putting them with host families at this time. >> So, we just want to >> have the experience first and grow it from there. >> No, they would be under our care the whole time. >> Okay. >> My question was partly because I noticed that it said no budget impacts. I was wondering about that. Um, yeah, I would recommend reaching out to places like AFLAC. I think they could get some money from that. might even fund a good bit of
113it >> at least the flight. >> Yeah. >> Um if you need any help on the on the contacts, let me know. >> Thank you. >> The point is we didn't want to do anything before we talked to the board and got your approval. >> He's asking us for the approval of the >> to pursue it. >> Okay. >> So, it will be on the agenda Monday. So, do you if you have a question, let's let's get our questions and of course um so that next week the additional questions that you may um come up with over the course of these next few days, you'll be prepared to ask them. >> Vanessa, >> I know >> Miss Jackson, wasn't it you said I have a question? >> Or was that you? I'm sorry. >> Okay.
114My question is it says that there are 24 students and six parents. I know you're going to have an interest meeting, but what will be the deciding factor on how you choose those parents and how you choose those students? >> That is a great question. So, we are before we even have that is projected numbers. Going to Japan's a long way away. >> Oh, yeah. >> And we did do a survey following our um cultural exchanges where they come to us and ask the parents what that would look like for them. would they be willing like the Japanese our Japanese friends are to put their babies on a plane and send them across the world and they said no. Our feedback was that they would want to be close by be part of the um
115exchange. And so that's those are just projected numbers. Those could go up or down. Um so that is we just that was just our ideal as far as like enough children that would make an impact and enough those parents that would that responded to the survey. So you're going to try to take as many as are interested and can raise these? >> Yes. And then we would make sure that we would have enough. The >> first the first priority is for us to consider those families who have hosted correct children. >> Oh, okay. >> So So we have host families that Yes. We have host families that have have done twice two years in a row and are willing to host again because they have multiple children in these in the institutions or the student
116and so they have done a lot of work and they we've also had host parents that have helped us with activities at um Oxbow Meadows and at CSU and things like that. So we want to make sure they have the opportunity. We have host families that have actually taught in Karu and have and have been part of their community as well as professors. So those are the the parents that we're talking about going parents. There might not any parents that want to go. So that's just what the ideal, >> you know, >> delegation would look like. >> But I do want to take this opportunity because both Ben and Virginia [clears throat] have done an exemplary job of planning and organizing those trips and they've come here and just coordinating the whole trip. and I'm
117just so appreciative of their efforts to this point and putting this whole plan together as far as looking at the possibility of this reciprocal visitation because they've done a tremendous job. In addition, I just want to mention totally separate from this is uh the fact that we have you may recall we went over to Jingu, South Korea and we have established a sister city relationship with them as well. So uh and I just received this week an email from South Korea wanting expressing an interest to send a delegation of their students to visit us going forward. So once again, our B our reach through the IB program is having some significant >> impact. >> Awesome. Awesome. >> Thank you so much. And I and I don't know if we iterated this enough, 50 years. We've
118had a relationship for 50 years and that's when we [clears throat] would go. That's pretty significant and important. >> And just what resonated with me, the video at the beginning at 5:00 showed Muscogee County being the first at this, the first at that. >> There are a number of districts throughout the state that's already doing this. We need to get on board. [clears throat] >> Thank you. >> Let me just Sure. >> Okay. Who was that? Vanessa. Oh, I'm sorry. It's you again. [laughter] >> My question is for the district. Um liability. Would we be responsible for liability insurance for the students? Will we be asking parents to purchase some type of insurance or how would that work? That price is >> included in the price. Oh, very good. >> That's all. >> What's going
119on here? >> Mission control. Um, yeah, it's all inclusive. We incorporate that. Uh, we're also going to be using um probably a tour company that we that is noted for this kind of international travel. So, they can build the agenda. They can facilitate all of the navigation of the travel, that kind of thing. Um, having taken a lot of student groups in my time, it's just better to have somebody who knows the >> Yes. >> the ins and outs of the parents. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you all. >> Let me ask one question too in terms of how the uh motion is going to come before us on next week. Now, will that motion come like approve a reciprocal program or and not see because you you you proposed 24. So, do
120we have it like approving a reciprocal program? Because if you say 24, then that's what we'll be saying. But, you know, you might want to extend 24 or as much as there's interest. >> Dr. Smith. >> So, we're just asking for approval for proof of concept. The details, I mean, this is a really high level details. So, that would come at a future time. Okay. That's fine. More in depth. Yeah. Thanks. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Um >> well done. Thank you. Again, we just want to get the board's approval before we did any kind of planning, organizing, anything specific to the trip. >> All right, that concludes um education and I think there's u so we got a couple of things. Um, next week we will be taking our annual election
121for board officers. And just a reminder, you have an assembly and evaluation tool I need you all to to complete. And I think that's all. All right, Dr. Lewis. >> Yes. This past weekend we had our high school decathlan comp decathlon academic decathlon competition. Want to pass along congratulations for first place and being the district champion was Columbus High School. Second place was Hardway High School and third place was Carver High School. Uh in the super quiz winning teams were first place Spencer High School. Uh Rainy McCullers in second place and third place was Columbus High School. So uh there were a host of other individual awards but we're very proud of all those schools and a very good distribution of schools in the various uh and academic competitions right so we're very proud of
122them and of course some of them will go on to represent our district at the state uh competition congratulations them >> thank you to St. Elmo these are gifts from St. Elmo and I love the notes, the handwritten notes from the students. I certainly do feel appreciated and we feel special and appreciated. So, thank you to St. Elmo. Anything else, man? There's a motion to adjourn. Wave goodbye. Meeting is over. Good night. Heat. Hey, Heat. Hey, the best of my Best in my love. You got the best of my love. You got the best changes. I love [singing] my love. My love of my love. You got the best of my love. You look fire.