001[Music] On January 1st, 1950, 75 years ago, two school systems united with one dream to educate every child, every family, every future. From that dream, the Muscogee County School District was born. Georgia's first consolidated district. Bold, visionary, unifying, a model that would change education. across Georgia forever. [Music] 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. In Muscogi County, education means more than schools. It means culture. The Chattahuchi Valley Library System and the Columbus Museum are a part of the Muscogee County School District, making learning not just a lesson in a book, but a
002living experience in art, history, and discovery. This visionary connection shows that from the very beginning, MCSD was committed to enriching the mind, inspiring the spirit, and serving the whole community. [Music] Strong leadership is the foundation of a strong school district. For generations, our board of 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, equity, and opportunity for all. For 75 years, 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 splast referendums, they have invested not just in buildings, technology, and safety initiatives, but in possibility, in opportunity, and in the limitless future of every child in Muscogee County. [Music] At the heart of
003our 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 for over seven decades, shaping not only students, but the future of Columbus, Georgia. [Music] Today, under the leadership of our board of education and superintendent Dr. David Lewis, Muscogi County students are reaching all-time 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, embrace our present, and build a future where every child can thrive. Muscogee County School District, learning, leading, inspiring together since 1950. [Music] In
004the Muscogi County School District, creating we is more than words. It's our commitment. Together, educators, staff, parents, and our community unite with one purpose, to lift every student higher, to inspire every learner to succeed, and to build a stronger, united community where our shared commitment shapes tomorrow. For students, creating Wii means learning in an environment where they feel supported, connected, and inspired to reach their fullest potential. >> Creating Wii means we're all in this together. Helping each other succeed. >> For staff, creating wei means teamwork, collaboration, and knowing every effort helps shape the future of our students. Here in the Muscogi County School District, when we say we, it means every educator is united for student success. For our board of education, creating wei means ensuring every decision reflects our collective commitment to excellence, equity,
005and opportunity for all. Creating we means we get to inspire and equip all students to achieve unlimited potential. For Superintendent Dr. David Lewis, creating Wii means leading with a vision that unites students, staff, families, and the community as one. It's about fostering a culture where MCSD shines as a beacon of educational excellence, where everyone is known, valued, and inspired. As a parent, creating we means my child's success is everyone's success. >> We are the Muscogee County School District. Creating we means celebrating the spirit of unity where every voice matters and every action makes a difference. [Music] In the heart of the city where dreams take flight. Every student a star shining bright known and valued. We rise as one. Our journey together has just begun. Creating we a legacy. A place where all can truly
006see. Inspire. Equip. Achieve. Believe. Unlimited potential. We'll never leave. From every hall to the open skies, we carry the hope in our teachers eyes. Beacon of light, excellence in view. A community strong forever true. Creating we a legacy. A place where all truly inspire. Good evening and welcome to our September 15th regularly scheduled board meeting. I will call this meeting to order and we will begin with our inspiration today. Miss Chambers. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, for the inspiration today, I would like to read a poem that hopefully speaks to our why while we're here today, and it's called The Power in the Room. We gather here not by chance, but by purpose. Each voice a spark, each idea a seed, each heart a light. A school is not just walls. It is the rhythm
007of footsteps, the laughter of children, the questions that push us higher. We are not simply meeting, we are building. Building futures, building leaders, building hope. So let today remind us we are dream shakers. We are change makers and together we carry the power to transform lives. One child, one day, one dream at a time. >> Thank you so very much. And next we will have our pledge of allegiance and our character word. Girl Scout troops one is 50357. And each level has a different troop number. So if you want to identify your troop number, you can after the character word. But we'll first start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
008liberty and justice for all. In scouting, we embody diligence. Diligence means working hard in a steady and continuing manner, being industrious, and sticking with a plan or a project. Grit, the ability to keep working towards longterm goals despite setbacks or failures. Perseverance. Persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. Resilience. The capacity to successfully manage high levels of change. Tenacity. A quality that allows someone to continue trying and working even though it may be difficult seem difficult. Introduce yourselves and your school. Hi, my name is Kayla Green and I go to Carver High School. >> Hi, I'm Chloe Hunt and I go to Rothschild Middle School. My name is Jelena Young and I go to Richard's Middle School. >> My name is Lyric Hall and I go to Brick Daven Magnet Academy.
009>> My name is Arya Hall and I go >> Name of your school. Are you the David Magnet Academy? >> Hello, my name is Aaria Stallings and I go to Black Moro Middle School. >> All right. Thank you so very much. Good job. And the troop, one of the troop leaders, if you would Good evening. My name is Harmony St. Clair Hall and I'm one of the troop leaders for all of these young ladies. >> Thank you so very much. >> And I know we have other troop leaders. Are there any parents and supporters? If you would just stand and wave, including our the troop leaders. Thank you so very much for all that you do. And next we will have a presentation for Red Ribbon Week kickoff, Miss Kayla Green. >> Hi everyone. Good
010afternoon. So I want to start off with school board members Dr. Lis and your team. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I am Kayla Green, a graduating senior at Carver High School. I am a lifelong Girl Scout working on my Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor in scouting. The Girl Scouts mission is to build girls up with courage, confidence, and character to make the world a better place. Thank you for giving our troop an opportunity to participate in this meeting tonight to expand our Girl Scout mission and experience. I would like to acknowledge my sisters in scouting and our dedicated troop leaders at a fourth street missionary Baptist church. Community partnerships and collaborative efforts will achieve this mission with my fensile awareness and prevention gold award service project. My lifelong
011work in scouting has been different efforts of bringing society awareness and prevention of health issues that affect children in the community paired with my passion for science and math has been developed on my journey in Girl Scouts. Georgia as well as Columbus has not escaped the national epidemic of fentinol and opioid overdose related deaths. In fact, in 2021 to 2022, Columbus reached 23 deaths related to overdose of fentinol and opioids. We want children and families to know that fake can be fatal when you take pills that do not come from your doctor or pharmacist. Law enforcement say that fentinel on the streets is cheap and readily available because it is a synthetic and sold in many forms that could look like candy and fake prescriptions pills that are laced with it just to name a
012few that unfortunately come made up with lethal doses. Fentanol awareness and prevention through education is an effort that we can all participate in and I believe the best place to start is in schools during Red Ribbon Week through preK through 12th grade and of course in the Muscogi County School District. This crisis is so huge that to fight it, it would take a change in culture as well as mindset. And I believe the first step towards that is through education starting in the early grades. With that said, I want to say thank you to you, Superintendent Dr. Davis Lewis for designating one day during Red Ribbon Week to permanently highlight fentinel awareness and prevention. He agrees that each year MSO County School District will pause during Red Ribbon Week to bring awareness to the dangers
013of this drug. This commitment makes fencing awareness and prevention a sustainable project. This project will establish our school district as the leader as well as the first school system in Georgia to be com to be committed to combating this health issue by designating a day during Red Ribbon Week focusing on this deadly crisis that is impacting children as well as their families. In addition, I am working with my state legislator leader Carolyn Hugley who has been sponsoring annual resolutions to designate a day for awareness and education. This next session, she will address designating a day during Georgia statewide reb red ribbon week as a permanent resolution to highlight and combat this crisis to keep all Georgia citizens safe. Lastly, a little background on my journey. I have been working on this project since 9th grade.
014The first year, I invited the department of public health and Dr. Edwards from Morehouse School of Medicine to my school where they did a presentation with the STEM Magnus students about the dangers and many forms of street fentinol. And in the 10th grade, I did a science project about the synthetic ingredients and dangerous and lethal dosage and amount as small as a tip of the ink pen could be fatal. As well as included how advocating for local, state, and federal laws will address this health crisis. Last year in 11th grade, the support of counselors districtwide highlighted the dangers of fentinol during red ribbon week where my video that was created through an incredible collaboration of Carver as well as Shaw students and the teachers from both schools and Trilogy Productions and we will continue to
015show that video. Also, last year during the legislative session, over 100 of my classmates and I sent emails to state representative to state representatives in support of Senate Bill 395 that passed and now allow K12 schools in Georgia to keep overdose reversing drugs in the nurse station or clinic for students in need with no questions asked. Naturally, my SEM project will compile and demonstrate all efforts and collaborations of combating this health crisis starting right here at home. Before I go, I must say thank you to you schoolboard members, Dr. Lewis, Dr. Nelson, my project coach, the print shop, my advisors, Miss Karen Jones, Miss Florine Dawkins, Miss Kimberly Wright, Miss McNeil for creating signup genius for our event, and Miss Leak, my forever school counselor. my sponsors in advance, my troop leaders, Representative Hugley, Columbus
016Police Narcotics Division and Msogi County School of Police, Dr. Edwards from Warhouse School of Medicine, Mr. Lockwood, Department of Public Health, and of course, my mom, my dad, and my entire family. School members, you and the entire community are all invited to our fencing awareness kickoff kickoff event for Red Ribbon Week. It is October 25th. It starts at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and is located at George Washington Carver High School auditorium. Please invite all your contacts and youth groups. And always, thank you for supporting Girl Scouts and we will see you this fall with our delicious nuts and chocolate products as well as cookie season in January. Thank you so much. [Applause] Thank you. >> Well, well, good job, Kayla Green. >> Thank you. >> And we appreciate the effort. Thank you for the
017scouts again for coming out and the troop leaders. We thank you so much. And we hope to see everyone October >> 25th at 11:00 a.m. >> That's a Saturday. All right. Thank you. Are there >> any questions? >> Thank you so much. Have a good day. >> All right. I need a motion to approve the agenda. >> Motion by Miss Chambers. Second by I'm on that end. Miss Buckner. Electronic vote. We're ready to vote now. Come on. Dr. Chambers is an affirmative. That's everybody. Thank you. And next, I do want to welcome um to our meeting our partners, Dr. Alan Hark, Mr. Alan Harkness from the from the library, Miss Maryanne Rner from the museum, any leadership team, assistant principles, principles, raise your hand. Thank you for all that you do. And did I I
018know I saw Marquette Mcnite from me and Andy Lucer. >> And Miss Moore, thank you so much for coming. And that's all of our visitors and all the rest of you. Thank you for coming out. And we have a presentation update on attendance intervention. Dr. Nelson Good evening everyone. Bring greetings to you from um the great leadership of Mr. Patrick Noff uh the chief of student services. Thank you um to our wonderful school board members and Dr. David Lewis and our amazing team of chiefs before I have the distinct pleasure of presenting some updates on our comprehensive attendance strategies and interventions. So tonight I just want to briefly cover a few things here. attendance definitions, understanding our data as it pertains to chronic being chronically absent within our school district and across the state, some
019of the root causes of absenteeism, and of course looking at our strategies and interventions and some proposed initiatives as we move forward and combating uh chronic absenteeism. So to give you a brief overview uh there are three distinct uh areas that we focus on when it comes to attendance and that's truency average daily attendance as well as chronic absenteeism. Truency in Georgia is defined as any child who is subject to the compulsory attendance law and that's students between the ages of six and 16 uh who have missed more than 5 days of unexcused absesses. That's without parent notes or doctor's notes, but unexcused. Average daily attendance is a school measure of the number of enrolled students who attend school each day divided by the total number of enrolled students. And chronic absenteeism is a focus
020that uh we're putting a lot of efforts in to address. But chronic absenteeism is also a school measure of the percentage of enrolled students who miss 10% or more school days for any reason. And that's students who are enrolled for the entire year. In a typical year, if a student u is chronically absent and they miss 18 days or more, they're considered chronically absent. So with that 180 days being our school term and I want to emphasize that chronically absent we are addressing not just unexcused absences but we're also looking at excused absences as well as out of school suspension. So whenever a student is not in a seat it's considered absence and if it's 10% or more it could be chronically absent in the state of Georgia. Just to bring a couple of numbers,
021I wanted to bring some information in comparison to other districts that are similar in our size. Uh we have some work to do. Our state chronically absence is 19.5%. Currently, uh Muscogee County School District, we are at 22.9. But if we focus in on the last three years, uh we started in 2023 at 26.3%. Last year, uh 2024 it was 25.8. This year is 22.9. We still have some work to do, but um it's in comparison to other districts, we are on the right track. We have some things that we have in place I would like to share with you tonight. But our goal is to get that number of course below the state which is 19.5. But more importantly we would love to to make sure that our schools students are in school that
022we are addressing unexcused excused and out of school suspension so we can accomplish a 10%. That is our goal 10%. So to discuss a couple of root causes, I won't go over the entire slide, but I do want to uh focus in on some of the misconceptions when it comes to absenteeism and being chronically absent. Absences are only a problem if they are unexcused. We understand that if a student, we always say you can't teach an empty seat. So even if a student is excused uh with a parent note or a medical excuse, they are still not receiving direct instruction which per can you know create some problems for that student in terms of uh obtaining what they need in class. Missing two days per month doesn't affect learning. Yes, missing one day can actually
023have an impact on a student's learning. you lose track and underestimate total absences. So this year we want to really focus in on making sure our parents and we'll talk a little bit more about the early warning system, but making sure our parents understand their total absences and not just the absences, but the number of instructional time that's missed. So if you're in one day and if a student is in class for seven hours and you broke that down by minutes, that's a lot of lost instruction. So our emphasis is on not just the student being out but what is the student losing, how are other students being impacted by that student being out because the teacher has to divert and spend time getting that uh student who's absent up to date on their instruction.
024So also one of the things we uh that attendance only matters in the older grades, that's not true. It starts in prek. So, we want parents to understand that once they transition from preK to kindergarten, it's just as important. It's uh we're we're not daycare, a drop-in service. So, we are serious about their education. PreK matters. PreK through 12 matters. Attendance um suspensions don't count as an absence. Yes, it counts as an absence. And so we're working with our schools on some interventions to uh do things in lie of suspension. So just wanted to cover a few of the root causes and some of the misconceptions as it comes to absences. As I mentioned before, we are looking at a tiered approach as we as we address attendance. And this is something we've done for
025years, but we're going to really kind of drill down and take a more targeted approach to addressing attendance. Uh, a lot of the information you'll see tonight and things that we're doing comes from a organization that's a national organization called attendance works. We also have information from handover as well as Harvard research studies. But looking at the tiers of intervention, this is similar to that of instruction. We want to start with the foundational supports and that's promoting positive conditions for learning. We're uh we have an amazing PBIS team uh at the district level as well as within our schools, but we're also working with our court and our legislators to ensure that uh attendance is addressed throughout. It's a collaborative multid-disciplinary approach. We also look at tier one or universal interventions and this is for
026all students. Those are students that are have perfect attendance, students who have missed two days. We want to make sure that we put some efforts in place that address prevention. And then we move on to early intervention and that's tier two. And within tier two, these are students who are missing 10 to 15% of school. And of course, as you see, as we get to more intensive intervention, and that's tier three, and that's those students who are missing 20% or more. So tier one interventions that we currently have in place, attendance letters, uh we have the chief judge who writes a in our handbook every single year the importance of attendance but also he highlights what are the consequences to a student not attending school because truency is um considered it is a law and
027so he addresses how it's important for students to attend school and that letter is addressed to students and parents in our handbook. We also have attendance incentive programs. We uh want to ensure that we are highlighting our students who have perfect attendance. Oftent times if you're focusing so much on the students who are not there, uh we want to be careful we're not leaving those students who are there and we're highlighting and appreciating uh the efforts that they're putting in and their parents. school leadership and data team meetings for attendance to address attendance just across the board. We also have cohort team meetings with our regional graduation coaches for our middle and high school students. We each year twice a year we have an attendance clerk professional development day and that's always in the month
028of September and then the second one is always in second semester and we do this to ensure that everyone is understanding the standard operating procedures as it comes to inputting um information into our student information system infinite campus. uh we have the up-to-date uh information as it comes to tracking students. Um and then we also have attendance uh annual principal agreement meetings and that's when the counselors, the social workers, the grant coaches meet at the beginning of the year with the principal to talk about specific goals as it pertains to attendance. Parent notification letters. The district continuous improvement team meets once a month. And we also have the counselors conducting core curriculum lessons within the uh with all grade levels prek through 12. And one of the things that we do as a part of
029tier one um is making sure that our parents are aware when a student is out. So if a student is not in school, those parents who've received that roocall to warn you, that is something we do districtwide for every grade level. So what are some of the impacts academic effects of absenteeism? Well, as we know that it does reduce academic achievement. And one of the things that chronic absenteeism, students are not don't have the exposure to direct instruction if they're not in school. Yes, a student can make up information or they can take homework sheets or do things to make up work, but it's nothing like having the direct instruction from the teacher the first time. Also, it disrupts the classroom and it's important that we understand in the classroom, you know, especially in elementary
030school, it is regimen. You know, the teachers have a plan, we have a blueprint and and teachers want to follow that that structure. So if a student is constantly absent, the teacher must either stay after school or find time within the classroom which takes away from the other students who have been in school. So we want to make sure we are addressing uh chronic absenteeism so that all students can learn equally. Increase dropout risk. We know that if when students miss school, there is more of a likelihood that they may not complete their education. And that is something that is uh we definitely want to pay attention to because we want to make sure that we are creating lifelong learners, students who have the opportunity to have unlimited potentials towards post-secary options. And of course,
031if you're not in school, you set up a trend, you set up a habit, and that can impact you in post-secary. whatever your options are, whether it's work, being enlisted in the military or going into college. One of the events that we have twice a year, it's also working with our judicial system. We are our goal in Muscogee County School District is not to immediately go to the consequence of court. We want to make sure we have some supports, some wraparound supports for our families before we go to that level, which is intensive intervention. So, we work closely with our judges and each year by law, we are required to have a school attendance and school climate protocol meeting. And with this particular meeting, Dr. David Lewis as well as uh many members of our
032community, we come together to address attendance. And we understand that it's all hands on deck. It's so important that each year they must sign a pledge to this uh that stated for the law. Every single district in the state of Georgia must have signed documents stating that everyone is on board and they understand the importance of attendance. And that's from the chief judge to our district attorney, our state solicitor, uh and of course our educators. also wanted to highlight the attendance awareness month. The September is attendance awareness month, but we want to stress that yes, we have wonderful spirit activities uh that we do doing. This particular day uh was tacky day and um I started to come in tacky but I think it was quite appropriate for our schoolboard meeting. So, uh, but Tacky
033Day is one of those days and it's just to try to get students to have school engagement, be interested in coming to school when you have fun things like this. So, this week, um, we're doing once every Monday for the entire month of of September, but we also are having the training and on September the 25th, it's going to be our protocol meeting. We would love to have you here. We're going to at 12:00 in the schoolboard meeting, schoolboard room here. So, attendance awareness month is the month of September, but we want to stress that attendance awareness is, yes, we highlight September, but we must address attendance every single month to ensure that our students are getting the education that's needed for them to be successful. And then tickling down, we mentioned tier two. These
034are a few things that we're doing um in tier 2. I'll highlight a few of these. Uh community outreach and referrals. We have an amazing partnership with enrichment services, United Way, 211, Home for Goods, um defects, and helping our families to provide them with a a continuum of care wraparound services because we understand that sometimes there are some barriers to education. So we we make sure that we are linking them to the right community resources. Also we provide group counseling services for our our students as well as uh just providing them with alarm clocks. Yes, our alarm clocks. And last year we started providing umbrellas because that was one of the things that parents say we're not going to walk in the rain if if the student is a walker. So we've started you know
035getting donations for umbrellas. And so, um, it's been really helpful. We also have a weekend backpack program. We know that our students, um, who are receiving free and reduced lunch, the weekend comes and they don't necessarily have that same level of, uh, nutrition. So we have some of our schools that are participating in the backpack which every single weekend they get a backpack filled with food from feeding the valley and they bring back the backpack on Monday and we start back over on Friday and so and it's done in confidence and so that the students integrity and privacy is maintained. We also um as I mentioned out of school suspension is is also a part of chronic being chronically absent. So we are working with different organizations to uh provide restorative practices, restorative circles within
036our schools in lie of suspensions. We also have check-in and checkout programs um that we work with specific with students um to make sure that they know that they're they're known and that we see them and we are happy when they do show up and we make a big deal of them coming up and showing up for school. We also have moved away from inschool suspension to inschool intervention. So when the students are in school, they're still re in school suspension. They're still receiving instruction. They are still receiving curriculum that's going to support them when they enter back into the classroom. Tier three, again, these are more intensive. Uh we've tried everything from tier one from foundational to tier one uh tier two and we're now here at tier three. Uh we have the Muscogi
037County Attendance Panel that was formed in 2015 and it's a group of community agencies that we meet once a month every Wednesday and it's 21 agencies that comes to the table here at the district and they hear cases uh from our school social workers during that meeting. Our goal, it's not a punitive setting. It is one that's of love and care and we want to support them. Our goal is whatever you're bringing to the table as a barrier, you're leaving that day with a solution and a support. Um, if for whatever reason those supports are not well received by the parent or they choose not to receive those recommendations or supports, then we have to proceed on to the next level and that's juvenile court for our older students and which is a part of
038children in need of services. And then we have municipal court petitions and that's typically for our younger students uh parents because they can't get themselves to school. So they the parents will go before the m municipal judge. Then we have a truency intervention program for elementary students and this is a program that is um sponsored by our court system. They are paired with a mentor and the mentor is an attorney. It is again not punitive but that mentor works directly with the court system to provide supports but also to have a link to the court system to ensure that the parent is following whatever recommendations that the mentor is suggest suggesting. The local inter agency planning team LIP is an organization that supports students who are having mental health challenges and who are missing schools.
039So they meet to discuss what supports they can put together to uh address mental health and to so if it's a barrier to them coming to school. So it's a wonderful team and it's a a free service for our district. So a couple of things the impact on learning we know that it does impact our social emotional impact. We saw that during co when students were feeling isolated. Um it's difficult when you're not in school and you're not participating in afterchool programs and and engaging with your peers. It can have an impact on your developmental stage depending on whether it's prek through 12th grade in terms of social isolation. And some of the things that our educators are really our teachers are wonderful at doing um bringing students and creating unique ways to ensure that
040all students are learning even the students who are missing days. But again, if that teacher is having to pull from their regular instruction time to to help a student who's been out quite a bit, then it does take away from all students. So some of the uh one of things that we've talked about as far as the just initiatives that we have already in place, one of the things that we are working on is the early warning system. And this is uh it's a wonderful program that will assist not just the staff but also the parent. So if a student, whether it's behavior, attendance, or academics, if there is a decline, a slip, if a student is absent and they've hit a target of getting close to being chronically absent, a parent is notified right
041away. And so it's just a matter of a parent being a a part of the parent portal and turning on their notifications. They will receive information that's timely so that we can intervene. the staff will receive this information. We'll have a dashboard that helps to support the schools as well as the parents. We also have the uh hygiene repository that helps to assist our students who are not uh may have issues with obtaining hygiene and we want to respect their dignity and provide them you know support in that area. So because that can be a barrier to a student wanting to come to school if they don't have access to personal items that they need in order to be successful. We do also partner with some wonderful faith-based communities that helps us with laundry. So
042we have an actual laundry mat and this uh several of the faith-based community they come together and provide coins and uh detergent for families if they need their clothes washed. We call it the laundry program. Uh the Muscogi County, we also have McKenna Vento for students who are experiencing homelessness. Um if you haven't had a chance to visit, we have a wonderful store here um at our school district that provides school clothing as well as um the umbrellas and we do um school supplies, book bags. We provide transportation, free lunch, free breakfast so that we're making sure our students who are experiencing homelessness because that's a challenge to get to school sometimes that we're arming them with success with these supports. So upcoming initiatives some of the things that we are uh looking at is
043working at one of the things that we have to focus on when it comes to chronically absent is look having attendance review teams at the school as well as at the district and some these are just some a few of the uh activities we're going to propose um to support the schools and I'll just highlight one here and uh and that's the 2 by10 and that's relationship and trust building strategy where a teacher or a staff member or uh a custodial staff, someone who a is a champion of the student in the school. Spending two minutes per day for 10 days just talking with the student, building a rapport. Uh that is just one way that research has said that students feel like they are known, they're seen, and they want to show up because
044they have a trusted adult that's checking up on them. So, and these are a few others that we are working on um to address in our district to combat chronic absenteeism because we understand you can't teach an empty seat. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Miss McCrae, >> I I was just curious as the mother of a high schooler, um, how do you track and kind of proportionate absenteeism when they're only gone for like two, you know, like my child has a dental appointment tomorrow morning. I mean, that doesn't count as a full day out. >> No, we actually uh the attendance is taken by period. So, it is possible for that student to be chronically absent in a course, a class if they're out every single week or day in that one particular class,
045let's say home, first period, um or checking out during last period. And so, one, we do period attendance and now we're doing we used to do it middle and high school, but we've moved the period attendance to elementary school as well. >> That's good to hear because I would say I would think that would chalk up a lot of absent for high schoolers. So that's good. >> Thank you. >> That's true. >> Um you mentioned that you all were doing some analysis on why students were absent and um you mentioned something about umbrella and things of that nature, but what is the number one reason why students are missing school? >> That's a great question. There's it's kind of an umbrella of answers here. Um we >> it is it's not necessarily one particular thing.
046It is u we hear from students and sometimes parents u if a parent has had a negative experience with school >> that may deter them from having engagement or ensuring we have some home situations that um whether it's an eviction or a parent who is asking their older uh children to stay home to care for the younger children. Um we're seeing that quite often. We also have um of course illness is a um reason for absences um and so it it's kind of >> it varies. >> It does. >> So let me ask this question. Have we looked at the data to see if there are certain trends in certain age groups or at certain schools? because I think we're doing a lot of uh services and a lot of incentives, but until we pinpoint
047the number one reason where all the absences are coming from. Yes. >> And until we're able to provide that family, cuz personally, I just feel like a mother doesn't keep a child at home just because I feel like there are some underlining reasons. And if we can have either a parent liaison or someone at that school wrap their arms around that family and find out why. Um then that will that's the only way we're going to combat the problem cuz cuz most of what you listed today we've been doing that and we still had 22%. Was it two 22% >> 22.5? Yes. >> 20 What's the number? 22.5 >> and that is the percentage of kids that missed over how many days? >> 18 or more days. And so we're we're trying to make a
048correlation between that and student achievement. And so my first comment would be we probably need to dig a little deeper to find out where our our major problem is, whether that's a age group or a certain school, and then provide those wraparound services. And then the second thing is is that I do understand that you cannot teach a empty seat. Um, and so absenteeism is is a problem, but I don't want us to overlook that there may be some other factors that affected our test scores and I want to make sure that we also do a presentation on how we're going to move forward to fix those issues as well. So the absenteeism we can fix by working with the community, working with the parents. But if there are other issues, what is the plan?
049And I'm I'm not I'm posing this question but not directly at you because I know you're you work in a different area, but I would like for us um Dr. Lewis to also have a discussion about what are some other issues that are um keeping our students at this ability level and how can we fix it. So thank you so much. Your presentation was very thorough and um if you would provide us with um what is the rule about compulsory attendance how many days and what happens to the parent sort of that process you don't have to do it now but if you can send unless it's really short but you can send it to us or >> Yes. So at at quickly it's um I I will also send it so that you have
050it but at 5 is when at 3 days is when a letter goes home from the school. At 5 is when the social worker intervenes to provide letters of encouragement. You know trying to determine what's going on um to eliminate the barrier. Once they move on past the five is when we do a attendance agreement with the parents uh pretty much like a contract stating that you must uh attend and if your your student is absent again we will proceed on with other interventions and that could be MCAT MSCO county attendance panel truency intervention program or court u and so one of the consequences to the law is that there could be a fine uh that's imposed osed a $100 fine. It can also be community service that's determined by the courts as well as
051um jail time. And that's of course the dis disposition and the determination is made by the judicial system. Mner two. >> Yeah. Oh, I want um these laws that were imposed, how how how uh recent are we talking about? >> Um forever. I mean, how how how recent have they been into effect? >> They've always been in effect. Um yeah, compulsory. We've always addressed the compulsory attendance law um in the state of Georgia under the OCGA code. And that's >> What about the casing? that's always been attached to the complaint. Sounds like we getting on on that part. >> Um, I want to move on to high school with attendance. >> Okay, let me get up quick. >> Um, want to move on to high school with attendance >> now. Um, is this still in
052effect that um, well, just a minute. How many days can a a student miss from a class? >> Well, >> is that still 15 days and they don't get a credit or is that gone? Well, we work with our student students not to get a loss of credit. That was years ago. Um where it's called LC on your report card, loss of credit. Our that's why we have an amazing team of regional graduation coaches that work directly with the counselors to ensure that students do not lose credit. >> Okay. Is that still u is that still in effect though >> the loss of credit? that we work to make sure the students are getting and so we have credit credit recovery. >> Yes. Is that still in effect? >> No. >> Okay. So, surely we
053are working with them to get the credit. But what I want to say is so that uh legislators that used to be like law. So that is no longer a law. >> It it was a um wasn't a a law. It was a a protocol that was put forth through the state of Georgia, Georgia Department of Education. Uh it has since changed and now we are uh working with students. That's why we have uh credit recovery programs and alternative services to support our students. Our goal is to to uh not award loss of credit but to gain >> it was a protocol because uh when I was working kids did not get credit if they lost 15 days. that was the case. >> So you can get so you can lose a a protocol can
054be just as uh has as strenuous as a law because a protocol is just in my what I thought by definition was something that you just follow. It was a protocol. It's something that we like to do something that has been done >> but it has had no teeth in it. >> But at that time when I was working it was more than a protocol. it was a law but now you're saying that is no longer a law. >> No, we we work with our students to u to give them >> Did you work with them then? >> We we work with students >> when it was before the protocol. Have you always worked with students? >> We always work with students. >> There's nothing different. That's what I'm saying. >> Yes, we we always
055work with students. We we have not always had credit recovery. >> Okay. The restoration. >> We have not always had credit recovery. Okay. That's what I was going to ask you about your restor. restorative practices. Uh what were you doing? Like um say that again. >> Well, that was one of my questions. So she uh when you had your list >> uh you named restorative practices, but you uh did not tell us any of the restorative practice at the beginning of that. So >> restorative. Now we you've moved on into um >> uh credit recovery where they can restore a credit by what? By taking a class or by uh >> Yes. coming to school early. Can you can you restore attendance? Can for >> We do we are working with our I'm sorry to
056cut you off but we are working with our schools to um to have attendance recovery where students can have that instruction. Um it's not during the school day that's you know but it is a a chance for them to recover um their attendance uh not necessarily for the chronically absent but for the the instructional piece. Um, we also have credit recoveries through programs like Apex and we have credit schools that do an amazing job with working u teachers working with their students to um afford them alternatives to making up assignments and work. Our that's you know our goal of course in um MSCO County School District is to make sure that our students are receiving um everything that's possible for full option graduation. >> Yeah. If I also if I may also you mentioned restorative
057practices also that's a way of reducing the number of out of school suspensions and if you can speak to that that's what our second chance works program does as far as that. So you might want to just elaborate on that a little bit. >> Yes. So restorative practices that I've mentioned on the screen was in relation to out of school suspension as an alternative where students and parents um can either do restorative circles or where a parent can come um to the school and receive curriculum along with their students so that they're not suspended. And of course, this is not for uh major offenses and this is um to make sure the students have an opportunity to still learn, but we have some accountability that's in place and the parents um come in and they
058learn um alongside their students the curriculum to restore um being in school and and and behavior and issues in terms of discipline. >> But in the restorative in that way that's actually It's it's something it's a good teaching thing but you don't get actually anything technically restored. Do you get any kind of academic uh restoration? >> Okay. It's a it's like a prevention. >> It's it's intervention. The restorative practice is intervention. >> What do they get? Do they get a credit or do they get like is there any time like sometimes um well I work sometime kids got came early got two hours of restorative restorative uh uh day for uh attendance. So what are they getting for I mean it's a good thing to practice. It's a good practice. >> The restorative is related
059to the discipline, right? So if they get suspended for discipline issues, if they do the restorative whatever meeting class then it then it's >> that's what they get. They get uh it's in lie of suspension. I'm trying to figure out what they're going to get to restore it. Okay. All right. I understand. >> Oh, you trying Okay. So it's restorative in anything that's I was trying to see what they were going to get. See you they restore classes. You can get restorative by taking a class on a computer but >> but they they don't use it that way. So this particular instance is used for discipline. So are you also talking about credit recovery maybe when you're talking about classes Miss Buckner? >> Restore. Yeah they should. Are you we talking about >> but they're
060calling it >> but we're talking about restorative for so they're restoring. >> So credit recovery >> is academics. credits >> and the restorative practices it's for behavior or discipline. So they're two separate things who are yes they are still restoration >> right um whether it's academics or making sure that they you know if there's sus in lie of a suspension which forces that student to be out of school. We keep them in school and we provide some interventions in the school. But there's a curriculum that supports them teaching them social emotional skills um accountability and those things so that they understand. And then the restorative circles if there was a situation of a disagreement between two students, we bring in the students in order to restore that relationship or res to talk about where we
061go from here. And it's so that we don't have >> conflict resim and as you restore the relationship the student is not getting suspended. >> Correct. >> Frank I'm trying to see what's being restored. Okay. >> Correct. Also you're talking about the the protocol for the district. But I do know that schools >> who are going to have the most intimate knowledge about their students chronic absenteeism, they do something in addition to course because they're addressing those specific needs. >> I just wanted to make sure that I said that because they're not the schools are not tied to the district protocol by itself, >> right? um they do really do a yman's job and we can only do what we can do in addressing those specific family issues um and students >> um not coming
062to school. They they're doing that case byase basis because they know their students and they know their families. And I just wanted, you know, to make sure that I say that >> um that they're not just specifically doing >> that protocol for the at the district level. >> No. No. >> Um but you know, >> to the question of still experiencing the chronic absenteeism, is it is the 20% the same 20%. Or is it varying? >> It's varying. Okay. So, we might not ever catch up with that. >> It's it's very >> as people's family dynamics and situation change. >> It's Yes. And and >> so we are look like I said looking at the uh the we are trending down um in a positive direction and we are you know we just had a
063summit recently throughout the state of Georgia and and we are seeing some trends and and that's because uh we are targeting and really addressing not just attendance unexcused absences and that has been the focus for years is looking at unexcused absences because that's what we could um we had a law to to base things on. But now that the the nation has gone to looking at chronic absenteeism, it's um it's all hands- on deck. And so it's understanding that we have to have some systems in place to address even the excused absesses. Um, you know, we've talked about and one of the initiatives you saw there was having a standardized number of parent notes um throughout the district um that will limit the number of just people writing notes for kids being out um constantly
064and because it's still impacting that student and they could be a straight A student but it's like I said before it's still impacting them socially and so um we are looking at out of school suspension a little closer as it relates to chronically absent. So that's why I wanted to really mention the misconceptions is because often times you hear chronically absent, you immediately go to kids not coming to school or students not coming to school and parents not sending in a notice to uh allow us to excuse it. But it's the whole kitten kaboom. When I when I looked at your list of of why kids were absent, I I really uh I like the list of things of list of reasons that you said because in my opinion um and I have no doubt
065to put all it's my in my experience as a worker and I do like what Mr. Green said about go to the school and ask those people and let them do their thing at the school because they know what's going on with their school and with their students. And so I was like in in your d uh um your list in that second second column you had uh you had unfair discipline uh results. you had that and that was given a consideration because in my opinion and uh as I worked I found that uh uh it was the family's attitude towards school that was a major the most major cause for absenteeism. They didn't like it and the students felt like they couldn't see uh their attitude toward even education couldn't see what it was
066going to do for them. Um and they couldn't see themselves as doing well. I couldn't convince that's why I retired. I couldn't convince my students that they were smart. You know, some of the kids were smart, but they wouldn't even do anything. You know, and you just have to teachers have you got to tell them they smart. You got to put them in the right attitude to learn. And then the parents, they love their children. All parents love their children. I'm not saying that they love their children. But the um uh the kids the the home the home situation where kids the attitude toward the education to me look at that's what to me is the whole basic of because everybody I had no my parents were not formally educated but they were big on
067education you know and so it was always education education education and so I just think we ought to look at some of the things that's happening in home. See, I know y'all have the group stuff, >> but I think like some of those things like to make the make the parents I don't know what we can do now. I'm just talking, you know, but I know and and I know everything in education, we try everything. Teachers try everything. Schools try everything. And so that's why I'm saying and they probably doing this type of stuff anyway, but if we can um do that attitudes towards school, toward the parent, toward the >> Absolutely. Absolutely. >> And making them think that what the does he is fair is the right thing to do. I think that's all
068important. >> Absolutely. I agree. Thank you so very much. >> Thank you. >> District recognitions. >> Good afternoon. I'm Kimberly Wright, director of communications. There were no September board recognition submissions. However, we're going to hear from Mr. Corey Neil to present the Power We Award. And following Mr. Neil, Mr. Alan Harkness from the Chattahuchi Valley's libraries director. I'm sorry, Mr. Allen. He's going to present the summer reading awards. Thank you. Good evening. The September 2025 Power We Award winner is none other than Scott Turner, regional coordinator from plant services. And he shall come forth at this time. Give him a hand as he comes. [Applause] and the submission goes as such. It is with great appreciation that I recommend Scott Turner for his outstanding service and dedication to the maintenance of our school. Scott consistently
069demonstrates an exceptional attention to detail, ensuring that every task, whether large or small, is completed with precision and care. His ability to notice and address potential issues before they become problems reflects both his expertise and his commitment to maintaining a safe, functional, and welcoming environment for our students and our staff. Scott's commitment to his work is evident in the pride he takes in assuring that the school is always in excellent condition. He approaches every responsibility with reliability and professionalism, consistently going above and beyond expectations. His quick response to time, his quick response time to maintenance requests is particularly noteworthy, no matter the urgency or the complexity of the situation. Scott responds promptly and effectively, minimizing disruptions to the learning environment. Through his strong work ethic and dedication, Scott has proven himself to be an invaluable
070member of our school community. His contributions not only maintain the integrity of our facilities, but also enhance the overall atmosphere of our school. I wholeheartedly commend Scott Turner for his commitment, responsiveness, and detailed approach to his work and therefore recommend him for this award. Once again, Scott Turner, give him a hand. [Applause] I'll make it short and sweet. Uh, I'm honored to receive this award tonight. Thank you very much. [Applause] That that was an example of that timeliness. Thank you again. Congratulations. Any family, friends, supporters, you guys stand up. Thank you for your support. Thank you for all that you do. Is that the work family, too? >> Thank you so much. Thank you all for everything that you do. Hey y'all. >> Hey. This is the first time we've done this. Um, I'm Alan
071Harkness. I'm the library director, Chaduch Valley Libraries. These are our summer reading championship awards. We have two different kind of awards. Three schools for each award. We're going to start with Read Big. Those are the schools that had the highest participation signing up for summer reading. Whether they did it through the app or through the through the paper, we we gave them credit either way. Highest participation rate as a percentage of their student population. So these are the read big awards. In third place, we have Midland Academy. [Applause] Like we're gonna get in the middle. Come on. Let's go in the middle. >> Midland Academy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Applause] >> all right. Are y'all taking pictures, too? >> Come on up. Come on up. Come on. You want to get a picture? >> All right.
072Thank you'all so much. All right. Second place, Lonnie Jackson Academy. [Applause] Isn't this fun? >> Thank y'all. And first place with our read big award is Britt David Magnet Academy. [Applause] Congratulations. >> Thank you. Way to go. All right. So, those were the read big awards. These are the Read More Awards. These are the schools that had the highest year-over-year growth in participation in summer reading, whether it's in the on paper or in the app. Read More Awards. Uh, third place was Forest Road Elementary. [Applause] >> Congratulations. >> Awesome. >> Way to go. Thank y'all. Second place is Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. [Applause] Said they were going to be here tonight. All right. Where's my regent chief? Where's my regent chief? All right. Come on up. Come on up. Thanks for standing in.
073>> Awesome. Thank you so much. [Applause] And first place in our ReadMore award is Brewer Elementary. [Applause] Congratulations. [Applause] Way to go. Way to go, y'all. Thank you so much. >> Awesome. >> Thank y'all. Thank you so much. We don't have to tell y'all that the community wins when we all read. Thank you. Thank you, Alan. Uh, that's a great initiative. Let's keep that going. >> Mr. Hognes, I just want to say thank you again for all that you do to partner with us and really promote reading throughout our community. Our kids, our schools are much better because of it. So, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Next, we have our public agenda. We have one speaker, Mr. Steve Kelly. Make your way to the podium. All official meetings of the board shall be open
074to the press and public. However, the board may meet in executive session. Speakers remarks should be directed to the board and shall be limited to five minutes. Citizens are encouraged to address items on the board agenda or to initiate presentations of issues appropriate for schoolboard consideration. If an individual desires to speak, they may contact the superintendent's office to be placed on the agenda, the board meeting, or work session is not the appropriate place to address either criticisms of particular employees or individual parent complaints. When such complaints have not been first addressed uh brought to the attention to to the appropriate administrator for resolution, citizens are encouraged to follow the normal channels to address individual parent complaints or problems. The following have requested an audience with the board of education. Mr. Steve Kelly, thank you for
075joining us. You have five minutes. >> Yes, ma'am. Good evening, members of the board. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I want to address an issue that may appear logistical at first glance. but in truth carries academic, financial, and communitywide consequences. That issue is late school transportation. When buses are late, students are late. And when students are late, learning suffers. A 15-minute delay each day may not sound like much. But across the 180day school year in Columbus, that equals 45 total hours of instruction lost per student. Almost an entire week of class time. That is not just a scheduling inconvenience. It is also an erosion of educational opportunity. Research already shows that tardiness and lost instructional time correlate with low test scores and reduce classroom engagement. On the other hand, when schools resolve
076these issues, disruptions uh decrease and grades and performance improve. We know we uh we know this can be done because other districts have already demonstrated measurable improvements. As a candidate for mayor, I've spent a great deal of time out in the community listening to families, teachers, and bus drivers. Over and over again, this transportation issue has been raised as one of the most persistent concerns. Many parents tell me they feel their voices are not being heard, that their daily struggles with late buses, disrupted work schedules, and stressed children are overlooked in policy discussions. One parent took their child to school because the bus was not there at the scheduled time. They then sat and watched when the buses arrived. There was a total of 13 buses that showed up late, ranging from 4 minutes to
07744 minutes after the first class started at 8:45. The same parent said that one day their child's bus did not pick up their child until 9:24. That means that child was picked up 39 minutes after the first class started. This cost extends uh beyond academics. Parents miss work. Employers lose productivity and bus drivers face schedules they know are unmanageable. Teachers are forced to restart lessons or adjust instruction downward. The strain ripples across households and classrooms. There are viable solutions. First, we should look at strategic partnerships with our public trans uh transit system, Metra. Older students, particularly in high school, can safely use existing Metro routes when coordinated with the district. This could relieve pressure on our school bus fleet and ensure more consistent service. Second, I'm not sure if the if a comprehensive analysis has
078been conducted to look at the possibility of consolidating high school bus stops and neighborhoods where safety permits. Centralized pickup locations can reduce route time significantly without jeopardizing student access and allow buses to run more reliably. Third, we must revisit our decision on bus procurement. To be clear, Muscogee County did not replace any of its fleet even though we were eligible for federal grants that would have provided electric bus uh sorry, electric buses at no cost to the district. These grants were declined reportedly due to concerns about range limitations and charging time. While those concerns are not without merit, the long-term economics of electric buses, lower fuel, lower maintenance, and fewer moving parts could be at least 7,000 a year, which means 10 buses would save us 70,000 a year. And that money could be used
079towards increasing bus drivers wages. I would like to see us move beyond boardroom discussions and engage in community engage the community directly. I propose convening a public forum with parents, teachers, bus drivers, students, and transit officials uh can openly discuss these issues and help shape solutions. Community buyin is essential if we want to change uh to be effective and lasting. This is about more than buses and schedules. It is about whether we value every instructional minute, whether we make uh fiscally responsible choices, and whether we treat transportation as an integral part of our education rather than an afterthought. Every day we delay we delay action. Our students lose more instructional time, and we owe them better. Thank you for your time and your consideration for our kids, for our future, for Columbus. >> Thank you
080so very much. Now, the moment we've been waiting for. We are 23 minutes past kickoff, the action agenda. We have one item board members for action and then our consent agenda. Um item number one is the revised policy. FB G the internet acceptable use. Motion by Miss Frey, second by Miss Tiller. Are there any questions? Okay, we're ready to vote now. Oh, we do have a question. Yes, ma'am. So, my question is, we're asking to wave this for the 30-day period that we typically let it sit. What is the reason for the rush to do the to wave the 30 days? Do we have a reason for waving the 30 days? Can you share that with us? >> There we go. Uh yes, we do. We have a deadline to submit this approved policy. Okay.
081On October 1st. Well, actually a deadline by October 15th. Your deadline to approve the policy is October 1st. we have to submit that to GDAU as a part of our annual technology audit. So that's what's driving the acceleration on it. >> Okay. And that deadline came from the um Department of Education or from the state of Georgia? >> State of Georgia. >> Okay. >> It's a law that they basically uh passed >> enacted. Okay, sounds good. All right. Thank you so much for that information. I appreciate it. >> Ready to vote? You ready to vote? That's affirmative for It's affirmative for Miss Chambers. All right. That item passes the consent agenda. >> All right. It was a motion motion by Miss Chambers, second by Miss Buckner. >> We need a motion second. So then we'll
082take a question. So second by Miss Buckner and your question, ma'am. >> Two things and it's just real real brief because you already made your announcement. the uh on uh 12G and 14A and 12G is about the um the the tool for the giftedness uh for gifted the gifted screening and >> the online assessment. >> Yeah, the online assessment. She not here. I'll ask her uh I'll ask her. Anybody know what what I just want to ask what was it like? But I I can call her. Was it What? What? >> Miss, you you know about the screening? >> The screen? >> Uh, yeah. I was just going to ask what it was like. Was it like um >> the online assessment? You said G like Georgia. >> It's it's a she said what? It's
083like a screening test. the new thing that she was talking about and I wanted to know is it a um academic or this does do math does do >> I think is that >> yes >> okay >> that we use to test mental ability and it's a a test that has multiple different parts to test mental ability and cognitive ability in several different areas. So, literary, mathematical thinking and cognitive ability. It is not >> cognitive, >> right? It's it's not an achievement level test whatsoever. >> Does it feel like a score of like 70 or 100? >> So, the norms for that, the scale norms for that, I would I'd have to get you those. Dr. Rose is not able to be with us tonight, but I can have her send you the norms for
084the coach, >> but it is cognitive. So, >> it's cognitive abilities. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thanks. And and the other thing was 14A. That's that um >> Raptor Technologies volunteer screening. >> Yeah. 14A. Let's see what that is. Yeah. Yeah. That was U. Now, what is that? That's from the department of risk management. >> Yeah. Approved this press for technology for volunteer. >> Go ahead and hit background >> for level two screen >> at Musco. >> It's 14A >> screen for volunteers. >> Yes. I'm ready to say Oh, you're asking. Oh, you're asking what it is. Raptor technologies. >> What's level two? Because it sounds like it's different from >> background level two screening at MCSD schools. >> What a volunteer. >> So, yes. So we have Raptor in each of the schools and
085we've upgraded so that they can um background check volunteers >> but they didn't it was not included the actual number of volunteers that we could estimate was not included in the original >> doing a cost thing here. Uh that's what you're doing with this. >> That's what we're doing with this. Yes. >> Uh but I want to see um level two screening is that like a regular what everybody else gets employees? It's just a standard check to to make sure that they are not um they don't have anything on their record for that. >> The same thing like um regular employee full-time employees get. I'm just asking. >> No, it's not it's not completely like that. >> Okay. That's what I was asking. What does that level two mean? That was just for my information.
086And then I do like y'all said, didn't y'all say y'all pay for they don't have to pay for it? >> No, that's that's why we're doing this is because we agreed that that they should not have to pay for I was just trying to see what what was it like real >> but I mean >> I apologize. I was having trouble hearing. >> Yeah. All right. Thank you. >> I need a motion to excuse Miss No, I'm sorry. We need to vote on this first. All right. All in favor? We can vote now. >> Affirmative for Chambers. and McCrae. Oh, and >> Okay. Hand vote. Everybody invol in favor so they'll know. >> It had came up earlier. It may have timed out. All right. That passes. I need a motion to excuse Miss Ch
087um Jackson by Miss Chambers. Second by Miss Tillery. Hand vote. All in favor to excuse Miss Jackson. All right, that passes. Uh, Dr. Lewis, you have anything? >> Yeah. All right, we're going to I need a motion. I need a motion to go into executive session for a legal matter and a personnel matter. All in favor, wave. Good night. All right, that passes. We're in executive session. Thank you. In the heart of the city where dreams take flight. Every student in a star shining bright known and valued. We rise as one. Our journey together has just begun. creating a legacy. A place where all can truly see. Inspire, equip, achieve, believe. Unlimited potential. We'll never leave. From every hall to the open skies, we carry the hope in our teachers eyes. Beacon of light, excellence
088in view. A community strong forever true. We are the voices. We are the flame. Together, united, we change the game. Creating we a legacy. A place where all can truly see. Inspire, equip, achieve, believe. Unlimited potential. We'll never leave. We are the voices. We are the flame together. United we change the game. Creating