Muscogee County School Board Meeting June 23, 2025

001[Music] Every morning in Muscogee County, the doors of opportunity swing wide open. From Winton Fine Arts Academy to Aaron Cone Middle School, from Northside High School to Spencer High School, our schools are where futures begin. This is where curiosity is sparked, talents are discovered, and potential is unleashed. [Music] Our mission is to inspire and equip all students to achieve unlimited potential. [Music] In every classroom, hallway, and lunchroom, dedicated educators and staff lift up the next generation, one student at a time. Muscogee County School District is more than a system. It's the heart of our community. The MCSD is a beacon of educational excellence where all are known, valued, and inspired. We are proud to be named of Forb's best employers for women and America's best instate employers. When we support the Muscogee County School District,

002together we build a stronger tomorrow. To every parent who believes in us, to every teacher who goes the extra mile, to every neighbor who cheers from the sidelines, and every leader who stands behind our schools. Thank you. The future depends on teachers. Every day, teachers are shaping our tomorrows, starting their students on journeys that will change the course of history. Right now, in a classroom somewhere in the United States, there's a teacher inspiring a future scientist who make preventing pandemics through life's work. sharpening the mind of an aspiring environmentalist who will help combat climate change and generating possibilities for a student who will become the first in their family to graduate college. It all starts with teachers who meet challenges with creativity, who reinvent education for the future, who work towards a school system that

003lifts up every child regardless of race, income, or zip code. and who enable the full potential of our students, our communities, and our country. Explore a career that leaves a legacy you can be proud of. Shape the future. teach. [Music] I'm happy. [Music] D hey D. [Music] Good evening. Welcome to our June 23rd regularly scheduled um board meeting. And we will now pause for inspiration. Miss McCrae, thank you all for joining us today. And in on our very sunny and hot day, I thought I would draw a little inspiration related to the sun. It says, "The sun challenges us to shine. The clouds remind us to move. The birds tell us we too can fly. and the sky tells us that there is no limit to our dreams and goals. Thank you'all. Thank you so

004very much. We will uh stand. I would say stand, but it's standing room only, but we're going to stand for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Need a motion to approve the agenda. Motion by Miss Chambers, second by Mr. Cantrell. All in favor, raise your hand. that passes. Want to welcome all of our visitors and I I there's so many in here and I know you're all going to be recognized later by the individuals that you're supporting. But we must recognize two legends in this building. Our retired superintendent Dr. Jim Button. Thank you, sir. and our very first district-wide guidance counselor, Miss Wanita

005Booker. And I'm sure we probably have some principles right now. I just see like a lot of people and like code violations. So, welcome to everyone. I want to say um Alan Harkness, glad you're standing so I can see you. Our director of our libraries and Maryanne Rner, director of our Columbus Public M U Museum. Thank you so very much for always being here. So, we're going to try to move along. Um this is the third of the three required u public hearings that we're required to do each year as we adopt our budget and our 2026 mill rate and I will turn it over to our finance chair Kia Chambers to conduct the hearing. Miss Chambers. Thank you so much Madame Chair Dr. Kia Chambers, chair of the finance committee, and we are going

006to um open it up for the public to speak in reference to the millage rate. But before we do, I am going to read into the record um what we're required to read into the record in reference to the millage rate. Once I have um completed that, then I'll open up the floor for anyone that wants to come to the microphone. And if you have questions, concerns, or if you'd just like to um give us your perspective, in accordance with Georgia law, Muscogi County School District will hold public hearings on the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and the fisc year 2026 calendar year 2025 millich rate. All interested CI citizens have been invited to attend the following sessions at the public education center boardroom 2960 Mon Road, Columbus, Georgia. Our first meeting was Monday, June

007the 9th, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. The second one was held this morning, the 20 June the 23rd at 11:00 a.m. And this is our third and final um hearing. Uh at 6 o'clock PM June the 23rd, the board will vote on the fiscal year 2026 budget and the 2025 mil rate at the June 23rd, 2025 6:00 p.m. meeting at this same location and that is today. Msogi County School District is proposing a millage rate of 23.075 075 unchanged from fiscal year 2025. However, this rate is 0.599 mills above the roll back rate of 22.476, which legally requires the district to announce a proposed property tax increase. State law defines a tax increase as any revenue gained above the roll back rate even if the actual millage rate does not increase because it reflects increased property

008values rather than a change in the rate itself. This will result in a 22.67% property tax increase. Though property owners whose values haven't increased will see no change in their tax bill due to homestead exemption. And I'm going to read that one more time. Property owners whose values have not increased will see no change in their tax bill due to homestead exemption. The board has determined that this proposed meal levy is necessary to provide the resources needed to provide equitable opportunities for all students, ensuring they have the tools, resources, and learning environments needed to reach their full potential. Highlights of the budget expenditures include a 3% raise for employees and an 18% increase in the budgeted health insurance. A copy of the budget along with the 5-year tax digest and M& levy history are available

009for public review on the district website or through the Msco County School District Division of Financial Services. and I've read that into the record. At this time, if there is anyone in the audience that would like to address the board, you have the right to come up to the podium at this time. Okay, going once. I have to ask three times. So, I'm going to ask once again. Is there anyone who would like to speak to the board in reference to the millage rate? Yes, you are welcome to approach the microphone at this time and we will hear your concerns. Please give us your name first and then you can start with your questions or concerns. My name is Sheri Carmarmac. I live uh for River Road in Columbus, Georgia. My question is first of

010all we have a very large number of people in our community that are retired military and people that are widows etc that are going to be suffering from this military increase why are we doing it okay is that that is that your question yes ma'am um I think it's I'm a widow I just got became a widow yes ma'am and this is going to increase my property taxes. I don't have children in school. Okay. So, I don't really see the sense in us doing this at this time. Yes, ma'am. I do want to say once again that the millage rate is 23.075 and it is unchanged. We've actually had the exact same millage rate for the last I know two years. And we actually rolled back the millage rate. This is the roll back rate

011from over two years ago. So, so we're not increasing the millage rate at all. It remains 23.075 as it was last year. But I will turn it over to Janice, our CFO, if she'd like to add anything to that. Janice, if the property value has not changed, um, which it shouldn't with, um, if you have a homestead exemption, then the, um, our portion of the property taxes should not increase, right? It would be the same. So, who is it increasing for? You want to answer that, um, Janice or Lori? It's just that the overall Yeah. It's that for the county the overall tax base is increased because of new properties. Some properties that are not under homestead that have had an increase in value. The extra revenue we will get is from those new properties

012or ones where their value has increased. It is not from Yeah. It is not from homestead um properties exemption. So you should see we have a a freeze. So you should see no change if you filed homestead exemption. So really they're just saying that we are capturing more revenue because again the overall tax base has increased. It is not that the actual rate has increased. The rate has stayed the same. If if you've not improved your home at all or built something new on your property or whatever, your tax increase, there will be no tax increase. Okay. I have another question regarding this. I saw on the records that we have a $4 million increase in spending this year. What is the reason behind that? If we can't stay in our budget, we shouldn't continue

013to spend. Um, can you give a little bit more information $4 million increase and what type of expenditure? Yes, expenditures from last year based on the budget. So, I can tell you again, we talked about the 18% increase in health insurance for employees that was passed along to us from the state. That's part of that increase. uh just the cost for everybody knows that like when we feed our children we have to pay additional food costs. So these are all projections based on inflation and other factors that we know to be the case in our projections. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time and thank you for coming to share your concerns. Okay. We will hear from the next person who has concerns in reference to the military. Yes sir. state your

014name and and let us know what your concerns are. Hi, my name is Glover Gossit. Um, I live in Northern Columbus. I have a question about you said that the the tax increase will not affect those who are homestead exempted. Less than 50% of the people who own homes in Columbus are homestead exempted. That's information I got directly at the last city council meeting. So that's going to affect over half of the people here, over half your community. They're raising our taxes. The city's raising our taxes because of property value increase. What that's going to do is that's going to create property owners to have to raise rates on rent for people. So they're going to have to pay more there. Then you guys at the schoolboard level have standalone authority to raise property taxes

015separate from that which you still get of the majority of your budget comes from city property taxes. So why are we My question is and then also the last time she briefed here you're dipping into a fund 25% of a fund in order to balance the budget this year with the property tax increase for over 50% of the community because that's how many are not homesteaded plus the 25% dip into a a fund or I think it's the general fund I don't know she would know. um what's gonna if you can't balance the budget where you have to keep dipping into funds and raising property taxes in order to get it. That's 25% of a fund. What's going to happen next year? Are you hoping to gain 25% of that fund in revenue? And what's

016going to keep happening next year? You going to have to dip in again and the year after that? I mean, it's a it's a fairly big concern, especially when the city's raising our taxes. Absolutely, Lori. That's my question. Thank you. Yes. Thank you for your time. Did you want a response or Yeah. No. Yes. First, um, now 60% of our funding comes from the state. So, 40% comes locally. Um, so majority is from the state. We are very aware of this. I will say if there weren't some unknowns. I think a lot of us would have liked to have rolled back, but there's some federal I feel very optimistic our federal funding will come in, but right now we do not know some of that. And so, it's hard to bank on that. And as

017we've mentioned before, there have been increases. So far as trust me, I'm the last person that wants to dip into our reserve, but almost every year our projections are a lot worse than they end up being because we have things that aren't position. We're budgeting for positions that aren't filled, things that don't happen. And so we we usually do not dip into our reserve nearly like the projection is. Okay. And there are some other expenses. the health insurance has um skyrocketed for all of our employees as well as um the contribution to the teacher Georgia teacher retirement system has also we've had to increase that our the district's contribution employers contribution into the teacher retirement fund. So, um, the increases are it's hard to plan for it, but once it occurs, you have to budget

018for it because it's requirement to pay for it. And as far as um, let's just be clear that our meal rate is staying the same. Um the city the the our city has realized the property value which property owners like for their property value to increase. Property values have increased and that's reflected on um the tax rate and so we have to call it an increase even though we are not increasing the mill rate. The law specifically requires us to inform the citizens that because of the property tax increase, we stand to gain from that increase. Because if your property tax changes, the percentage of course increases what the the school district as well as the city government benefits from. And and it's how we operate. It's how we um run our school system. And

019let me just say this, our board is um specifically and keenly committed to maintaining the integrity of the classroom. In public education, we are required to um educate to provide a free and appropriate public education for all of the students with all of their exceptionalities, with all of their um different learning styles. We have to provide a free and public education. And for our employees, we want to retain and recruit the very best. And so we do try to maintain uh competitive salary and Georgia teacher retirement system in some components is like number three in the nation. And we're required to have a contribution on that part. And so all of those impact our budget. So we really do appreciate um the questions. Dr. Lewis and Dr. Lewis. And something none of us ever anticipated

020quite frankly is the need for school safety at the level we're focused on now. Uh we've had to few years ago we embarked on having our own police department to ensure the safety and welfare of our staff, students and uh teachers. And so that is something that comes with a price tag obviously for personnel, for training, for equipment. Those are all things. But I don't apologize for that one bit. We've got to maintain the safety and welfare of everyone in our school system. Now, we can't guarantee it, but we can do everything we can to try and ensure that we're providing all the conditions that allow for that safety of our children because that's important, I think, for everybody in this community, whether you have them or not. I think we all recognize the need

021to ensure their safety. Any other board members have any comments or questions? Okay, that was um the second time. I'm going to open up the floor for the third and final time. If there's anyone else that would like to address the board, you have the right to come to the front at this time. All right. All right. Hearing no further questions, I'll turn it back over to you, Madam Chair. And that concludes our third and final um public hearing. Thank you so very much. Next agenda item is our district-wide recognitions. I'm sorry. We have some items to vote on from that hearing. Okay. Oh, I'm Kimberly Wright, director of communications, and these are our June board recognitions. Richard's Middle School's debate squad delivered a powerhouse performance at the Atlanta Urban Debate League State Debate Tournament,

022capturing both first and second place in the team's competition and earning individual and team medals across all divisions, Novvice, JV, and Varsity. The Novice team impressed with strong arguments and bold energy, while the JV team stood out with sharp strategies and confident delivery. The varsity team, seasoned and composed, led with precision and poise. Their success was driven by exceptional teamwork and mutual support throughout the tournament. Coach Deianne Morrison Willis celebrated the win, sealing it with a proud moment for all involved. Congratulations. [Applause] Is there a mic? Good afternoon. My name is Ritha Pololly and I'm a rising junior at Columbus High School. Um, I have debated with Richards all three years of middle school and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I love doing debate and as a junior and in

023Columbus High School, I assist uh coach Miss Willis and I help coach um the novice and JV teams and we have a very great time. And we would all like to thank our principal, Dr. Wizard, for allowing us to use his facilities and just letting us come to his school even if the hours run late. We truly appreciate his help and his time. Thank you. Uh my name is Dorian Hunter, a rising sophomore at Columbus High School. I also go to Richards Middle School to help coach the middle school debate team and I love it. It's a fun time. I think everyone should continue doing debate or start if you haven't. My name is Christian Porch. Next year I'm going to the eighth grade and I will be in the varsity division at Richards Middle

024School. My name is Axel Blue and I'm an upcoming seventh grader at Richards Middle School on the novice debate team. Outstanding. Okay, parents and supporters, raise your hand. Wave at us. Thank you so very much. Outstanding young people. Great job. [Applause] Congratulations to the Columbus High School's girls tennis team for an outstanding season, finishing as the GHSA doubleA state runnerup. [Applause] The team compiled an impressive 21-7 record and secured the title of region champions. Several players earned prestigious individual accolades, being named to both all Chattahuchi Valley first and second team honors. Their dedication, perseverance, and teamwork were evident throughout the season, and we wouldn't be more proud of all they have accomplished. Congratulations. [Applause] Hi, my name is Elaine Lynch and I'm a graduating senior. I'm Rachel Tillery and I'm a graduating senior. Hi, I'm

025Kate Greer and I'm a graduating senior. I'm Katrina Her and I'm a rising sophomore. I'm Riley Fairloth and I'm a rising senior. I'm Haley Herd and I'm a graduating senior. Wow. [Applause] Well, high schoolers, are your parents here? Any parents or supporters of these uh our tennis GHSA tennis runner up? Congratulations to you. Outstanding. Outstanding. Great job. Way to go. [Applause] Congratulations to the Columbus High School boys tennis team for an outstanding season, finishing as the GHSA doubleA state runner runner up. The team faced a Oh, I'm sorry. [Applause] The team faced a highly competitive schedule, challenging opponents across multiple classifications and participating in several tournaments throughout the year. In a remarkable postseason performance, the Blue Devils defeated top-seated Murray County High School to secure their place in the DA championship match. The team concluded

026the season with a 1414 record. Congratulations again. [Applause] Hi, I'm William Brown and I'm a rising senior. I'm M. Dickinson and I'm a rising senior. I'm Jaden Shaw. I'm a rising senior. Okay. I'm Audi Delana. I'm a rising sophomore. I'm Jawan Dosa and I'm a rising sophomore. Oh, good. So, y'all will be back. All right. Any parents or supporters? Oh, one. Good. Congratulations to you guys. We'll see you back next year. Congratulations again. The Columbus High School Blue Devil boys golf team concluded an exceptional season by capturing the GHSA champ state championship. The team [Applause] The team posted a combined score of 11 over par, finishing an impressive 16 strokes ahead of the second place team. The championship marks the 14th state title in the program's storyried history in the sixth under the guidance of

027coach Parker. The team's success was highlighted by a standout individual performance that secured the doubleA individual state title win a score of seven under par. In addition to the team state victory, four players received postseason honors from the Georgia High School Golf Coaches Association, including selections to the first team all state and honorable mention list. Congratulations to the team and coaching staff on a remarkable season and continued excellence on and off the course. Congratulations Blade Man. I'm a rising senior. Uh Ethan Fam, also a rising senior. Uh Carl Titan, also a rising senior. Aiden Jefferson, rising sophomore. Platt Solomon's rising junior. Rrook Circart rising junior. Jay Patel and I'll be attending Mercer's early medical program. [Applause] And I'm Coach Parker. Congratulations. So that means you guys will have a repeat for next year. We're looking

028forward to it. Are there any parents supporters? Okay. All right. Woo. Outstanding. Congratulations. Good job. Good job. See you back next year. Miss Buckner. Coach Parker. Coach Parker. Yes. How many championships is there now? Ma'am, how many championships have you won in golf? Uh, six. Something in there. All right. Thank you. Thank you. I now yield to Mr. Corey Neil to present the June Power of We Award. Good evening. The June Power We Award winner is none other than the proud principal of Richard's Middle School, Dr. Dwayne Wizard. and and the the submission goes as such. It is with deep admiration and appreciation that we nominate Dr. Wizard for the power we recognition. Dr. Wizard is the embodiment of collaborative leadership. An individual who consistently puts the needs of staff, students, and families at the

029forefront. Dr. Wizard understands the true progress is not only based upon self, but how we move forward together. Dr. Wizard has created a school culture rooted in trust, respect, and shared responsibility. He empowers his staff to lead with confidence, encourages innovation and teaching, and his ability to listen with empathy and respond with wisdom shows us how much he cares. He gives shows often how much he cares for each and one of his staff members and his students. From championing student centered practices to ensuring that every child feels seen and supported, Dr. Wizard just doesn't lead our school. He inspires a collective belief in the power of we. It is an honor to work alongside of him and therefore we nominate him for this award. Let us celebrate him again. Congratulations. I will be brief because

030we've got a lot of appointments and recognitions this afternoon. First and foremost, I do obviously have to thank God. I do need to also thank my family, mom, dad, my uh they have to stand up. Oh, you guys got to stand up. Of course. Uh, my awesome wife and my awesome son, August. I would be remiss if I didn't also thank my awesome Richards Middle School team. Please make some noise. Last but not least, obviously, I'd like to thank Mr. Bell, Dr. Lewis, the entire board, Corey, India, everyone who's involved in uh bestow me with this awesome uh recognition. And I'll end with this uh to quote one of my mentors, Mr. uh CFle, leadership should always be present even in the absence of the leader. Our job first and foremost as leaders is to

031build capacity in our building because in a few years, our young ones are going to be leading us. So with this, I'd like to say thank you. Have a blessed evening. Thank you. Congratulations. [Applause] Next, we have our public agenda. So, we have a special presentation for our public agenda. I want to take a moment of personal privilege to invite uh Dr. Jim Button, former superintendent here, Mscoia County School District to come to the podium. He is truly a champion for public education, but most importantly children in general and for our community. Uh he's someone I have come to respect and admire and it's my pleasure to have him come and speak this evening. Thank you so much, Dr. Button. Floor is yours. Madame Chair, board members, Dr. Lewis, it's a pleasure for me to

032be here tonight. Uh, and this is my fault. This is my first board meeting in 30 years. And, uh, it's a I I miss the first part. Uh, some of it, be honest with you, I don't miss, but uh, we've got a beautiful school system and and I'm so proud of you. U, I'm here tonight to congratulate uh, Dr. Lewis and this board. Uh, I've seen a lot of innovative programs in my lifetime in education. Some worked, some didn't, but the ones that worked were the ones that uh had a focused emphasis on whatever you're trying to change. Now, we have uh for years tried to help disadvantaged children raise a level in the school system. We've had some success, but we've never had the success that we should have had with them. And you've

033got a program that's been initiated that in my opinion is going to do just that. Uh your Brewer project that uh Dr. Lewis uh has brought to this board and and you supported is the finest project uh I I I've ever known to do exactly that. It's going to focus exactly on the children that need it. And uh I've been fortunate enough to be part of a group, but really they don't even have a name. I don't know who they are, but they meet every Monday. And uh they are wonderful people. They're very supportive of this community, extremely supportive of education and do a lot of talking, but that's all we've done is talk. You know, human beings do an excellent job of that. Uh but they finally made a dec made a decision that

034uh you know instead of talking why don't we do something and uh that was unanimously approved they uh decided that what they wanted to do was come alongside of Dr. Lewis and the uh the Brewer Project and support them. And the way they've chosen to support them is to raise uh $650,000 and employ an expert in the field of uh childhood children that are that are educating children that are disadvantaged. And uh we will be initi in fact we're already going to initiate that program uh in the feeder schools that come into Brewer to give them some additional tools for these children when they come back to the feeder schools because you know in dealing with that type child the most important ingredient in my opinion uh you got to have empathy for you got

035to understand that uh that really they didn't they they didn't start him but to be able to do the job that you need to do empathy is not enough. You've got to have some skills that go along with it because it takes special skills for this type student. So what uh this group has chosen to do and and I want to identify a few folks in the crowd that are extremely instrumental in this. I'd like for John Shinkle and Mike Welch and Marquette Mcnite if you're here to stand. [Applause] Uh they are Mike and John have been the ones that uh I I don't know whether your arm was twisted or they just that stupid but they uh they decided to be the ones to raise the 650,000. So we are we we're very appreciative

036of that. Uh and and it it's going to happen. It's not a matter will it happen. It's going to happen because you got dedicated people that are that are going to make it happen. But again, uh the the the emphasis tonight is just to congratulate this group and let you know that for years you served and and many of you I know from years ago. We won't talk about AIDS, but Senator getting on up there, but uh that's a good thing because you stayed on this board. You you've done the work that that needs to be done every day and and a lot of it is is is appreciated. Some of it's not, but that's that's a part of living. But, uh, we we appreciate you. We want you to understand that, uh, that this

037community supports you and that, uh, their ups and downs, but, we're going to be there when the downs come. So, thank you for the opportunity to be in here tonight. Thank you for what you do. And thank you for this group that uh has has made a decision that we don't need to only talk, but we need to do some things. And uh, they're in the process of getting it done. and I'm very appreciative of it. Thank you so much, Dr. Button. [Applause] Thank you, Dr. Button, and to your associates and friends that you brought with you. the the best thing about Columbus is our public private partnership and people put their their money where their mouth is. So we appreciate the opportunity. Um and so I will go ahead and read our background rationale

038for our public agenda because we do have some other speakers. All official meetings of the board shall be open to 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 school board consideration. If an individual desires to speak, they may contact superintendent's office to be placed on the agenda. The board meeting or the 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 to the attention of the appropriate administrator for a resolution, citizens are encouraged to follow normal channels to address individual parent complaints or

039problems. The following individuals remaining on our public agenda is Mr. Anthony Johnson and Miss Denise Cambridge. Miss Cam Miss Mr. Anthony Johnson, are you here? Just a little bit of paperwork for you. Just a little bit. And so, um, what you're going to find out, well, let me introduce myself. I'm sorry. Anthony Johnson. And I am a proud Carver Tiger. I see we got a lot of fellow tigers here. So, I want to start off with that. And I am right now I currently reside in North Columbus over in the Spring Lake area. And I am here because I am the Columbus High School mock trial coach. But I am not here just for Columbus High School. I am here for mock trial in general. And so what you will see is that that very

040first page that you're going to see, it says, "Congratulations Decater Decar High School, Georgia 2025 mock trial champions." That offends me and I'm going to tell you exactly why. You saw that we have some very talented children in this district. We had state champions in football and basketball and tennis and soccer at one point. Uh we've had the golf that we saw, the tennis and everything and I feel there's no reason why we should not have one in mock trial. We have had four teams I would say historically that has gone on. Um there's a total of 153 teams that normally compete in any given year at mock trial. Normally we see north side, Brookstone, Pachelli and Columbus High School. That's it. I did speak to the principal of Spencer, principal Patterson, and um she

041is exceptional, by the way. And hopefully this upcoming year, they will have a team that's going to be put forward. And as a Carver Tiger, I'm going to say one thing for sure, two things for certain. We're never going to let a a green wave outdo us. And so, um I'm hoping that, you know, my Carver Tigers are going to be somewhere uh close behind. But uh the importance of mock trial I cannot really understate that there is 340 individuals that are in the population of the United States. 1.3 million of those are lawyers. So that is less than a half of a percent. Very very small amount. And as far as us uh the defense bar, which I'm a criminal defense attorney by trade, um we are very much so struggling as it pertains

042to recruiting young lawyers and young talent back to Muscogee and back to Columbus. And we have to start here. Most of the time they'll either go to CSU or some school and we don't have a law school that's close. We have Faulner that's to our west. We have Mercer to our east. We have John Marshall, UG, Georgia State to our north. um no one to the to the south. And so we don't really have a school here, but we have talent here. And so what I saw was that unfortunately they'll go from Richards Middle School as the debate team. One of those young ladies on the right, she's actually a member of our Columbus High School mock trial team. They'll go from Richards or whatever school they're going for for debate or mock trial. They'll

043go to their respective high schools and that's pretty much it. There's no way or nothing that really follows them to that next step. And that prepares them. And I'm a soccer coach. And one of the things that we say, you have to get the kids touches, which means they have to get that exposure. They have to get that experience. They have to fall on their face sometimes. All right. They have to have a coach that's going to say you, your public speaking, I want you to work on that. You know, your presence, I want you to work on that. And I think most importantly, your conflict resolution at this age, I want you to work on that. Right? how you speak to adults, how you do courtroom decum. I want you to work on that.

044And that's not something that at 14 and 15 and 16 and 17 and sometimes not even at 20 and 30, we have learned until we have had the appropriate amount of touches, the experience in order to get there. I think that the one thing that we are missing is that as the district, we have to buy in. Every judge that I have spoke to wants to support Georgia High School mock trial. They want to support the students coming to the government center. They want to take out their time if they need to and say, "Hey, if if you need the courtroom to be open, I'm willing to do that." Every parent that I've spoken to is excited about it. The administrators, we just have to make sure that at the district level, we are fully

045committed. Difference between being interested and committed is going to be that level of sacrifice that we are fully committed to our kids becoming lawyers, um, doctors or whatever they want to be. And so this is just kind of the tidbit. I know I gave you a little bit of uh paperwork and at some point in the future I'll go ahead and tell you I'm going to be coming back. All right. And uh hopefully I will be with some students and some teachers and so that you can actually see that mock trial is going to be growing and we're going to ask for your support. So thank you on that. Thank you so very much for sharing with us. Good evening everyone. Denise Cambridge, your favorite parent of Muscogi County School District. Good evening to the

046board, to Dr. Lewis and the cabinet as well. I wanted to come here this evening just to say thank you uh first to Dr. Smith in his previous role as federal programs director and to Dr. Lewis for approving me or nominating me to be the parent representative for all of Muscogi County at the state school superintendent parent advisory council. I wanted to come to the May meetings because those I wanted I've forgone coming to the main meetings because of all of the celebrations but it looks like tonight is a packed house to celebrate as well. Um but again just the opportunity to serve as the parent representative for the last two years. I came into the parent advisory council at the end of what was a very robust conversation after the Yaldi school shooting. And

047so we did talk a lot about that school safety uh measures that Dr. Lewis mentioned earlier and then the funding that the state school superintendent is putting into initiatives to make sure that security is being robust across the state. Getting to hear from different parents across the state of Georgia. I learned that a lot of our school districts have a lot of similarities and few differences. Um when you talk about the more metro counties and then even some of the rural counties, we got to learn about the different functions of the different departments across the state. some of those same functions here in the local school district where I was able to work alongside of some of the Muscogi County School District departments here to provide a pulse of what the parent voice and community

048voice here um is in the community. And I consider myself an honorary member of the communication social media team. I hope Dr. Chambers says yes because I tag on Facebook too. All of you actually. Um, I'm here to also encourage and hope to encourage more parental involvement and community engagement from our parents and schools, community members, hoping to continue to help um, disseminate information as we're learning to work together um, for the better outcome of our all of our students. Um, I often tell Dr. Vicorous Ward and the family resource uh center team that I am looking to retire in 2027 when my youngest daughter uh graduates from Jordan Vocational High School. Um but for now I will continue to serve as a parent representative for Muscogi County School District. Again, looking to help build

049other parent leaders across this district. My most greatest honor is to be a proud parent of the best and most innovative school district in the state of Georgia. Thank you. Thank you so very much for the update. Thank you, Miss Cambridge, Miss Pman. Miss Cambridge, you've been coming to meetings long enough, so you know the routine. You came back with your report. We often as we ask our other people to bring a report and update. We appreciate you bringing yours also. Thank you so much, Miss Bugner. Thank you all for your support. Thank you. All right. So, now down to the action. What we're all waiting for. 6.01. There's a motion. Okay. Motion. Mot motion to approve the recommendation by Miss Frey. Second. Okay. And second by Miss Chambers. and the to approve the recommendation

050to appoint um Miss Lrista Thornton to serve as the executive director of programs and exceptional students. Are there any questions? We're ready to vote now. All right, that passes. Congratulations. [Applause] For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11, my favorite scripture to the executive cabinet, even those that are retiring. Dr. Lewis and the school board, I extend my deepest gratitude for this appointment. It is truly an honor to be entrusted with this opportunity to serve as the executive director for the program for exceptional students. I am enthusiastic about the work that lies ahead and looking forward to partnering with all stakeholders to advance the strategic priorities with professionalism, efficiency, and stewardship. Under

051my leadership, I am confident pees will not only drive meaningful progress, but we will also leave a lasting and positive impact on the lives of our administrators, teachers, staff, and most importantly, the students we are entrusted to serve. So, let's get to work. Thank you. Um, family. I got to get on the road to Atlanta to this federal conference. They are back there somewhere. Call her. Call them out. Call them out. There you go. My mom, my children, two daughters, my son's in California somewhere. Mom. I see a hand. Yes. And congratulations to all of you. Yes. My Wood all family that I am going to the next level because it's for all students. That's right. That's why I'm here. Thank you so much. Travel safety. Congratulations. [Applause] Item 6.02. Superintendent is recommending the appointment

052of Emily Stakebomb to serve as senior director of accountability and research. Motion by Miss Chambers, second by Miss Jackson. Any questions? We're ready to vote. Congratulations. And she is joining us. We're glad to have her. And we're bringing one of our home, our own home. She is a Columbus High graduate. So, welcome home. She's on video. Somebody's got her on mute. Somebody's on mute. [Laughter] Okay, we understand the hands are excitement. [Laughter] Do we need to come back? Well, congratulations to you. We look forward uh to seeing you soon. Wait, hold. We got to We've got to get her on here. And if it doesn't work out because I see the frowny face. We do this every month. Mr. Jacobson. We'll take one minute. It's worth the time. I tell you what. Can we come

053back to her? We can do this next appointment. Hold tight. Yay. I hear you. Good. I was so worried. I I was frightened with my technology. Um I promise it won't take long since I've already delayed enough. But I am so grateful for the confidence and support of both the board and Dr. Lewis. Uh I don't have anyone there for me. Obviously, I'm not there either. I'm still up in Indianapolis, but I am so excited to be coming back home and making a a exciting and and triumphant return to Columbus to help kind of come home and and give back to where I got started in the field of education. So, thank you. Um looking forward to it. Already seeing lots of familiar faces in just this one board meeting. So, I will see you

054guys very soon. And um thank you again. Congratulations. [Applause] Congratulations to you and your family. And welcome home, Miss Buckner says. Item 6.03. Superintendent is recommending the appointment of Kendall Mills to serve as director of district-wide athletics. Motion by Miss Buckner, second by Miss Chambers. Are there any questions? We're ready to vote now. motion by Miss Buckner. Second by Miss Chambers. All right, that passes. Congratulations [Applause] Congratulations and I apologize in advance because we are some extra special people up here. Good evening everyone. I always wondered what it would take to get to this microphone. Thank you Dr. Lewis, cabinet board, region chiefs. I want to thank God for this amazing blessing. Um, this is not going to be long. I'm a coach by trade, so I'm not going to beat the shot clock, but

055I'll get there. Second, I want to thank Dr. Lewis for his recommendation and vote of confidence. I would like to thank the board members for pressing the right buttons on your controllers. With the technology, I thought something might go wrong and my heart started pounding there as I was sitting waiting. I want to thank the interview panel and the hiring committee for their vote of confidence as well. There are many people to think. I'm going to start with my parents. My father's here, Curtis Mills. [Applause] My mother, Gwendela Mitchell, is watching online in Brooklyn, New York. Got a lot of family in New York and California. So, we're covering coast to coast tonight. Yeah. Um, I want to thank my daughters, Shemica, who is in Fort Worth, Texas. My daughter Jordan Nela who's sitting here

056as well. My other kids are here. Caitlyn, Benny, two of our oldest daughter. You have to stand up. Yeah, they'll stand up in a few minutes. [Applause] I got to thank my I'm sorry, Dr. Lewis, my superintendent, my athletic director, and my principal at home, my beautiful wife. I I I [Applause] Googled what to say and it said, "Make sure you thank those people." But I Oh my Oh my goodness. My mentors. I have one. I did not know he was going to make it. I called Mrs. Wright yesterday, but her and Bobby Wright showed up tonight. Um, she's here for another friend, but I I feel like they're here for me. So, thank you, Coach Wright, Mr. Bell, Mr. Richberg, because I've been here 21 years, and I've worked with so many people that

057are in this room, and now I hope to fulfill a dream and for and exercise a a new role in a new capacity to help this school district. Dr. Lewis, I do not take this job lightly. I look forward to collaborating with all academic departments to ensure the needs of the students and student athletes in Muscoi County are met with the highest level to represent the school district as a true professional and adhere to national and state regulations set by the GHSA. Um to make sure all our departments are in total compliance on a daily basis. Um I know my hardway family is here or they're outside. I want to thank them as well. They'll stand up. I got some coaches here, former players. I've coached and taught over a thousands of kids every year.

058As I stated before, I've been at Hardway 21 years. But as I close, I do have a short um story to tell and share. Um I always dreamed of playing professional sports when I was younger, and I always thought I would be drafted into the NBA, but but God saw something different. Um maybe it was my height, but or the skills, but I didn't make it there. But after the interview, I felt like I was in a green room and I would sit day by day looking at my phone, making sure the battery wasn't that wasn't dead, making sure the volume was up if I was doing something else, like waiting for that call. And the other day, the phone rang. It was 8:27 a.m. And it wasn't spam. And it wasn't a bill collector

059because they don't call that early sometimes. and something said, "Answer your phone, dummy. Just answer your phone." And it was Dr. Lewis. And today, I feel like a number one draft pick. All right. [Applause] So, my my dreams my dreams of making it to NBA, I feel a little short on that. Probably a foot shorter, but I feel like a number one draft pick. And the words of former President Barack Obama, I'm fired up. and ready to go. Thank you. Congratulations [Applause] to you. Look forward to working with you. 6.04 Superintendent is recommending the appointment of Laoya Day to serve as principal of the George Washington Carver High School. [Music] [Applause] Motion by Vanessa, Miss Vanessa Jackson. Second by Miss Naomi Buckner. Are there any questions? Vote now. That passes. Congratulations [Applause] Wow, what a

060moment in time. Dr. Lewis, let me say to you and the board, thank you so very much for the opportunity to be able to come back home. Madam Chair, I just want to make sure that we know it's 3100A Street George Washington Car on the hill. On the hill. I do want to say thank you so very much. It means much to be able to come back to where my career started in education to be able to give back to our students. I'm not one of a lot of words to say, but I just want to work and prove by way of my actions. My parents are here. My parent, my dad is here. My mom um now sleeps beneath the silent sun. But I'm grateful for my father who is here today. [Applause] And

061I too have a principal of my house. I'm grateful for my wife, Arthia. That's stand up. Dylan and Dylan and Lai are here. Do you all stand? As a Carver graduate, again, it's a big deal to me. Thank you so very much. Again, I say to be able to come back to give in this institution of learning. I'm grateful for again the class of 1996, those who have come to support us in this moment. I'm also grateful again for um my former boss u my former principal Miss Terry Meyers for what she has done for me and given me the call to aspire into leadership not just her but those who have centered around my circumference I want to say to them thank you so very much there are many people who are here to

062celebrate this day with me but I'm grateful for God for the opportunity and I'm thankful and I'm ready to go to work and I'm ready to do what is necessary to take our school to the next level. Thank you to Mr. Lindsay again for his conversation that he has had with me and I'm grateful to move forward to our next moment of work. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. I see the Carver family is here. Miss Buckner, Mr. Day. Mr. Day, this is Miss Butner here. I want to say welcome to the hill. Item 6.05. Superintendent is recommending the appointment of Daniel Albbright to serve as principal of East Columbus Magnet Academy. That motion was by Miss Chambers, second by Miss Jackson. Are there any questions? We're ready to vote now. Congratulations. [Applause] This is the day

063the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it. All glory and honor to God for his infinite wisdom, unmmerited grace, and perfect timing. To the Muscogi County School Board and Dr. Lewis, I extend gratitude for the opportunity to lead and serve our children, families, and community at East Columbus. To my family, Clyde, Joselyn, Leila, Khalila, Wade, the most precious gifts that God has granted. Thank you for supporting me with patience and love. To my St. John family to the sisterhood alpha kappa alpha true friends mentors Terry Meyers if you're in the building true mentor and members of the organizations I represent thank you for being those beacons of light and connection and safe haven for growth. You shared your knowledge, wisdom, prayers, and sound advice, all while serving in your own

064rights. To the leaders and teachers of Cherokee Nation, my Cherokee family. What a journey we have been on together. I could not wish for a better group of teachers and leaders with whom to have served. To Dr. James, thank you for being a true example of leadership. One who pushes us and champions us all while reminding us that leaders wear many hats and to serve means not asking others to do what you are unwilling to do. To the East Columbus family, this moment signifies a true bridging in the community as we have enjoyed fruitful collaborations in the past. You too have had a tremendous leader in Miss Magwood and it is my honor and privilege to step into this role. My heart is full. Thank you in advance for a wonderful journey to come with

065our minds and hearts set on children. We will continue the condition the high expectations and achievement and go to the highest heights and do it in the night way. Thank you again and God bless you all. Congratulations. [Applause] Congratulations to you again. Item 6.06. Superintendent is recommending the appointment of Zara Malone to serve as assistant principal at Blackman Road Middle School. Motion by Miss Chambers, second by Mr. Cantrail. Are there any questions? We're ready to vote now. Good evening. The book of Job teaches us about patience and humility. I am truly humbled, honored, and blessed to be standing before you all today. Dr. Lewis, board members, region chiefs, and Mr. Church, thank you for entrusting me with this opportunity. There are several individuals that have significantly impacted impacted my career that I must thank. Dr.

066Dr. Reginal Griffin who hired me 15 years ago and his wife Victoria Griffin, Dr. Secure, Dr. Hullman, Miss Janella Pendleton, and Miss Lori Dixon Moore. Your continued mentorship and support is invaluable. And Miss Tamara Magwood, words cannot express how thankful I am to have been placed under your leadership. Thank you for showing me that I can knock down a door. And to my parents, Sey and Carmen Haidider, they are traveling today. Hi, Mom and Dad. I am the woman and mother that I am because of everything you have instilled in me. Thank you for always supporting me and standing by my side. And to my children, Deuce, Sydney, Thomas, and Jackson. You are my why, my motivation, and inspiration. I want you to remember this moment. Remember to never give up and to always trust

067in God's timing. I love you with all my heart. and to my friends and family, my sister Zarena and her family, Victoria Anki, Tiara Countryman, the devastating women of Delta Sigma Theta, Sorty Incorporated, and the mothers of the Columbus, Georgia chapter of Jack and Jill of America, my new birth family. Thank you for being my village. And to my East Columbus family, Miss McCclary and Miss Mitchell, thank you for welcoming me and my children into your kingdom and showing us what the night way of living is. To my new Blackman Road family, I am excited to pursue this next chapter as we pursue academic excellence. Thank you. Congratulations. Great job. Look forward to working with you. 6.07 Superintendent is recommending the appointment of Latavius Watts to serve as assistant principal at the George Washington Carver

068High School. [Applause] Motion by Miss Buckner, second by Miss Chambers. Any Are there any questions? We're ready to vote now. Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, first off, I would like to thank Dr. Lewis and the members of the board um for giving me this amazing amazing opportunity. The credit for all this goes to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without him, none of this is possible. What I found through him is what many people would never discover and that is my passion. My passion for giving back, teaching and mentoring the youth. To the mother of my children and my lifelong friend, Patrice. Thank you. Without you, none of this is possible. Thank you to my mom, my dad, my children, my friends, my family, and my support system, which is amazing.

069To my friend, my mentor, my principal, and my boss, the king of the hill, Christopher Lindsay, thank you for this full circle moment. I know you have great expectations for me, and I will not fail you. to to my extended family, my Carver family, alumni, staff. I look forward to continuing our hard work and dedication to our students. The genuine love and support that we give to every child that walks the halls of Carver High School will never go unnoticed. with the the new addition of principal day. All three administrators are Carver grads and that speaks volumes [Applause] that speaks volumes of the love and support and dedication that will enter that building every day as we give back to our youth. Thank you all again. Go Tigers. Congratulations. And what class are you? 2008

0702008. So that means Mr. Lindsay, you were the principal. You were the principal, right? 2000. Full circle moment. Okay. Congratulations. Go Tigers. 6.09. I'm sorry. 6.08. Superintendent is recommending the approval of Miss Lynn Hall Green as the assistant principal for Downtown Elementary Magnet Academy. Motion by Miss Chambers. Second by Miss Frey. Are there any questions? We're ready to vote. That passes. Congratulations. [Applause] Good evening. Now now, now we know why the other legend is here. Miss Yeah. Now we know. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. Giving honor to God, the head of my life, to the board, Superintendent Lewis, our region chiefs, and our education community. Thank you for this incredible opportunity to step into the role of assistant principal. I am deeply committed to supporting our students, staff, and families at Downtown Engineering Magnet Academy. I'm

071standing on the strong shoulders of many persons to include my parents, the late Leon Hall and Veronis Bowden Hall. My sister who's here, Dr. Jan Egan Hilddrth. My godmother, Wanita Carson Booker. My husband, the Reverend Rodri Brian Green, my First African Baptist Church family, my Soros of Alpha Kalpa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, my principal, Dr. Dwayne Wizard who encouraged me and my assistant principal Miss Latasha Stiger who has mentored me. I look forward to the journey ahead supporting Dr. Toana Wiggins and the Dimma team. Thank you. Outstanding. Congratulations. Congratulations. That's outstanding. Outstanding. 6.09. Superintendent is recommending the appointment of Hursten Pitman to serve as assistant principal of at Gentin Elementary School. Motion by Mr. Canrell, second by Miss Jackson. Are there any questions? We're ready to vote now. All right. Congratulations. Is he here? He's out

072of town. Okay. He's at the conference. He's at a conference. Okay. Well, congratulations. 6.0 6.10 is the assistant um recommendation to appoint Mr. Michael Smith to serve as assistant principal at Richard's Middle School. Motion by Miss Slide, second by Miss Buckner. Are there any questions? We're ready to vote now. Congratulations [Applause] Go Richards family. Y'all have a lot to celebrate. Congratulations. Good evening, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I don't have a lot to say except thank you. I want to first and foremost just thank God for his sovereignty and his provision in all of this. I'd like to thank Dr. Lewis for his recommendation, the board for your approval. I'd like to thank Mr. Matt Bell for giving my giving me my first teaching job and then instilling in me so much wisdom over

073the the past few years. I'd like to thank Dr. Wizard and the Richards Middle School administration for their confidence and and what they've placed in me. I'd like to thank my my family, my mom, my dad, um especially my wife and my son who are here. Um and I'd also like to thank my my church family just for all the love and support they pour out of me. So, Mscoe County, thank you for your support. I'm a product of MSCO County and so I'm looking forward to giving back to this school district um in whatever way I can. So, I'm ready to get to work. Thank you all. Congratulations. [Applause] All right, that's all the appointments. Item six. No. Okay. Item 6.11 is the naming of the media center at D. George Washington Carver High

074School as the Christopher B. Lindsay Media Center for Academic Excellence. Motion by Miss Chambers, second by Miss Buckner. Are there any questions? We're ready to vote now. Congratulations. [Applause] Is there is there a word? Would someone like to say anything? Otherwise, congratulations, Mr. Lindsay. Thank you. Okay, [Applause] man. A few words. Man, a few words. Congratulations. Also, the the George Washington Carver family has had a lot to celebrate tonight. Congratulations, Mr. Lindsay. U Mr. Lindsay, we wish you best wishes on your retirement. Yeah. And your new endeavor. Miss Buckner, Mr. Lindsay, I I think congratulations. Mrs. Green was trying to congratulate you or wish give you uh best wishes on your retirement and congratulations on your new appointment. And if y'all didn't hadn't had a chance to meet the new um head coach, Mr. Jarvis

075Jones, wave your hand. Head football coach. Welcome back home. [Music] All right. Now, 6 612 is the update. uh chance light update. Yes, ma'am. Uh after the last work session, there were some questions regarding the chance contract uh that was u so we're going to give you an updated presentation from the one conducted at our board retreat in March. So, this will be an updated version of that presentation. Am I on this? Yep. Okay. Uh Dr. Lewis, thank you for having us again. uh board. Good to see you, esteemed cabinet members. We're coming back to you to talk about our behavior supports program, which is definitely something that I love to talk about and I'm excited about always. Uh my name is Victoria Robinson. I'm the behavior supports program manager for our district. And this

076is Ryan Schwick. He is our lead board certified behavior analyst for the behavior supports program. So currently numbers from GDAU are indicating approximately 20% of Georgia students with disabilities need those intensive mental health or behavior supports. Okay. Oh, it's gonna open again. Excuse me. Dr. Fort, could you ask them to either quiet or exit? We just got to be able to hear conduct business. or that I could go use my behavior support classroom voice. The ones where they all sit down real fast and go, "Oh, Mr. Ryan's here." Um, now, so what studies are showing, particularly after 2020, we've seen a larger increase. Um the current GDAU numbers are 20% of our students with disabilities require intensive mental health supports and behavior supports just above those regular accommodations. Um with that like I said there's

077been that significant increase and only about half of those students according to the department of education have been getting those mental health services and for in order for them to access the educational environment. We have been fortunate um way back in 2018 under Dr. Lewis's leadership and the board um built the behavior support program which has put us far ahead of most districts within the state. We actually have had this year alone I think one two three four districts within the state come see our model. Other districts from out of state have come and seen it and there have been some that adopt what we have done. It's very surreal to get an IEP from out of district and you recognize your own setup in it. Like I looked at I was like, "Well, that's

078real well written." And I went, "Oh, that's because I did it." Like that's good to see. Um, as we all know with special education teachers, we're in a shortage right now. Um, most special education programs have dropped approximately 20% while our demand, the increase has gotten huge. Um we are the Bureau of Labor is saying that we're projecting a 3% growth rate for positions needed. Um but enrollment rates and preparation is not keeping pace with that demand. Um you know there have been we do use alternative prep programs like GTA but what with a program like ours requires such specialized interventions. um you know it requires not only finding a person that wants to do this which can be few and far between sometimes but also has the skills to be able to work with

079these students. So at before I go over the where our program layout is I do want to say that we have with us here Mark de Dr. Deansiglio who is vice president of translate and Dr. Roger Williams who's our on the boots ground with us director. They're here with us and I do want to say this is uh going to be our last presentation with uh Dr. Vickers Ward who spearheaded this along with us and I just want her to know that I appreciate everything that she has done to pour into this program and the students and their success is because of you. Also [Applause] um when we look at our sites we are located across the district. We have five classrooms that are a gention. We have four classrooms at the new Mary Buckner

080Academy. We have two classrooms at Allen Elementary. At Blackman Road Middle, we have two classrooms. At Midland Middle, we have two classrooms. At Double Churches Middle, we have three classrooms. Our high schools are Shaw with two classrooms. Kendrick with three and north side with two. For K through 12, we have a therapeutic day program that is located on the Marshall Success Center campus. It's our wing that we support our students that have the most intensive need at that at that site and again that's driven through their IEP but those are particular locations of where our program is. Now when you look at the support that we have across the district um I'm very proud of our team. Our team works collaboratively. We have been in partnership with Chance Light for six years now and we

081have grown a strong team that works collaboratively together and picks up the slack where it's needed and supports the kids. We have data that shows that our supports are making a difference in the lives of kids and also making a difference in in our budget lines because we have saved some money. So obviously as a behavior analyst, the data is the most important to me. Um, and what our data shows is what we're doing is being successful. Um, in last school year, we had a 100% course pass rate. We had a 100% of our students that were in 12th grade graduated. Um, and just as a followup from the board retreat, our student um, that we showcased in the video, we've spoken to him. He's started his vocational program which is really exciting. Um last

082year uh before data shows we were 481 OSS days for these students. So out of school suspension last year we had zero students over 10 OSS days. And we'll talk about why that's important in a little while. But my what I think is the most important number. We had 14% of our students transition to a least lesser restrictive environment. These are students that are going from the day program back to a general education school. Also, students that are going from specialized behavior supports to back into their home school. Um, and we continue to support them through our board certified behavior analysts. Um, and I always like to share, you know, the personal stories, but I think one of the ones that really hit home, we had a student that came from Chicago this year and

083he came in with pretty intensive services and was served at our therapeutic day school and through our team, he worked with our mental health therapist and we were going to move him back to a he was actually going to Mary Buckner. Y'all actually met him. Um, his dad told me that his previous school told him he would never be around normal students again. And so we have been able to move these students back to their peers and really give these kids a fighting chance. So this is something that I am so super proud of and it is a lot of hard work that has been done by the team in behavior supports. When we look at our special ed report card, we have indicators that are related to discipline and they're related to suspension over

08410 days for students with uh disabilities and ethnicities for over 10 days. If you don't meet your indicators, you lose money. Well, because of our program and a lot of intensive training and supports that we've been able to provide, we met that indicator and we did not we would have lost 15% of our budget which would have been $1,300,000 and we did not lose that. So we met that from and say that and again this goes ac that goes across the piece to uh our interrelated side our classes and supports across the district along with professional development for teachers and these are just some educational uh partnership advantages. Um one of the big pieces of chanclite is they're able to meet our staffing needs. Um, we have struggled and we still struggle with finding teachers

085that want to take on this job. Um, we still have current vacancies on the Muscogi County side that we work very hard to fill, but oftentimes we have teachers that will leave us and go into a different area because it's a tough job. Uh, but Chancell is always able to maintain a low turnover rate and also to provide us with those skilled teachers who want to be in this area. Um, we also are able to effectively have staff transition across all our sites. That is important because if a crisis occurs, you need more than just who you have in the building. So, it's a very valuable asset for us because we can pick up the phone and say, "Hey, we've got a crisis at Blackman Road and the staff is on the way to support."

086Um, financially, this is a very big important piece. And this is the biggest piece along with uh saving our $1,300,000. We have 47 students that are at our therapeutic day program. These are kids that come in with residential facility treatments in their IPS. So, whatever county they came from said they needed residential treatment and they were being served in that. We don't have to send our kids away. We get to take them into our program at the therapeutic day, keep them at home with their families, support them, and if we had to provide a resident treatment facility for those kids, you're looking at about 200,000 if you can find a bed for each kid. So that in itself is a savings of, you know, 9,400,000 annually because these kids have to be served. And even

087if we did find a treatment facility for them to be served in, we're still responsible for them. We're responsible for their progress, we're responsible for their education, even if they're in Atlanta or if they're in another state along with paying for it. But here, we keep them here. We take care of them. We give them the skills that they need and we give them an opportunity to make it. I do want to say that that is the one compliment that I hear mostly from the school buildings is the partnership where someone can come over to assist because that's some specialized training and specialized skill set and teachers already have to teach a class and so for someone to come over from Chance Light while they can continue to work with their class is the the

088biggest compliment that I hear, you know, over and over over and over all the time. And you there is no value. There is no amount of money you can place on um being able to serve every single student. This is public education and we have to service them. As you said, it's required by law. And I do want to to thank you all and commend you for um this collaboration and the effort and the and the great job and the results. So, thank you so very much. I was just going to simply say I appreciate the partnership with Chancellite. Uh they've been responsive to our needs from a staffing standpoint. Uh whatever the situation, um I can always get Mark by phone and I appreciate his timeliness and his responsiveness. And so I do appreciate

089that. and whenever we do have a problem, we can work through it, discuss it, and get it resolved in a very timely fashion that ultimately benefits the students and of course their families as well. So, thank you for that. Any questions? I'm sorry. Yes, that's what I was waiting on as well. I just have a couple of questions. Um, can you pull the PowerPoint back up and go um back to like page two? I think right here. Um I wanted to just clarify um at this different sites there's five classrooms, four classrooms, two classrooms. Can you explain to me are you is that five classrooms that you're servicing or five classrooms dedicated to transling? So an example if you look at uh Jensen where it has the five classrooms it we have a mix of

090Muscogee County classrooms and Chandlike classrooms that are at each location and because we have that mix we're allow we we can use the support staff across all the classrooms. So if I have two classrooms that are located at Mary Buckner and that staff needs support we're all one team so it is a mix um at Allen and I can go through if you'd like me to go through the specific ones. Um I'm I'm just trying to understand logistically what that looks like. For example, do you have five classrooms that are filled with kids that are strictly chance students? So it depends on each site. Um most sites there is like if there's five classrooms for Genten particularly there is one Chanclike classroom that is located at Jensen. The rest are Muscogi County with Muscogi County

091teachers. Um, at Allen we have one Muscogi County class and one Chancelike class. The Chancelight classrooms are our self-contained classrooms that the kids are not ready yet to transition out. There are higher level of behaviors or higher level of physicality that you're going to see in in the verbal aggression. Um, and that's the group that they support in the buildings. But they also again it's if you were to walk into the building and see the classes, they're together and it's one team. So it doesn't feel like we have two separate groups. We're all supporting the kids together. But those are kids who have been who have identified the need for service through their IEP. Okay? So these kids have had an IEP meeting that said we you know the team determined that they need this

092level of service and they have to go to these classrooms. Okay. And additionally like an example like genten while there is the classroom that has the teacher and the pair professionals from Chansite Chsight's also provided and at all sites the licensed health therapist who sees all the kids within our program. Um, behavior text and also behavior analysts and they're on site 100% of the time or they have so at the day school there are me therapists there 100% of the time. Um, there are some sites that we split a mental health therapist with two schools. Um, it depends on the needs. Um, but there is never there's always someone there at least half the week if not more because the students receive health services within their IEP. It's kind of written like speech services. They

093get one-on-one 30 minutes um a week for some students again depending on their need, but that's also something that's very unique that we do as a district that is not offered in other places I've seen. Okay. And my other question, if you would um go to the next slide, I believe right here. Um you have the support continuum and in some places you have Muscogee County School District um program manager and then in some places you have Chance Light director. Where you have Muscogee County School District? is are we um responsible for the uh payroll for those individuals? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So we we have a third party contract with you all and you all h um are responsible for transl light employees but then we're also um responsible for how many employees of Mscoe

094County School District that we're still uh responsible for that participate in this program. So you have again on that piece you have the program manager, you have the lead BCBA, we do have board certified behavior analysts on our side that go into interrelated. That's where a lot of the support for your gened teachers comes from for your interrelated special education teachers comes from in their training because that's our Muscogee County group that can go further into that and support. Um we have we do have 17 behavior supports teachers. That is the same number of what we started with. um we have not gained any since then, but they that group is the group that takes care of our transition classes and those are our classes where they're going back into gened and back into co-taught

095and they need that additional support like a resource room. Um and then with our um we also have classes that uh support students who have intellectual disabilities um who have who also have intensive behaviors and that's all our Muscogi County group. So and and does that group service Muscogi County kids as well as the kids that are in Chancelline? They're all served that we're all we we can all of our kids are Muscogi County kids, right? We serve everybody. I think I know. So we are Muscogi County employees. Okay. Right. So Victoria is the Msogi County program manager in PES for behavior sports and I'm the lead behavior analyst for the county. Right. We serve within the county not only our students making ensuring that they're receiving the education of the students that are in

096Chansite but we also provide student or supports for students that are interrelated. So if you have a kid that's in co-taught at East Columbus magnet and they have you know some concerns behavioral concerns our behavior analysts will go out and help provide supports there. We provide trainings for the whole district including general education everybody. Okay. Um, thank you guys so much. Um, I was trying to get a feel for how many students we're service servicing through the Chance Light program and then the the actual bottom line cost and I know that may take um I know we have a contract and the contract is one amount but if we are also on top of the contract um having some Muscogee County School District personnel dedicated ated to that um program then that's a cost as

097well. Can we can you email us and I guess I'm looking at you Janice can you email us what is the total cost all in for this program and um just for FYI purposes because I know when we first started we we've been talking about um sort of making a transition where at some point Muscogi County is responsible for this program. So, I was just trying to get an idea of how many students were actually able to serve and then what is the allin cost for the program outside of the Yes, ma'am. Um, can you hear me? Okay. Yes, I can. So, you will get a bottom line dollar amount. Some of the indirect costs that you will not see is what's occurring now in the classroom. So when you look in the general ed

098classroom and the students that those 47 students that were in the general ed classroom, some of the things that we were hearing about eight years ago from the principles and what have you is that they're not able the teachers aren't able to go in and teach the classroom. So what you probably will not see in that bottom line dollar is the um the morale and just the atmosphere within the schools. So just please keep that in mind remembering our why because eight years ago principles, schools, teachers, they were like really really wanting some help. Absolutely. And um his team and a few others and principles flew out to California and saw the model. One of the things that I truly appreciate about Chancelight and as others have come here to visit is that they see

099the collaboration, the partnership and that they even though they're um this is the model, they extend the support and the help within all of those schools that they're there. So, just kind of keep those factors in mind as well. Let me ask you a question. Um, and definitely I I see the benefit. I've always been a a component of the therapeutic day school. Um, but when we first signed up for the contract, we kept saying we were going to um at at some point take it over. Yes. realistically could we financially and physically take over the program? That's what I'm trying to get to the pop bottom of with those two questions. And I understand that um very very important is the building of capacity, right? Because that's one of the things and excuse my

100voice. That's one of the things that we really really talked about. But when you look at the national trend that's going across the nation regarding the shortages and um special education. I've gone to a few campuses looking even right here in Columbus and in Atlanta trying to find um individual students and they're not there. The number is getting less and less each and every year. So until that curve shifts, we can't we can't. But I think I have to give truly kudos to uh Victoria and Ryan because they're so Oh, they are. They always are. Folks have folks have tried to steal them away from Muscogi, but they're committed to Msogi, right? And the partnership that we have with Mark with Chance Light that by far we are leading across the nation with how we

101service these students and not having them to go to the various places and then we're having to pay for that. So will it come eventually? But the tide has to turn on the collegiate level with producing these students to come into our K12 environment because we just don't they're not there. And Dr. Shane Chambers, I can share, you know, sustainability is a big thing. We we did try to move to two separate sites being Muscogi County only and what we found in that process was we lost staff and we couldn't keep staff and it became unsafe for the kids that were there. So we had to revert back to the collaborative model in both of those sites. Um the Chanceite staff comes in with a they are willing to do the hard work um and

102they're willing to put the love and the effort into the kids that are the toughest to deal with. And a lot of our group are, you know, you have less teachers that are going into the special ed field. Yeah. And teachers who are going into the special ed, you know, field, if they have a choice of, I want to go to work with this particular population or I want to go to work and get cussed at every day, they might choose, you know, to be with the other group. But we have had sustainability with Chancellite. And they've always had the staff there who cares and loves and is certified and there for our kids. And I you know it was difficult when we tried to move to the Muscogi County only model um as we

103so we have tried that before. Yes ma'am. Okay. Since we started with this contract. Yes ma'am. Okay. So originally um it sounds like the that plan is not going to work at least now. Not now. So, but I still would like to know the information absolutely um about how many kids we're able to service and what is the true cost um of the entire program. Okay. So, so the sites that you had on there that also helps us to meet the GNET requirement of making sure the students are integrated with correct general population. Yes, ma'am. And so that was very important because those were um some very costly nicks that we've gotten in the past which is why the the tremendous research went into how we can service and meet the needs of all of

104our students um and and also be in compliance. And normally we bring forth just the specific information about the chancellite side. The Muscogi County side has not changed since 2018. Um we have not increased or decreased any of that group. It is the same number. Now, we've had some rotation in staff of who who has applied and stayed, but it's the same number. So, sorry. Thank you. And one of the reasons for having this presentation again was just because it's important. It is a contract that we started with the idea it was only going to be for a few years. It has been renewed more than that. and we think it's very important for the taxpayers and publicly to hear what we're getting, not just have it as an item on that got, you know,

105approved with some other stuff. So, that was a lot of the reason for bringing y'all back. Absolutely. Love to talk about because again, you know, we want the public to know everything that's going on that we know, too. Um, I did have a question when I was kind of looking at the contract. Like the contract says seven classrooms with up to nine students, which would be about 63 students. So, are we paying for that even if we're not fully utilizing 63 because we mentioned 47 earlier? So, we have again we have such a rotating population and again our goal is for them not to stay at therapeutic day. So, our goal is to get them in and move them back to their zone school. We continuously have rotating students in and out. The for the

106number 47 was what we're left with before enrollment starts for us to come in at the beginning of the year. We do max up to those numbers and and you know we try to move them out and get them back to that zone school. Some are not quite ready and they stay there with us, but we have a continuous roll in and role of the kids. And I think what would be helpful um and it kind of tacks on what um Dr. chamber said it's just a little breakdown of what again we saw a lot that these people are provided by chance like this is provided by ours I'm a money person I like to see you know what certain positions cost what we're kind of paying for I think seeing more of that background

107would help and even even from our MCO county side those students that are served in that resource model the transition model those are written into the IEP and we would have to provide those those teachers um and their teachers I get I think I just better want to understand yeah the write down what we're getting for the contract. Thank you. So, um is it difficult to do that breakdown? Um my understanding from listening to you is that these these kids are so intertwined. Um that you have Muscogi Chance Light and it sounds like as you were saying you are serving kids. Yes ma'am. and they go from their muscogi when you serve them sounds to mean that you're serving kids. So, um I know we need to know that because we were um at one

108point we did decide that Dr. Vickers has told us that um told us what we already know how difficult how difficult it is to get uh u sped teachers. So, I'm just having um you know I'm glad for the presentation because I got an understanding of how we're moving kids, how we're just serving kids collaboratively and how they um you know we're not necessarily doing muscogi but so how how do you break that down when you say muscogi chance kids when you have them cost going cross how do you so all students are muscogi county students their IEP drives which which classroom they're going to be served in and and as they meet their goals, we're moving them again up that continuum back to that zone school. So, it really is the IEP that drives

109them. They're all Muscogee kind of kids. They're all our kids. Yeah. Because I was the cost for the Muscogee kid, let's say. And the Muscogi kids, if they need it, they're getting chance services. Yes. Yes. So, so then that's a cost right there, you know, when they the chance cost versus the Musogi cow cost. Everything to me sounds like it's intermingle, you know, because that's quote a musi king. Okay, you got a chance kid who has, you know, you can um who has uh who is funded for chance like however county kid is also receiving service for chance like uh chance. That's why I'm saying that it seems to me that's difficult, but I'll let y'all figure that out. But it just seems to me that that's kind of difficult to figure out when you're

110serving kids. Kids are intertwined and I do like that I I got a better understanding of how you work collaboratively, but I did have two questions. Yes, ma'am. Um, this is just for my own personal information. Therapeutic kids, therapeutic day kids. Yes. K2 K through 12. Yes, ma'am. Do we How many K kids we have? Kindergarten kids. We have Do we actually have kindergarten kids? Yes. Yes. So, this coming up year, we have um two that moved up to first grade. So, last year we had two kindergarteners. Um unfortunately um students are being diagnosed very early um with mental health disabilities and oftentimes it's very difficult to support those kids in the house and so they come and they come um very aggressive. Um, what I'll say about our younger students, and it is a

111concern, you know, we do have these students that are this young, a lot of times that Oh, sorry. A lot of times the students that are that young are coming from pretty severely traumatic backgrounds. Um, most often they involve some sort of abuse. Um, and so they need those extra therapeutic supports because of that, you know, point. They aren't just being in the general education environment is too much. And unfortunately, sometimes that abuse causes them to engage in abuser activity. And so we'll get students from residential facilities, even at that young, that have orders and psychosexual reports that say, "This student is unable to be around other students their age without this much adult supervision." And when that comes into us as a district, we have to serve it. And the second question, so um

112our residential all the money that we're saving as we serve our residentials um we don't serve them in residential sites but we serve them here in county so they go to the therapeutics now yep when they go home do we do are we finished you know resial so so it's very interesting we do um we have our great mental health therapists help work with parents and families to get them wraparound services. Um we a lot of our kids are participating in the LIP process um where they get those outside services from you know the private mental health um uh doctors but we we help support in that connection and uh setup for them. But we are we're is when they're with us for the six hours that's when we're providing that educational piece to them.

113But we provide the parents with with multiple resources to help them because the more stable they are at home, the better it is for them when they come to school. I was also several almost all of our licensed meal health therapists that Chai brings are also social workers and so they help bridge that gap between home services and if the child has defects involvement or any other things like that we bring them to the table. Okay. So when you're figuring out your cost for fun uh chance if these are quote muscoi kids then if they are being serviced by chance like social social workers or um once again that financial piece is intertwined when you're uh so when you're doing this um uh the So when you're trying to separate what I'm saying, that's a

114whole another way difficulty in separating translate people. So good luck on y'all trying to do that. I think I think I think I I hear what you're saying, Miss Buckner, because the it's not just a partnership, it's also a relationship. And so when we have Chancelight people in the building, if there's an episode or a crisis, they may not be assigned to the Chancellite classroom, but the Chance Light skilled professionals will intervene so that the teacher can maintain the order and the student can get the services and the reboot, I guess, if you will, to help them uh regulate themselves. And so those kinds of relationships um have a a value that we can't cost out. But for the sake of answering the question, um, contractually, what do we say? Um, the ones and twos

115are the x's and the o's. So, I appreciate that partnership. Yes, she said she going to send. Yeah, I appreciate the partnership and the relationship because at the end of the day, at the end of the day, we have to service and educate all of the students and they are capable of learning. they just need some specifically skilled supports um in place in those wraparound services that go with them when they leave um when they leave for the school day. I just want to thank and commend the board for seeing the need and addressing it because the idea is to move children to their least restrictive environment. Mhm. And I think and rather than referring to them as a Mscoe County kid versus a Chancella kid, it's more about the service that can change from

116day to day. Right. If a child is in one environment and there's a they are able to regulate themselves and can move to a least restrictive environment, they just move from the chancellite service to an MCSD service model, I guess, is probably the best way I can explain it rather than the children themselves because it's going to be it vacasillates from dayto day depending on their needs and the services we can provide. And certainly when we can move those children from a therapeutic day school to something that's a more least restrictive environment, that's a win. because uh I can tell you in speaking with some of the superintendents have called me and I'll just tell you what they're they're they're referring to it. They said all we're doing is warehousing kids. And that's exactly the

117term they often use. We don't have the services to serve these children. So we're just warehousing them, putting them in something that's a self-contained environment, but it's really not serving their needs. And we've got to find and do better. And that's something that I'm really proud that you all have supported this initiative. And again, I would say not even from the standpoint of also cost savings. I'll go go as it's a cost avoidance. When you look at the what we're talking about here in terms I think the number was $4.9 million just for the residential kids. That's if you can find a bed. The last time we looked, which is about three years ago, there was one bed in all of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. That means those children where where are they? If

118they're not in that one bed, what's happening? The families don't know what to do. schools don't know what to do and nobody knows how to serve them and nobody is unless you have something like this that can help provide that capacity and I'm hopeful that down the road we can continue to work toward becoming uh self uh self-perpetuating in this in parts of this program uh that we all envisioned initially but until we get more people going to education in general and specifically into special ed it's going to be a challenge. So again, Thank you. And we, by the way, we are so blessed and fortunate not only by the the partnership with Chancelight, but to have Victoria and Ryan. Uh they are, we talked about Yeah, absolutely. And all the staff they work with,

119their commitment is exceptional. And I would challenge each board member to take time in your schedule to go out and look at the work that they are doing. And I think it will provide a better insight into what is going on on a daily basis with those children and moving them to more successful opportunities. In fact, at one of the transition programs, um, one of the parents who is actually an MCSD employee, a grandparent, um, we're were we're just giving all of the thanks and the and accolades because no one would help them. No one would help them before. and to see how that student has had progressed from tearing it all down to to being a leader in the program and able to build it back up and and and um so I was

120just you know it was very emotional but she was just so thankful and I told her you should just come get on public agenda sometime because sometimes the public think that we are um wasting the money and it's it's money well spent because the children deserve So, thank you all again for everything that you do. The children and the families um deserve that support. Superintendent is recommending the approval of the FY26 budget all funds as presented. Are there any questions? 13. We need a motion and a second and then take your questions. Motion by Miss Chambers, second by Miss Buckner. Questions? Gotcha. So, within the budget, we're giving a 3% raise to all employees. Correct. And um I'm thinking about the teacher um scale. So the teachers get a a bump up when they um

121have another year of service. So they're still going to get their year of service and then the 3% is on top of that and they're still getting their stipen. Isn't there uh you mean step raise? No step raise and then I thought that there was an amount that the state paid and then Mscoi County gives a little more. Oh. Oh, yeah. I mean, we Yeah. Yeah. Our local, right? The local supplement. You said stipen. Stipen supplement. I apologize, but I want to make sure that um we're clear that they're getting they're still getting their supplement, they're getting their step raise, and they're getting we're putting in the budget a extra 3%. So, is that correct? Would you? Yes. As well as the contribution for TRS? Yes. Of course that is correct that um what actually

122happens is the state salary scale is not changing this year because the state did not change that. So what we're doing is we're actually increasing that local supplement um by 3% of the total salary. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. So the base supplement you want turn your mic back on. Yes. I'm sorry. So the base supplement is on that scale. So, we're going to put an extra 3% into that supplement. Right. So, I get it. I get it. Now, once you do that, can you do this for me? Can you send me a copy of the old scale and then a copy of the scale with the 3% increase? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Is that supplement the same across the board? It's not the same exact amount. Um, I'd have to go back and

123It's an incremented amount and it depends on the degree also. Right. Right. Yeah. Um well, I know I had email last Monday with some questions because and I know it's too late for this voting on this budget. I don't think it's too late. Nothing's ever too late for the fiscal year. Um and it's something I'd like to look some more at at looking at what the cost would be today. Okay. Sorry. Anyway, um I had not heard anything back, so I didn't know that. But um that's something that I just want to put out there as I vote for this that I really and I think others too would like to look some more at what we might can do for our teachers because as we've heard, we do a lot of third-party vendors for

124areas where there are shortages. We spend additional funds to be able to shore up those shortages. And I do I feel strongly that our teachers we are facing shortages and we need to look at doing more to help recruit and retain them. And like most of us money is the best way to do that. And um so thank you. I'll take a look at that information. Well, just so we be clear, we can be clear. You're talking about teachers or you talking about everybody? I'm talking about teachers. You're talking specifically about teachers. Well, then I would say that if we have any opportunity to look at not just a certain group of employees. Um to look at all of the employees because the the the cost of living impacts everybody um and particularly our least

125paid um employees. Hold on, let me turn your mic on. There was a need when there were shortages. Um again, that's why we did 3% across the board was to with everybody. But I'd like to, and again, I I can't do anything. If five members of the board don't want to do it, we won't do it. But I think we at least should look at some of the financials and what we might could do to help our classroom teachers because again, these are a lot of the people that have I mean, they went to school to get this degree. They have committed themselves to this career. We don't want to lose them to other places based on, you know, some money or make them feel stuck. And I I don't think there's anything wrong. It

126happens in the corporate world all the time. Sometimes some people get a bump up to help help them stay competitive or to help them recruit and help in areas of need. So now your your email in the email you sent you did include other you said three to 4,000 for teachers and then a 3% for everybody else. So you did not leave anybody off, right? No, I always meant three for everybody. just maybe looking because for a lot of our teachers, I mean, I can't say the average pay, but if you make $50,000, a 3% raise is only $1,500 and spread that across 12 months, they're not going to see much difference in their paycheck. And so, I would like to look again just look at some finances and some ideas of how to possibly

127improve that because we have spent a lot of money in a lot of different areas and I to me I feel strongly this is one we need to come back to. um this year are you talking about this year for u because I looked at that and I thought you know I thought pretty good idea too but I was wondering why you hadn't mentioned it earlier you know like we tal the week of the meeting and so then I followed it up that next Monday and then again and then we got more today. So were you meaning like right at the budget meetings. You mentioned that earlier when we had the Oh, you did. See, I I didn't listen. No, I didn't at that time. I Sometimes with me, I do have to sit and

128ponder things a little bit. I'm not always as timely with my ideas, but No, because I was just saying like you had mentioned it ear, you know, it would have been under serious consideration, but it it it would have to Yes, it and it is still a serious consideration, but if you're going to go back and and look at the cost. I want all of the information. What if it c what is it going to cost to do this recommendation? What is it going to cost to look at everybody? Because what I do know and yes, you know, people who go to school and work in their in their careers and their fields, we want to retain them. But what I do know is that people who work in the cafeteria can work 40 years

129and barely have $400 a year um retirement out of that public education retirement. That's what I do know. And so those are the least paid employees. And we want to retain them all. Um we we have third-party vendors to to serve children in the cafeteria, to clean the buildings, um because um those employees are able to go work someplace else u fast food and make more money than they can um with with the MSCO County School District. And so I I I think that if we're going to look at it um for me, I like for things to be balanced and consistent and fair for all employees. We value I value them all and I'm sure that we value them all. we can't um operate um without all the members of the team. I I

130think we should look at all of them too. But now let's just be clear that the u retirement for classified people, that's an issue with the state. We um we can't do anything about what the state uh pays for classified people even though we every every year that's on our uh priority list. every single year we put that on our priority list that something is done about their retirement and about that insurance because as you said most of the time what they make their salary oftent times for some employees can't even pay that insurance so we're still working on that part but I do know we have been specific in we have at times been specific in uh uh certain groups as we did with bus drivers at one time. We identified bus drivers as

131a crucial um employee and we did in fact give bus drivers more money than we uh and more substantial wage. So we have identified different piece and we still identify special ed teachers because they make uh they get a stipen for being special ed. We have identified um uh specific groups. Now whether we want to identify teachers as specific group like you said we have to look at it but we have in the past identify specific groups and it's something that we can look at you know as you said look at all of it as you said but we have identified specific groups. Okay. Are you finished Miss Buckner? Yes. Um, and I know we have a difference of opinion because we've talked about this um, several times and I do believe that we everyone

132on this board values every employee for MSCO County School District. But I do think that sometimes when we say, well, if we're going to give a raise, we have to give it to everybody. And then that number comes back so large that we end up giving no one a raise. I believe that we can take the teachers this time and say, "Okay, if we add $3,000 more to the stipen, everybody's getting the 3%." But if we give the teachers an extra $3,000 or whatever that number is, add it to the supplement, then I believe we'll be able to retain teachers. We'll be able to get new teachers coming in. And we have done it for the bus drivers, but we also just last year we did a raise just for parapros. So we do do

133just a segment of the MCO County School District all the time. we've given the superintendent a raise and not given the teachers a raise. So, we do pick and choose and um give raises to certain segments. And um I agree with what Lori just said that I think it's time that we look at our teachers in in particularly and um definitely give the 3% to everyone but also look at um giving something to the teachers. My question for about um Chance Light was really to find out can we really deliver on what we said. What we said was we were going to do this 20some million dollar contract for three years and then we were going to transition and let Muscogi County teachers do it. Um but if there's a teacher shortage, we physically can't

134do that. And if the program is working, I get it. We we have to keep it. We have to hold on to it. But if we offer these incentives, perhaps we can hold on to the teachers we have and then also get new teachers, brand new teachers, and get more people to go into education. Because if they're going into school and they're saying, "Oh my goodness, I only make $30,000 when I get and I'm just throwing out that number." Then they're not going to go into education. But if we can see that, hey, come to Muscogee County. We have provided some supplements here, um, then I think it's going to help us in the long run. So, I'm an advocate for everyone definitely getting a raise. We just don't have to do it at one

135time because I don't want a large number to keep us from providing um more income for our teachers. Now I am for the teacher raise. However, let me go back. I'm for the teacher raise when you said about the large number. I'm also for I don't see why we have to make a difference in that. How we if if we're for the if we're for the teacher raise then we're for the teacher raise. I don't see why we just not be for the u I think she was just talking about in in this particular instance. I don't think Lori was saying that, you know, not giving the other people their 3%. You know, she was just she was talking about a Well, I thought you were saying that we don't have a large I thought

136you were saying a large Yeah, they get there. She was just saying the teachers, you know, that's what I'm saying. And as I said, we have identified in the past some specific groups, you know. So, but uh whatever, you know, like uh they have to bring that information back as Miss Green has said that we need to things. Madame Chair, I I agree with, you know, pretty much what everybody said. Um, but is it any way they can bring back how much it would be for everybody and then how much? That was my question. If you're going to do the research, bring us back. Right. I want to know I want to do Yeah. If you can bring back all of it for us so that we could we would know for both. 9 million.

137So I just need direction because what we provided you based on the previous request was you have an approximation just an approximation of what it would cost for a $3,000 and a $4,000 increase for teachers and giving everybody else 3%. That's what we provided to you this afternoon after staff because Miss Bledworth was on vacation. I actually took a day. So, we got it together for you today. Uh, beyond that, I want you to look over that. Then tell me what else you want. When we say everybody else, what what does that mean as far as giving amounts to other people? Are we talking about everybody getting 3,000? Are we talking about some getting 3,000 and other people get whatever it is? I just know what the direction is because I can't direct staff without

138knowing exactly. So, just look at what we provided you and then send us back information or specific requests. Yes, absolutely. 3% for all employees all employees as we agreed to in the budget parameters and small group meetings leading up to the budget preparation. Oh, wait a minute now. Let me see. So, right now today and remind us that we're fixing to vote on budget employees. Okay. So, that right. So, you're right. That's in the budget. That's in the budget. So, so we don't so we don't lose anybody going back and forth. Let's have it stated officially. Okay. The budget for the 2526 school year currently contains a 3% raise for all employees. Okay. I knew that. So, what what's our discussion now? What are we talking about something for the future with the 3,000 for

139teachers? That's information that you already have. It's just a discussion. I just need to know what specifically. Yes. Yeah. We fix this budget tonight. Okay. All right. Any more questions? We're ready to vote now. We're voting on the budget. We're voting on the budget. The whole budget. The whole budget. That's what we discussed last week. Two or three weeks. So, while we're voting, um, just if you know, just just let me know. Are there is there still some kind of a bonus for special ed teachers? Um we're still maintaining that. Was it $2,000? All right, that item passes. 614 is the approval of the meal rate for at 14. Okay. What what was that? Okay. Thank you. I said 614, did I not? Okay. Six. Item 614. Move to approve. I'm so confused. Motion by

140Miss Buff. Action. Okay. I'll be taking action. Second by Miss Jackson. And for the record, Miss Chambers, what's the mail rate that we're voting on? And did it increase? If you would hit your hit your Okay, go ahead. Okay, for the record, the millage rate will not change. It will be the same as last year, which is 23.075. It remains unchanged. It's what we're voting on. If it passes, we're ready to vote. All right, that passes. 6.15 is policy DG for depository funds. Motion by Miss Chamber, second by Miss Buckner. Are there any additional questions? We're ready to vote now. Hit your I'll hit your mic. Not all professional services will be reviewed. Well, this one says depository funds and under it the language says all professional services will be reviewed. supposed to say that

141the depository of funds will be reviewed at least every five years and request for proposals will be sought every 10 years. Again, this policy is only related to the depository of funds. So, I don't think we want the language in it to say all professional services will be reviewed. And I feel like I've said this every month for the last two months. Okay. We don't want to say I thought you specifically said that if we did that for repository of funds, you also want all professional services. Yeah, that was supposed to be separate. Supposed to be separate. Two different policies. There's one for our professional services and there's one for our our depository funs. What does the next one do? Can we take away the vote so I can Chambers. Oh, I thought that was

142Miss Tiller. I'm sorry. I thought it was Miss Chambers. The way I'm reading it, and tell me if I'm incorrect, that it's saying for the depository, which one did I'm sorry. Which one? The she was talking about for depository of funds, all professional services related to that will be reviewed. And then it goes for the next one for bid in quotations. All professional services for that will also be under review. Is that correct? So it's two separate. It's addressing two separate things. So all professional services for the depository of funds will be reviewed every five years and bids every 10. And then for bids and quotations that we've services we have that will have the same policy. It's just written under two separate that's how I'm reading it. Am I am I right? Okay. That's

143how I understand. Okay. So, it is two separate. It's just using Yeah. the same language. And I think that's fine. Then say then actually have it say all professional services for depository of funds will be reviewed at least every five because I mean the title of the board policy doesn't really have legal bearing. It sounds like it's just saying all professional services which is said in the next one. So that was my I guess because it's talking about depository funds. You really think the depository of funds carries enough legal weight that when we under it say all professional services regarding the depository funds? Well, it doesn't say that. It just says all professional services. All professional. So if somebody else comes and questions that and all professional services and depository funds will be reviewed if

144Just add it in as a add-on. Yeah. Can I but it's under the policy DG depository of funds as recommended. Well, just put this and depository funds. That'll be that'll be I have a question. That's what Miss Chambers I have a question for legal. Um so the second part of that says requests for qualifications or competitive bids will be sought every 10 years. And it doesn't say for for deposittory of funds. So, but the policy is DG deposit. I understand, but that's that's not what it says. So, my question to legal is if we vote yes, are we saying sometimes we have competitive bids and we do a contract with that person and the contract is only for five years. Are we going to sort of muddy the water by saying requests for qualifications or

145competitive bids will be sought every 10 years without specifying that we're only talking about the banking services? That's my point. So this is this been on the table for Can we let Can we let legal respond? I'm pretty sure I said it last month. Great. Um, great. Would you as I interpret these two things that are on the agenda tonight being read together, all relating to a form of a professional service, whether it's a professional banking service or some other professional service and and I agree with the way Miss Tillery described it. That's how I interpret it. I I don't see this causing confusion in the future and and when you have the the uh discretion in in the future to say, well, this is a type of service that we want to obtain requests

146for proposals or this is the kind of service that we want to request competitive bids depending on what it is. I mean, I think this gives you the maximum discretion. The board and the administration give are given maximum discretion. Let me get you turned on. We did them at the same time. But going forward, if maybe in a year somebody comes back and says, I don't really think that um our legal services should be, you know, that we should do that more frequently. We should do it every three years. You're saying that we could then still leave the wording under depository of services and that's not going to confuse people. I get that right now they say the exact same thing so it doesn't seem to matter. But if they ever changed between what we're

147doing for the depository of funds and what we are doing for all other professional services it could cause confusion that under depository funds it doesn't qualify that language. I agree. I don't understand I don't understand the confusion is what right now it's not a big deal because they the same thing. But going forward, if somebody just wanted to look at professional services, I would just feel better if it was clear as day that under depository of funds, it says because really to me all professional services is kind of not really what we talk about related to depository funds. We usually um in the past we didn't call it professional services. We called it depository of funds will be put out in a bit. We've now changed it to professional services. We changed that at the

148discussion we had the major discussion right because as we were discussing well we said that this is uh someone said that uh the reason that it should uh reason that we should do this was because it was professional services and then we referenced our own agenda. Our agenda is divided in terms of soul sources and divided against divided in a section called professional services and one of you somebody said that well let's do all of the professional services like that therefore when he wrote this since we had included that as a professional service I'm assuming that that's why I didn't have a problem with it because in all that discussion that we had several for a long maybe twice maybe two or three board meetings we referred to all that as professional services. So when

149we got the legal uh language for it, that's what he used professional service. Now y'all want to change professionally separated. Does anybody have a problem with it? If you who does if you have a problem with that, you saying you have a problem with the current language. Yeah. If you have a problem with the language, then does anybody have a problem with us changing the language? You mean changing it so we're specific that it's talking about deposit? I don't have a problem with that. So let me let me suggest this as a way to move forward. So you have options. One option tonight is to make a motion to amend policy DJ or DG, whatever is DG, and see if a majority of folks want to change that language to add the phrased professional services

150for depository accounts to make sure that in the future there isn't any confusion. Is there amendment to the motion? I I think I made the motion. So, let me amend the I have the I'm asking now. So go ahead. Anybody can make abody. So do I need to withdraw my motion then? No, you said amend the emotion. Is there amendment? Any board member could make a motion to amend amend and I'll second. I'll make a motion to amend the policy to say to amend the motion to amend the motion to um say the motion to do what? Lori to change the language. Right. But I want to hear what the language change would be before I she's got I'm really trying to I guess the easiest before we just called it depository funds. I don't

151know why it got changed to all professional services but if without getting confused that we can just say professional services all professional services related to the depository of funds will be reviewed. Does that sound good? Okay. Second. So what about the professional service? Hold on one second. Let's note that. The other one's fine in my opinion. Okay. So, is there a second to that motion? Second by Miss Chambers. Okay. All profession. Are there any questions? Anybody else have any questions or I have a question. I want I want to see what the rest of it is. I'm just trying to see the whole thing. Okay. Say it again, Lord. So, we going to vote on how how does the whole thing read after after everything is amended. Tell me what it's going to say. It

152would say all professional services related to the depository of funds will be reviewed at least every five years and requests for proposals, requests for qualifications or competitive bids will be sought every 10 years. Okay. So we not doing anything about professional services. That's I think that's going to be another conversation. That's next one down. Okay. That's good. That's great. All right. So we have a motion and a second. All right. So we need a hand vote. And what you'd be doing at this point is voting on whether or not you want to amend it. And then you would take a vote to approve it as amended. It's a two. All right. So the vote is to amend um six items. Which one was it? 6.15. 6.15. All in favor? All right, that passes. Are any

153opposed? Let me ask one question. I'm sorry. already. Okay, go ahead. What's your question? Just one question where it says request for qualifications or competitive bids. So, does that mean that we don't have to have a competitive bid? I I interpret this to mean that the administration would have the discretion as to the method it would choose and the board would also have the same discretion to say yes we're comfortable with the the methodology that you use to bring the recommendation to us and therefore we will support it or the board could say we don't like that methodology we're not going to support it but it's it's basically giving so so therefor You won't have to have a competitor. It's listed on the It's listed on there. Right. It says this includes using bids, proposals,

154quotation, and established contract. So, it could be a contract or proposal or a bid. So, it means that we don't have to have my my thing was is that we should have a competitive bid. This thing says that we don't have to. My My problem my problem was that as with every other thing every other banking system or every other organization the city and all the other cities and probably all the other school systems they have a competitive bid they they have they don't just have the same now I don't care whether or not but in the discussion in the discussion in the discussion we say it'll be every 10 years that's what we had that's what discuss there there are sometimes if I There are sometimes when competitive bid is appropriate. There are other

155times when a request for qualifications is more advantageous. Mr. Joseph can probably speak to that. We already know that this is a bank. But but but this let's not get confused because I think we're getting back down that same rabbit hole about whether or not we're talking about depository of funds or whether we're going to talk about all professional services. We're just talking about one thing now. as she just as she just cleared up and Lori just separated we're talking about repository fund that's all we're talking about in this that one doesn't say and so this thing says that the initial discussion was which I brought up is that we we have a um monopoly here we have a monopoly unquestioned monopoly here in in Musco County school district we have chosen bank forever. That's

156what we have done. And what my point was is that we should not have we should not have a monopoly on this school board for one bank. Now whether we continue to choose the bank, that's fine. But at some point we should have we should offer this out to all the bank to the other banks in Musco County where everybody brings in have a request and and we uh uh we see what everybody else everybody everybody everybody else may have may not be as good as Senovas or may not they may not be as great or u we still may choose them every time we vote every 10 years. However, that opportunity should be on the table. We should not continue to we did not have one monopoly here on this school board. that phrasing

157should have I hear what you're saying and I think I guess anyway I think under a request for proposal they would have to give dollar amounts and fees right which is what you're really getting at in having it what I mean between a request for proposal and a qualification I mean sorry a request for proposals and a competitive bid the information that is given and the decision is made largely on what they tell you they're going to charge you for the services, right? But my but yes, I think to your point, the request for qualifications, would that give us that kind of information? Would that give us actual fee information? So, I think what Miss Buckner is saying is maybe take out qualifications, take out requests for qualifications and just say either a request for

158proposals or a competitive bid would be sought every 10 years. Okay. Say it again. So we would just take out the request for qualifications and it would just be that and requests for proposals or competitive bids will be solved every 10 years. Request for proposal or competitive bid because a request for proposal is not that different than a competitive bid. Sometimes they just call them different but in the request for proposal um would um the u the um committee generally when they uh analyze the the u uh when they analyze they set up the proposal for what this what the people who were working on this request for proposal the group that you have because usually they would send it in and they it will be scored by group so when it's scored by that

159group what I'm saying is that it's um it's pretty much request for qualifications because no either one. The request for a proposal or competitive bids both have a criteria matrix that you're talking about. Yeah, they have a criteria to Yeah, they both have a criteria. I think with the qualifications, you're not always asking for your actual cost. You're more asking, do you have the qualifications to do a certain something? Yeah, you're asking for. That's why I think you were saying you would like that taken out because you want the fees to be a big part of what is considered when we look at a depository fund. I want Yeah, I want the fee uh fees and services. So yes, I mean I think that that could be achieved through either one of those two requests

160for proposals or competitiveness. So that means we might be in. Okay. So they might have the u the request for proposal also. I'm talking about fees and services. That's what we need. I'm shaking head, but one of them should probably these people who do I think the request for qualifications would come in. If I start a bank tomorrow, I don't have enough qualifications to be able to support Msogen County School District. So request for qualifications would come in to make sure that we're not going to give it to a bank because they're going to charge us $5, but they've never done or held a business like ours. So that's why that's important to be in there because we need to know that they didn't start yesterday or go bankrupt a year ago because that would

161affect us as well. So that's why that would help. You have the RFQ by the RFQ. So when they set it up though, the first usually when they set up you design it that way. When they set it up, it includes So, help us out, Mr. Joseph. If you can, just do what you can. I'm so sorry. Um, chewing gum during the board meeting is not a good idea. Then get called up. Um, I'll get through it. Um, competitive bid, easy definition, is the overarching part of the bidding process. underneath the bidding process, you do have request for proposal, request for qualification and in and requ uh invitation to bid or invitation for bid. So, all due respect, it seems like we're talking about semantics. Um, I understand that what you're looking for is criteria

162and pricing. Criteria and pricing. And that will give you the criteria and the pricing that you're looking for. An invitation to bid or invitation for bid is pricing strictly. and that's what we don't want to put in that situation. So, which will give us both, right? Yes. So, you're you're you're basically okay with the way the wording is now. If you choose to remove the qualifications, you can. It doesn't deter what we're trying to do as far as bidding the process. The request for proposal or the competitive bid umbrella will cover that. Okay. So, the request for proposal Yeah. But you generally use some qualifications when you Okay. Yeah. You the criteria when you do request for proposal. Correct. But that's based on the qualification. Correct. Okay. These are three separate things that could be

163done, right? And if you only sought a request for qualifications, then you wouldn't be getting fee information, right? You you wouldn't be required to get fee information initially. request for qualification just identifies the skill set and the expertise of the vendor. The pricing then can come into phase two. The phase two is not really identified as its own proprietary information as its own standalone bid. So if you look at it from the perspective of competitive bid and inside the house of the competitive bid is the request for proposal which requires a criteria and a pricing. inside that house also has the request for qualification which is primarily the expertise of the vendor phase one phase two is the pricing of the vendor okay then I think part of our problem is the semantics and we

164have an or and that or sounds like it's one of those three things not all three of them together so we need a separate sentence I think for a request for qualifications because it sounds like we still need it you could leave it the way it is because like I said you're still going to need a pricing and a pricing would be phase two. So, so you're almost repeating the same thing with a request for qualification and a request for proposal. The only difference is request qualification gives you a phase one and a phase two. Request for proposal as you submit your your bid submitt will have the criteria meet the criteria points and the pricing. So, so but it says or like we can do one of three things. We could request for a

165proposal. Yes. We could request for qualifications or we could have a competitive bid, right? The competitive bid is semantics. It's basically saying you will be bidding this item. So you can actually look at it from the perspective of um once again the competitive bid is the overarching inside of that house is the request proposal or the request for qualification. So you're basically telling us that we will need to bid that option out is where the competitive bid comes in with changing or to and help us. Yes. I mean you can and competitive bid will be s. Yeah. I think we should table it too. What? We all had a table about two months. This all we just talking about a word. We just talking about a word. I I like um the and if we

166could put and in. How do we go back Mr. Parliamentarian? What do we do now? Do we just We got to vote in suspense. If we change this to and instead of or pretty much what we do anyway, it would confuse it because if you're asking us to do it and you're basically telling us to go ahead and do a request for proposal and do a request for qualification. So, so you want us to you your rep your professional recommendation is to leave it as it is, correct? And we can carry this vote that we have hanging out there, but still adding the depository clarifying that it's depository funds, right? Right. But just, you know, we got a call back just to deal with this last part. So the way I this last sentence, yes,

167let's do that. The way this is written up, if we leave this as it is, then we we would not have to have a bid, right? No, you still need a bid. You're basically telling us to go out for bid. So if we leave this, if you left it the way it is, you're saying that this requires a bid. Okay. If we leave this out, it says that this requires a bid in 10 in 10 uh in 10 years. Yes. Okay. All right. All in favor? What we doing now? Have we vote? State your amendment again, please. Can you read it one more time? Voting for the We are voting on the amendment of 6.15 to read as we already did. We, as I always do, I would refer to Miss Jones on this, but

168I know that there was already a vote where you approve the amendment to add the depository of funds language. Correct. And now there has so I need a motion to approve to approve the amend agenda item as amended. The agenda item 6.15 as amended. So moved. Motion by Miss Chambers. Second. Second by Miss Buckner. All in Do we have any more questions? No. Okay, great. All in favor, raise your hand. Are there any opposed? Mark had his hand raised. Uh, Miss Jones. All right, that passes. Hallelujah. I understand. I asked. Okay. Let's see. 6 point. What? Skip. What? Oh, mine is gone. Okay. Uh, that was 6.15. 6.16 is board policy DJ D be bids and quotations motion motion so move by Miss Buckner second by Miss Jackson are there any questions word smithing we're

169good we're ready to vote All right, that passes. And then our last item on the table is on the table for 30 days. That is the student code of conduct. And this is also Mr. Matt Bale's last meeting, right? [Laughter] To that end, uh, yes, Mr. Bell will be officially ending his tenure with the MSO County School District as of June 30th. And on that date, next Monday from 4 to 5:30 from 4 to 5:30 at the museum in the Galleria section of the museum, we'll be hosting a reception for Mr. and want to invite everyone who'd like to attend that to say farewell to him and thank him for his service as we all do. And we saw an invite for Dr. Vickers. Hers is coming up next month because she doesn't officially retire

170until August 1. Is that the right official date? Or July 31st or Yeah, it's your last board meeting as well. That's right. She did mention that. Okay. So both of you, we thank you both for your service and for your commitment to MCSD and its students. I just want to say thank you. It's been a pleasure working with both of you and wish you all the best in your future endeavors, whatever they may be. Thank you so very much, D. [Applause] So, the consent agenda, motion by Miss Freay, second by Miss Jackson. Any questions, any pullouts, further discussion, any item? We're ready to vote now. Oh, the student handbook says 2425. Typo the draft. Okay. Are we waiting on anybody to vote? Which one? Miss Chambers, yours didn't come up. Oh. All right, that passes.

171Our next We only have one board meeting next month. That's July 21st. And we will also enter into the record our assessments for our exemplary board um application. So, please complete those. And if you have u someone you want to serve on our exemplary committee, please submit that. or we're going to go with the we're going to roll those people over. I've already contacted them. And is there anything else for the good of the order? All right. Um, need a motion to adjurnn. Motion by Miss Chambers, second by Miss Buckner. Wave goodbye. Good night. We're ajourned. [Music]