001We don't think we have a bill for this meeting. All righty, we'll call this meeting to order. The public hearing of the Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board or of education is called in order and it's being conducted for the purpose of these individuals that would like to address the board with regard to the 2026-2027 proposed consolidated budget. If you have not signed up and you would like to speak, please do so now. The sign-up sheet is located in the back of the room. If anyone is signed up to speak, Mr. Nolan will call them up to the podium one at a time and advise each of them that they have 5 minutes to speak. Or 3 minutes, sorry. After all have spoken, uh we thank everyone for attending and announce the public hearing will be adjourned.
002Okay, leave it to you. Do you have the list? Yes. You going to bring it to us? I just said I'll bring it out. Thank you. Okay. Right now we have three people signed up. If there's anybody else that comes in wants to sign up, we'll add you here once we get through the first three. And the first one to sign up was Elizabeth Pennington. If you'll just come right to the the podium. My name is Elizabeth Pennington. Okay. And my I have a son Caleb who goes to Northwest High School and he's been um attending AVID through uh since 7th grade at New Providence and then he's carried over this is his sophomore year at Northwest and what I've been told is that AVID was going to be done away with and I just
003would like to have a real reason of why that that's happened and that I I would have never you know it's not that I pushed him but encouraged him to take that path of AVID. This is great. Um when it's a grant I guess funded thing strictly. So I don't I just need to know why it's being done away with. If you will we'll we'll >> If you'll leave your information, we'll get in contact with you. We we have Perfect. her email and her contact so we can get in touch with you and get you that information. Okay. And can I ask one more question quickly? It's my understanding that Kenwood is still going to have an AVID program. Is that a something that they've just designed there at the school or is it AVID
004um like that what what I've known AVID to be? We'll get in contact and answer all of those questions. I promise. All right, thank you. Okay. All right, next is Isaac Greenwood. Okay. Did you want to speak at both the public for the budget and for the So I I signed up for the one that is a later meeting and then but what I'm speaking about is more relevant to the budget. Okay. So I figured I'd I just want to make sure. Right. Go ahead. So I'm Isaac Greenwood um and candidly I'm also a candidate currently for county mayor. I want to uh come before you all today to ask about two different programs that I think would be beneficial. Um I just kind of want to know what y'all have discussed about it if
005possible if you have considered before. The two programs that I'm asking all about are the CEP program, the community community eligibility provision which functionally is a way to get free school meals for all kids in the county. It's a federal program that takes the percentage of students who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch multiplies that by 1.6 and then the county would only need to cover the difference. Which effectively would mean that 90% of our meals would be covered by the federal government and only 10% of the remaining amount would need to be covered by us. Functionally the math comes down to between 3.4 and 4 million dollars annually for us to have free school meals for all kids regardless of how much money their parents make. I know that that sounds like
006a lot of money and it is but it's also less than 1% of our annual school board budget. So I'm hoping to know what have we Have we looked into it? Have we discussed it? Is there any reason we haven't looked into it? The other thing I'd like to talk about is concerning recent events seat belts on buses because I know there's concerns about seat belts on buses and I apologize I prepared for 5 minutes not 3. Uh around them being in an accident that is either submerged in water or fire. However, the reality of the situation is when you look into the statistics on it that an accident uh would be much worse in a situation where the kids are not properly secured and are tossed around before being able to receive their emergency
007instructions. So those are the main two things I'm hoping to get your feedback on. And I have more but we're just running out of time so thank y'all. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Next is Emmanuel Eubanks. My name is Emmanuel Eubanks and I used to work for you all. >> [snorts] >> On January 12th my ex-girlfriend falsely accused me of rape and I was arrested at Northeast High School. I was in charge of technology there. I spent 38 days in jail 23 hours a day locked in a cell. [snorts] I was able to finally speak to the grand jury >> [snorts] >> and they vindicated me a free man. Without any evidence they they locked me up but with the grand jury they told me that they realized that she made a mistake that a mistake
008was made and >> [sighs] >> they set me free. After I became a free man, I contacted you all everybody I could to try to get my job back >> [snorts] >> at Northeast High School in the technology department. And I kept getting told to reapply other places >> [laughter] >> to other places around the district. But my heart is in Northeast High School. The kids there I love. >> [laughter] [snorts] >> The people in technology I love. >> [laughter] >> I've eaten with them. I've broke bread with them. I've spent time with them. >> [panting] [sighs] >> I've had kids come to my office and cry on my shoulders because they couldn't get what they needed at home or from other places. And I've always welcomed them into the technology office at Northeast High
009School because it's not just my job to take care of the technology the technology but it's my job to make sure the kids have everything that they need. Things that I grew up with that I didn't have. >> [snorts] >> So I'm asking you all if you could allocate the budget to open up another tech technology another desktop support tech position that's been sitting in limbo for past for the past 2 years so that I can continue to fight for that position and I can continue to fight to get back to the kids at Northeast at Northeast High School. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you. All right. That was the three people that signed up. Is there anybody else that like to sign up to speak regarding the budget? >> [snorts] [sighs] >> All
010right. There's nobody else to speak for now. Yep. Thank you all for attending. We'll now We'll um This public hearing is now adjourned. See y'all back at 6:00.