001Okay, >> it's not over yet. 30 seconds. Just got to find ready. All right. Calling the school board study session to order. Hit it. All right. Item number one on the agenda is surplus property woodlon tower. First read Dr. Luna better >> board. In your packet you have an explanation for the Woodlon Tower. Um the operations department has been collabor collaborating with multiple agencies to enhance our radio communication capabilities and this is in conjunction with the county since the fall of 23. Um leading the upgrade of our 30-year-old tower. Um we are working with county emergency services, the county sheriff's office and the state of Tennessee and city of Clarksville. Essentially what we are looking to do is the old Woodlon Tower needs to be demolished and removed um due to the Federal Aviation Administration
002requirements. The operation department has worked on a plan with the sheriff's office and Motorola to have the old tower removed at the cost to uh the the contractors at $30,000. That will not cost taxpayers any money. In order to do that, we do need to deem and declare the old Woodlon Tower surplus property so the Motorola contractor can schedule the demolition. All right. On to item number two, the resolution opposing HB 0793 SB0836 and affirming the right to education for all board. This is in this resolution is located in your packet for consideration and it'll be discussed in the next formal meeting. On to number three, the federal budget amendments. Dr. Luna Veter. I'd like to ask Chief Financial Officer Jeff Taylor to come up for the federal budget amendments. >> Good evening, board. Um,
003this is just some of our federal amendments we do during this time of year. uh the first um seven or eight consolidate conadmin and title one through title nine along with CTE Perkins and APEN. These are just additional revenues along with the appropriate expenditures that correlate with those revenues being added. Um the next two are just reallocations of existing funds under IDA partnership K through 12 and preK. And then the last three are the IDEIDA part three preK and HQIM literacy additional revenues along with the appropriations for those expenditures. Do you have any questions? All right. On to item number four, the CMCSS growth data TISA accountability report. I'd like to ask Chief Academic Officer Dr. Shanda Dowy to come up and give us this report. >> Good evening board. I'm excited to be here
004with you tonight to talk to you about the growth that we've seen in our students academic abilities over the last two years in CMCSS. I'd like to first start by talking about our data from two years ago, the 23 24 school year, and highlight for you that we were we were a level five um two years ago. You'll see that our literacy was a four and our numerousy was a one. Our goal for every one of our students and every one of our schools and our district is to be a three, four or five. A three means that our students are meeting expected growth in comparison to themselves. That they are meeting a year's worth of growth. Anything above a three is exceptional. I'm proud to report that this past year. You will see that
005our students actually in every area we as a district were a three, four or five. Overall as a district we were a five. You'll see that our literacy and our numerousy were a three. And that's very exciting results for a district of this size with 46 schools and 39 more than 39,000 kids. This is the first time that we have had consecutive level five composite scores since 201516 and 1617. So that's very exciting for our district as a whole. Additionally, CMCSS has the highest percentage of schools scoring three, four, or five since 201617. 50% of our middle schools earned a five for the first time since the 20145 school year and 88% of our middle schools were a three, four or five. Additionally, 75% of our elementary schools earned a three, four, or five. 78%
006of our high schools earned a three, four, or five. The most exciting piece of this work is that 16 of our schools earned a level five, which is the highest level that can be achieved. We're very proud of the work of our students, our teachers, our assistant principles, and our principles in CMCSS. Now, let's take a turn and let's um look into um some achievement data. We've talked about growth. We know that for our students learning is a marathon. It's not a sprint. We want to see that our students are growing at a level three, four or five every year. Knowing that for some of our students, it takes time for them to re reach the state's measurements for achievement. The next thing I'm going to spend a few minutes going over, which you also
007found in your board packet, is our TISA accountability report data. This highlights achievement data. And so I want to make sure that we realize we've turned the page from growth to achievement. We have four goals that we have established as a district in our TISA packet. The first goal is set by the state and that goal is that 75% of our 70 I'm sorry 70% of our third graders will be proficient um on the TCAP um by the end of their third grade year. This goal statement two is around 70% of our students being um proficient in ELA in the elementary, middle, and high school grade bands. Goal three is the same statement, but it involves math. And goal four is that 70% of our high school students will be identified as ready graduates by
008the time that we get to the 2030 milestone. So, let's dig a little bit deeper and take a moment to look at our third grade proficiency data. As you can see um from our data, our goal for this year for the 2526 school year is that our third 52.9% of our third graders will achieve proficiency um on their TCAP. This year we had 42.3% of our third graders who are proficient. And so we look forward as our students continue to grow to meeting that milestone. Our action steps in order to accomplish that goal include continued professional learning. As our students continue to learn and grow, our teachers and assistant principles and academic coaches have to do the exact same thing. We can't teach them the same way that we've always done because they're coming to
009us a little bit smarter every year, which is a great milestone for us as a district. We will continue to monitor data. We have um professionally vetted benchmark assessments um a nationally normed universal screener that allow us to benchmark our students throughout the school year and that then allows us to provide individualized supports for our students to meet them where they are and help them continue to grow towards that achievement. The next milestone involves by 2030 70% of our students in three through five, six through eight in high school will achieve proficiency on the ELA um TCAP or EOCC. I'll give you a second to reflect on the data that's presented in the chart with those grade bands. You'll see here that in 2425 our schools are trending in the right direction. And the last
010column, the 2526 is our goal um for this school year. The next goal, goal three, same thing. Looking to get that 70% benchmark by 2030. Um again, those grade bands are the same. And here is the math data. Your question probably is how are we going to accomplish those lofty goals? Again, we're going to continue to um pour into professional learning um to ensure that our teachers, our leaders, and our coaches have the support that they need to teach the students that are front of them. We do that again, professionally vetted benchmarks, universal screener datas, drilling down um to each student in classrooms and making sure that we're aware of where those students are excelling and where they're struggling so we can meet them where they are and provide differentiated supports um for each student
011based on their need. We do this through progress monitoring and adjustments both at um the district level, the school level, and the classroom level. And it's very important that we're constantly reflecting on that board. And I'm sure I'm sure that you'll remember two years ago, we adopted math highquality instructional materials. It um when it was adopted, it made you all very popular among the teachers because we hadn't had really great math high quality instructional materials in a long time. We're in year three of that implementation. As with any product, there are tweaks that have to be made. Um there's no perfect product out there and we continue to look at the best way to implement those high-quality instructional materials to meet our kids needs. And so that's an extra action step for that math goal.
012And goal four is that by 2030, 70% of our high school students will be identified as ready graduates according to the metrics created by the state of Tennessee. You'll see again here that we are on a positive trajectory with this. And um again, our goal for 2526 is that 49.5% of our students 49.4 for of our students will graduate as ready graduates. The action steps for this one look just a little bit different because in order to become a ready grad, that planning really has to start a child's freshman year of high school. So, it's really like a four-year uh culminating goal. We've created a ready graduate task force um at the district office to examine the data that we have um and to make sure that we're meeting our students where they are. We're
013also looking at other desk districts who are closing that gap at quicker rates but have students like our students to see what they're doing that we're not doing um so we can fill in those gaps. It really is a data-driven um student planning session that starts um a child's freshman year to make sure that they take the right courses and have a path to be ready graduates. Um, additionally, we are looking at adding additional college and career readiness supports to ensure that our students who are taking AP classes, um, dual enrollment classes and who are um, meeting or close to meeting the benchmarks on the ACT have the support that they need to be successful in, um, those courses. And then last, we've also created an ACT task force to ensure that we are using
014the right tools and software and our teachers have um the necessary curriculum in order to make sure our students can meet that ready graduate benchmark of an ACT or 20 of 21 or higher because that's really the easiest way for a kid to become a ready graduate. Any questions for me? Miss Barry, >> we expect to see the detailed data uh broken down by school and grade level. >> Thank you so much for pointing that out. It it actually is very important that I do say um that this is every test taker data. So, the data that I've just gone over with you may actually include students who were not in CMCSS um for the required number of days for testing. And we are optimistic that we'll have more detailed data to be able to
015share in mid December. That's a loose deadline, but I'll be happy to share it as soon as we have it. >> I see that we had 16 schools that were three, fours, or five. That's wonderful. But what about the other 27 that's not there? I understand we have a plan, but it's critical that we increase the number of schools that are meeting that 3, four, five level. I agree. I I couldn't agree with you more. My our goal as an instructional team is that every child sit in front of a teacher that's a 3, four, five. And quite frankly, there's nothing that concerns me more than thinking that there are children who are sitting with teachers who are one or two because being educators, we know the long-term impacts that that has, which is exactly
016why we've really transitioned this year um into drilling data down to the student level. As you know, as an educator, when I know what your deficit is compared to what Mark's deficit is, it helps me to be a better educator and instructor to you. Um, and then as a district team, we're providing additional supports for every school that is not already a 3, four, or five. And by supports, I mean providing lesson plans, providing um, additional people in the building. Um, making sure that we have a curriculum expert sitting in collaborative plannings where it's appropriate. So, it's not just giving them additional funds, but it's also giving them additional experts to help move the needle for kids. We know who those schools are and um and we we do everything that we can to make
017sure they have the support that they need. >> I do want to clarify one one thing, Miss Miss Barry. The 16 schools were level five. >> They were five. Yes, >> not three, four or five. We will get you those exact numbers of the num total number of schools that were three, four or five, but 16 schools were level five alone. Thank you, >> Mr. Garland. Uh, how are our kids doing that reading at grade level in the third grade? >> So, we were at uh 42. Let me go back to that page. And of course, I didn't bring my readers up here, so you're going to have to be patient with me. Uh, we were at 42. Can I go back there? If y'all don't mind. Don't look for a second. I'll make you
018dizzy, but not on purpose. Uh, 42.3%. So, I do want to clarify there as well. So what that means is that on the state test it's not just the level of reading, it's the comprehension, it's the the answering of detailed questions. So that doesn't necessarily mean just let's say the fluency or the phonics that is everything in depth. >> My question was what's the number of our students? Do you have that? >> We do. We can get that to you. >> I'll get it to you. Yeah. I try to prepare for what you're going to ask, but I love that that you throw me a curveball. I I'll always be ready. Did you have something from um Yes. So, looking at the goal for 70% of graduating students will be identified as ready graduate. And
019you might have said this in your presentation um but it says 49.4 for 2526 school year. Just trying to understand what that ready how do you identify as ready graduate and then that seems pretty low. Excellent. So those number like the goal number is set for us to increase by 0.15% every year so that we can achieve that 70% by 2030. I agree with you. I think that should be higher. Uh but to answer your question, in order to be a ready grad as defined by the state of Tennessee, you have to have a 21 or higher on your ACT, you have to uh take four early post-secary opportunities. It could be dual enrollment. It could be an AP um test, a dual credit exam. Um you can kind of mix and match that and
020take an industry certification like um u OSHA 1010 plus two EPSOs. Um, or you can do two EPSOs and have an ASVAB score of a 31 or higher. We have a really great graphic with that on it that I'll be happy to send to you because that's how my, you know, it helps me to see it written out. I'll be happy to share that with you. >> So, it's not just college ready, it's also career ready. >> Absolutely. Yes. Because that ASVAB piece even picks up that um career potential for a variety of different things. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Any more questions? But I don't see any more. >> Okay. Thank you all. Thank you. All right. Item number five on the agenda. I'd like to ask Jennifer Manise, our director of teaching,
021learning, and innovation to come forward and talk more about goal one. Good evening. This report is going to focus on goal one which is um our goal for this is to improve student achievement academic achievement through ongoing implementation of high quality instructional materials and practices. In order to prepare, we identify the what. The what is given to us by the state of Tennessee through our Tennessee state standards which are approved by the Tennessee Board of Education. The standards provide criteria for assessing the mastery of each standard. Then we look at how well based on those standards, it gives us evidence of what mastery should look like. And so we want to know how are we going to assess students to find out if they've mastered the standards. And then we talk about how how are
022we going to to do the lesson? What opportunities will we provide for students that are hands-on, that are enriching, that provide opportunities for them to talk, for them to dialogue with each other, to build those 21st century skills, to be able to really have a conversation about their learning that all ties back to the what. As you see on the slide, we have three visions. These visions were created by a district team of content experts. Each time we had a high quality instructional material adoption along with feedback from administration, academic coaches, and teachers, tweaks were made to each one of the visions before they were finalized. One of the things you will notice about a common theme for each vision is that it's focus each one of them focus on creating critical thinkers and problem
023solvers either through science, literacy, and or math. Our approach for in for curriculum and instruction is three in three-fold. One, the curriculum. Two, instruction. And three, assessment. For curriculum, teachers will review the Tennessee State instructional standards and resource documents, which outline what students know and should be able to do to demonstrate mastery of the standard. We train teachers and administrators to deepen their understanding of these standards and apply appropriate instructional strategies. We implement state adopted high-quality instructional materials and any revised state standards and based on feedback from teachers. Each year we refine those curriculum guides that teachers follow to improve classroom alignment. In the area of instruction, through collaboration, teachers discuss strategies for engaging students in learning and providing those opportunities to deepen their experiences. We deliver that ongoing professional learning for teachers and administrators
024with best first instructional strategies from the new classroom instruction that works. We continue to provide training to teachers based on data and with knowledge and strategies to meet diverse student learning needs. And we extend our consulting teacher support through grade level and subject level collaborations and classroom walkthroughs. In our third area of assessment, this data allows us to gauge our mastery of standards, identify any standards that need to be reinforced, and provides the district with an overview of the quality of the instruction. We do administer two to three professionally developed written benchmark assessments in ELA, math, and science depending on the subject. We deepen the use of benchmark and classroom data to drive instructional decisions. As Dr. Dowy spoke about, we are drilling down to that student level because that's where we know that we're
025going to be able to make the biggest difference is to know where our students are performing. We hold districts and school level data chats to analyze these results and address areas of concern and replicate successful practices that are happening across our district. Our continued focus moving forward is the ongoing refinement of these curriculum guides, our targeted professional learning and alignment of assessments and resources, developing district and school structures to ensure practices are embedded and consistent. We focus on building teacher leader expertise to sustain highquality instructional material implementation and deepening the use of that benchmark classroom and state provided data to drive instructional decisions and accelerate student growth. Any questions? I don't see any questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next we have county commissioners comments. Any comments? >> How about school board members? >> Mr.
026Mayberry. >> Hey, thank you. U just wanted to bring us a clarity. I asked Mr. Nolan to chime in with me on this one. Um there was a comment at the end of the last school board meeting from the county commission and I feel like it brought a little confusion uh consulting with Mr. Nolan and um actually a TSBA attorney as well. Um the comment was we couldn't do what we tried to do and again not trying to by the way bring this back up but just for clarity for future votes and and all that in the future. Um, but the comment was that this board could not vote, which my motion was to vote to have uh for the next several years, every two years, have a middle school sport put within the budget
027and not that we were funding those things, but they would be put in the budget for us to vote on at a future date. And that was a motion. It was made that that was an improper motion um from a comment. Um, and it's been my understanding that is not correct. So, I wanted to ask Mr. Nolan to clarify I I I don't I believe it's a proper motion because you think about this. This board frequently has to make decisions that carry over from year to year. If we build a new school, you couldn't say, "Well, you can't vote to authorize the construction of a new school, knowing in two or three years when it's complete, we're going to have to fund it to put employees in, to put equipment in." So, you always have
028things that may carry over past a budget year. So, in a similar vein, if you said we want to add additional middle school sports in the future, it's still going to be subject to what the budget allows. That's going to have to be put into that year's budget. So, I don't think it's a facially invalid motion because there's always going to be multiarts to it. It's just going to carry over. It's going to be subject to approval of the the budget and what can be, you know, accommodated at the at the time. So I think it is an appropriate because if not no public body could ever accomplish things within a a year within your physical or within a term of a board member or a member of a public body. So I I I
029I think certainly depending on the wording of the motion it it certainly could be appropriate. >> Yeah. Thank you. I just wanted to bring that up not to rehash what we talked about but to just for clarity because we could have a certain a similar motion in the future from any one of us and I didn't want necessarily that to be hanging over that that was correct or not. So just wanted clarity. Thank you very much >> Mr. Garland. >> Yeah. Thanks for the clarification. I would like to thank u the presenters and Dr. Luna for the presentations today because every time we come in here we learn we learn something new. Uh, as you know, if you've been watching the news and been watching what's going on in the world today, the world is
030crazy. Uh, I got a call uh from one of one of my constituents talking about kids walking to school. Uh, I talked to Dr. Luna about this and she had already been on top of it like she always is. uh you know the Tennessee code annotated authorize us to actually do some things and do some things right and the board choose to do some things that above and beyond what we're required to do which is reasonable as long as we can afford it. Um you know the reason why for the record and before the record for my position is the for the record the reason why we are where we are today is because we were in a low people complain so we had to implement law. When you implement law it doesn't always appeal
031to what it is that you want to be done. Now they want us to uh monitor a path that goes to a school. Uh I know that the sheriff department have limited uh personnel, the police department have limited personnel and we have limited personnels in our schools. Uh uh the my my suggestion to Dr. Luna and I know she's not going to do it is ask the parents to come over to monitor monitor the past if it's that important come monitor. Yes, kids are going to be bullied. uh we know that and our job is to try to prevent it the best we can and I know that the district is doing that and I appreciate all the work that you put into that but I just thank you for all of the the good
032work that you're doing. I'm glad to see the numbers going in the right direction because people want people to think that we are declining instead of growing. But the bottom line is just as we are growing in numbers every year, we're growing in grace as well as the numbers that the students are are are producing based on the instruction that they're getting and the environment that are allowed to receive that instruction. Thank the county commissioners for actually working with us and allowing us to be able to provide the facilities and the personnel and the instruction that we need to make our children successful. >> Any other comments? Missberry, >> I want to thank the APSU students that are here tonight for being here and learning and encouraging us to do our jobs and we appreciate
033your presence. Thank you. >> Any other comments? This meeting is adjourned.