001I now call this meeting of the B County Board of Education to order. Would you all please rise for the prayer bills and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance? God, we give you thanks for the sunshine. We thank you for a good week to be off from school. We thank you for all the first responders and utility workers who kept us safe and kept the lights on during the storm. We ask that you be with those who have lost their lives or loved ones or property damage. Be with us as we come back to school so that we can finish out the year strong in Jesus name. Amen. Praise the one indivisible andice for all. Will you please call? Mr. Mills here. Miss Douglas here. Mr. Mars here. Mr. Blue here. Mr. Gorton here.
002Mr. Har here. Mr. Livingston here. Mr. Wyers here. Mr. Hyatt here. Miss Ken here. Miss Arnold. Mr. Hay here. 11 present, one absent. With 11 present, one absent, we have a quorum. Next on our agenda is the approval of the agenda. Remember that that also means that we're going to approve the consent agenda which includes approval of March minutes, approval of substitutes pending background checks. Um approval of April 10th as support staff appreciation day which is a utrus day and the approval of May 1st as teacher appreciation day which is a trust day. Make a motion to approve this agenda. Good. We have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as well as the consent agenda. Are there any changes? If not, we will vote. All those in favor of approving the agenda
003and the consent agenda, please say I. Any opposed, please say no. Eyes have it. We have approved both the consent agenda and the regular agenda. Next on our agenda is a student presentation. Miss Karen, would you like to? My name is Sarah Hutchson and I am the county's family involvement coordinator. And you know as well as I know we do a lot of great things in our BK school system. Sometimes we don't do a great job about sharing that. Um second nature for a lot of the things that we do. But at every one of our most every one of our schools we have a parent advisory committee. We meet with them three times a year meetings. We share everything with them and what's happening inside the school. We talk about the academics. We talk
004about our strengths. We talk about our weaknesses. And it wasn't the one of the last ones we had at the Briwood School. We brought Miss Chelsea's student to the pack meeting and they were showing the parents the way they do math. Now, you may or may not know it's not like we used to do it and we try to let the parents take a breather and let them know you probably really cannot help your child with math at home like you once could. So, we've got some students. Chelsea's going to pull out some math problems. They're going to show you what they do in class, how they know what they're doing, and the steps. And it's going to be a couple of different ways. Correct. Okay. So, these students are going to come up and
005maybe he's going to get in between y'all and show you four. And then if I can have the other kids come up, we're going to put some right here. So, come on around. You're going to showcase. Come on around. So, she's going to direct their math class and you're going to listen and the students going to tell what they're thinking and what they're doing to get the answer. Okay. Okay. Um, I'm sure y'all um have heard this or you've probably said it that you hate the new math. Um, everybody hates it. I will be the first person to admit when I first started teaching it, it was really hard to learn when I had been taught a certain way and to learn a new way. Um, but now that I teach a new way, that's
006the only way that I do it. Um, so y'all aren't doing this one yet. Um, this is how I multiplied. I'm sure most of you did too. And this is how we divided. Um, no disrespect at all to any of my teachers that I had. But when I would say, well, why are we doing that? Well, that's just how you do it. So, and sometimes still today we do that. Um, but I try not to ever tell my students, well, that's just how it is. I always try to explain them to them why we're doing what we do. Um, so the old way, this way, it really teaches a procedure. We're not, the students really aren't understanding. So the new way teaches for the kids to understand. And to parents who learned it this way,
007it is harder to understand. So some of these um lovely students are going to show y'all the new way that we um multiply. So they are going to be doing this problem. Can y'all see that? They're going to be doing this problem and they are going to use a partial product, a strategy called partial products and then they're going to also use a strategy called or using an area model to get the product for this. Okay, y'all can go ahead. Check it out. Please [Music] Now let's start. Not you. Did you see yourself? So That's why Excuse me. I want to get accepted. [Music] Six Okay. Start pressing. Yes. So, It's so easy. Yes, sir. Good Yes, speech speech. Christmas. That's good. Cheers. Hey, stand up there. Hold on. grandparents. Well, that don't count. First
008of all, you are welcome to stay, but if I was you, I'd be home and get ready for the basketball game, but you're welcome to stay. But in all seriousness, we just want to thank you for coming. We always talk about how much good how many more good things are going on in our school than sometimes what we hear. So, on behalf of the board, first of all, thank you students. That makes it so much better when we get to see students and thank you parents and grandparents for all you do and supporting our school system on behalf of the board. Just thank you. And I didn't know I didn't Next on our agenda is Sydney Baker and teach occupational therapy presentation. Hello, I'm Sydney Baker. I'm an OG student from OT. I'm graduating here
009in about three weeks and this is the last thing since graduation. So, I'm going to be doing a little bit of talking about OT with y'all today. Um, so I'm going to talk about my capstone experience, which is what I've been doing for the past 14 weeks. I'm going to talk about what is OT and how can it help in the school system, what kind of regulations govern OT in the school. Um, some statistics about Bon County's provision of OT, and then comparing Bitten County to other districts, and then just some specific teacher concerns that I've noticed over the past few weeks. Um, so a capstone is basically a self-directed learning experience. So myself and all of my classmates, we found a setting um that is either underutilizing OT or not utilizing OT at all.
010And we kind of go in and do a needs assessment and see in what ways could OT step in and help. Um so following my needs assessment over at the elementary school, I determined that I wanted to focus on improving attention and behaviors in the classroom and then advocate for increased OT services. So those are my two main objectives. Um, so I want to start off by telling you a little bit about what OT is. So it's a branch of health care that helps individuals gain or regain independence in all areas of daily living. So a lot of people are familiar with like the medical side of OT. So if you have a loved one who had a stroke or some kind of motor vehicle accident and they lost the ability to dress themselves, bathe
011themselves, manage their medications, take care of their kids, basically anything they need to do in everyday life, OT can step in, help them regain those skills. um that it's a little bit different with kids. So in occupational therapy, schoolbased practitioners can address any aspect that links to academic performance. So that can be a ton of things. So it can be handwriting, classroom setup, environmental adaptation, feeding, dressing, behavior management, sensory regulation, emotional regulation, peer interaction, social skills, attention, and so much more. So it's a big misconception that OT's only do handwriting in the school because there's so much more that they're able to do. Um, so I want to talk a little bit about the difference between an OT and an OT assistant. So an OT is responsible for all aspects of service delivery. So they
012do the evaluation, the treatment planning, the goal setting, um, they do re-evaluations, discharge planning, and they must have a master's or a doctorate degree. Um, and then you have the assistant who works alongside the OT. Um, and so they take the treatment plan and the goals that the OT has set and they work towards meeting those goals, but they're not actually able to carry out the evaluation themselves and they get an associates degree. I mentioned that because they're both very valuable to have on the team. Occupational therapy assistants are reimbured a little bit lower, so sometimes they're a more affordable option to have on the team. If you have an OT who does your evaluations and then the OTAA who steps in and does the treatment, but they're still working alongside each other. the OT
013checks in, make sure everything's going smoothly, that the OT system will be the one doing the treatment. Um so the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is the regulation put in place by the government that ensures that all students with disabilities are receiving the services they need whether that is um special education services, speech services. Um and they want to make sure that those kids are having a free and appropriate public education. They're not falling the cracks and they have all the support they need to succeed. Um, so within that you have the IEP regulations and the IEP team will set goals for those students to make sure that they're advancing appropriately appropriately toward attaining their goals, that they're involved in all their extracurriculars and making progress um, and that they can perform academically alongside their
014typically developing peers. Um, so a lot of different kids can uh qualify for services under IDA. And so there's a whole list of different diagnoses. She's got autism, ADHD, developmental delay. But then there's also kids who don't fall under these diagnoses, but they may still need a little bit of extra help. And in that case, they would qualify for a 504 plan, which differs a little bit because a they're not going to receive any funding from the government to cover those services, but they may need a little bit of extra help as far as like a kid with ADHD, they may need to sit closer to the front of the classroom so that they're not distracted. a kid with diabetes may need to step out to go to the nurse or they need extra snacks.
015So that's just making sure that these kids can still get the services they need to be successful. Um so a kid with a 504 plan could still qualify for OT services. They just won't get the IDA funding from the government for those. Um so a little bit about Benton County. These are our schools and how many students of each school have an IEP. So that means that they need special education services. They may potentially benefit from OT um but they're getting extra services to make sure that they can meet all of their goals in the school. And then there's 165 kids in the system with a 504 plan. Um so that comes out to 662 kids that may benefit from OT. Um but an observation that I've made, this is not to ridicule the school
016system. I think this is one of the greatest school systems in M County or in Tennessee, but um my observation is that we're severely underutilizing OT. And I say that because of those students who may potentially benefit from OT, 43 43 of those 662 are getting OT services currently. That's 6%. And I'm not saying that all of those kids need OT services, but I have a hunch that a lot more than 6% could benefit and reach their educational goals better if they were getting better services within the school. Um, and then of those children, I don't know what happened on that slide, but they're getting OT services about three times a year. Um, I haven't done any specific service delivery in the school, but I know that in the hospital in some of my rotations,
017we're seeing patients every day. Um, outpatient pediatrics, that's where parents will take their kids to therapy. Um, and they get services there about one to three times a week. So, these kids in the school are getting it three times a year. Um, so because of that statistic, I wanted to compare to some surrounding districts. So, I called special education coordinators from around West Tennessee area. I didn't get replies from everybody that I would have liked to, but I wanted to include some of the reps that I got. Um, so all of these that I talked to stated that they have OT's. Um, and that by daily that means that there is an OT in one of their schools daily. And everybody that I talked to said that their students are getting services at least one
018time per week. Um, so that's Madison, Crockett, and Weekly County. also included if they have an internal employee who's paid by a school system or pay contract to another company like the therapy and learning center which is who the county contracts through but then labon also does a lot of contracts around the area. Um so then we have Henderson County who their kids are getting therapy services one time per week county and Pikman County. Um, and like I said, I would have liked to talk to more schools like Huntington, Mackenzie, Waverly, those that are a little bit closer to us, similar in size, but I wasn't able to get um replies from them. But I just did that to show that rural areas can also have OG services that come and see these kids once
019a week. Um, so then I want to talk a little bit about the options for funding. So, like I mentioned, you have the IDA funds and if I'm not mistaken, that is given to the school system based off of your students with IEDs that fall under that. And then another option is billing tin care. So, I know in the school that some speech therapists that work at the elementary school are eligible to bill through tinare. Um, and that's the same thing for OT. So, the school doesn't have to pay for those services. You just bill it through the kids insurance if they have that insurance and the parents consent. So, I feel like one of our problems might be budget and that's a good option to look into. Um, but the kids insurance can pay
020for it if they qualify. Um, so then I did some conversations with some teachers at the elementary school and I did a survey. Some of their main concerns with their kids are attention, behaviors, and handwriting. All of which OT kind of stuff. So, um, I don't know for sure, but I feel like a lot of teachers probably feel burned out dealing with these things every day. um they're stopping to correct behaviors. They're trying to fix handwriting. They don't have the skills to they don't have the time to do it. They have 20 kids in their classroom and if one is causing a disruption whether it's because they have a disability like ADHD or not, um that can probably be a little disheartening trying to meet your standards and having to deal with this stuff at
021the same time. Um so this is one of the surveys that I sent out that I just wanted to highlight. Um basically what this says is rate your level agreement with the following statement. I believe my students behavioral difficulties impact their ability or their classmates ability to learn. Um 70.6% of teachers strongly agree with that statement and 29.4 agreed with that statement. Um the same thing with their attention difficulties. It had about the same response. And then it says, rate your level agreement with the following statement. I believe my students behavioral difficulties impact my ability to provide thorough instruction to the class. And 47.1% strongly agree. and 47.1% agreed and then one person was neutral on that statement. But I think that just shows the way teachers are feeling about these behavioral difficulties, other difficulties
022that they're experiencing on a day-to-day basis. Um, and then I went into classrooms during my weeks here and I took observations of just how many times these teachers are having to correct behavior and attention problems. Teachers are pausing on average 10 or not 10, 9.36 times per 45 minute sessions. uh the low end of that I had one class that was zero and then we were up to like even 15 16 times in 45 minutes. So I can imagine if I'm up here talking to all of y'all and y'all are chattering or out of your seat that might be a little dishart every five minutes and tell you to get back on track. So I also did a SWAT analysis that strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I did this as a part of my assignment
023for school but I thought it was good to include here. the strengths of the elementary school. These students have so many resources. There's ABA, speech counseling, RTI, special education, the CDC room. So, there's a lot of supports in place for these students, but I think that there's room to do more. Um, we also have teachers who are engaged and willing to collaborate with related services such as OT. These teachers are always looking for ways to help their students, and they've been really supportive of me and my time, and I know that they really want what's best for the student. So, that's a big strength. um weaknesses are limited support for students with physical intellectual or developmental disabilities. So I know that speech therapy is great. We've got lots of speech therapists in that school, but
024PT and OT both are being they're seeing students about three times a year. Um and so if you go back to that big list of everything that OT's can help with, that's a lot of extra help these kids are missing out on. Um and then there's also a lack of space in the school to provide services. There's one empty classroom downstairs. It's used for a bunch of different things, but other than that, there's not really a great space for therapy services to be provided. I know that when Barbara Oi comes, she is usually provided services in the hallway. Um, and then because of this lack of services, there's a decreased opportunity for full inclusion for students with additional needs. Um, and then some opportunities. We already have an existing contract with the therapy and learning
025center. So, it's not we have to go out and make a new contract. um you could just up the amount of time that she's coming and then you can also use that Medicaid tinare funding for services. And then some threats, we've got children falling behind due to lack of related services. So you might not think that something as simple as handwriting could hold a kid back from reaching their full potential. But handwriting is the basis for all kinds of stuff that these kids do is that they can't hold their pencil, they can't write a sentence, they're just going to keep getting more behind and more behind and more behind. Um, and then living in a rural area limits knowledge about therapy. I didn't ask y'all at the beginning, but I'm sure if I had said
026who knows what occupational therapy is, not very many people would have raised their hand, and that's fine. I didn't know what OT was really until I started school. Um, that's just part of the area that we live in. People just don't really know much about it. Um, and then you've got risk for legal repercussions. Um, I'm worried that if a parent comes into IEP meeting and has to really know know what their kids are, they could pursue legal advice, whatever they want to do there. So, I just wanted to include that in there. Um, and then you have the risk of teacher burnout due to lack of services for students. These teachers are doing everything they can and I'm sure a lot of them probably feel really burned out at the end of the day.
027So, I think OT is a way that we can support not only the students but the teachers as well. So, I wanted to end with three quotes. Um, I talked to a lot of different people throughout this process. So, this is from the special education supervisor in Oine County. And I asked her, "Do you think that providing OT services to your student is beneficial?" And she said, "Some of our students are adversely impacted educationally by their OT deficits without the intervention. These students may never be able to access the general education classroom as well as they do and be successful." And then I talked to an OT from Hickman County and I was just telling her a little bit about Bon County and how services are provided and she said, "These students are only seen
028three times per year. That absolutely breaks my heart." And then um I also talked to a school-based OT who's been practicing in Colorado for about 30 years um and she said, "I would encourage you to think about two things. Is this method of service delivery ethical? And is it effective?" Um, so that's all I have. My goal here is just to educate you all about occupational therapy and all the great things it can do in the school system. Maybe start some conversation when you're looking at budgets and everything. So yeah, I know that's not over change, but I hope that maybe I've got some wheels turning and maybe here in a few years we might see some more OT services. Any questions? I probably asked a lot of questions, but like therapy, we do not
029have a therapist in our school system. What you're saying? We have one who's contracted through the therapy and learning center. Um, and she's in the school in and out. She's seeing students about three times a year. Yeah, I saw a lot of there were full inclusion in in the classroom. I can understand that. And I understand that all kids need to be uh taught, you know, they need to advance. But at the same time, when that when that that student that is an IEP student that is in there that needs help and and he or she is still in the classroom and the teacher has to call them now every five or six or seven or eight minutes to keep her class going, his class going, what about those other students in there? Are they
030falling behind because of this? Also, that's not something that I can answer with confidence because that would take some research on them. But I do know that teachers are not meeting all their standards. not getting through all of their curriculum because they're having to pause so frequently to stop. A lot of times I didn't take direct on this. A lot of times it is the same two or three kids that are causing these disruptions. And so I would say that a lot of the other kids who are trying to learn and trying to advance are probably missing out on a little bit of instruction because their teachers haven't paused so frequently. I won't ask anything else, but I have lots of questions. That's okay. That's what I'm here for. And I see I see the
031problem. I really I see kind of green rock and hard place. You got the these kids in there that need help. We don't have the ones that can help them out. But at the same time, all students are going to suffer because of everything that's that's that's within the classroom and all the distractions. I'm going to say it. And uh I don't know how we can get get that to a change or get that have occupational therapists that come in and one in every school or that that pull the students out and work with them. I guess that's what that therapist does. You they work with them so many minutes of a day or so many hours a day or is that something that the kids will go back into the classroom? Is that right?
032Yeah. So the OT would do an initial evaluation and there they would determine how often they think that kid needs therapy. Um usually would be probably about 30 minutes one time a week. Um if they had the time, three times a week, five days a week would be ideal, but usually the gold standard is about one time a week for about 30 minutes. Um and something that's really heavily pushed on is pushing in for services. of going into their classroom, going into their natural environment and working on things like handwriting, emotional regulation, all that with them. But if that's something that's going to be a distraction for everybody else in the room or if that child works better one-on-one, they can also pull them out. But something that um they teach us is to try
033to push them to the classroom as often as you can for those services. And thank you for your answer. I appreciate that. Appreciate what you're doing. And congratulations in three weeks to walk the line there. What made you choose this path? I don't really know. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to be a nurse and I didn't. So, I talked to all kinds of different people and a respiratory therapist that worked with my granddad told me to look in the ocean. So, I shadowed but couldn't see myself doing anything else. Well, thank y'all so much. If you have any questions, email Next on our agenda is the approval of the spring planning report county board of education held their annual spring planning meeting on Tuesday March the 5th 2025
034at the B conference room president was myself vice chair Mr. Livingston Miss Joe Douglas Mr. Thornton Mr. Mr. Wyinners, Mr. Hight, Miss Arnold, Mr. Hedge, Mr. Mills, Mr. Belaloo, Mr. Marks, director of schools, Mr. Florence, and TSBA executive director, Dr. Tammy Gryom. Tammy Gryom, who is the executive director of TSBA, presented a training on teaming and the school board. Um, our agenda was attached. I recommend that we approve the strength planning report. We have a second. Any discussion? Do you want to say anything about it, Mr. Florence? I enjoyed it. Good. We had 12 out of 12. That was I guess you did a good job. all these years. I will say it's nice to talk to her because she sees every school board and she can tell you the stories from the other school
035boards and it makes me very thankful for what we have. With no further discussion, we will vote. All those in favor of approving the spring planning report, please say I. Any opposed, please say no. Eyes have it. The spring planning report has been approved. Next on our agenda is approval of the budget committee report. Mr. Harson, would you read that for us, please? M board of education budget committee now on Thursday March the 20th 5:30 p.m. President Mr. W Mr. His Mark you follow your bonus of the education freedom act free school support staff raised $2500.6 proposal budget revenue expenditure add fulltime teacher to holiday school and review fund balance. Recommendation was made to approve approve the fulltime position in Holiday School for the 20 46 school approved. I hope that there's a motion for
036approval. We have a second. We have a motion and a second to approve the budget committee report. Um any further discussion about this? No, I think once you approve the minutes, that's good enough for please. Discussion. If not, we will vote. All those in favor of um Miss Michelle, please. Mr. Mills, yes. Miss Douglas. Miss Douglas. Yes. Mr. Marks. Yes. Mr. Blue. Yes. Mr. Thornton. Yes. Mr. Hardest. Yes. Mr. Listen. Yes. Mr. Wyers. Yes. Mr. Hyatt? Yes. Miss Kennon? Yes. Mr. Hedge? Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? 11. Yes. with 11. Yes. Um, budget media report has been approved. Next on our agenda is approval of the budget resolutions. There are several. Please don't make me read them. Approve them as presented. Second. We have a motion in a second to approve the
037budget resolutions as printed. Mr. I'll go through them real fast. First one obviously water bill just move money here at the end to cover our water bill. So we move that out of insurance. The two biggies I put in the memo of first of all the 500,000 out of fund balance. It's for the new textbook adoption. We talked about that all year. We don't have much of a choice. Thank she was here. I don't know where she was. you blame her but no this lend in the textbook a lot that we actually think it'll be a little less than that but um that will cover the cost and then you know in next year's budget we've increased textbooks so um that's what that one is and then the 200,000 that had a fun that is
038to uh need our part in the security cameras to make sure every school has the same um technology And so that's what that one's for. And the other ones are just moving money here as we finish out the year. You do see the insurance recovery. That's for the chiller at Browwood. And we just submitted another one today for $10,000. So the fund just keeps on coming from when we um were flooded that Wednesday before Thanksgiving or Tuesday, whatever day that was. So, um, I'll be glad to answer your question. What about this last one? The community working office. That is the federal grant um that we received for the cameras and Dr. Chain sent in a change to that so we could use more funds towards the cameras. So, that $428,000 is that cops grant
039and we're spend on the security cameras. Your actual expense right now is only like 160,000 for your mask, but since we're moving money, we wanted to make sure we had enough to cover. We don't use it, it'll go right back in. So, but that's what the I think we originally had a little over 300 budgeted just for cameras and Dr. Shannon resubmitted that and we just put that so we get the cameras in all the schools which I think is what we need to do. Any other questions? If not, um, we will vote on the budget resolutions as printed. Miss Michelle, will you please hold Mr. Mills? Yes. Miss Douglas? Yes. Mr. Marks? Yes. Mr. Blue? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Harus? Yes. Mr. Livingston? Yes. Mr. Wy? Yes. Mr. Hyatt. Yes. Miss Kennan, yes.
040Mr. Hedge, yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? 11. Yes. With 11 yes. Our budget resolutions have all passed. Um, next on our agenda is approval of the executive committee report. The executive committee of the county board of education met on Monday, March the 24th, 2025 by phone at 8:30 a.m. recommendation was made to approve the Gibson County electric internet bid a pending board approval on April the 7th. All approved members present were myself and Mr. and once we approve this report, we will then get into the actual agreement. Um I recommend that we approve the report. We have um recommendation and a second. Do you want to tell I will um this is pretty indepth. Probably need Mr. Baylor here. But for years um our we have contracted with a company called Epic
041and they do all our funding. With that said, our internet service has come through um TNA for guess 12 years ever since I've been director and we've always worked under a contract through Metro Nashville. I don't know any other way to say it. Politics has affected that some and they did not on New Metro. It's Zo now is what he named. So Epic had to put our internet service out for bid. Um a special thanks to Scott Owens. He really can't say anything as far as who we select but and Mr. Thornton has a lot of knowledge of this of the internet use and we use the NA to run our fiber. So we could our local cooperative electric cooperative would have some input into that. So when we bid you can see we received
042three bids. One from Gitson County uh electric which is just like county electric just larger and they do provide this internet service Irish networks and and zo. So, this is kind of hard to read, but there's two different bids. And if you total them, you'll see if you look at the two pages that Gibson County Electric is quite a bit cheaper. Now, E-Rate pays 85% of this. So, we're not paying that. I seen Brad's eyes come out when he looked, but we're only paying 15% because of E-RA. And so Gibson County by when you look at the bid right now we're paying about $3,600 a month for internet service. It's going to drop to about 1,800 to 2,000. Um now that switch over will be coming first of July. Um I think I don't want
043to speak on behalf of the electric company but I can speak on behalf of the school system. I do like the idea that we're working with a company kind of like big county electric people we know that makes your sense Mr. Thornton that people that they work with on a daily basis with electricity. I did call the director of Gibson County. They've been using county elected for the past 5 years they did not notice any changes. Now obviously it's just like ENA. There's going to be days when we have cuts and internet goes out. So, um, Scott recommends this. Um, M. Rose Mary with Epic recommends this. And the DA is Gibson County. When I first looked at it, I like, well, Gibson County is not the lowest. But if you look at both pages,
044Gibson County is quite a bit lower. The bottom line is it's a little less than $2,000 a month, and we have been paying 3,600. That switch over is coming July 1. There'll probably be some heartaches anytime you have that big a switch over, but we really didn't have a choice. So, I would recommend as soon as I have already signed the contract, but I also have to put a note on that pending your approval because they can't start until it's approved tonight. So, quicker we get that done. Um, I have talked to our technology department. I've talked to Rosemary and I've called other directors. You get the account. I even called Mr. Owens. Of course, he can't he can't. Once I told him who the low bid was, he he said they had his recommendation
045as well. So, I think that's enough for me. Any questions? Questions? Yes. Is this a 5-year contract? Yes. Okay. Now, but there will be a cl we will I will have to take this to the commission because it's a fiveyear and that's that's normal. Anytime it's over a year, they they can't put the clause in here that we can opt out any year like we and any other contract that it hasn't opted out each year, then we can it need board approval. But if it's over a year contract, then the commission will have to approve this month. and I'll explain that to them at the budget meeting next Tuesday night. Uh NA which is now I think it's Zo I think that's the way you pronounce it. Is that right Mr. Thir is this new
046hardware and equipment or just service? My understanding is they're going to use the existing fiber, which was a big concern if if somebody got the vid and come in and run fiber right beside what we already have. And they're going to utilize um what the electric company ran eight or 10 years ago, Mr. Thornton. And the speeds are actually higher, too. Any further discussion? With no further discussion, we will vote. All those in favor of approving the executive committee report, please say I. Please say no. I have it. The executive committee report has been approved. Can you write me down this path on that one? Next on our agenda is to approve the internet service agreement with Gibson County Electric. We have a motion. I'll take a motion to approve. Seconds. We have a motion
047and a second to approve the internet service agreement with Gibson County Electric. Any discussion about this part of it? If not, Miss Michelle, will you please call the RO? Mr. Mills? Yes. Miss Douglas? Yes. Mr. Marks? Yes. Mr. Blue? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Hargus? Yes, Mr. Livingston. Yes, Mr. Wyers. Yes, Mr. Hyatt. Yes, Miss Ken. Yes, Mr. Hedge. Yes. Would anyone like to change their vote? 10 yes, one pass. With 10 yes, the internet service agreement with Gibson County Electric has been approved. Next on our agenda is the director's roles. I say, I better not say that. Um, first of all, thanks to Miss Karen and, you know, students from Broadway schools as we all it's just great to see our kids and good things that are going on. I I say it a
048bunch, but we we tend to hear the other side and there's a whole lot more of that side going on at all school and and I don't just say that, I know it. I see it daily. So, thank you to our students and our staff for that. We're proud of Miss Sydney. glad that she could have opportunity to intern at elementary school and Sydney's going to be successful at whatever. I will tell you and Miss Joyy's out there. She can correct me if I'm wrong. I'm speaking from it experience by Ashley. We we do have OT and PT. We just our TAs cover that. So, we don't have licensed OT's and PTs, but we do our assistants do do that with them. So, I didn't want you to live here in state cuz I think
049about it if Ashley seen her O her PT and OT probably three times a year, but those assistants were walking her quite often and doing those PT and OT things. So, no, it's not as good as a licensed person and absolutely agree with what she said. It would be great if we could put those in the budget. And we, Miss Joy, tell you, we've come a long way with contracting and building u the insurance. It's a whole lot easier to contract and let them build the insurance than the school system trying to build the insurance because I think if we start asking Miss Joy to build insurance, I'll be looking for another special ed supervisor. So, so I I did want to say that because everything she said is true, but I didn't want you
050to leave here thinking that we only see the kids uh once three times a year because that is that not right, Miss Joey? Um this right here, the resolution for the teacher bonus um that from the education freedom act, we do not have to approve that until May. We or vote on Okay, you don't that's up to you whether you vote whether you approve it or not. We have to submit that in e plan by u June the 1st. So from talking to some of you I'm not sure we might not need to have further discussion. I did um have one ready uh if you wanted to vote on that tonight. But um in order for the teachers to get the $2,000 bonus, the board does have to approve that section 4 of the Education
051Freedom Act in order for our teachers to receive the bonus. Now, I put a draft copy in your memo. I should have put another copy in your packet, and I don't think I did, but I did put one in your memo. And if if you don't remember, I can did that I give it to you and Shan. Um there the the only part that um I need you to think about is well obviously number one, do you want to approve it that that's totally up to the school board and and I understand both sides. But the last sentence in that and and I'm just paraphrasing basically says that um we agree with section four with the education freedom act for the teachers to be able to receive the bonus but we do not agree with
052any other sections of it including using taxpayer dollars for private education. Uh, but from from just talking to a couple of you, I think we're going to have a couple meeting meetings this month and I think we could put that in there. We had a budget meeting that's absolutely tied to the budget and I think we need to have more discussion until we vote. Is that okay with everybody? We just have to vote May. Okay. In your game or night. So, okay. That's a touchy subject for me and I'm just going to leave it at that. I ask a question. Absolutely. Who wrote that? Who wrote that? Did Did they just get somebody off the street to write it? Did they actually have qualified people, right? Are you talking about the contradictory? I mean uh
053there there's been a lot of political uproar over this because um there was talk that there was things sent out that um the boards had to agree the education freedom act. Obviously, this is taped and but I I'll tell Governor Lee obviously it was a we got you that you got to approve that. But um anyway, it's it's approved. Bottom line is if you you don't approve then teachers won't get the bonus and we'll roll on. If you do approve it, they'll get the bonus and we'll go. It was part of the Education Freedom Act in order for the teachers to receive the bonus that the local school board had to approve a resolution opted into that section of the Education Freedom Act for them to receive that bonus. and that is before. So basically
054the teachers would receive $13 to $1,400 probably about half a million dollar probably. The state is putting the state is paying your part. The state is paying the district part of the benefits. But just like we all know if you you get a check, you do have to pay your part of the income tax that and there's a 25 cent or 25% on a bonus and we have to code it as a bonus. We will discuss that at our budget meeting and that's the next thing I have. We need to schedule a building and property committee and a budget committee meeting. The reason on the the building and property Mr. That's you right Mr. um there's been a couple districts that's piggy back off the roof of the coro roofing. They have this Durass route
055that's it's a little more expensive, but they have had a lot of luck and I if we could schedule that um I could get Coro to come in and explain the rating system. Um of course like any salesman, you know, they're saying we better do it as quick as we can with the tariffs coming and so the price that they have sent us is good through the end of the month. The one thing they did say at the junior high, if we if we decided as a board to move forward, they could get that done before school started next year. Um, so but you're talking about $1.2 million. The fund just keeps on coming. But I would like to settle with you, Mr. Living, and I have come and I thought we might do that
056at 5:00. Then we could do a budget committee at 6. And I'll leave it up to you. I would rather do April the 24th in case we need to have another budget meeting. Chair Kenan on the first. That would give us two dates because the budget is coming fast. They usually try to pass it in May. I'm going to have to see that to believe it this year. So building at five 424 and budget we'll say at 6 and I'll send you a text And then I have hard to believe, but graduation is May the 16th. Big Sandy at 6:00, which will be historic. And then uh Cam Central High School at 7:30. And then the last thing that I have, some of you have asked me about the evaluation contract. So, um, that's just
057you don't have to have that done till the end of July, but I mean, end of June, obviously with the budget coming up, um, that's something that we could schedule personnel, but I'll get with Chair Hen on that and that if you don't want to meet, that's that's up that's up to you. And then the last I have I seem like I've said this a lot last few years, but I just thank you for the thoughts and prayers weeks ago and the visit those of you that showed up for visitation for my mother-in-law that all of a sudden and I was fortunate to have two moms. So, I appreciate your prayers on that and please keep GW and listen prayers. That's been a hard time for for him. So, with that said, that's all I
058have. question. Yes, sir. This personnel committee you mentioned in my mind we got that 45 day period within your contract before the next meeting or something like you taking all that. Okay. If if you you'll have to give that 10day notice. I think as long as you do it in May, we can do it sometime in May and then have that done at the June meeting, you should be good. We can always adjust the budget if you pass early. Any other questions? When do you feel like this? There'll be none. Oh, I'm glad you brought that up, Mr. Thornton. Um, Miss Betty Joe called the state and In order for you to receive payment, they said in order for you to receive payment, but I think we still have some that did receive payment last
059year, but in order for you to receive payment for your training planning, you have to fill out that W9 and send it to the state department. Is that right, Miss Betty Joe? So, Miss Betty Joe has been through the process. I think it's worth your time. I think you get I think it's $75 for all right if you have trouble getting a hold of you call near miss Michelle we'll get the right number for you to call anything else all right thank you do we have any visitors no m I'm Sorry, I do have one thing please. Um, some of you may not know him, but um, special to our school family, James Mayo. He's a maintenance um, at Career Technical Center. He's had pretty serious health issue. He's in Jackson Madison County ICU. Mayo's
060been with us, I think, 12 years. I think if he's come in when I come in as director just a great employee and Mayo and his family need your prayers and he fights this illness. So please put James Mayo in your prayers. Mr. Florence. Um could I mention the benefit for prim um Olivia Sanders teacher at Perfect for Prim May 3rd at Briwood from 4 to 8. So um Joelle's cooking. There'll be good food. There'll be a band afterwards and there'll be a son auction. So anybody who can come out, we appreciate it. May what? May 3rd. What time is it? 4 to 8. Yes. Yeah. I got one more thing. Thanks for Mr. Carter for I talked to him Saturday and Sunday. People don't realize how lucky we are. As the teachers say, maybe
061Mr. Carter's too good. Not much longer. But uh but he called Saturday and and we checked on the road and then talked to him yesterday. It's from their hard work during all this rain that we were able to go to school. I know some would rather not, but we are fortunate to have those. You probably ready to go. So thanks to Mr. Carter and his staff now. Well, he has he showed me a picture of his new sponge trucks. So anybody asked, that's how he did this. He has sponge trucks. That's what he told. Our reminders, building and property committee meeting, April 24th, that's a Thursday at 5:00 p.m. Budget that same day at 6. Um, graduation is May the 16th. Big Sandy is at 6. CHS is at 7:30. new chairs. It's going to
062be wonderful, isn't it? I'm excited. Um Prince's benefit and Olivia Ber Sanders benefit May the 3rd at Bwood from 4 to 8. Um, anything that offering our next meeting is May the 5th at 6 here in the support center. Be thinking about this resolution and whether we want that for paragraph in there, the one that says, "Therefore, be it resolved. We affirm our intention to participate. However, we do not agree with the other sections thinking about whether we want to put that in there or not. Um, and whether you want to individually um, if not the chair motion. All those in favor say I. each step.