001[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening. The Montgomery County Board of Education um is now ready to hold its special call meeting. Today's date is June 24th, 2025 and the time is now 5:00. Um we do have and the meeting is now being called to order. We have a quorum present at this time. Is there a motion for the approval of the agenda? Madame Chair, I move to amend the agenda and pull item A and items H through K and I'm willing to speak to it. Okay, there's a motion on the floor to amend the agenda pulling items A and H through K. Is there a second? I second. It has been motioned and second. Is there any discussion? All those in all those is there discussion? Excuse me, madam president. um for
002the motion it's unclear as to which item a under which particular agenda um section. So if um where board member Coleman could specify her uh motion and which section she's referring to, then we would need to have a um new motion and a new second. Thank you very much. Again, Madame President, I move to amend the agenda by removing under item six, consider for approval, items A and then H through K. A second. All right. There's a motion to remove items um 8 A 6 A 6 A H through K. Is there a second? It has been seconded by Claudia Mitchell. Is there any discussion? Yes. Thank you. I have a concern about the sample that was placed under the communications policy. It's a sample and we haven't uh had the opportunity to to discuss
003that sample. Uh as a matter of fact with the other items H through K, we have not had the opportunity to discuss those items and I would love to have the opportunity in a work session to uh discuss the items that I'm requesting we pull. Is there any more discussion? I have similar concerns in that I would like an assessment to see how that would how the uh increase in those positions would affect our financial stability. So I would like uh to receive an assessment on that. Right. Miss Brown. Yes. All right. Um, I have a concern and I guess it would be good for us to hear some information from the CSFO if she can give her some clarity so that we would have a an idea of actually, you know, what we're voting
004on and what the impacts are. I think it would be most appropriate to maybe have that come from Dr. proposing those job descriptions to allow him to do that. That's fine. If he would need Miss um I can still follow up and we can have her to follow up if so desire um just you like to give a add to the discussion. Okay. We have a motion on the floor. Thank you. U we have a new motion on the floor that has been moved and second to remove item 6A H through K. Um it has been moved and second. We've had discussion. All those in favor do so by showing a hand. Motion fails. All right. Moving on. And we'll get to that just um because I think it's still a relevant question. So we'll
005still get to that. All right. All right. Um, at this time the board will go into executive session for personnel matter. Oh. Oh, wait. So, we still need to approve the agenda. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, we had a whole discussion. I do apologize. So, at this time, uh, is there a motion to approve the original uh the agenda as is? I have a motion to approve the original agenda. We have a motion. Is it is there a second? A second. It has been moved and second. All those in favor do so by showing of hands. Madam President, any discussion? Any discussion about this? Thank you. I I I would like to say something. Oh, okay. My understanding when I came here, um I I'm not going to say that I did not have concerns as
006the three ladies that just raised their hand. I did have concerns and uh my understanding after checking on this was that you know I had heard that there were like 10 new positions and I have it is has now come to my attention after I did my due diligence and homework that it isn't 10 uh positions at all. We knew of the federal programs director. We also very much needed the uh student um support thing or whatever the one that helps with AAP and test and three of the positions are merely re um repurposed. They're they're not new positions at all. They're new jobs. They're not new jobs. They're people doing far beyond the job of the original duty. And now by them coming out re re they would have to reapply but they would
007actually receive the pay that they are due. So we're not looking at $100,000 jobs. We're looking at a promotion of about I think three to four people and we're looking at very minimal um money concerns. So, I became as unconcerned as soon as I did some checking because they've always said in the past, if you ever had questions, call and ask, you know, what what exactly is this? And like I said, I was just as concerned as you ladies and um I do think that some of the because this is the discussion, I think we've got some overlapping uh jobs, Dr. Keith, and I do apologize for cutting you off. I do believe that um your discussion is appropriate for this particular meeting. However, it needs to takes take place when we reach that portion
008of the agenda. Any discussion right now should be regarding whether or not you guys want to keep the agenda as is based off of the motion. But I understand I want them to understand I had the same concerns. If you're going to ask me for discussions, okay, you're going to get discussions and that's what you got. the and this is just to get so we can go into the discussion about the position but we need to approve the agenda right now. All right. So it has been moved and second. All those in favor do so by showing of hands. All right. Or three. All right. Now at this time thank you attorney pal. At this time the board will go into executive session over personnel matters good name and character. We should be in executive
009session for approximately about an hour. During the executive session, no votes will be taken. Um, is there a motion to go into executive session? A motion that would go into executive session. Is there a second? A second. It has been moved and second that we go into executive session. All those in favor for approximately an hour. All those in favor do so by a show of hands. Is unanimous. At this time, the board is in executive session. Okay. We're so excited to have you here for the grand opening and ribbon cutting of our new esports lounge. [Music] I'm very excited because they give a way us young people to connect and it brings out a good environment and everything. And I learned yesterday that people can have similar hobbies and that can start a friendship
010or maybe a possible career for them in their own future lives to be able to have a space that's across the street from JAG right next to Danley uh in the center of our community. Right. uh with 30 different systems uh that if you walk in there, you know, I was I was asking some of the youth that came in the space earlier how it felt to them, right? Like how do they make them feel? They said, "Oh, it's unbelievable." Right? For them to be able to have smiles, sit down, and be able to feel comfortable in a space in a YMCA. Uh that's what we that's what we're doing it for. And so, uh I'm excited for what this can be. I'm excited for to be able to open up the avenue for esports
011teams through the high schools, uh to be able to come and have this as their home base, right? like to be able to say, "Hey, we got the best uh esports space in the entire country, right? Like you you can't compete with us." And so that's what I want. [Music] It's important that every student goes to school every single day. That's right. Every single school day. Because face it, if we don't come to school, how will we prepare ourselves for our futures? I want to be prepared for the future. So, I'm making sure I go to school every day. Parents, did you know that if a student misses at least two days of school a month, they've missed at least 20% of classroom instruction? And missing that much of school without a valid reason causes
012students to fall behind academically. Work together to ensure students present in the classroom. Together, we can do this because it's our future. It's our future. And our future impacts our communities. Let's be present together. No PS. [Music] [Applause] [Music] So, the the robotics program for Montgomery public school started as a grant through Hyundai. We are from under the grant now. This is our second year um being funded through the school district, but they continue to be our partner and help sponsor the event with along with Auburn score. So, we have robotics teams at all at eight of the middle schools here in Montgomery. And today, they're coming together to uh compete against each other in the district. And if they win today, they'll be going to state, which we hosted in Auburn at the end
013of the month. I think that this is a great opportunity for us to skill build um and also get students uh working with technology. We obviously know that in the industries that they'll be working for will be all about collaboration and technology and so it's fun to watch our students as they collaborate together. um they get roles. So you'll have team leaders, coders, drivers, and then critical thinking skills, being able to adjust and make decisions on on the dime. Those are all really, really important um skills that students need to be successful, but also great experiences for life. So, a lot of things that me and my team did to prepare for today. Um, we practiced it with our other team that we're in alliance with. Um, we all did game strategies and stuff and
014we had worked on the robot like different problems that we were having. We had made sure that we fixed them before we came to class. Um, my favorite part about being on my school's robotics team is means that like I can represent them in many different ways for robotics. Yeah, that [Music] I've been coaching here for nine years. Um I have just recently became the head coach in the past two seasons. Um some of the most important values that we try to instill in the players is teamwork, accountability, communication, time management. I try to explain to the kids on and off the off on and off the field that time management is a huge part of being successful um here and in college and in life. um holding each other accountable um to make the
015team better makes them better individually. I've had a lot of great coaches over the years. Um there has been one that I have played for and I have coached with and she has taught me how to care for the players personally and um athletically. It was um coach Chris Steiner Leak. Um she coached I played for her at AUM and she coached here at Brutek for 2 years. Um she coached she was the head coach the year we won the state championship in 2023. And while she's hard on the players, she she loved them and she taught me how that there's a line where you can be hard but also, you know, still show um empathy and compassion for your kids. My most memorable moment since I've been at Brewtech is in 2023 when we
016won the state championship. We had a great team, barely any drama. Um, you know how high school kids can be. Um, they worked hard on and off the the field. We didn't have to worry about their grades. We didn't have to worry about whether they were putting in extra work or not. The day we won the state championship, we had played three games the previous day and four games um including this two state championship games. We had a 6 or so hour rain delay and we didn't get finished playing until midnight and the girls had graduation the next day. Um, so to see their heart and their drive and not wanting to leave for graduation or not wanting to give up in that six hour rain delay and having to play seven games in two
017days, it was probably one of the best moments that I've been a part of as an athlete or a coach. This is Beyond the Locker Room, elevating the game one conversation at a time. [Music] Nights like this help our students develop their confidence. confidence. You know, they spend so much time in the classroom practicing and practicing and now they can actually showcase their abilities. And this allows us also to connect with our community as well because then the community can see all the work that has been put in to nights like this and see what our kids have accomplished. And so then our community comes um invested in our students. we become invested in our students and then they see us believing in them which then allows them to believe that they're achieving at a
018high level. We was the preparation we started maybe like 2 weeks ago that's when we got the music and um me and my peers Gabrielle and David we basically practiced together in the band room after practice long hours as well as ran for another event. Um then we came together Saturday at Carver High School with everyone and we practiced for about 9 to 12. Um and we just basically worked on the music, ran through any kinks or crevices wherever it was needed to be worked on. I feel like tonight would be the perfect opportunity for the students to display their talents outside of the classroom. It's almost a hub of creativity. You have artists here, you have musicians here, you have dancers here, singers here. The students get an opportunity to show what they really
019learn how to do in the classroom and display it to other students as well as their parents and other people who are coming out to watch them. And it's it's an amazing event. Nights like this bring out the confidence in our students. They work so hard and diligently in the classroom to be able to produce and create such magnificent music and pieces that we just want to be able to showcase them and bring that confidence level up a whole notch of high expectations. Most of us are performers, so it was interesting being on the other side of the creative process and being able to perform it ourselves as well. So, it was really fun. is broaden our broadening our horizons. [Music] probably no better example of democracy than a jazz ensemble because it's individual freedom
020but with responsibility to the group. So the Herby Hancock Institute of Jazz has several components. We have a college program at UCLA. We sponsor International Jazz Day along with UNESCO every April 30th. We have an international jazz competition. And we also have our national peer-to-peer jazz education program where we take five or six of the very top high school jazz musicians, put them behind a top-notch, famous recording artist, instrumental and vocalist, and we tour the country. And we've been to 36 states. This year we have four states on the docket and Alabama is one of them. So our role as high school students um we go around to different states. This is the 37th state we've been in in the peer-to-peer tours. And what we do is we go around to different high schools around
021the state and we just we give a presentation like the one we did today on informance. We play a little bit and we talk a little bit and hopefully hearing the high school students here hearing what we did will hopefully inspire them more than not to say more but probably more than uh adults playing our music. Seeing that people their age can do it that they can do it. It was kind of like it was kind of nervousing like it felt kind of overwhelming because like I didn't know what was going to happen in the moment because you know I was going to go in you know sit down and do my my own thing and then she was like put down your stuff take them off you got to see somebody. Oh I didn't
022know I had to see somebody. So you know I asked the professional. She asked me if I was a singer. I said yes. And then she and then she said you like surprises. I was like yes I love surprises. And then she was like okay I'm not going to tell you then. That's what shook me. It it's really instilled in me like you know the the um the the importance of hard work and you know dedication because be even though this music is all about freedom and you know expression and it's it's all coming from within you there is a certain level of study you know you you have to do and like in order to um you know in order to play at a high level you know you have to you have to
023do do your homework and you know do your research and learn things. So it's really it's really uh instilled in me that that sense of hard work um expression man like I always tell the story like before jazz I think um I I I didn't express my way how I can express now through jazz like I I've always been you know not not a very extroverted person but man it's been times where I I I almost scare myself with how expressive I I am like with with jazz. So it's amazing. Don Braden and the national peer-to-peer jazz that one more [Music] Heat. [Applause] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
024hey, hey, hey. [Music] Let's go. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Go get him. Go get him. Get him. [Music] This was our inaugural season with flag football. Everybody give the young ladies a round of applause. We had a heck of a season out here. [Music] I hate everything. It was my fault. I think The Montgomery County Board of Education meeting is now uh will we will now reconvene or convene the special call board meeting. No votes were taken during the executive session. Our next agenda agenda item is um receive as information from Christy Hatch the GPR updates for the 2025 2026 update. Good evening Dr. Bird and board members. Thank you for your time um to present this information. Since I last prevent presented the information to you regarding any um changes or updates to the GTR,
025we uh the committee was asked to um add a couple of little um adjustments to it. Um couple of things to be added. And so in red is what is different and there are additions to um to the language that was previously there. Um and these are on page 38. Um and it is in the high school section. So, all of this only applies to the high school um portion. And uh we were asked to add a statement that says all grades to include dual enrollment, virtual and grade corrections must be posted 10 days prior to the scheduled graduation ceremony. The next um statement that we were asked to add is um and again this is just an addition. We didn't take anything out or change anything. We just added a statement um that schools
026must not communicate the validictorian and saludiatoran until the transcripts, GPA and class ranking identified in powers school match the handcalulated um verification sheets. This must be verified and documented by the school counselor, the assigned school analyst and the guidance specialist. Communication should be shared privately with the students who are ranked as validictorian and saludiatoran instead of in a small or large group. That should be done privately. And uh oh, got another page. Here we go. And then this um is new. Uh this this part did um change and this is just to give very clear this year's seniors that just graduated, they're the ones that phased out of that they had any record of I now on their transcripts. Um and now everybody has power school and um just to make sure that everybody is
027calculating correctly and consistently, we just broke down exactly the steps of how to calculate it. Um and then we've also provided a worksheet, a sample worksheet and then a blank worksheet that they can um have and calculate. um this this way um we can share it the parents can be aware and have we can all be on the of the same accord in in calculations. Uh did you have any questions? That's that's that's the quickest I think I've ever come in front of you with the GTR. Um any questions on this? Yes. Uh at this time we Miss Porters has one then we'll go with Miss B. Um in sharing where will they share where will this information be shared so the parents can obtain it and the students bird uh uh charges. So we
028will make that available on the website. So we're creating that. It should be available uh by the starter school. It uh also have all of the information dual enrollment and and you know and how what courses are included in the weights all the way from 8th grade up. Well, it'll be on the website on on the parent under the parent section. Even though it's embedded, I mean we're going to make it more visible on the parent section. So, if you go to the website in the parent section, it will be there. Miss Cloud. Yes. I would also like it shared during the title one parent meeting that's required. They need to know about it and shared in paper so that everyone has the opportunity to have it in hand at the beginning of the school
029and that must be done the first 30 days at no later for school starting. also noted any Carnegie unit earned in seventh grade which would be anything accelerated would not be counted but any Carnegie unit in eighth grade which would be n which would be a upper ranked course would be counted for the weight. Okay, I just want to make sure it would be counted the I want this so that parents know ahead of time at that title one meeting please. Thank you. Any additional questions? Thank you. Miss Hatch, the next um agenda item is committee appointments. And this is a really quick one. There would just be one additional um committee appointment because we already had other ones that are aligned with the uh strategic plan and the 100 day plan. Um this one
030will just be on the superintendence evaluation. Um and just a note for everybody in our committee work to ensure that we have additional people a part of our committee. Board members, please make recommendations to board members serving on those committees and um so that if there's someone you would like to have placed in that committee work, let that particular board member know. And to include staff um in on these committees and The purpose of the superintendent evaluation is just so that we can start the work of um preparing um finding an assessment tool for that and creating the timeline. And at this time I do know that Miss Cloud has asked to serve on that committee. Our next agenda item is consider for approval. Dr. Bird. Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much, Madam President. Board
031members, board members what right before I ask for your uh approval, I would like to ask what in uh Miss Miss Wilson wants to uh share with just a brief update uh just to answer some clarifying questions uh that you all may have regarding the wireless device policy. So she just want to give you just a brief update. Madame President, Dr. B, members of the board. Um, last I think it was in our June work session, I reviewed um the uh Senate Bill 92, otherwise known as the Focus Act, and we went over the policy for the new devices or the new device policy. Um, what's before you today for approval is that policy. Um, it is right now as in draft, but as soon as it's approved, we will move forward with the action.
032The Senate does um the bill requires us to approve this on by July 1st. So all boards must adopt the policy. Um the draft um was reviewed by attorney Pal uh and then AASB provided guidance on what should be included in the policy that you see before you. Are there any questions? Any questions? and also Dr. Yes. No, I don't have any questions, but I do owe you an apology because I very well remember you making that presentation. Uh, but when I saw it and I realized there were so many items in it that are going to be difficult for our people, our district to enforce. I just got really, you know, concerned. There were a lot of things that pulled at us this weekend as we were preparing to come in here today, you
033know, but and we might have already discussed this uh when it comes down to those our yonder pouches and we might have talked about this uh last month uh is that going to be considered off the body and you know if they have to be put in a locker uh you know what if there's not easy access to lockers. Some schools don't have backpacks, so we can't put them in backpacks. Some students don't drive cars, so they can't put them in cars. So, and I do remember, I don't know if it's at some of these meetings we've attended or if you talked to us about it, but attorneys across the state are still trying to get answers for us to see how we can best implement this in our own districts. So, you're you're absolutely
034correct. And Dr. Williamson and her team with Miss Johnson, they had a meeting with our principles to discuss everything that you just brought up. Um, so we do have an action plan developed. We have a plan A which would include for secondary the pouches, but if not, we have a plan B. What we'd like to do after the policy is approved. Um, we would like to move forward, connect with attorney pal, talk to Dr. Bird and get u a definitive answer that goes in our code of conduct so parents can can understand and we can start working on our communication plan. And also uh to add to that uh Dr. Mackey the state superintendent also recognized what at our conference what that there was a lot of confusion uh and he also recognized of course
035that the attorneys are even confused as well and so uh he has actually promised uh to provide us with guidance uh hopefully by the end of the month and so thank you. Yes ma'am clout. Yes, I know for a fact that a school in my district, they do not assign lockers. So, if we're going to use this, we have to be due diligence in giving our children lockers for them to be able to have access to. So, that's something we need to check about because they're not getting assigned lockers and it's not fair. We're going to say put in a locker and they don't have a locker. So, we need to make sure that that's available to them. Yes, we've discussed that. Actually, we're doing a locker assessment in all of our secondary schools. Um,
036we have more students than we have lockers. And so, we want to make sure that we have a plan um that's uh being able to be followed as you just stated uh for every building. And so, all of that is happening right now. We met maybe two weeks ago um and started as soon as we done we uh presented to you at the work session. Well, they're lockers. They're just not assigned lockers. are not giving the combination or the key or whatever it takes to actually have utilization of the locker. It may be in the building, but they're not getting to use them. I want to make sure if we're going to do this that they have access to having a locker. Thank you. And that's because there's too many children. So, you can't pick
037and choose who gets a locker and who doesn't. So, they don't assign them to anybody. And Locker Pros gone out of business. So, now you're looking for another vendor for lockers. But my question is um so we won't we wouldn't be trying to enforce this until we've put all the pieces together. Is that right? That's correct. The first part is the policy. Um and then of course we've already drafted different scenarios that'll work for us. So after doc Dr. Mackey provides clarity perhaps or someone from the state department uh along with attorney Pal will be able to make the best decision. But I'm confident that the plans that we worked on really cover whatever the answer may be. Thank you. Any other questions? What Dr. Keith, will there be, you know, for teachers that do
038use, you know, the like laptops for research and writing? Will there be or even debate? Will there be provisions made or you know some kind of thing or is this hey there never to have them? So we do have the ability to allow for um our devices the NPS devices to be used for instructional purposes. Okay. And so we still have the student acceptable policy that they have to sign before they're issued any MPS device. And that's the iPad, correct? Or laptop or Chromebook or what what have you. Okay. All right. If I could just provide uh further the policy the drafted policy is um is drafted in a way to be compliant with what the law currently states. And so Miss Poris to your question regarding whether or not it will be um enforced
039I just would like to make sure that it's uh clarified that um the board will um enforce policies based off of what the law requires. Um however as has been stated um everybody is still very confused about how actually to implement uh this particular uh law and policy and so things are still kind of being figured out across the state. However, the policy as presented is drafted in a way to be compliant with what the law currently states and the law requires that a policy be in place by July 1st. As of right now, we don't have any other meetings scheduled to be able to implement a policy. So, having it be considered for approval today keeps the board in compliance with what the law requires. Thank you, Attorney Pal. Thank you, Miss Wilson. And
040we all can always do an addendum, can't we? If something should change with the attorneys finding out, we can always Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Uh Dr. Burr, next agenda item. Okay. All right. Superintendent recommends your approval of the wireless communication device policy. The superintendent has made a recommendation for the wireless communication device policy. Is there a motion? I move that we accept the recommendation of the superintendent. Is there a second? I second it. It has been moved and second. Uh is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor do so by showing of hands. It is unanimous. Thank you. Superintendent recommends approval of the 2025 2026 GPR updates. Superintendent made a recommendation for the approval of the 2025 2026 GPR updates. Is there a motion? Madam President, I move that we accept the superintendent's
041recommendation. Second. It has been motioned and it has been motioned and second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor do so by showing of hands. Is unanimous. Thank you. Superintendent recommen recommends approval of the committee appointments. Uh thank you Dr. the superintendent made a recommendation for the committee appointments. Is there uh a motion? Madame President, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation and I second it. All right. And we do know that that was my role, but we're going to give them some grace. Um it it has been moved and second. Is there any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All those in favor do so by showing of hand. All right. It is unanimous. All right. Dr. Bird. Thank you. Superintendent recommends approval of the personnel report certified personnel. Superintendent made a recommendation
042for the personnel report certified personnel. Is there a motion? Madame President, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for um certified personnel. I second it. Has been moved and second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor do so by showing of hand. It is unanimous. Thank you. Superintendent recommends approval of the personnel report certified addendum. All right. The superintendent has made a recommendation to approve the personnel report certified addendum. Is there a motion? I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation on the personnel report certified addendum. I second it. It has been moved and second. Any discussion? All those in favor do so by showing of hands. It is unanimous. Thank you. At this time, uh, Madam President and board, the superintendent would like to recommend, uh, tableabling of item F, personnel report certified
043addendum two. All right. The superintendent has made a motion to table personnel report certified addendum number two. Is there a motion? I move to accept the recommendation to table by the superintendent. A second. It has been moved and second. Uh, is there any discussion? All those in favor do so by showing of hands. unanimous. Thank you. Superintendent recommends approval of the personnel report classified personnel. Superintendent made a recommendation for the personnel report classified personnel. Is there a motion? I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation on certified excuse me classified personnel. Is there a second? I second it. Has been moved and second. All is there any discussion? All those in favor do so by showing of hands. is unanim is unan okay it is thank you all it is all right the next item
044Dr. Okay. Thank you, Madam President. Before I go into these next items, I would just like to uh thank the board members for your engagement and your thoughtful questions and concerns that many of you all have raised regarding the proposed job descriptions. Uh I want to say that I fully agree that any structural or staffing decisions must be fiscally responsible, strategic, and directly connected to improved outcomes for our students. That said, I believe the positions, particularly uh those in communications, school improvement, customer service, and partnership are aligned with our 100-day plan and our strategic plan, and they are essential for us to move MPS forward. They're about building targeted capacity in the areas that will help us to better serve schools, support our teachers, engage families, and tell our stories more effectively. These roles are
045critical to supporting the work already underway and would directly contribute to training, strategic planning, and improving day-to-day experiences for our students, our staffs, and our families. With that being said, um I recommend uh the job description, uh school improvement specialist, educational specialist. Uh this position uh it is designed to strengthen our ability to support classroom teachers particularly non-certified and early career educators by providing high impact coaching modeling effective instructional p practices and helping schools implement datadriven strategies to improve student outcomes. The role will also assist leaders in identifying areas of academic weaknesses and developing tailored improvement plans aligned with district goals. So with that being said, superintendent recommends approval of uh action item H, job description, school improvement specialist. The superintendent's made a recommendation for the approval of the job description for school improvement specialist.
046Is there a motion? Yes. I want to recommend that we accept the motion for the job description of school improvement specialist, educational specialist. Is there a second? I second it. It has been moved and second. Any discussion? I have discussion, Miss Brown. Okay. The discussion is actually um if I could get um Miss Cloud to make a motion. You made a recommendation to the board. If you would please rephrase and make a a motion by moving to um move forward. Recommendation. I move. Okay. Thank you. Let me start over. I move to accept the recommendation for job description school improvement specialist educational specialist. All right. It has been moved properly moved and second by uh Miss P. Do you want to second it again? I second it. Okay. Has been moved and second. Um and
047we're still with discussion. and I have discussion is basically for the next four items and I don't necessarily have an issue but the issue that I have is the way that this information was presented to us and I would definitely ask that in the future to at least have small meetings or one ons so that we could clearly grasp what is being given to us to absorb and we've had several notes going back and forth. Uh the CSFO has tried to you know give us as much information as possible and it was you know confusing at times. It was a lot of information to absorb in a very short period of time. we will still uh receiving information as late as this afternoon. And so I would really really like if we do this, you
048know, in the future to uh have these small meetings so that everybody is in alignment. And I do believe that some of the information that uh has been provided to us by the CSFO could have been used in these small meetings because it's information that we have received when the explanations came out uh when we did uh last year when we did the restructuring of the uh pay scale. So that information that was given to us at that time it was easy to digest because we understood it it was brought to us it was you know we understood it and it was you know accepted. So Dr. Bird I really would like for us to receive communication that way and I'll just end my discussion right there. Yes ma'am. Understand? Yes ma'am. Thank you so
049much. I'll make sure that happens. Well, I do want to uh and I do appreciate you bringing that up. So, I'm adding myself to the discussion. Um it is customary. I do know um for the superintendent to send out the information. However, I can recount times in the past that has not happened. We've hired four positions with with in the same form through the connection where we got descriptions of it. We were not brought into small groups about it. But it is if that's the desire of the board moving forward, we will work with Dr. Bird to make that happen. Um, but I did want to just point out that, you know, this is a good thing to do this. It's not a bad thing, but it's, you know, it is outside of what we've
050customarily been used to uh, and what's been common practice. But duly and Dr. Bird, we we'll make sure that that happens moving forward because another thing that we want to also make sure is that we're not getting in the way of the the hires specifically because that also was something we were being accused of. So, hate to put it out there like that, but it is what it is. All right, Madam Chair. Madam, I had my hand up. Ulow and then I think Miss Mitchell and then Dr. call me and then um per precedence before I understand what you're saying. I read through it in the board connections and understood all the job descriptions very easily. Further information from the CSFO. So I was fine and it's not and it's not adding to it's just
051redesigning basically it's positions that are there. just taking on different uh avenues to to for these new titles. They're just doing that. But they were in the board connection. So I was very comfortable with this and the precedence has been set before it just like you said that we were just given the titles because that's the dayto-day. All right. Thank you. Uh yes. I just wanted to say that you know I'm in agreement. I know we do need new positions and that type of thing, but we do want to try to be fiscally responsible because actually we're about to come up to the uh sunset clause that's in the millillage and we have to be very careful about every dollar that we spend. Then we want to make sure that we're we're being uh fiscally
052uh responsible in whatever we get. And that was uh was my issue when I saw so many new positions and I wanted to understand which ones did we need most and first and I just wanted to make sure that I had a good understanding of that before I voted on them. every position we need. There is no doubt. Yes, ma'am. But they're looking at that, you know, in 26 we're going to have to campaign in with in the legislature because they're voting in 27 and it will be here in 28 and they could nonrenew and if they don't renew, we'll lose the arts, the music, the assistant principles and and the foreign language information that we have. So, we don't want our credit rating to go down. We're building new schools. We know that we're
053going to have increases from from the building. It's not going to be what it is today, you know, 6 months from now. So, we just want to be responsible and truly understand so we can make wise decisions. Yes. Most defin Well, I think several things that I wanted to say have been said. I won't be repetitive. Um, but it is important. I I will piggyback on a little bit of what um our district six representative has said. Um, our branding and our image is vitally important. And if we look like we are uh rushing in to make major changes then the question is will be you know well what was wrong? Uh we are making these changes in less than 90 days. And when we talk about best practices, usually that first 100 days is
054a time for observation, collecting data and information, uh communicating with various uh committees and persons and making certain that the moves we make are connected to that strategic plan, but also are best for our finances, best for our community. We want to make certain that when we make these decisions, we're making decisions that our public can have complete faith and confidence in the fact that we have truly vetted this information. Yes, the information did come out um in the connection. I read it. I understood it. I did have a lot of questions. Why so fast? Why are we moving so fast to make so many critical changes? I am very pleased and happy that our superintendent has heard our voices and has pulled a number of those recommendations for later and as we look at
055the ones that are still before us uh you know reflecting on our past practices. It's not that we want to repeat everything that we did in the past. Everything we did in the past might not have been the best for our district. But in the past, we either had a work session or uh the items were at least minimally discussed as receive as information on the day that we were doing the voting. So we are in the process of voting and having the detailed discussions that normally we would have in a work session or at least we would receive as information prior to the superintendent's recommendation for a vote. Thank you. I wanted to piggy back off of um our president um who very clearly said and and kind of uh retaliated against some of
056the statements that were made prior to her when she stated that um and you know it was like hey moving forward we would rather have this because we've never had this. We I I want to remind you of our past administration we did not know too many things. In fact, it was today that I found out all the uh the salary raises that were given under a prior superintendent that were astronomical that I said were astronomical when we voted them to 40 and 60,000. What we're doing now and what these what these moves, promotions, not new jobs are doing is when you give these people these news jobs, but you don't give them a job description and you are giving them jobs that overlap other jobs, everybody's thinking A's handling or B's handling or C's
057handling. Well, now with these new job descriptions, it pretty much checks the box. And if they're not doing their job, guess what? Now, we have more of a right to say, "Hey, you're not doing your job. Bye." The the the the thing that we're doing here is really doing something that needed to be done all along because some of the people we paid them salaries, but they hadn't up their job at all. They passed the job to somebody else. So, this way when you're gonna up at 40 to 60, you're gonna make sure they earn that 40 to 60. And if they don't, that box ain't going to be checked, ladies and gentlemen. And I hope that man that we we hired there is going to make sure that that happens. So when I heard
058that, that was when to to insinuate that something new's been going on. No, nothing's news going on. We finally have somebody that's going to make somebody accountable in every single area. And I'm not only proud of him, I'm proud of our president for pointing that out. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Keith. Miss Cloud, I'm sorry, Miss Cordis. Um I I agree. I um especially I agree with a lot of things. I I do the we conceded for um a salary reschedu at the discomfort uh of several of us, but we went along with it. um to move it. So, it is time that we create jobs and and move people to where they're comfortable. Move people where they can we can get the best return on investment from them. I do agree with Miss Brown
059in the order that we receive it. And I've had this conversation uh with Dr. Bird because he's always accessible and if I'm confused, I always pick up the phone and let him know. But I think that's the best way not to have information coming from different pockets. That way we know the superintendent is sending us this and these are the attachments from the department that supports what the superintendent sending. I I like that because it doesn't have you comparing and moving because in the end after you read it all, you're on the same page. Miss Watkins wants us to be careful not to insult your intelligence. We know that you've taken that under consideration and we know that you are strategically moving to get us where we need to to be. But I do agree
060with the uh flow of information uh the ease of the flow of um I'm just going to go in seat order. I'll start with Miss Brown then Miss Cl. The question that I have, did I not see Miss Watkins on the list that there were new jobs? Some jobs were listed as new, right? Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Huh? Miss Miss Cloud. Okay. Um, as far as the sunshine, I mean the sunset, I'm going to tell you what they're looking for is to see us move forward and not just stay stagnant in where we have been before. And that's what we're doing. We're moving forward. We're putting people in positions that they can excel in and also aligning what we need to be doing and it will be readily seen and available for
061people to observe including the legislature and they have always said they don't want to do the sun sunset but they want to see innovation they want to see improvement and they want to see us working towards a goals and that's why I'm not concerned about the sunset at all. Thank you. I think four board members have talked at least four board members have reached out to those that came up with that sunset uh law and they met with them and let them know as long as we are changing we have no problems with that. Thank you Dr. Ke. Um any further discussion? All right. At this time is we have we motion in photo at this time. Okay. At this time, uh, is there a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation? Oh, we had I'm
062so sorry. Thank y'all. Bring me back. Had a long conversation. Uh, all those in favor of the superintendent's recommendation do so by a show of hands. It is 52. Oh, 61. Count them again. I I saw hands come up late. All right, it is 61. Is there Well, let me ask uh is there are there any no one? Madam President, I don't know if this is out of order. I'm not sure if this is out of order or not. It seems that uh for the record, when we got to item G, it was there was a motion to table and a second and I thought you did call for the yes votes and it was unanimous and someone said to me that I did not vote on that. Okay. We all voted on G. Okay.
063I classify. No, I didn't. It was unanimous. She has it in her records because I was told that I voted no on it and I just wanted to make that correction for the record. I thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh, next item. Dr. Bird. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Did we vote on H? I'm sorry. Okay. Want to make sure. Okay. All right. Yes. Uh yes, ma'am. Customer service specialist, human resource specialist. The customer service specialist will help bring our vision of a Chick-fil-A standard of service to life by training staff, monitoring stakeholder experiences, and using data to improve how we engage with our families, with our employees, and the community. Rebuilding trust starts with how how people are treated when they enter our schools. And we must be intentional in creating welcoming environments, responsive environments.
064Uh this part-time role will also help uh human resources by addressing the growing needs for assistance with teacher certification. With the high number of non-certified teachers that we have in our district and last county was over 400. uh this individual will help guide them towards provisional and alternative certification options reducing the strain on our already current HR staff. We know right now that with 400 with over 400 non-certified teachers at this point we only have one specialist that's actually handling all of those issues. And so this part-time position would actually help in that as well. uh disposition. It also strengthens uh two key priorities within that we have and of course that is stakeholder engagement and teacher quality which are also listed in our strategic plan. With that being said, uh superintendent uh recommends item
065I job description for customer service specialist HR specialist. The superintendent has made a recommendation for the job description of customer service specialist HR specialist. Is there a motion? I motion that I rec I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for I job description customer service specialist HR specialist. All right. Is there a second? A second. Has been moved and second. Although is there any discussion? Yes. All right. I have Dr. Keith, Dr. Coleman, uh Miss Brown, and Miss Cortis. Okay. My my comment here, I I do agree that we need that and I like the idea of of you know to telling our story more so than it's been told on a week- toeek basis and all that kind of stuff. So I'm excited about that. But one of the things that I want
066to make sure that it covers is be one of the number one complaints for the 11 years that I've served on this board. And I'm not trying to put down secretaries, but it's the very first people that you meet when you walk into our schools. And so many I know that there's going to be days that there's going to be problems with parents and the secretaries. I get that. But sometimes it's just like you said, when you say Chick-fil-A, it we always get my pleasure. Well, you should be addressed with my pleasure when they walk through the door. And when they're not, I would hope that this position holds some type of accountability to those that are not. And when we find out that that's not happen, then this person addresses these people that are
067I want you I think you agree that the whole purpose of this position, if it is indeed to have a Chick-fil-A mentality, it it needs to be a Chick-fil-A mentality from the time they even call down here to get somebody. It shouldn't just be your secretary's job to answer the phone. We need to have a receptionist, somebody that is going to answer that phone because I don't know how many of us board members, I can't get anybody answer. Can't get anybody. When I did go to that school, they were so rude. That's got to stop. I just wanted to put my two cents in there. Dr. Colin. Yes. Thank you. When I see the customer service, I like the front end, but just for consideration, not getting into the day-to-day, but I would love to
068see a customer service department or division do some followup. We have often talked about uh the exit of our teachers. Why are they leaving? You know, that piece could be added in. But one thing I've looked for for years and I have seen it across the nation so I know it's possible to follow up with our graduates when our students leave us where do they go? What do they do? Um how did they feel about the service that they got here? So, you know, just as a comment as we move forward in uh building building these new divisions and new departments is to make certain that we broaden the scope and make certain that we uh do some followup as well as making certain that we are positive on the front end. Thank you. Yes,
069ma'am. Brown, I just want a clarification. You said this is a part-time position. Yes. Yes, ma'am. Well, then uh the person will be dedicated part-time customer service and part-time uh HR. Uh and so when we talk about what in this person right here, this person will also be responsive responsible for monitoring data. So this is the outlook of what that we have. Anytime that you have interactions with our staff, uh stakeholders will have the opportunity to actually to participate in a survey. anytime you call one of our schools, we're gonna have it whether it's set up to where you would actually get a text message or an email followup asking you how was your service on today. Uh and so this will be available for all of our schools, all of our departments within here
070at the central office. It would be this person's job to actually to take that data, review that data, and we're going to use it to have conversations every month with our principles, with our supervisors. We're going to monitor. We're going to analyze that data. And when we find out that that some of our employees are not meeting the standard, it will be this person's role to go out and actually offer additional training. So, all of our employees are going to receive all of the training on the front end this summer. Uh, and again, they're going to be they're going to be aware of the expectations. They're going to be trained. We're going to give them all of the supports that they need to deliver great customer service to our stakeholders. Anytime we find out what
071to where something isn't happening the way it should be or some of our employees are not living living up to the expectations that we have, this person will actually go out and provide additional training or retrain that this is going to be one person doing all of this. Yes, we got and crunching data and doing surveys. Yes. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Uh unless we can get a but [Laughter] yes. So the person went in uh will and we do recognize that uh again so we are trying to get all we possibly can up with funds for that we have. So yes ma'am this person will have to be part-time customer service but also part part-time HR. Um Miss Cloud or was it you Miss Cloud? Making sure I got everybody. Miss Mitchell. Okay. All right.
072Um, is there all those in favor of the superintendent's recommendation for the job description of customer service specialist HR specialist? Uh, if you would do so by showing of hands. It is unanimous. Thank you. Thank you, chief of strategic partnerships. Strategic partnerships are critical to the success of Montgomery public schools, particularly at this time. It is essential that we rebuild and strengthen relationships with key internal and external stakeholders. While we while we've made significant progress in recent weeks, sustaining and expanding these efforts, especially in the areas of advocacy and resource development, requires a focused coordinated approach. Establishing this position would enable us to meet this need. This position will be responsible for leading the development, the coordination, and the management of strategic relationships that align with MPS's vision to improve academic achievement, expand access to
073opportunities, and support the whole child. With that being said, superintendent recommends approval of item J, job description for chief of strategic partnerships. Superintendent has made a recommend make recommendation for the job description of chief of strategic partnership. Is there a motion? I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation. And I second it. It has been moved and second. Any discussion? I have discussion. Miss Brown. Um, Dr. Bert. So, um, when I look at strategic partnership, I think of brand and I think of who's the face of MPS. And so I look at you be the face of MPS and with strategic partnerships um you know that's the person that we would look to to go and form relationships with businesses and things of that nature. Are you removing yourself from that or is this in
074addition to No ma'am what no ma'am not at all. And this is in addition to uh this person will work with me and the purpose of this of course again is to expand relationships that we have for example uh we've been very strategic in actually forming relationships uh with meta form relationships uh with Honda we want to make sure that we actually expand this to make sure what that we're inviting everybody to the table and so this person would actually assist in that and making sure that we have coordinated efforts making sure that we're not leaving anybody out uh making sure when that we're able to go out have these conversations uh with individuals again bring them to the table. We want to be more coordinated uh with that because again we know that it
075takes everybody uh in order for MPS to move and so we just want to be more coordinated with that. This person will work directly with me, report directly to me and this is going to be a team effort. Okay. So, uh joined at the hips. Yes, joined at Hills. Okay. Yes, ma'am. And I guess your team, your your executive team will be a part of this team as well, right? Most definitely. Yes, sir. Well, I take it this would be someone that would go to the Chamber of Commerce meetings. Is that correct? Yes, sir. That would go to to meetings to report back to you while you're doing the work of school district. Yes, ma'am. School improvement. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Uh with Dr. Coleman and then Dr. Okay. Um, as
076I looked at this, I saw a lot of overlap, like uh, District 4 member Brown said, um, when I see the things that are described here, I do see the superintendent and I also look at the I'm sorry, the director of communications and there is a a bit of overlap with that department as well. And I'm trying to understand, do we need a chief of strategic partnerships and a director of communications at the cost of nearly $300,000? or can we combine those two um and allow the person who is the chief of whether it's strategic partnerships and communications uh to make certain that we have a cohesive brand when it comes down to communications that person would be able to ensure that every division as well as the comm's department would all be following the
077same game plan. Um and and I do I I have to be careful about overstep. Uh but if asked never mind. I have some real concerns again because that would be um two big salaries um where if if and I I I can see some reactions that that's a lot of work for one person. Um you and I talked extensively about this and you have communicated with me that the person who is already doing one of the jobs is already doing both. So if that person is doing both jobs, do we need to add that second person right now? uh is there a lack is there a deficiency in what we have? I understand we want to broaden but again we do want to be careful about too many moving pieces. We want to be
078careful about um making certain that we maintain a level of of trust and uh belonging. We want all of our people to feel like they belong. We don't want anyone. I I think my concern was and I think I I I mentioned this early on, you know, why are we moving so so fast? Is there something wrong? What are the deficits? What are the deficiencies? And if there are no deficiencies, if we want right now to ask our comm's person to take on assisting with advocacy and getting into the community a little more. This person already works with family and community engagement. They already work with our legislators. They already work with So why do we need two different people right now? I do know that we want to grow that department and I do
079know that the person who's in that position has been working to grow that department already. Uh and the department is doing some fabulous things. So, you know, do we need to move that fast on hiring or placing in two new positions or can we slow down just a bit, take care of our FE strategic partnerships and possibly communications? that you would be the one to you and your team would be the ones to make certain that the job description fit and that it was cohesive. And as the comm's department continues to grow, we bring in those people that we already know you'll be asking us for because we've seen those job descriptions. Dr. Keith, I'll please go. Are you yielding over to No, I'll go ahead. It I I'm just going to say it. I
080just feel like I've listened to my colleague. It's almost like she's got buzzwords, you know. Why are we moving so fast? My god, why have we moved so slow? Um, thank God we're moving. Um, we're moving. You know, that's what uh I talked with another colleague of mine today, uh Miss Poris, who said uh Dr. Mackey wanted us to take risk and move forward. That's exactly what we're doing. Um so, did we not have that talk today? Um my other thing is what I don't understand is we're questioning trying to get our story out there. We're trying to stop it. you know, we've got a story to say and we're using what I almost say, why are we we're moving too fast? We're we're putting a block on something that we need to move on.
081We we had to me this was if you talk about strategy I would say our superintendent has made the smartest if we were playing if we were playing chess to take himself out of being a part of the chamber because we our our other our former superintendent did exactly what was just said. Oh, I thought that was your job. Was it his job to get on the board for the chamber? Was it his job to get on the board for uh United Way? You know, how many boards does a superintendent uh serve on? To me, I want my superintendent here. So, to hire somebody to be on somebody else's board by God. Thank you. I'm done. Okay, Miss Cloud. I call for the question, please. Question. The question has been called for. We will now
082go into a vote. um where we actually did discussion. All those in favor of the superintendent's recommendation do so by a showing of hand. Oh the I the question is oh the I he recommended I'm proposing to accept the recommendation for the job description of chief of strategic partnerships. Is that a motion? I move that we accept the superintendence. And I second it. All those against call for extended let um the next item agenda Dr. Berg. Yes ma'am. Director of Communications. As we know, communication plays a vital role in shaping and sharing the district's narrative, promoting transparency, and keeping our internal and external stakeholders well informed. It is my intention to strengthen uh the communications department to make it more accessible uh dynamic and informative. Uh the revised revision includes developing our own MPS news
083station. Uh that would include la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la launching weekly broadcast hope hosting district-wide podcasts, increasing real-time engagement across all social media platform and expanding community outreach initiatives. Uh these efforts are critical to improving public trust, building strong community connections and telling the success stories happening right here uh in MPS. With that being said, superintendent recommends approval of action item K, job description for director of communications. Superintendent has made a motion for or the job description has recommended um the desript the job description for director of communications. Is there a motion? I make the motion to accept the job description of the director of communications. So you move to I move it.
084I'm sorry getting tired. I move it. I move it. I want to move it. So moved. All right. Is there a second? All right. It has been moved and second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Um all those in favor of the superintendent's recommendation do so by showing of hands. All right. Four. Any all those who are opposed? one. All right. This meeting is now journed. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, July 8th at 5:00 p.m. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]