MPS Board Meeting | 4-8-2025

001[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Thank you. Today is Tuesday, April 8th, 2025. The time is now 5:00 in the Montgomery County Board of Education. Um is now our meeting is now in order. Let's call I am Erica Wacka Smith, the board chair. At this time, we'll call Reverend Keith Ellis from Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church to the podium for prayer. Every head bow, let us pray. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou has brought us thus far on the way. Oh gracious God, we pause now Lord, not out of routine, not out of reverence, not out of ceremony, but out of conviction. Because this moment is too complex for a simple solution, too fragile for flesh to figure out, too important to be shaped by politics, and too

002heavy to be handled without your hand. I pray today, oh Lord, on behalf of the Montgomery County Board of Education, who have been entrusted to lead, challenged, to decide, and commissioned to protect the future of over 25,000 students, thousands of educators and families who have placed their faith in this school system. And now, Lord, as they stand in the faith, the final phase of the the final stretch of this phase, God, with only two names remaining, only two doors open, I ask that you, oh God, will be their compass, their guardrail, and their guide. Remind them that this is more than just a position that has to be filled. This is a promise that has to be kept. Yes, sir. A promise to our children that has leadership, that leadership still matters. A a promise

003to this community that trust can be restored. a promise and a commitment to themselves that their decision should not be shaped by pressure but a conscience and grounded and anchored in truth. I pray today Lord as the board begins to make their decision Lord give them discernment that only your spirit can provide discernment discernment that protects our children and puts their right puts the right candidate in the right position because we know that Lord uh without this decision been made the right people person in place oh God uh things will go lacking and God we don't want anything to go lacking as it relates to our children and God we ask now to breathe upon on these your people the board here. Oh God, uh give them peace in their hearts with the decision that

004they have to make. Oh father, um we ask that God that u whenever the decision that's made today that it be pleasing in your sight. This is our prayer today. Oh God, that the words of our mouth, the meditations of our heart be acceptable in our sight. Oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. Thank you so much. At this time, we ask that you stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the standy. May be seated. Thank you. At this time we are at approval of agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as is? Madame chair. Uh I move that the agenda be amended uh prior to item 12. I mo I u motion a pause that the super that the

005superintendent search should be paused until the board has had an opportunity to engage in further deliberation. There is a motion. Is there a second? It has been motioned and second. All those in favor do so by showing of hands. I'd like to add a Okay. is all right. Well, we've already motioned and seconded and and moved and seconded and and all those in favor do so by showing of hand. All right, motion did not pass. Thank you. Our next agenda item is board president remarks. Before we begin, um, I ask that as graduation season is approaching the next month, our high school students will be walking across the sa stage. But I got a call from a parent who lost the students. So my remarks will be along those lines. I ask that we take

006a moment of silence to honor the lives of the students who will no longer walk across the stage at graduation, but whose presence will be symbolized by black ribbons placed on the backs of their chairs. These ribbons are a solemn reminder of lives cut tragically short of futures unrealized and the loss that reverberates through their families and their classmates and our entire community. The loss of a child is an immeasurable heartbreak, one that no parent should endure. To the families of these students, we want you to know that we see your pain. We grieve with you and we remain committed to honoring your loved ones and keeping their memories alive. For our school community, this absence is felt not only in the empty desks and the quiet hallways, but in the dreams these students share

007with their peers. Dreams of achievement, success, and the impact they hope to make in the world. Their loss is a poignant reminder of the fragility of life and the importance of our role in nurturing and safeguarding our children. and for the community as a whole. This loss is a call for action. Too many of our young lives are being taken often due to violence in places where they should feel safe. This is not just a school issue. This is a community issue. one that requires all of us leaders, educators, advocates, neighbors to work together towards a solution. It's time for the city and the county to come together with urgency to address the root cause of this violence and create environments where students can thrive. This means strengthening programs that provide mentorship, recreational activities, and

008mental health support for youth. It means prioritizing safety initiatives and equipping neighborhoods with a resource to deter crime. It means fostering collaboration between law enforcement, schools, and community organizations to ensure that our children feel protected and valued. Most importantly, it means listening to our young people. Their voices matter and they have insights into what can make their community safer. By building trust, investing in their futures and in and addressing inequities, we can prevent these tragedies tragedies and build a Montgomery where every child has the opportunity to grow and shine. Let us remember these students. Let us honor them through meaningful action that builds a safer, stronger community for all. Together, we can create a legacy of hope and change. One that ensures no more ribbons are added to these empty chairs. And I would like

009to thank Jamari Williams's mother for reaching out to me and asking me to express this on her behalf. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. Have a point of order, please. Yes. You had motion and a second. You did not allow for And what would you what's your recommendation? Either we could start over and correct our error. Is that the motion? I mean, is that what you're recommending? That's my Okay. Um, she did not ask for debate. All right. Well, there's a uh recommendation from board member Brown to have discussion on Mrs. Mitchell's uh motion. So, if is there any question about this? We we can we can still pick you want to pick up right here since you brought it. We can start right here. All right. All right. Um Miss Mitchell, we can start all

010the way about. Yes. According to Robert's rules of order, when a motion is made uh and it's second, there is a debate. And being the maker of the motion, I should have I should have had the opportunity to speak first. Okay. But this is your time. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. Uh as board members, I just want to say that it is truly imperative that we pause the superintendent search due to the concerns that have been raised by the city, the county, and and the broader community. This decision is far too significant for our students and for our city for us to move forward without the full confidence of the public. A pause will allow us the opportunity to have a little time needed for thoughtful deliberation. And we want to restore

011the trust in this process. As leaders, we need to listen to each other with a desire to learn rather than just to win. It is imperative once again that we need to model the behavior of positive conflict resolution because our students are watching and their future depends on it. Thank you, Miss Mitchum. Miss Dr. Coleman. I'm sorry. I will go ahead and speak. I um wanted to speak and I was going to save mine till later, but I think this is an appropriate time. Let me just add real quick. We do have a time set aside for that if y'all but the to this agenda follows to this agenda. Yes, there is a time. Where's that ma madam president? But go ahead. I just wanted to point it out but go ahead. Go ahead. Excuse

012me madam president. Yes a point of privilege. Um, I just want to inform the board and remind the board that any discussions at this time should be in support or um not in support of the motion that is currently on the floor to amend the agenda to remove the um item 15 C, superintendent selection. And we're in discussion and we only had three. So the voices that we're hearing are honestly so the the other politicians can hear that they supported them. So if the purpose is just to hear three voices, I get it. This can take all night, but what they're doing will not take all night. This what this is doing is a shame. Uh at this time so at this time the board may continue with the debates regarding the motion that is

013on the floor. The motion has the motion has been voted on but I will allow for discussion. So, the motion was vote was voted on, but based off of um board member Brown's recommendation to go back to um the original motion that was on the floor regarding what Miss Miss uh board member Mitchell had moved. Um you allowed that discussion based off of that motion. So, the whoever made the motion, do you want to clean it up for us? So, you may continue with the debate. I believe board member Dr. Coleman was speaking. Yeah. Okay. So, we're back to continuing with the debate. Yes, ma'am. If you don't mind, Madam President, I will just move with a point of order because uh Madame Attorney has just helped me understand that my comments will come later.

014Uh yes, I was in support of the uh amendment, but the point of order is that now that if you're are you going to take a a vote again? You just No. No. Are you going to take a vote on the agenda again on the amendment? Okay. And the only reason I bring a point of order is once the amendment failed, we needed to carry the original correct uh motion to pass the agenda. Yes, Madam President. At this at this time, the agenda has not been approved. So, we need to go back to approve the the agenda. So, the original motion on the floor was whether or not um there was a motion to um accept and approve the agenda as written. Thank you so much, Attorney Paul. All right. So, the first motion that

015was put on the floor, we'll just start over. We will start over for clarity and consistency. Um, is the is there a motion on the floor or should I go back? So, there was a motion on the floor to approve the agenda with the amendment of removing item number C from the agenda. It was motion and second. Is there discussion? And you guys just had the discussion regarding that amendment and you guys voted and that that motion failed. So, at this point, your um motion the motion to the board should be um or you should be requesting a recommendation to motion to accept the approval of the agenda as it currently is. Okay. And there. Okay. Does everybody get hear that? Because I wanted to take care of the discussion part. All right. So, the

016motion was there was a motion and a second. There has been some discussion. The motion failed. Now, we're going back to the approval of the agenda. Thank you, Madame President. I move that or a motion that we we u approve the original agenda. All right. There's a motion second to approve the agenda. It has been motioned and second. All those in favor do so by showing of hands. All right. The motion passes. Thank you, Attorney Pal. All right. We do have um board um recognitions by Miss J. Jones. Good evening, Madame President, Miss Wilson, and board members. It's always a pleasure to share some of the exciting news happening here within NPS. Now to start I want to publicly thank our school principles Mrs. Fountain, Mrs. Goan and Mrs. Brown and their respective schools are

017Park Crossing High School, uh Johnny Carr Middle School and McMillan uh Magnet Elementary for their IB announcement last night. All three schools are now designated as IB schools. Let's give them a round of applause. Oh, I do see Mrs. Fountain here. Please excuse me, Miss Fountain, if you'll stand and wave your hand. That's Miss Fountain, Miss Gan. Okay, Miss Brown. We were really excited about that last night. In addition, we want to thank the board president, Mrs. Smith, uh, Chairman Singleton, and Mayor Reid for their support as well. As we heard last night, having three schools designated as IB schools is another achievement for our NPS students. And again, let's give them a round of [Applause] applause. Now, Mrs. uh Madame President, tonight I'm honored to share that we have our middle school soccer champions.

018Uh that would be BrewBaker Middle School. And if we can have Brewbaker Middle School to come up with their coach, uh we will gladly hear from them if they're here tonight. It looks like they are not. That's okay. But as you can see right here on the screen, this is our 2025 Brewbaker Middle School soccer champions and they played so well this year. And we're super honored and proud of all of their hard work on the field and in the classroom. Now, Madam President, we want to also take a moment to celebrate our schools and our school staff for all of their hard work and dedication as they are now engaging in their assessment testing. Parents, if you're listening, we want to thank you for ensuring your students are present and ready every single school

019day. And again, thank you, Madam President, for these board recognitions. Thank you, Miss [Music] Jones. At this time, we will have public comments. But before we call you to the podium, let me read a few rules for you. Requests must be made in advance in writing to the superintendent's office by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday preceding the meeting date. Requests must have specified the nature of the business to be taken up with the board and the name of the person who will address the board to be added to the agenda. Communications must be respectful. Discussing specific students or employee matters will not be allowed. Individuals who have concerns that are inappropriate to be solved in this venue are welcome to seek a problemolving meeting with the superintendent. Immediate feedback by the board may not be provided.

020However, you may be contacted for followup by the superintendent or designate. Public comments may not exceed 3 minutes. The board chairman has full authority to terminate the remarks of any persons whose comments contain personal attacks, exceed the time limit, or are otherwise inappropriate. A speaker may be considered disruptive who continues to speak when their allotted time has ended. When asked to stop speaking by the board chairman or is otherwise inappropriate, if a person fails to comply when asked to terminate comments, he or she will be escorted to their seat out of the auditorium and or off of MPS property depending on the level of disruption. At this time, we do have um here We have Reverend Ronald Davis. To President Smith and Vice President Pus, the board members, uh we thank you for allowing me

021to come and speak on behalf of the ministers uh of Montgomery, the Montgomery Metro ministers union. and we are delighted to be here and we want to say thank you uh for uh the laborious and tiresome uh work of pursuing uh a new superintendent for uh MPS and I know uh that it has been a painstaking experience for you and you have had to endure uh a lot of uh things that have uh been said and certainly uh you know we uh sympathize empathize and uh we are here to say thank you uh for uh the work that you are doing and we just believe that uh you know God is uh in control of where we are uh but is uh not uh by division that we need to proceed and uh the previous

022motion that was I I I I don't come in support of uh any uh warn in regards to uh divisiveness. Uh we we don't come here uh in any kind of partisan position. We have various ministers here. I'd like them to stand. Uh we represent uh over uh 100 churches all over the city. These are not 100 ministers. Uh but uh we are concerned uh you know you know we we have seen uh the in heard the innuendos and uh you know we have seen uh even right here uh a moment ago uh some sense of division. I don't know what's that all about. We're not here to take a polit political position uh and it's not anything personal. Uh but we do call upon uh this board, call upon the mayor's office, we call

023upon the chamber of commerce, we call upon uh the leaders, the ministers uh you know to stop all of the induendos, stop all the insults and let's come together. You know, it's time out for uh what we are doing uh in regards to uh what message are we sending? you know, in our community and in this country, uh people are calling uh and saying why uh there's so much fuss about the superintendent in Montgomery and uh it ought not to be uh if we're going to and I was there last night at the u pres presentation of the uh new programs and you know I was proud you know because uh what we are doing. But what position that we find ourselves in now can overshadow any progress that we are making. We don't we

024don't need this. You know, we we are not enemies. You know, we you know, we we have to do what we should do in working together. And so my prayer is my prayers, you know that you are shielded by uh the voices and and and and hear God's voice saying uh fight on, work on and do the best that you can. Uh my prayer is, you know, that supporters will appreciate you, Reverend Davis. I I do. I understand. I understand. But we we we got to we got to come together. Please please let's let's let's delay. Yeah. Thank you. Reset and let's move forward. Thank you, Rea. I have to follow the rules for imply. Yeah, apply the rules fairly across the board. But thank you. We have one person who has signed up for

025citizens comments. I will read the expectations of that. Citizens may sign up for comments before a board me meeting. Citizen comments must be on agenda items. Forms for citizen comments will be available 30 minutes before regularly scheduled board meetings. Agenda topics to be discussed must be identified on the form in order to speak. Individual citizen comments may not exceed 3 minutes. A total of 30 minutes are allotted for citizen comments. Communication must be respectful. Discussing specific student or employee matters will not be allowed. Individuals who have concerns that are inappropriate to solve in this venue are welcome to seek a problem-solving meeting with the superintendent. Immediate feedback by the board may not be provided. However, you may be contacted for followup by the superintendent or designate. The board chairman has full authority to terminate the

026remarks of any persons whose comments contain personal attacks exceed the time limit or are otherwise inappropriate. A speaker may be considered disruptive who continues to speak when their allotted time has ended. When asked to stop speaking by the board chairman or is otherwise inappropriate. If a person fails to comply when asked to terminate comments, he or she will be escorted to their seat out of the auditorium and or off of MPS property depending on the level of disruption. The board reserves the right to remove all disrupted visitors from a from the meeting. A copy of the procedure for the Montgomery County Board of Education is available online at www.mmps.k12. l us. Thank you for your participation in our Montgomery County Board of Education meeting. At this time, we have Terrence Jones who signed up for

027um speak. Good evening everyone. Good evening. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak. I also want to echo the words that have just said in terms of thanking you guys for the pro process that you went through to get to this point. As we've come to learn that a lot has taken place and a lot of efforts have been made to be inclusive and to give the public an opportunity to speak into the decision that's about to be made. uh as a father of five children and a pastor in the community, I also lead an organization, a nonprofit that has dedicated over 200 volunteer hours uh this year uh to helping our kids progress in their reading scores. And I would just like to say on the 60th anniversary of the Selma to

028Montgomery March, there's something that we can learn from that situation if we allow ourselves. Uh when John Lewis took 600 kids across people across that bridge, it ended up in Bloody Sunday. Two days later, Martin Luther King was about to cross that bridge and something made him stop and turn around. I believe that was one of the greatest leadership uh exhibitions our country has ever seen. There were pressures on him to keep going. There were people who believed it was the right thing to move forward at that point. But he paused and two weeks later 25,000 people crossed that bridge in a in a demonstration that we still celebrate to this day. I know that some of your feelings are hurt by things that have been said. I recognize that the the the attempts that

029you have made have not been fully processed. And at the same time, I believe with all my heart that true leadership in this moment will cause us to pause similar to Dr. King so that we can move forward as a complete community without division amongst our school board and our stakeholders at large. To have a leadership position means we're going to be criticized sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly. And I just want to leave you guys as I take my seat with the words of Jesus as to how we can respond in in first Peter chapter 2. These are the words that it says. For we were called to this because Christ also suffered for you leaving an example that you should follow in his steps. He did not commit any sin and there was no

030deceit found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he did not insult in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. I pray that you guys would entrust yourself to God, that you would slow this process down so the community has the opportunity to put its full weight and support behind your process and the decision that is going to be made because our children are at stake. There are no winners if our children lose and we move forward in division. So we beg you to slow down. Thank you. Our next agenda item will come from Miss Penn with um about Percy Julian construction bid results. Hello. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Um, after a long awaited period to see construction start for this project, I'm delighted to

031bring to you the Percy's Julian High School bid tabulation and the supporting documentation for your review. So within your board packet, you should have both the architect and program management's recommendation to award the new Percy Julian High School contract to Dostster Construction. And pending your approval, we will begin executing the DCM contract first thing in the morning between all parties. Questions? Are there any questions, comments? I tell you, I would like to thank Vulker for hanging in there with us. This is exciting news for the community as well. A new school provides that safety that the parent I spoke of earlier talked about. So, it changes things. So, thank you all so much for your work and we welcome Der. Yes. Well, thank you for the opportunity. We look forward to getting it out of

032the the ground and uh getting it built. So, thank you. I'd like to say something though. I want to thank you um just for just the knowledge base for meeting with us continually taking us through step by step through the through the whole process. Um we didn't have that before and it um for me to have been here as long as I have um it's it's just welcome to have. So thank you. Yes ma'am. We appreciate it. Thank you. Our next um agenda item will come from Mr. Chad Anderson, Carver High School turf and track replacement bid. Good evening, Miss Wilson, Miss Watkins Smith, Miss Poris, and members of the board. Uh, submitted the certified bid tabulation for the replacement of the turf and track at Carver High School. Uh, we did have one bidder

033deemed nonresponsive, if you saw that on your document, due to uh they forgot to put in their uh unit pricing for asphalt patching. and uh we consulted with DCM on that and we awarded it to the next lowest bidder which is Warner. Thank you. Are there any questions, concerns, comments? All right. Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Our next agenda item will come from Dr. King on the graduation policy updates. Good good evening uh madame president, interim superintendent, and school board members. Uh my purpose today is just to uh update the board on policy uh 712 regarding graduation. Uh currently our graduates uh have uh option B, I mean option A. However, with the new Alabama uh department uh uh state department of education has implemented option B, which as a school district, we have 120 days

034to actually put a plan in and then actualize it. So today's purpose is just to share with you the policy itself. Uh however, our team under uh uh Dr. Williamson uh uh I mean Dr. Williams and our leadership is to then create the standard oper operating procedures that are impacted by all departments. But for today's purposes just to share with you uh the graduation uh requirement which would be option B and to uh to make the distinction uh there's still both options require uh 24 credits. So that doesn't change. However, instead of uh four credits for science and four credits uh for math, uh it uh for option B, students will have two credits of uh science, two credits of u math. Uh then the increase would be in the CTE, which is uh preferably

035a completer, which is three credits. And uh we really want to focus on making sure students complete a CTA uh course a pathway so that they could be uh have employability skills. The second uh addition instead of 2.5 uh electives in option A, you now have 6.5 Alexa uh uh elective credits that students will have to achieve. And again uh given that uh there is a very competitive job market. I just want to remind uh the uh or just for the sake of uh uh you know ensuring that our students take the right electives that will make them employable that they also take CTE completed courses that will lead them to uh higher a wage uh jobs. So even though option B uh it's welcome in a sense I just don't want to lower the

036standard in terms of what the our students are going to be faced if they try to enter a job market by not taking the correct uh CTE courses. So, that's going to rely uh heavily on our counselors uh to make sure that they're monitoring those students and their uh graduation progress reports so that we can make sure they're not only on track, but when they graduate, they are employable through this option B. So, that's uh what I wanted to share tonight. All right. Are there any questions? Miss Mrs. Cloud. Thank you, Dr. King. Yes, ma'am. Um I was uh privileged to go to a meeting at LAMP with Dr. Williams and she presented to many of the principles some of the central office. Is this the policy that we're talking about? It just carries on.

037So this is firmed up now that you're wanting to do. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And thank you. Welcome. Yeah. Uh the board chair recognizes Mrs. Bordis Bordis um Dr. King on this option B. If a student chooses option B, right, and they decide they get to the 11th grade, but because option B is geared more towards CTE and and going to work, the workforce. Is that correct? And option A is those that desire to go to work. There's been you can argue that this option definitely option A is more geared towards college and career readiness and then option B some of the the if students choose option B they may not make the criteria or the prerequisite to even enter a community college. So it's important to acknowledge you know that. Yes. Okay. Are there any

038other questions? All right. Thank you, Dr. King. Our next agenda item is from Miss Pamela Watkins, the February 2025 fiscal statement. Good evening, Madame President Smith, Superintendent Wilson, board members. You should have before you this evening your financials for the month of February. Um, in your report packet, you will have an explanation of the financial data, um, which I'll talk a little bit about. You should have your snapshot analysis, which is a summary of the district's financials, and we'll look a little closer at that as well. Should also have your general fund balance recap. Um, monthly budget percentages. This is the fifth month which represents 41% of the school year. 41.67 is what we look for our expenditures to be at this point in time. We're in February. Should also have your monthly and annual

039comparative statement of revenues and expenditures. That represents the month-to-ate and year-to-ate expenditures compared to the same period last year in fiscal year 2024. You will also have a statement of cash flow which represents the current month expenditures as well as our year-to-ate expenditures. Um, a visual cash flows and inflows, a visual of that. And then finally, the F exhibits which represent the state reports from the state department where we upload our financials each month. I'm going to start with um the explanation of financial data and just talk through that just a little bit. And on your snapshot analysis as well, you'll see that um the general fund revenue collected in the month of Febru or our general fund balance, I'm sorry, stands at approximately 131 million um which is an increase from last year at

040about 118 million. The difference in the revenue reflects um that last year when we had those revenues, we created reserve accounts and so that would have reduced some of those revenues that we moved to reserve accounts last year during the same period in time. The general fund revenue that was collected in the month of um February was $ 38.7 million. Um, however, we are required by the Avalor to move about $17 million to the capital fund each year. In the month of February, 13 million of the 17 million was moved. The remaining will be moved over the next several months. So, on our financial statement, when you look at um the fi the revenues for the month of February, you'll see $25.7 million. However, as I stated, we actually collected 38.7 and we moved 13

041million to capital. Um, as you continue to look at the snapshot analysis, again, you'll see that our expenditures as a percentage of budget for the month of February are approximately 41%. That means that we budgeted pretty much on target. Um, our revenues, total year-to-ate revenues are 156 million. Our total expenditures are at 117 million at the five-month mark. Um, you'll also see a comparison of our local revenues. 19.7 million compared to 21.2 million or 3 million last year or I'm sorry, I got that flipped. 19.7 million for 2024, 21.3 million in 2025. The difference in that normally has to do with the collection periods of those revenues. And then again, you'll see that our general fund balance is about $13 million more than it was last year. If you flip over to the um general

042fund breakout, this lets us know where the $131 million is. Although that money is in our general fund, it's not all accessible or um discretionary. We have 6.9 million of it that is in transportation. So that means that those funds can only be used for transportation. You'll see that there's 3.4 million in our foundation and about 2.2 million um that's allocated for charter. And then we have some appropriations that we've received um in the fiscal year and as well as some other funding sources that you'll see on here. These funding sources are specific to how they're labeled. can only spend those funds in those particular funding sources for the reason that's been given to us by the state department and I think that's it. Are there any questions? Thank you, Miss Watkins. At this time,

043we will have Madam Chair, uh, point of order. Uh, when I wanted to speak earlier and it was ruled out of order, uh, you said to me that there would be something for me to speak to on the agenda. Right. It is number um, when we do at number 15 C, we're not, you know, we'll open it up for discussion. My comments were not related so much to approval of a candidate, but rather um as many of our speakers have already spoken to the divisiveness, the culture, who we are, our relationships with each other, our relationships with our public. Uh my colleague earlier said that I wanted to speak to show other elected officials that I don't know, I was doing something to um pacify them. This is not to pacify anybody that I wanted

044to speak to, but if I'm still out of order, I will respectfully wait. But I do not believe my comments are appropriate for item 15C. Well, uh, Dr. Coleman, I do thank you for bringing that to my attention. Um, however, if that was something that you that you would have wanted, I would have liked to have known in advance. So, I could have placed it on here. That's why we send the agenda out early. So, if it's something you all want on the agenda, I can make sure to get that information through there. I do recognize your point of personal privilege to if that's what you desire to make your comments. I'm not objecting to it and saying that it's out of order, but I just wanted to highlight that perhaps with that item being

045on here that maybe you would have wanted, you know, it's up to you to speak on it at that time, but it was not to not allow you to speak. Okay. And to be honest, I probably should have spoken immediately after six and seven. Yeah, that would have that probably would have been a little bit more because it's not an item for the agenda. They are comments that I knew I wanted to make. Well, that board comments, I still could have added that on there if that was something you wanted. Whatever. You know, I tell you all all the time, I work at your pleasure. Well, I thank you. So, am I do I have the floor now? Yes. If you'd like to use this as your time of personal privilege. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you.

046Uh fellow board members, I want to talk to us even though I know we do have people in the audience, but I am concerned that there has been no shortage of negativity, negative rhetoric regarding this search, this process. My concern is that if we are serious about becoming the district that we talk about, that we so desperately envision, so that that we desire, I think it is time for us to face some hard truths and that we must rise to the challenge. If we are to truly prioritize our students their success, we have got to work together with clarity and with conviction. That means that we have to stay laser focused on engaging one another as well as engaging our constituents and engaging each other with purpose, with integrity. and yes with a commitment to

047finding real solutions to what's happening with us. It also means that we have to be able to value our partners, our constituents even in times of disagreement. Uh there has been some talk about whether or not the voices of those persons who disagreed with us in our process were relevant to the process. The voices of our chamber members, our elected officials, our faith leaders, our parents, all are absolutely significant to the decisions that we have to make. These decisions are not the decisions of the seven women seated here. They are decisions that we are making. We will raise our hands to vote based on the input that we have gotten from those voices. And it's important for us to recognize that the people that we have criticized for voicing concern, they do represent other constituents.

048They were also elected as we were by people in our broader community and the decisions or not decisions but the information that they provide to us. Those matters are significant to our social well-being, our economic well-being, and our policy priorities that we are basing our decisions on and that we're trying to make decisions about. Yes, their perspectives are relevant. They are essential to us understanding the systems that will drive our growth. our acceptance of equity and the long-term sustainability of this district. Let us not forget that our elected officials do carry with them the voices of those people that they represent. This is how we build a governance process that serves everyone by listening to all of the voices. So my colleagues, as we proceed with this meeting, I hope that we will all think

049long and hard about what we stand for. And I hope that we are standing, as we often say, for the children and the staff of Montgomery public schools. And let it not be rhetoric that we are a unified board. We don't need to say it in public if we're going to bash each other at this table and in the community. If we are going to be a community unified, let's not say words that we don't mean. Let us be a unified city, a unified board, and let us build a unified school district. Thank you. Thank you so much. At this time, we'll have Mr. um Joseph, who will do a presentation from HYA. Good evening everyone. Good evening. Okay, good to I tell you I'm I am always excited uh to come to come to

050Montgomery and and I'm proud to be honest with you when I when I come to to Montgomery. proud as a, you know, as a black man in America whose mother, you know, grew up in Jewel, Georgia, you know, in the in in Juel, Georgia, you know, in the the middle of the the 1930s. Proud as a father of a two students, one at Spellelman College, one graduate of Howard University, now working on his masters at American University. Proud as a professor of educational administration and policy studies at Howard University. Proud as the director of the urban superintendence academy at Howard University where we've placed over 50 superintendent across the country who are who are doing well. proud as a senior consultant uh for Hazard Young AIA and Associates uh the largest search firm in America

051where we serve over we place over a hundred superintendent a year and and Dr. Joseph I'm sorry to interrupt. Is your mic on? Uh it's green. Okay. So you're saying speak louder. Speak louder. Okay. So I'll just hold it. How about that? I'd say proud. proud as a as a senior associate at Hazard Young AIA and Associates, the largest search firm in America. We do over a hundred searches a year uh and we have been in business for 35 years. So, you know, just just proud to be here uh because Montgomery is a place that has to get it right in education and and we have to get it right uh for uh children because this is the place as as you said in uh your statement as we looked for candidates, right? This this

052is the place where uh America should understand uh something about equity uh and excellence. And so that was the charge. So when when the opportunity came uh to uh come have the opportunity to partner with you for uh this search, I raised my hand quickly uh and proudly uh because I felt like this is uh would be a a part of the legacy work that we all crave uh to do uh in life. So I'm pressing this button and it's not working right now. So all right. So when we when we put a team together uh for this particular surge, we made sure we put our A team together. Uh so we had with us Dr. David Lee uh who is uh an associate uh with us, but he's also a very esteemed professor at

053the uh University of Southern Mississippi. Uh he's been a deputy commissioner in the state of Louisiana, so deputy state superintendent. Uh he's been a superintendent and he's been a board president uh in in his time. And then we had Mishka Bibs with us. Uh, Mishka was a board member for eight years in Memphis, was the board president in Memphis, is was the board uh was the president of the city council uh in in Memphis Shelby County School. So, you know, we we made sure we put our a team together because we know, hey, Montgomery, y'all don't play. We got to get it. We must get this right. and we shared with you that we would do a national search uh that we would look around the country, north, south, east, and west uh to bring

054to you a slate of candidates uh that you would feel proud of that could do the work, whatever this community said it wanted to do. Uh we'd make sure we'd align and search for people and then hold us accountable for finding those individuals. And so we uh work, you know, we have over 140 uh associates uh throughout the country and and I think uh the secret to our sauce is uh we tap those folks as we're looking once we know what the criteria of the work is and because many of us come from many different places. I'm in the north, you know, Dr. Lee is in the south, Mishka's in the south, and then we have our our main headquarters is in Illinois. you know, we tap left, right, north, and south uh to look

055uh for candidates uh that fit the criteria that a community uh seeks. Uh so we came in January and in January we met with the board and we talked with you uh to understand the desires of your organization and we said what's important for us is to facilitate a process. We don't select your superintendent and and all seven of you could could be assured that we never came and said, "Hey, we think this person's better than this person." We don't do that. Uh what we do is listen deeply uh try to understand uh the DNA of a community based upon the information that's provided to us and present a slate uh that we hope aligns to what it is you say, whatever it is uh you say. Uh so we started that conversation in January

056and we came up with a long list and slate of of things to do and then our charge is once we're clear about what it is we're looking for because I've said to you over and over again you know we don't start doing anything until we know what we're looking for you know so people we can put it up people can apply uh but until we know exactly what you're looking for we won't we won't begin calling anybody uh because because that that would be you know putting the force before the cart. But but when we go out, we do go out to bring the widest range of candidates that meet whatever criteria that you identify. And then we have a selection process. And in that selection process, uh whoops. In that selection process here,

057I'm going to there it goes. In that selection process, we simply facilitate a process for you. And then and then once the process is done uh we go ahead and um you know can support with the transition uh work because any superintendent can be successful uh if you have the opportunity uh to help them do so. Okay. Is this a hand flip it? Okay. Next slide. Yes. Okay. Not a problem. Okay. Next slide, please. Thank you. So over the course of uh about two months uh we had a bunch of meetings, face-to-face meetings, zoom meetings uh at various locations. Uh we received emails from a number of constituencies. Uh we met in the morning, the afternoon, the evenings. Uh and we talked to a number of different community groups. Uh we had a group of

058high school students, parents, certified staff, support staff, administrators, business partners, uh different civic groups, uh PTO entities, uh all you know, the board put together that list and we went out and and we listened to as many people as we possibly could. Next slide, please. Uh so we had 17 focus groups and individually met with each board member for an hour simply asking what are your hopes? What are your dreams? What are you looking for in the next superintendent? What are the strengths? What are the opportunities? What are the characteristics? And we gathered all of that information. Next slide. In addition, uh we put a survey out and asked people to identify uh by their um you know what what aspect of stakeholder are you in the community. And in that survey um we look

059to see where are the similarities, where are the differences, what are people uh feeling. Next slide. And 991 people responded to that survey with 40.7% being parents, 23.7% being teachers, and 16.8% of the individuals identifying as community members. Next slide. Based upon all of that information and and both Dr. Lee and I are qualitative researchers, meaning uh we we listen deeply. uh we try to look for themes. We actually, you know, do some coding uh to identify. So based upon all of this information, what did the community of Montgomery say they were looking for in a leader? And we came up with five different characteristics that are that are unique to based upon what you said. And then we we didn't just come and tell you this. We put it out to we we came

060I believe it was November 16th or something like that. We came and said here community is this right? you know, so we didn't we didn't just say here's what it is. We put it out and then we asked you to give it a week or two. I think it was about a week uh to say did we get this right? And then we got we got I think maybe one or two people responded uh to that when we put it out. But what we believed um to capture because we want to make sure as as researchers we got it right here that you said you wanted a leader who was uh committed to achievement specifically a leader who would improve achievement for all student groups in this city. You also said you wanted someone who

061had some financial acumen. you know, a leader who would ensure that the dollars that you have here, which are precious, are spent wisely and they had experience managing budgets uh before. You said you wanted a visionary, right? Someone who would see Montgomery public schools assets uh not all the things that are going wrong, but see the things that are going right and help build upon them. And you said you wanted a leader who was willing to try new things and would be willing to innovate. You also said you wanted a leader who was community oriented. I mean, we heard a lot through the interviews and the focus groups uh that churn was a concern here that that you've had a lot of different superintendent over time and people don't tend to stay. So, you said

062you wanted somebody who would be committed to the Montgomery community, uh, committed to the children, and would would stand the test of time and stay here. A leader who believed, uh, that Montgomery public schools, who believed in Montgomery public schools and who would collaborate uh, with parents and the greater community. And then you said you wanted an ethical leader, a servant leader, a a leader who would lead through listening and who would respect everyone. Uh who would collaborate and a a leader who was going to commit and be willing to stay. Once we locked in and you said this is what you wanted and we put that out to the world uh to see that's when we actually started going out and looking and recruiting uh people. And so next slide please. And we had

063about 46 people uh that actually applied uh to the position. These are just people who put their names in. Whether we recruited them or not their name was in. And what makes us different as a firm is we don't just look at these people and say okay let's just give the board a list of five or six people and and say these are the people you should interview. We respect boards. Uh we know you are brought in by the community for the community and you understand what you're looking for uh as a community. So, we made it a point to make sure the board saw all 46 candidates that were submitted because that's important to us. And as we talk about transparency, we don't want to hide anything. So, we made sure you saw all

06446 and in fact 46 people uh did apply. Some that we recruited, some that just applied. But then what we do because we're a firm, you pay us for our advice. Uh we go through those 46 people now looking through all of their materials, all their information, and then we look at those five things you said you wanted. Uh a leader with ethics, a leader who can move student achievement, a leader who uh had financial acumen, a leader who would pay attention to the community. Uh and the fifth one, right, next slide, please. And then based upon those 46, I mean, we we said and we say to the board, we don't have a number. If there's just one person that fits that criteria, we'd say 46 people applied, but here's the one that aligns,

065unfortunately. And sometimes that happens. We happened to come up with 10 candidates uh that we thought aligned to what you said you were looking for. And like I said, north,southeast, and west, we had one person that came from Alabama, one person that came from New York, one person that came from Virginia, one person that came from Georgia, one person that came from Michigan, one person that was in Mississippi, one person that was in Florida, one person that was in Georgia, one person that was from Tennessee, and one person that was from Texas. So that was our list. uh five of them were sitting superintendent with at least 5 years of experience in proven result. Five of them, four of them were deputy superintendent, one of them was a chief. We felt pretty strong that we

066had a a and we we do our vetting and search and I'll talk about that. When we presented that slate of 10 to you, we gave you as a board uh their titles, their resumes, all of their written recommendations. Uh I paid for for free a dis a behavioral assessment that we usually charge for, but I said, you know what, for Montgomery is really important. I'm going to give it to you. Uh so I gave we gave a DISC assessment, DISC. It looks at your dominance, your influence, your steadiness, and your compliance. And it also looks at the motivations because we said be we we got to make sure that the match is right as you're looking through this. So, we gave you that for each candidate, you know, and then we went ahead and

067did a search of just a you know, we do a a scan, a Google search, you know, because Google has a lot of stuff now. So, we go through all the candidates and we highlight all the Google things that we can find. As you scroll through candidates, there's an option uh for you to um actually have an a a social media audit. So, if anybody's name ever came up on the internet, you can pull that. There's a cost for that because we don't we do an outside company for that like we do with the um like we do when we do the background checks. Uh but we gave you that information with those 10 uh candidates and then we gave you a process and I and I this is where I appreciate this board and

068this is why I was so committed because I saw we sent you that I guess about a week in advance of those 10 candidates that were recommending but also the full slate of 46 candidates and then we put them in tears because we said here are our top 10 candidates. Here are some candidates that that are decent but there there's some stuff you might we want to talk about about them. They could do the job. they're qualified for the job. And then slate three where these are people who aren't qualified for the job. We shared that with the with the full board. Um and then we told you you have the power because this is your process. You can take someone from tier one or tier one because they're qualified. But there's some stuff that

069we talked about with these candidates and you can move them up. And in a lot of c a lot of districts, people do do that. They move people. But we just say if you pull somebody from tier 2 or tier three, then as a firm when we slate a candidate, if the candidate is not successful in one year, we have a money back guarantee that we'll do your search for free if it doesn't work out. But if you pick somebody out of that, then we we can't guarantee that. But but it's your process, so we'd never tell you no, you can't do that. Uh so you didn't pick anybody from tier two or tier three. You look at those 10 candidates and then uh we gave you a a statistical uh endeavor here where we

070asked each board member uh to rank candidate Shawn versus Pam. Who's stronger? Pam. Now look at Shawn versus you know um Charlie. Who's stronger? Charlie. So each board member took that individual exercise to go through each one of those 10 candidates comparing each candidate to each candidate. We call that an Adelfi technique. Adelfi technique. They turned all of those into me and then I created a spreadsheet and then made a copy and then gave it back to them to make sure you know we got it right to identify who are the strongest candidates as a collective here. And that's how you came up with your top six uh candidates. You talked about that. Uh we we had a situation where as a firm there was a candidate we didn't have a chance to speak to.

071Uh so we made sure we spoke to them to make sure if they were interested because we heard it was a great candidate but they were not interested in in the process. Um so we ended up with those six that just came from the numerical numbers that you gave that you accepted and moved forward. So, that's how you got to your your top six uh candidates when you came out and you voted uh for that. All right. Uh next slide. From from there with the top six candidates, we waited you came out, we waited a day because you had sitting superintendent in the process and others in the process. So, we wanted to give those candidates an opportunity to let their communities know it's about to come out national that we're going for a job.

072Uh because it's it's very hard when you're sitting superintendent uh you know to go for a job. And you had five people that we recruited, five superintendent that we recruited plus others plus the other five who had to let their communities know. So those those folks know you waited a day. They let them know and on that Friday you announced uh that you had a six. We required each one of the candidates to do a SWAT analysis on your district. Meaning without giving you anything, looking at data, you know, you want this job, go for it. Tell this community the strengths you see, the weaknesses you see, the opportunities you see, and the threats. And we told them to put together a 30 minute presentation to come in front of this board and community present

073that and then the board was going to ask them questions based upon the SWAT analysis, the resume, their TTI, any of the materials that they had uh that were I mean I commend you because I saw each one of you had copious notes on every candidate that that you I have worked in this for for a number of years and I've not seen a board do their homework as deeply as you did with questions, emails highlighting. I saw Miss Cloud had so many sticky notes on there. You know, she made the sticky note company rich because all the notes that you had on your on on your piece and I I appreciated that because again, I'm a researcher. I like people doing their work and asking asking questions here. Uh so you had that process

074where you all six candidates came in front of you presented. Uh and then uh after those presentations uh you once again moved from those six candidates down to your top three candidates. When you got to your top three candidates once again uh we had them do another performance task and we asked them to present to you and give to you the 100-day plans. Uh so each one of the candidates gave you their 100 day plans to evaluate and then you had an hour and a half another meeting with them where you asked another set of of questions all align to the leadership profile and the things you said you were looking for. Okay. When we got to let me step back when you got to your six candidates all six of those candidates uh received

075uh comprehensive background checks. And let me talk about that. The comprehensive background check includes checking their finances. It includes checking to make sure their degrees, they actually got degrees like they said they did. It included checking their drivers uh their drivers record. Uh it included their finances and checking their finances. And it was a comprehensive criminal background check, federal and state, uh, to look to see if there was anything, if they did anything ever, it shows up on that report. And then we go a step further to say, do they currently have something against them? Because maybe they got something happening against them, but it just didn't show up yet. Uh, so the background checks that you paid for that we do also includes if there's something in court happening right now, so we we

076could catch that. And everybody, all six of them were clean. So there is nobody in this process who has a criminal background record. Uh there's nobody in this process who was accused and had a potential criminal background record. There's nobody in this process who um you know has something in court right now as we speak. There's not. Um so that that's that's clear. Now we got down so now we got down to the three and then when we got to the three candidates uh there was a conversation had and that conversation had was well because there was a situation where when you had the six candidates go through uh the the feed was not live. Uh, so it happened. I think we they held on and then it the feed came out like on a

077Saturday and then the decision was made. So we said, "Well, that could be, you know, somebody could think, you know, somebody's hiding something or doing something." So there's there's a question. Do you want to bring the six candidates back and do it again or do you want to just bring three back or are you in a position to just move forward with two candidates? and the collective decision was made to move two candidates forward. And so you move two candidates forward and then those two candidates had a full day in your district. Uh and then those candidates had an opportunity to answer questions that came from the public. Uh and then they also did another presentation uh presenting their 100-day plans to the community formally. though they had given it to the board in their

078second interview, we wanted the public to actually talk about it for them to talk about it in that third interview. Uh so that was done which brings us here today and I simply say that to say you had one of the most thorough processes in the country. I would also say that you had a national slate. I told you the states they came from, north, south, east, west. You had five sitting superintendent in an open search. That's rare. I'll step back. So, so, so then, so now we're here. On March 28th, I did get an email uh from a board member, Miss Brown, uh asking about an uh you know, an article that was circulating or something that was coming about a particular candidate. And on the 28th, that same day, I did send a

079response back uh to the full board uh indicating yeah, that there was a candidate who had um you know, a situation where he was superintendent and in his district that district was defrauded. Uh that candidate was not accused of any wrongdoing, didn't do anything wrong, but it happened. As a two-time superintendent, a lot of stuff happened in my districts that I wasn't accused of. of I mean any superintendent when when people sue a district typically they sue the board and they put the superintendent's name on it because that's just how people sue uh but but the question becomes and so it was the 28th that I was aware of that March 28th when I was uh informed of that um and the question that came up was well why didn't anybody know about it well

080we don't know about a lot of things that happened with superintendent in districts because a lot of stuff happens what we do know about is if did they do anything illegal legal, unethical, immoral. And the answer to that is no for all of the candidates that were in this slate or we would have communicated that directly to uh the board uh and the community. So, I just want to clear some of that up because I think it's important for a community as we go through a process again, we've been doing this for 35 years and we got to get this thing right. And I think there, you know, I have dealt with in the political world. I've been a superintendent since 2012. So I know lots of things happen and I know I know um

081and I you know I've been married for a long time. I know to make a marriage work you got to communicate. You know you know communication is essential. And sometimes when communication, you know, breaks down, uh, folk get angry and say stuff about one another. But at the end of the day, you got to you got to fall back in love and make things work. Uh, cuz cuz there's a there's a bigger thing that's greater than us. And I think we're at this moment. I'm you know I was an English major and I remember uh reading this poem that said if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. If you can trust yourself when most men doubt you uh but make allowance for their doubts

082too. If you can wait and not be tired of waiting or lied about don't deal in lies or being hated. Don't give way to hate and yet don't look too good nor talk too wise. If you can dream and not make dreams your master. If you can think and not make thoughts your aim. If you can meet both triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same. If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by naves to set a trap for fools or watch the things you've given your life to broken and stoop and build them up again with worn out tools. Right. I think we're at a moment in Montgomery. You've got to stoop and build up again and and your tools are pretty worn out. I get that.

083I get that. Rid Kipling said that in his poem, If for anybody wondering what what the heck was that? Right. Right. One of your favorite poems. Yeah. So, I mean, I I say this to say, look, you're you're at a moment and and uh you have a tough decision to make. I think you've done your due diligence and and and and one of the things the thing that the two candidates that you're left with are qualified. I mean there's no are they not are they qualified or not? They're qualified. The two candidates that uh are here do and we communicated how we thought they aligned to your leadership profile. You know, we'll continue to tell you, as we always tell you, this is your process, and we'll be here to support you at whatever you

084choose to do. But but let's be clear, the process was rigorous. The process was open. People were aligned. There's nothing illegal, unethical with any of the candidates that we're aware of that anybody has ever reported on in anything that's substantiated. Uh that that's important, I think, to uh for us to to clear up here. Next slide. So, you know, whenever that pop whenever that time comes that you decide to uh have a new superintendent, you're going to have to transition. Next slide. And regardless of who supports you with transition, uh you'll one of the the some of the things that the next person will need to do immediately would be to provide a framework and develop a 100 day plan and and how to transition. And in this moment, it's going to be really important

085to work with your full community, with your pastors, with your mayor, with your your state representatives, with your chamber of commerce. Everybody's going to have to come back because I had a chance to walk your schools. And I'll tell you, there's work that needs to be done. I'll be the first to tell you some as someone who was Maryland state principal of the year, you know, superintendent of all all these things, had a, you know, one of the highest performing magnets in the state of Maryland. There's work that has to be done. So that that person has to be locked in on what that that work is, right? You've got to build and strengthen board relationships and the board superintendent relationship. Any superintendent can be successful if the board works with them. the best of

086superintendents will fail uh if you're playing a bunch of games. That that is just that is just a a reality, right? You you will need to codify the superintendent's evaluation process. What's critical for those districts that move forward, and I can tell you, I study urban districts, the reason urban districts fail is because of a lack of focus, right? You've got to focus on focus. And the best way to focus a district is aligning the superintendent evaluation to those key performance indicators you care about. A superintendent shouldn't be successful if a district is failing. And in a lot of places around the country, that's the case. We continue to fail and the superintendent continues to hang around and there's no movement that happens, right? And then the superintendent has to, you know, everybody needs help.

087This this work is hard. And so, you know, you want to be connected to multiple entities uh so you can get the best thought, move forward and do do that stuff, you know. So, to conclude, I I believe in Montgomery public schools. I really do. I told the board privately, and I'll say publicly, I said, you know, of course, I work for a firm, but but I work, you know, I do my stuff myself. I said I will support you for free. Whoever your superintendent is whenever you have that superintendent, you know that because this I see your passion. This is a place where education should work uh in America and and I think can work. Uh just stay committed. Don't get weary uh doing good and know you know there's a you know wisdom

088sometimes comes with pain. You know I wish there was another way to get it. you know, and and and what I would say is the pain that you've gone through is purposeful and things are going to get better uh once this process is ultimately done. So, know that I'm here I'm here to answer I'll happy answer any questions that anybody may have for me, but I wanted to take the time to just recap where we've been to kind of reset us in this moment. Madame President, may I speak? Yes. Um, I want just a couple things if I may. First of all, um, you said it has been painful. It has. I I thank you. I thank everybody for being here because everybody that's sitting here, a good many of them needed to hear your

089very thorough discussion of how far we've come from January to now. The promise that we made these people. Not only did we make a promise, the only thing I could add, I'm going to say as a teacher, still a teacher, I'm going to give you a 98. You missed these two points. Okay, your two point I think that the public needs to understand that your deli technique. You you sat and said that you were a qualitative. Well, my dissertation was both qualitative and quantitative. I think you forgot to mention that the deli, which was a technique I did not know anything about. I'm somebody that learns by doing. That is a numbers thing. Yes, numbers don't lie. You studied us as a board and let's talk about the elephant in the room. One of our

090candidates said this. He said, "When elephants fight, the grass gets hurt." And the sad thing is is sitting in this room, I owe an apology to my board members. I owe an apology to the president of the Chamber of Commerce. I owe an apology to anybody that has said or Doug Singleton. I owe an apology because we should have communicated. Had we communicated and if we worked as a team, we wouldn't be divided. You all studied us enough to know that we were already divided. That's the elephant in the room. And we have worked and no matter hard how how hard we worked or how much we've trained, we we we are together. And that numbers thing was an anonymous thing. I think the community needs to know it was anonymous. We didn't the board

091members were anonymous. We anonymous. We had a rubrics and we compared one to two, one to three, one to four, all the way down to 10. Numbers don't lie. So, you have to see the hurt that we feel. Some of us feel, it's almost testing our integrity. When you say some something's predetermined, there's no way it could have been pred predetermined. I've prayed about this. I have a student out there, a preacher, one of my students that preaches in my class that spoke to us just two months ago is here. He didn't know me he was gonna he didn't tell me he was coming. But we talked in chapel last Thursday and I I was angry and I said, "Brendan, I call him Reverend Brandon even though he's 18. I said, "H how do I

092owe people that don't understand me an apology?" And he said, "Dr. Keith, you you you you need to apologize first for God to forgive you." And when and I said, "Then how do they know I'm genuine?" And another student said to me, Kennedy, he said, "Dr. Keith, if you're genuine, it should only matter to you, not what they think. You only need to agree to disagree. I do mean this. I hate what has happened. I hate that we lost our other superintendent. We can play the game playing game all day long. I thought he was going to stay. I'm hurt, too. A lot of us miss him. But some of these things that are going out today and yesterday, they're almost vicious. And it hurts. It hurts people that this public elected that they knew

093could do a good job. This was a numbers thing. When it when we got down to three, I begged them to do the deli. You and I went round and round. If you remember, I owe you an apology. I found out just how genuine you are. So whether you believe me or not, from my heart, I think this community spoke. And we can't look at what a handful of people have said, I think that's the problem. You only talked to a handful. Had you talked to each board member, you would have seen their hearts. You would have communicated. and this whole city instead of being divided just through communication, we would have understood where everybody is. So, I apologize. I apologize and I pray to God that whatever happens today because I don't know is

094the right thing and we're going to move forward. I both I want to thank the the preachers that came out today that didn't speak against us but prayed. They prayed for us to to to get along and they didn't choose a side. Is there any other discussion question? Uh Dr. Joseph, um since I was a subject a few moments ago, so I I would like to speak. Um, as I said in my email to you and when I talked to you on the phone, I'm still concerned because I still feel like the information that supposedly was a part of the background check should have raised concern era. uh you know, stop in my tracks. Let's talk about this. None of that took place. None. Zero. And I still have deep concerns with that. And it

095wasn't one thing. It happened three times. I missed three times. I'm sorry. What's that? H you said three times. There are three incidents. Okay. And we're not going to even go into that because I see that the executive session was removed from that part of the discussion. But I say personally, I still have concerns. I have concerns with whatever process was used in background checks, Google search, or what have you. I did a Google search and didn't even know what I was looking for based on an email and that popped up at the top. That's all I have. The only thing I the only thing I could say is uh the background checks that were administered show that none of your candidates did anything illegal, unethical, had any charges ever on them. that that's that's

096for certain in terms of a background check when you ask about the background check and we stand behind you know the candidates that that that is clear and that's fine and that's fine um and I will continue to say how I feel and I will um I will just also say that you know the public has been concerned for a while and they have reason to be concerned. And you know, I as I stated, I think I told you this, I would have felt better had that, you know, that was self-disclosed. I would have I would have accepted it. It happened fine. And I had a problem with the fact I had to go and search for it. Yes, Miss Cloud. Thank you. I've listened to what everyone has said and I have been afforded

097the opportunity to get text messages and phone calls um and had some really very good and productive conversations with my constituents. It started out a little unnerving for the person calling me, but I explained what you just said that the background checks were done. What they're seeing is sensational uh I wouldn't even call it reporting. We're seeing a smear campaign. And that in itself concerns me because someone doesn't do that just because they've got a good heart and a good conscience. They do it because most of the time it's power or money. And I'm not I'm just putting it out there. I am very um at peace with the process and I want us to continue forward because we need to get this settled and it does not need to continue to be unsettling. Thank

098you. Thank you. Are there any more questions, discussion? No, we this is the board meeting and we have to keep things regulated to board business. Um at this time, if there are no other questions, thank you, Dr. Joseph. The board will go into executive session to discuss HYA CSFO candidate slates. And it now looks like good name and character. We would should be in executive session approximately maybe an hour. During executive session, no votes will be taken. We will convene. Um I'm sorry. No votes will be taken. All right. Is there a motion to go into executive session? Madame Chair, I move that we go into executive session to discuss good name and character as well as HYA CSFO candidate slate. I second it. It has it has been motioned and second. All those in

099favor do so by showing of hands. All right. It is unanimous. All right. All right. I just added it back on there. There's not two separate items. Yeah, but she did. Erica told me if I feel like we may need it. Oh, yeah. You have to come back. And so if I go ahead and just take tackle it now, I have to get to that point then go back handle that one Check Check. Just Bigger. Check. Check. [Music] Nights like this help our students develop their 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

100like 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 high level. believe with the preparation. We started maybe like two weeks ago. That's when we got the music and um me and my peers Gabrielle and David, we basically practice together in the band room after practice long hours as well as preparing for another event. Um then we came together Saturday at Carver High School with everyone and we practice about 9 to 12. Um and we just basically worked on the music, ran through any kinks or crevices, wherever was needed to be worked on. I feel like tonight would be the

101perfect opportunity for 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 opportunity to show what they really learn 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's interesting being on the other

102side of the creative process and being able to perform it ourselves as well. So, it was really fun. It's broaden our broadening our horizons. [Music] [Applause] [Music] So, the the robotics program for Montgomery public school started started as a grant through Hyundai and 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 of the month. I think that this is a great opportunity

103for 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 we had worked on the robot like different problems that we

104were having. We had made sure that we fixed them before we came. 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. [Music] at the end of the line actually. Um, good afternoon. We're just so excited to host um, Dr. Mackey and his team. Um I've had a chance to connect with Mr. Wles who is the director of department of agriculture and um it's just really good for us to be able to partner with Sweet Grown Alabama. Um our students uh thrive off of healthy living habits and so we want to make sure that we stay um engaged with Sweet Grow Alabama to ensure that our students have healthy eating habits. National School Lunch Week started with John F. Kidney

105in the 1960s and it was brought about to bring awareness to everything that the child nutrition program does nationwide. We serve over 30 million students and we just wanted to bring our initiative form to school. Um kick it off and start off with doing that in our district for this week. Um it started with a phone call from the department of agriculture. They wanted to increase farm to school activities in our district and they selected us to do a test run and hopefully do it in the future. And today, you know, we're we're we're featuring uh Alabama grown products throughout Montgomery County at the Montgomery County Schools. So, there's over 18,000 pounds of food today that will be served in the cafeterias in Montgomery County that came directly from Alabama farmers. You know, one of

106the most important things we can do is help make sure our students are healthy. And uh being healthy means eating healthy. We want students to know where their food comes from. We're fortunate that in Alabama, agriculture is actually our number one industry. Brings in more money to our to our state's coffers than anything else. And so students need to understand that this food uh comes from Alabama. Certainly, we we have food that's shipped in also, but it's all grown by farmers here in the United States. And um with the cafeteria, our students come together and they eat at the table. Parents are so busy now. and to have students experience family in the cafeteria. But not only experience family, but to have farm to school products. Oo, the perfect school lunch. Um, well, you know,

107you definitely in in every meal, you got to have a like good good staple, so a good meat. So, I'mma definitely go with some chicken, some grilled chicken, some like seared or sauteed chicken, probably with mashed potatoes, some bell peppers, um some fresh fruit, and not milk, but probably juice or water, but milk works, too. [Music] September is National Attendance Awareness Month. We want to share with you some important facts. The state of Alabama requires all children between the ages of 6 through 17 to attend school. Parents, you are required to submit an excuse each time your child is absent. Be mindful that MPS does not accept excuses via fax or email. Also, parental excuses are limited to 8 days. Finally, if your child has a chronic illness, please submit a chronic illness letter from

108the physician. For additional information, please contact your child's school. Track your child's academic progress and school attendance by logging into P school. Please make sure you have current contact information on file and respond to your school messages. If you have any questions or concerns, please refer to your 2024 2025 school handbook. Feel free to call the Office of Student Support Services at 3342236850. Attendance matters. Every day counts with NPS. [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

109of being successful um here and in college and in life. Um, holding each other accountable um to make the team 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 two 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

110empathy and compassion for your kids. My most memorable moment since I've been at Brewtech is in 2023 when we won 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

111or not wanting to give up in that 6-hour rain delay and having to play seven games in 2 days, it was probably one of the best moments that I've been a part of as an athlete or a coach. This is beyond a locker room. Elevating the game one conversation at a time. [Music] We will now convene the regular board meeting. No votes were taken during executive session. At this time, our next agenda item is consent is our consent agenda. I'll now hand it over to our interim superintendent. Thank you, Madam President. I recommend for approval consent agendum agenda items A through J. The superintendent has made a recommendation for a motion for items A through J. Is there um a motion? Madame President, I move or I motion that we accept items A through J

112on the agenda as the superintendent requested. Second it. All right. It has been moved and seconded. All those in favor of the recommendation do so by showing of hands. It is unanimous. All right. Consider for approval. Madame um inter superintendent. Yeah. Madame President, I recommend for approval under consider for approval personnel report certified personnel. There is uh a recommendation. Is there a motion first? Let's go through the motion and we'll come back. Madame Chair, I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation to approve personnel report certified personnel. All right, it has been and second. Any discussion? Miss CL, I'm just very concerned. Sorry. I'm just very concerned again. We have another month with 12 retirees. I know it's coming to that time of the year. We have 10 resignations and 114 nonrenewals. Out of those ent

113out of those three areas, we have 11 special ed teachers, three from elementary, five from middle, and three from high that we're not coming back with. We are we are in desperate need of those special ed teachers. Have we had conversations? Have I mean, I know some are retiring. Have we talked to them? I mean, I'm just concerned that we're going to be in the same boat that we're not going to have enough teachers for next year. And I I'm just uh it really it really concerns me because I keep looking at the numbers every month and we haven't had a lull at all. Thank you. Um if if I may, Madam President. Um so you do see a list of non-renewals. there are a plethora of reasons. Um I also want to point out

114that some of those are nonerts and so there are some items that they have to complete um at a certain date. We do continue to work with them and consult through leadership and also HR to ensure that they're able to um complete items and you will see them perhaps um back on for um ex uh for approval to new hire. um them once those items are complete. But there are also some other items um other personnel issues that can be personnel uh reasons, but I do understand and have talked to um board president about the concern for special ed. I know that we are working very hard to retain quality teachers and we want to make sure that we're providing them support. Um, I did say that I will go back and um talk to

115Miss Jackson about um the success of her the job fair for special ed, but also some ways that we can kind of engage um and look at how we can support more um our special ed teachers who are new or nonert and also going through the same process of some of the nonerts that are on here um for K through 12. All right. The superintendent has made a recommendation. It has been motioned and second. All those in favor of the recommendation do so by showing of hands. It is unanimous. Madame President, I recommend under consider for approval personnel report classified personnel. Superintendent has made a a recommendation. Is there a motion? Madame President, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for the personnel report classified personnel. Yes, it has been motioned and second. Any

116discussion? All right. All those in favor of the superintendent's recommendation do so by showing of hands. It is unanimous. All right. Give me just a second here. Everything works until you need it to work. Well, I want to say um and just give me one second to pull something up. We are um at the next agenda item, the superintendent selection. And I did want to offer some words of thank you to my board members um for their due diligence and hard work in this process. Uh and before we begin this um I know we've had discussion but if you would like to just offer some discussion about um in a positive way on um the candidates we look forward for you sharing that. But I wanted to share with HYA that we extend our sincerest

117gratitude for your collaboration and dedication throughout this superintendent search. Um, we also appre appreciate your dedication throughout the superintendent search process and helping us to organize and get that process outlined. Your partnership has been instrumental in guiding us through this important journey and we deeply appreciate the expertise and professionalism you brought every to every step. Your team's effort to engage the community were both meaningful and impactful. With up to almost a thousand surveys being completed by community members, 17 focused groups that you facilitated, we along with you all created opportunities for diverse voices to be heard. stakeholders included community members and our teachers, administrators, our parents and students, our elected officials, ministers and other valued um contributors. This collaboration approach has ensured that the leadership profile was not only comprehensive but it was developed truly

118to reflect the needs of the district, the values of the district and the aspirations of our district. The input gathered throughout this process demonstrated a clear and shared desire for the Montgomery community for community stability for stability specifically in leadership. The community has expressed a strong need for a transformed culture and climate within the district. One that is welcoming and inviting to parents, students, and teachers alike. This vision underscores the importance of fostering an environment of mutual respect, trust, and support where all members of the MPS family feel valued and connected. Your guidance, HYA, and meticulous planning with the board have laid a solid foundation for identifying a superintendent who not only embodies leadership, vision, and experience, but also aligns with the community's hope for a stronger, more unified future. By prioritizing these shared values,

119we are confident that MPS will be positioned to achieve lasting success and create an educational environment where every child has the opportunity that they thrive for. We are immensely grateful for the dedication not only of this board, of the community, and all stakeholders for your dedication and care. your team HYA has demonstrated throughout this process um one of hope, one of vision and one of togetherness and unification. So, thank you once again for your support and for helping us take this significant step towards building a brighter future for the Montgomery County Public Schools along with our staff as well as our students and teachers. but most importantly for our community. So, at this time, if any board member would like to speak on something positive, uh the floor is now open. Yes, Miss Dr. Key.

120Madam President, um I I know we I'm going to try to be short. I again, I want to thank uh Dr. Joseph and HYA for being so um thorough. I mean, and I thank the people. It means so much for the community to come out, especially city leadership, you know, an Sykes, I mean, people that care about our community, the preachers, the ministers, everybody. Um, I am people that ran, our PTA president is here, and I'm I'm just pleased that everybody's here. I'm pleased at central office here. I'm pleased that uh security is here. But I want to uh pay special thanks to our president and our vice presidents because there is not one minute that they did not let us know every second of what was going on daily. Um we never had to

121ask, we never had to wonder where are they talking. We have a president today that I, you know, I was just touched when she brought up um the deaths, our student deaths. you. I I was talking to one of my students the other day and we were talk I thought they were all millennials because I said, "Oh, you're like my son. You're a millennial." They go, "Dr. Keith, we're not a millennial. We're Gen Z." And I said, "You know, what's the what's the difference?" And they said, "We don't you know, you know, the the millennials died of of fentanyl and drugs and and I said, "Well, so what's the difference?" And they said, "Dr. Keith, we just shoot each other." That's sad. That is sad because see, our weapons are words. And some of us

122in this community, including me, have used weapons as words. And and what we don't understand is the people we hurt. The people we hurt, people, it almost came across as there were people that were targeted. And whether it was meant or not, you know, there were things that the media got out that were absolutely not true. And Dr. Joseph, if it were not for you, if it were not for you that did two separate background checks, if it were not for this board that used the deli technique to use an anonymous technique, even down to the last three when I asked twice to use that deli deli, numbers don't lie. So, I apologize to the public the way this process came out because we didn't communicate. had we as a whole and and I I

123made this very clear with our president. When you just communicate with two board members, sometimes things can get convoluted. They told us everything. But see, we're out here bad mouthing each other and we've never even sh we've never shook a hand. We've never hugged. We've never said, "Hey, my name's Lisa Keith." But yet we're out there on the media saying, "Hey, you know, and I'm one of them." And it it is that alpha female that sometimes I'll tell you this and I I tell my students this, the the people that you are pulled furthest against that you think is your enemy. Really, y'all are so much alike. you want you want the same things for our children that if we just talked and I hope from this here, you know, as much as you may

124not want to talk to me because yeah, I I'll admit I'm that alpha female. I can I'm like that peacock. I I apologize. I apologize that I didn't take the time and I hope that I can listen to my student Brandon and do what he said. Go out there and meet and and and I will have done my part. If you don't want to meet with me, don't meet with me. I think if we would have communicated as a whole from from the from the chamber to the mayor, I haven't met I've haven't met the mayor. I've met his dad and loved the dad. Met the mother at one of the things that we I even bought into the I was the one that said, "Hey, let's use this map, but I don't know the

125son." Okay? But I I all I'm saying is I think had we communicated we wouldn't be here. I want to thank y'all for coming out. Thank you especially and our president and vice president. And I have to say this about Jamie. We have one of the best interim superintendent. Uh, you know, we have one of the best CF interim CSFOs. We have you I've I've met our technology guy. I love him because of servantthood. There's I just love this that we're moving forward and and I want the public to know. You know, I used to speak bad about central office. I used to think it was friends and family and nepotism. It's moving forward and it has been and we just haven't talked about the good things enough. So, I'm telling you, Montgomery public school

126system, look at what just look at look at Dr. Cheryl Fountain and the things that are happen. Look, look at um BT BTW. We've got one of the best interim. We've got Courtney Giles over there. We've got some great people and great students that are are making I mean they're making leaps and bounds on this system and I've never spoke about that. We've got one lady Dr. Chenise Williams. I'm telling you I I'll leave it. I'm just telling you that woman works hard and we've got new people like Dr. King that is with us. I'm just proud of what we have. I'm proud of of our our our our communicator Jade. I'm so proud of the people that we have even from the state. I can't think of her name, but you know, her husband's

127the treasurer. We used to be the treasurer for the state and we have her now working with our beauty parlor or whatever stuff. I'm just impressed with what we have. So, thank you. Thank you, Dr. Keys. Is there anyone else that would like uh Dr. Coleman, anything? Thank you, Liz. anything positive about the candidates or process either. Yes, either one. Oh, I will be happy to say that um we did go through a process where we saw several wonderful, articulate, intelligent, highly qualified candidates that were brought before us. Um we are down to two and both gentlemen as far as I know are gentlemen with a heart uh who have the qualifications the certifications uh moving forward uh if I'm supposed to if I understood uh what we are supposed to be talking about tonight

128um there is a candidate that uh has a wonderful set of experiences that focus on cradle to career. Uh growing your own, building for professional development and training of individuals within the district to ensure that we keep our talent in the district. uh transformational leader, innovative leader, and I hope that as we move forward, uh we uh look very closely at what each candidate brings to the table. Thank you. Thank you. Um Miss Portoris. Uh yes, thank you, Madame President. Um, being in this district over 30 years and working for different superintendent, I have never been asked my opinion. I've never been asked what I see in a leader or what a leader is to me. So, when HYA offered that to us, I thought that was just the best thing I had ever heard.

129There were many um at the schools I serve and other schools I visited where the employees were ecstatic about it because they had a voice. They got an opportunity to say not a person but a position. What this position means to me? How will it be advantageous to my career? How can I stay at Montgomery public schools? Well, I wanted to know a little bit more about not the people who stayed, but the people who left. There were people who left and went to other districts. And I asked them why did they leave Montgomery public schools and they said, "Well, leadership. They were afforded the opportunity to train and do things that they didn't even realize they were qualified to do because they had a job." And when they left, they went to a place

130that created a passion for them. One of these candidates has created um something in me that made me look past the job. What is not being said? What will happen? One of the things that our business community and our city I I hope they will respect the fact that as educators there's a lot of arms to education in a city where there are many things happening and violence being one. Every grown person we lose is attached to a child. So now all of the lesson plans that the teacher created for that baby when that baby was feeling good now has to re-evaluate the trauma in that child to be able to get them through the day. That's an education arm. We think about the business community. We think about the city. We want to work

131with everybody. We've got to figure this out because we've done with grown people what we don't even allow in children. We put children out of school for acting like some of us are acting and and you get out what you put in. We can't keep in school building buildings telling them to bring your passion down and bring your voice down and get along when we don't model it. They do what they see. I don't care if you're a pastor, a teacher, a king, a queen, your behavior matters. And that's in all of us. And and thanks be to God, we get a doover because if we wake up in the morning, we get to think about what happened today and how we can change it. Whoever we bring in Montgomery County, if they're not supported

132fully, if they're not talked about in a good light, if they're not reverenced, if they went to school and learned all this stuff and know they have the passion for it and nobody supports them, it'll be a sad day for Montgomery County. And it won't matter who you bring in. Won't matter how many magnet schools. It won't it'll be oppressed all over the district. Oppression doesn't belong to us. I love what Dr. Joseph said, "Dr. Joseph wrote a I had never seen a description of anything written with that kind of heart." And that was our that was our clarion call. That's what we wanted in this district. That's what we said we wanted. But then we were in the streets and on the radio and everything and it was embarrassing. I've been here 40 years.

133I went to DoD schools. I went to uh schools in overseas in Japan where I was afforded to go with my dad. My mama was an educator and my mother said asked my sister and I what would you do for free? And I said I I'll teach cuz I have some teddy bears and I talk to them all the time. She said if you figure out what you'll do for free, she said then you'll do you find out what you were put here for and what you were purposed. There's nothing else an educator can do but be an educator. can't be a good it might be a good business person but they're not going to be your best business person because they were created to do something different. We are all gifts and we are

134packaged differently. We we cannot be judgmental. We have to be supportive of the package we get and work with it. I am looking forward to what we will do. IB was just the beginning. We have a long way to go, but we have some great kids to get them to their destination. They don't want to stand on the side of the street. They don't want they want to afford this life and and their parents want to. Who wants to take care of a child forever? No one. So, we have to get them to a place where we're confident they can compete all over the world. And we do that by putting our judgments away and getting a leader that has a heart for these children. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Portoris. Miss Brown. Yes, I

135will be brief um because I was unfortunately not here for the entire process, but the parts of the process that I did um was able to attend and be a part of. I appreciated the process uh and I feel like um one of the leaders has an edge over the other in my opinion uh in terms of innovation and um the wealth of information that I saw in his documents as well as the uh potential growth. I think that that person would be able to uh carry us from where we are and continue to climb. Uh and I also had the opportunity to have a conversation with a couple of the candidates and um all of the candidates that were selected to move anywhere in the process. I think that they are worthy candidates, but

136however uh two of the candidates definitely outshine the 10 that were presented and uh fortunately one of them still was standing uh in round three. So hopefully the board will take serious consideration and what um the wealth of knowledge and what this person has on paper and has in heart and I think that if we actually consider comparison I think that we'll make the right decisions and that's all that I have to say. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Cloud. Yes. During this time of difference of opinions, strong opinions, let me just share this with you. Jeremiah 29:11, I ran for the board. My slogan was building hope, building futures. I got that directly from Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to

137harm you. Plan to give you hope and a future. That is what I want our children, our families, our communities to know that we are working to give them because we are charged in this position by the Lord Almighty. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Mitchell. I just have to say that we've been tasked with choosing a leader for our children as superintendent. We had some highly qualified people to to look at and we have two that are left and we're about to make that choice. Whoever that person is, the citizens of Montgomery, the staff, the board, our political leaders, parents, and all of our stakeholders need to get behind that person and do what it takes so that our children can receive the quality education that they deserve. It's going to take good leadership. True

138enough. But a leader can't do it all. It's going to take each one of us doing that thing that the gift that we have, putting that in, doing the hard work, making the hard choices. We may not agree with everything, but we must work together in unity. For the thing that I know is that a house divided against itself cannot stand. And we will not lose our children on our watch. It's us, the adults in the room, who have to make the decision to do the right thing no matter what. And I believe that Montgomery is the city that will do that. Put our personal feelings and issues aside and move forward for the sake of our children. Thank you. Well, last but not least, it is I um first I I cannot thank this

139board enough for just being so intentional in the work. Um it's not been easy. HYA gave us phenomenal candidates and they were hard to choose. It was hard to make a choice between all of them. the comprehensive leadership profile was the thing that was standing. It was the constant. This is what the community wants. And I've been on the board, I think now I'm the second longest serving, Lisa, correct me if I'm wrong, and I've seen a lot of things. um been on here, got elected back in 2016 and sworn in then and took my before I could get in the seat and warm it up. I was looking at intervention brand new um and having to learn very quickly about my role as a board member. But in every process that we've gone through,

140I've learned from each experience because that's what we're supposed to do, right? you learn from your lessons. Um, I'm a mother, three children. One graduated out of NPS. He's an engineer working here locally. He came back home and brought his skills back home with him. Um, I have one who's a senior. Um, that's going to be a tough day for me watching her walk across that stage. Um, and then I have one more who will who's a 10th grader now. So, we're still in it. I still have a vested interest in it. But not only that, and and those in my community who know me, I'm everybody's auntie. So when they have problems, um our interim superintendent and anybody else, you you know, I bring the problems and say help them. And that's what I

141got from the community is we want somebody that's going to be accessible to us as parents, as guardians, somebody that's approachable, that's going to hear our voices. And I think through the years, um, when intervention, well, looking back when intervention happened, those things were not available. That was the outcry at the time. we we don't see we don't seem to be heard or our voices are not valued which is why we chose HYA and had this rigorous process because in our last superintendent search the criticism was nobody asked us what we wanted and so this time we were intentional to make sure to bring you into the fold to ask what is it that you want in a leader? What is it you want us to consider as you we're moving forward choosing a leader

142that will work for this community, that will work for our students and have a heart for our students. My campaign, not to bring that up, but my slogan was leadership focus on students and I've always been committed and dedicated with that to that. And I also look at interims, superintendent sitting in the se seat or potential candidates. Is it you want to come and work with our students? Are you intentional about the work? Do you care about our community? Do you want to be involved in our community? Are you going to do whatever it takes to make sure our students are successful, whatever level that they walk in that door at? Some are coming from homeless situations, foster care, one parent household, two parent households, poverty, mental illness, mental health concerns. Some of them are

143have been incarcerated before. Can you be there for them? That's all I'm asking. When I read the profile, I saw the same thing. That's all they're asking for. So the two candidates before us are exceptional leaders. When I say have a heart for children, have a heart for children and most and most importantly they understand why they have to be accountable. Why they have to understand and why they have to make sure that their staff is held accountable. Because if we don't do good and we don't support these kids, we let so many people down. But most the most let down group is our children which is why we put their forces also in this process. But I am just so pleased um again having worked with these ladies. You know it's we may not

144agree and I have three sis well four sisters excuse me and we don't agree on a lot of things but we know how to come together when we need to. And you'll see this in this sisterhood the same thing. We're not always going to agree. We're not caddyy. We are so passionate about what we do. But at the same time, we know how to circle back and come together to support one another and whoever we select as our new superintendent moving forward. So, thank you ladies. I I truly can't say thank you enough, but I'm so appreciative of each and every one of you. So, with that being said, is there a motion? Madame Chair. Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. Yes, ma'am. Yes. Uh, thank you for your words. Um, and with that, I move that

145we select Dr. Harold Wright as our next superintendent. There is a motion to select Dr. Harold Wright for our next superintendent. All those in favor do so. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I need a second. I got so caught up in move y'all. I I got I second. There's a It has been motioned and second. Thank you. All those in favor do so by showing of hands. Oh, it's been a long night. Everybody discussion. Well, I think we really did the discussion, so that's why Yeah, I I jumped over there so we could give our input. So if you will, Madame President, because you are taking a motion on the floor and um getting ready to take a vote, it is proper to um have a discussion regarding that motion. Okay. Well, thank you. At

146this time, we are open for discussion. Thank you. Is there discussion? I thought it was protocol. So, no. Okay. Well, thank you. Every now and then we all have to be redirected and I appreciate that correctness. See, we do get along. Um, it has been motioned and second. Uh, all those in favor do so by showing of hand. All right. That motion fell. Is there another motion? Yes. Madame President, I would like to I am honored to recommend Dr. Zakirius Bird as MPS superintendent. All right, there is a motion on the floor to move Dr. Zakurius Bird. Um, is there a second? A second. It has been motioned and second. All those in favor do so by showing of hands. All right, that motion. All those opposed. Any discussion? All right, at this time, um,

147we proudly announce that Dr. Zakius Bird has been selected for the Montgomery County super the superintendent of the Montgomery County Board of Education. This meeting is now well before I adjourn it, our next meeting is May 13, 2025 at 5:00. Immediately following this meeting will be a work session. This meeting is now adjourned. There's my work session, y'all. Okay. All right. Our work session is we are now adjourning for our work session. Today is April 8th, 2025. The time is now 8:14. This meeting is being called is now being called to order. We do have an established quorum. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? Madame President, um I did want to uh recommend um before consider for approval under agenda um that we remove item B under receive as information. All right. The

148superintendent would like to amend the emotion removing item B, MTSS data analysis from the agenda. Is there a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation? Madame President, I move that we accept the superintendent's uh recommendation with the removal of item B. I second it. It has been motioned and second. All those in favor do so by showing of hand. I thought we were going to have a discussion. Is there is there discussion? Yes. Okay. This item has been moved now the second time. We're here. We're We've got it ready. Why can't we go ahead with it? Because I would like to hear this data because we're coming to the end of the school year and this has already been put off one other time. All right. Thank you for your discussion. Thank you. All right. It

149has been moved and second. All those in favor of accepting the superintendent's recommendation do so by showing of hands to to accept accept the superintendent's recommendation with the removal. It's moved in motion with the with the removal of item B under receive for information MTSS data analysis. It has been moved in a second. I am calling for the vote. All those in favor do so by showing of hands. All right, we [Music] have we have five voted for two against two. All those opposed just so I can get it on the record. We have one in opposition, all those abstaining. Anyone abstaining? Okay. All right. Moving forward, our um next piece of um agenda item will be receive as information from Miss Penner update. You hear me now? Yeah, there we go. Yes. We'll get

150uh right on into it. Um, so this is actually our April update for the CIP uh building program overall uh snapshot of active construction projects and then uh thank you for approving tonight's uh bid. We'll we'll start reporting next month on the Percy Julian High School project. Um this is just again uh South Lawn Middle School the um gym addition. We're currently tracking at 65% uh overall project completion with an anticipated uh completion date in July of uh this year. exterior uh picture just to show really, you know, kind of progress of brick brick pattern. We've got exterior windows that have been installed at the gymnasium. And this view is actually from uh Mobile Highway. A secondary exterior view to the left is actually the entry into the lobby concession area. And then straight ahead

151in the background, uh that's your secure connector for the existing building. And that connector takes you from uh existing building over to the gymnasium edition. We've got site utilities ongoing. Uh roof installation is uh ongoing. Our main goal now is to dry in the the building, get roof completed and the building envelope completed with uh storm I'm sorry, storefront and uh windows and doors. Just a reminder of our overall floor plan and highlighted is just the areas within that uh gym addition, your secure connector, weight room, athletic locker room, restrooms, showers, and your gymnasium court. Couple of interior views. Uh the one to the left is your actual lobby concession area and then the one to the right is uh a view of your gymnasium court. Continued interior uh views of athletic weight room. And

152then the the view to the right is actually if you're standing in the corridor between your locker rooms and your weight room. That's the view there. Moving into the athletic fieldhouse for Park Crossing. We are uh currently at 92% complete and uh we're h we've got a goal right now to try to get the building turned over by the end of this month. So, we've had a big push on life safety items um overhead inspections. Uh your first exterior view. I really I just want to just comment on just how exceptionally well the brick selected for the project to the to the right hand I'm sorry to the left hand side is your entry point for the athletic fieldhouse and to the right is the actual existing facility. So I feel like the the architect

153design team did a really good job selecting Mr. Anderson. He was also part of that selection committee uh selecting brick in order to get it to match closely to the existing facility. And then just progress there. Again, we're pushing for life safety items to be complete um and uh that life safety inspection by the end of this month and start moving into getting um fixtures and equipment installed going into next month. Uh this is just a secondary picture. I mainly wanted to try to highlight the back the back side of the building. um if you're facing the the athletic fields. But uh in this particular picture, we had some underground storm drainage that had to be cut within the existing bus loop and and so this just them going back and making that patch of

154asphalt. Again, another exterior view. uh the the rollup doors there to the right, that is a a side entry for athletic students to uh come and go and have access to the athletic field. So, just a really nice uh indication of of what the building looks like on the exterior. Again, here's our floor plan for the fieldhouse and just highlighting kind of those areas uh for staff as well as students. Interior views. Uh we've got athletic weight room as well as corridor. And currently right now, we've got uh overhead mechanical systems being installed. Um well actually they're they're wrapping that up. Those are installed. Uh your sprinkler pipe is being installed. We've got paint going in on the ceiling as well as on the the corridors. And we're starting to move into doing polished concrete

155floor in the in the locker rooms. And these views again are just showing the final finishes being applied to the interior of the school. Another uh quick view interior view storefront installation at coach's office and the conference room. View of your athletic film rooms, ceiling grids installed, light light fixtures are installed. And again, just getting those um overhead inspections completed and and to the finish point for getting the building turned over. Um, so for our next project that's currently uh in construction is the the relocation of Todd Road. It was that phase one of what was needed in order to get Percy Julian High School started, make sure that it is tied in and connected uh so that we may vacate the existing Todd Road. And so currently we're 60% complete on that project. The

156biggest hurdle that we've had so far for Todd Road was that ALD DOT permit getting approved and released. And so I'm happy to to announce that we have received that permit. We have made the connection to the boulevard. Uh we've also received the Montgomery Water and Sewer um permit that's been received and pipe has been installed. And so the contractor is now working. Um we're supposed to start Monday, but weather kind of delayed it. Uh we're hoping to get asphalt place by mid to end part of this week going into next week. Urban gutters installed. Again, a secondary picture of the curbon gutter. And so I the next two slides is just to kind of wrap it up of hey this is what's to come. This is our you know rendering of our Percy new

157Percy Julian High School phase two is what we're calling it. We're really excited to get this project um launched and and the contractor mobilized and really start getting that building constructed. And then again, the new Capitol Heights Middle School will be forthcoming once we start construction on Percy Julian. Questions, comments, are there any questions? Comments? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Our next agenda item will come from Mr. Chad Anderson, facility updates. Uh, good evening. Good evening, Miss Wilson, Miss Watkins Smith, Miss Poris, and members of the board. Uh, looking at our spreadsheet for capital projects, current capital projects. Uh, looking at the Morning View and Davis Elementary HVAC and windows renovation, we have bid dates for those. They're currently being advertised. Davis is set for the 17th of this month and Morning View is

158set for the 22nd of this month. Uh those are capital grant projects that we receive m money from the state from for a portion of that. The other portion will be coming from ATF and we should have that uh bid tabulations to you for next the next board meeting. The crossing turf and track we've got no major new update. We're still waiting on the turf to be delivered. It was currently being manufactured. We hope to have that in the next week or two. All the subbase is in. We've cleaned the track off. uh they're making necessary patches on that. The turf will take about 20 to 30 days to in finish and install and then the track will take another 20 to 30 days to to install from there. The Carver High School track and

159turf uh we've approved that tonight. We'll get started on that immediately. It'll be the same process as what we went through with park crossings as well. and the Bell &RA emergency roof replacement. We're approximately 95% complete with that with just little tie-ins to to wrap up and finish uh with that roof. But uh coming to the very end of that one should be substantial completion within the the next before the next board meeting. All right. Any questions? I have just one. Yes, ma'am. Um, and I think I emailed you, but that roof in V at Vaughn Road is failing. You know, we have places that it's leaking. When that happens, and it's been less than a year, do they we have some kind of warrant? Oh, yes, ma'am. Okay. Yes, ma'am. The warranty will will

160is kicking in on that. The architect's been over there. I don't think it's the roof. We think it's the drain, one of the drain areas and that, which we've had some trouble over there with with some of their storm drainage and all clearing that up. But Mr. Williams, our architect with the roofing side of it, is is working on it. Yes, I appreciate that. I have a question. Miss Cloud, I'm still real concerned about that classroom at Bowwin where the black is coming down. I know you said, "Oh, it's nothing to worry about." But I really think it is because it's it's causing health issues for those children. They can't even go in that room now, and they needed to test during this time. Yes, ma'am. I I we'll check on it in the morning

161on with that. But I know they patched the roof. We're cleaning up the wall. It's roof pitch from the roof. It's It's not anything that that is a health concern and that it's just a nuisance with it, but we'll check on it first thing in the morning. Thank you, Chad. All right. Any other questions? All right. Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Yes, ma'am. All right. At this time, new business. I did not get any um thing brought to me, but if at this time if you like if that you do have new business and you'd like to bring it up, the floor is open to you. Thank you, Madam Chair. We had discussed a couple of weeks ago uh the fact that we would put our professional development reports on the agenda. And I'm going to

162assume it didn't make the agenda tonight because it was such a long agenda. Uh and I can respect that. Uh but I do believe that it is significant that when we do these professional developments for accountability to each other and our public that we bring back reports of what we saw, what we did, how we could possibly implement uh our new learning in our district to help to improve and grow our district. Um, I'm not going to try and give a report tonight, but I would like to give you and the secretary a copy of the report that I have prepared. All right. Thank you. And thank you for understanding tonight. Uh, all right. So, that will be on the agenda next month. All right. At this time, this meeting is now adjourned. Our next

163meeting will be May 13, 2025 5:00 regular board meeting training room 1 immediately following the regular board meeting work session also in the training room. This meeting is adjourned. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]