001today. a restful and well-deserved break and I know everyone's looking forward to that. Um, so do we have any requested changes to the agenda? >> So, a motion by Mr. All right. A second by Miss Henderson. All in favor say I. >> Motion carries. Miss Cotney. Thank you, Madam Chair. Item five, consent agenda. >> Motion by Miss Henderson, second by Mr. Triplet. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 6A. Approve second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy I341 uniform grading policy as amended. >> Motion by Miss Henderson, a second by Mr. Triplet. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 6B. Approve second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy J123 summer school attendance as amended. >> Motion by Miss Henderson, second by
002Mr. Triplet. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 6 C. Approve second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy J 152 student transfers within the system as amended. >> Motion by Miss Henderson, second by Mr. Triplet. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 6D. Approve second reading to rescend Knox County Board of Education policy J1 153, sibling priority admission. Motion by Miss Henderson, second by Mr. Triplet. Discussion. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 7A. Approved Tennessee Department of Education fiscal year 2026 early literacy t tutoring grant in the amount of $68,500. >> Motion by Reverend Butler, second by Miss Spike. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 7B. approved Tennessee Department of Education fiscal year
0032026 title 3 grant in the amount of $51,65246. >> Motion by Dr. Butler, second by Miss Bike. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. 7 C approved Knox County government facilities grant for Carter High School in the amount of $62,700 with required matching funds in the amount of $62,700. Motion by Mr. Wright, second by Miss Henderson. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 7D. approved memorandum of understanding with Morgan Wallen Foundation for receipt of grant funding in the amount of $1,200,000 for Gibbs High School to upgrade the current Gibbs High School baseball field into a versatile state-of-the-art multi-use athletic field and in conjunction with the multi-use field project. Approval of Gibbs High School constructing a softball hitting and pitching facility on the school's campus. >> Motion
004by Mr. Wright, second by Miss Timolton. Discussion, Mr. Wright. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to take just a second to run through some of the projects that the Wallen Foundation has very generously donated to other than just this project. Uh let's see. Most recently, uh the Wallen Foundation worked with Mr. Holland's Opus to donate over $38,000 worth of new instruments to the West High School Orchestra program. $7,500 for the POW High School band program in 2024. Uh $20,000 to the Adrien Bernett School music teacher in 2023. $35,000 for Gibbs High School band, coral, and baseball programs over multiple years. And donations approximately $37,500 between Adrien Bernett, Dogwood, and Pleasant Ridge Elementary School. Beyond that, Community Impact, at least in the Gibbs area, uh has donated from the foundation $190,000 to the uh youth
005sports fields out in the area. So, just want to take a minute to recognize the fact that Wallen Foundation has done a lot of things for a lot of schools and we're very appreciative. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Wright. And thank you to the Wallen Foundation as well. So we have a motion on the floor by Mr. Wright and a second by Miss Templeton. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 7E. Approve 2025 Bernier Science Education Inspiration Grant in the amount of $1,000 for KS High School. >> Motion by Miss Henderson, a second by Miss Templeton. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 7F. Approve letter of extension with Lawson Family Foundation to extend the grant period to April 10,
0062026 for Knox County Schools project search transition to work program. >> Motion by Miss Spike, second by Miss Timbleton. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 8A. approved contracts with Bedford, Freeman, and Worth Publishing Group LLC, College Board, International Balarat Organization, Service Learning Company LLC, and the University of Cambridge for provision of advanced academic programs for the term of April 1, 2026 through September 30th, 2026, which may be extended for five additional one-year periods. >> Motion by Dr. Butler, second by Miss Spike. Discussion. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 8B. Approve contract with United Elevator Services LLC for provision of elevators and services up to $171,71 for the term of March 1, 2026 through the last day of the cooperative renewal date. >> Motion by Dr.
007Butler, second by Miss Henderson. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. 9A approved fund balance designation in the amount of $8,610,000 for purchase of newly adopted textbooks and instructional materials for PE health and wellness and career and technical education. >> Motion by Miss Henderson, second by Mr. Wright. Discussion. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 9B approved Knox County School's adoption of textbooks and instructional materials for PE health and wellness and career and technical education. >> Motion by Dr. Butler, second by Miss Henderson. Discussion. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 9 C. Approve North Central Northwest Sector zoning proposal. >> So, who was it you? Oh, so a motion by Miss Fontaine Ridley, a second by Mr. Wright. Discussion, Mr. Triplet, >> I think we
008have public forum on this, right? >> We do have public forum. >> Do we probably need to do that first? Is we do that first? >> Yes, we'll do that. I guess you want to do that first. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. We have a couple of public forum speakers on this topic. Uh, first is Nathan Vada. Mr. Fa, please state your name and county resident. You'll have three minutes. >> Absolutely. >> Good evening, Madam Chair, board members, superintendent. My name is Nathaniel Vada. I live in PAL District 7 and I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you tonight again about the re proposed resoning affecting the PAL elementary school and the Knox County schools. One of the most significant concerns many families have shared with me is the limited opportunity for public impact. Before
009making this decision that permanently reshapes the PAL elementary. So far, the community has one community meeting. And between my three-minut speech that I gave to you on Monday and my three-minut speech that I'm going to give to you today, that is all of the impact that we have had to be able to voice our concerns. And simply, it's just not enough meaningful discussion to have a thoughtful consideration. Reszoning is one of the most disruptive tools a school district can use and it moves children away from established school communities, separates neighborhoods, and changes the stability and families depend on when choosing where to live and raise their children. That is why tonight I'm asking you and we are asking you as a board to please vote no on resoning Pal Elementary. This is also an important
010time to recognize that Knox County often uses the term fiscally responsible as if it is a catchphrase to rather than a principle. The true fiscal responsibility is more than just a buzzword. It means making decisions that are proper and thoughtful and useful of the district's funds with long-term plans that benefit students, families, and our community. It does not mean choosing the cheapest or quickest option to simply meet a deadline. Any change must reflect a careful investment in our schools for not a short-term fix that creates unnecessary disruption that guarantees in just a few a few short years, we will be revisiting this problem once again. There are many alternatives that we could put together if we simply have a chance to talk. A couple of very simple options that I really can't get into because
011of time constraints are possibly looking at reconfiguration of the PAL uh school clusters. Another one would simply be doing a small targeted boundary adjustment versus a major resoning. Both of these approaches would allow the district enrollments to allow changes while preserving the integrity of the PAL elementary community. And I'm simply asking and once again we are asking that you simply vote no on resoning to give us that time to explore multiple options. Decisions like this have long-term consequences. Once boundaries are changed, they're changed. That is exactly why the decisions of this magnitude deserve the process the deliberate and transparent and informed meaningful public engagement that we just have not had. Tonight, the community is asking you to not rush. We are asking you to simply take the time and necessary uh investment to make the
012right decision. Right now, this community has questions and those questions have yet to be answered. We need to pause and get it right because good decisions are built on complete information, thoughtful consideration, and because once this decision is made, once again, the families who live with it will remember whether it was made carefully or whether it was made quickly. So again, I'm asking you, we are asking you Board of PAL Education or Knoxville Education, please vote no. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. Ro. Next is Sher Garrett. Sher, if you would just state your name and county of residence, you'll have three minutes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Members of the board of education, I'm Sheri Garrett, Mom Liberty Chapter Chair, Powell resident and advocate for our children. Powell Elementary has suffered
013too long and that must end now. Thank you, Mr. Triplet, for listening for your advocacy advocacy for this community. You've listened, responded, and refused to let our voices be ignored. Thank you for standing with us. Thank you, Miss Bike, for your responses to my concerns via email. And thank you, Miss Henderson, for realizing how rushed this is, especially in our eyes. Our children attend school with mold in the floors, rocks and ancient air conditioning units, and a heater fire in the bathroom. This year, we filed 471 work orders. Proof the building is in trouble. Our kids breathe this air. I'm sorry. The director of operations claimed Powell is better than shape than 50% of other elementary schools. Even if true, better than half is not good enough. [cough and clears throat] Our kids breathe this
014air and learn in these conditions daily. They deserve safe, modern facilities, not relative mediocrity or excuses. PAL has been overcrowded since 1986, 40 to 60% above 600 capacity, peaking just over a,000 in 2013 with portable since 1988. Where was the urgency then? I cannot lay the issues at the feet of this administration. However, past administrations and county commissions have allowed unchecked growth, but the duty to act is yours today. While we walked into the meeting previously expecting to talk about options, resoning was presented as the only option, fastest and cheapest, shifting 200 to 300 students next year. We see the logic. We reject it. Our community stands united against tearing families apart, splitting neighborhoods, and erasing our traditions. Other areas got new schools after far less time. Farragut's $43.7 million elementary, the upcoming $60 million
015K through8 in Mechanicsville. Powell has waited for over 40 years. We demand to be rebuilt, not relocated. Additions aren't possible. A new school isn't in the capital plan. If funded, it's years away. Our kids can't wait in a failing building. Board members, look at our children. These are the ones that trust us to protect them. They are our future. We ask this. Delay resoning. Engage the community. Commit now to prioritizing a new Powell Elementary. They've waited long enough. Give them a school that is safe, modern, and truly theirs. Act for them. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sherry. That concludes public forum on this topic. Madam Chair, [snorts] >> thank you. So, we have a motion by Miss Font Ridley, I believe, and a second by Mr. Wright. So, discussion, Steve, Miss Mr. Tripley. >> Thank
016you. Um, so I've attended obviously lots of meetings with, you know, PTA meetings, that kind of thing. One of the things that I've heard, you know, obviously the initial push, everybody would love to have a new school building. Everybody would love to have an [snorts] addition. Ultimately, I think, you know, maybe someday we'll get there. I think they've heard from KCS that that's not happening in short order, right? We're not building a new ski school building tomorrow, and even if we started tomorrow, it'd be a long time before it got finished. So, I think they're aware of that. Would obviously love to get there. Uh there may be some that that is like the only option and we got to do it now and I I would love to get there. Um but what I
017have heard more recently is look we understand that that may be a ways off but at the end of the day PAL just wants to stay as a community. So the the challenge is for the PAL community is they have heard you know this option and they feel like it was quick and it does I mean if you know if you're thinking it from their perspective they they hear something on one one month the next month we meet and then you know 10 days later we vote to approve. So it's a very quick moving process. what what the POW committee what we would like is just the opportunity to speak into it a little more um just to share options and and granted you know there may be some pie in the sky options that
018are out there and that there's no way going to work right we may get 15 options that somebody suggest and five of them are worth discussing and two of them could actually turn into actual something we would do but at the end of the day it if we vote no it gives us an opportunity to just have those those questions answered exhaust those options and then you see what that looks like at the end. Um, we know a timeline is is important. We know that, you know, there's a certain point where we will overcrowd the portables based on this year, this current, you know, teacher student ratio. Understand all of that. So, I know the delay is not forever. Um, but if we're not going to reszone till 2728, and I know there's the early
019transfer option, which would be nice for some families, and there are some families have reached out and said, "I would love to take advantage of that." I and I understand that. Uh but if we can delay it and just have a little more time and have some more meaningful discussion with the community. Um my question for either Dr. Adams or either one just can we delay it? What's what's the hurt in just saying voting no and delaying it? Now granted again not saying no forever, right? [snorts] We understand that something's going to have to be done. Um but just delaying it to give time for more discussion. >> Mr. Mr. Triplet, Madam Chair, members of the board, I think it's a great question and I think everyone on staff can empathize with, you know, anytime
020a decision is made and it is this impactful and it is this broad, it feels urgent and it feels um it feels impactful, right? It feels disruptive and it is disruptive and so we absolutely honor that um and recognize that. One of the things that I would say just in response to this question of what happens if we delay, I would say two things happen if we delay and you labeled one of them. One is that there is a group of families who would not have that option to take advantage of the early exit. We do know that if we don't act now, we would not be in a position to staff for an early exit. So we would be looking at, you know, families who would know they are subject to reszone and potentially
021denying them that opportunity for a longer term stinted continuity that we're trying to also offer to families by merit of extending the grandfather transfer. And so we wanted to be as fair as possible in that regard to all families. I would say the other thing that could happen um honestly is just kind of a a false inclination of hope uh that there is a better option out there. So I know Dr. Adams has been out to the school multiple times. I've been to the school. Um I know you have been to the school multiple times. We've been talking about this since November. Um if not before then. And when we think about the number of configurations that are possible to generate the relief needed, this is a pretty finite area that we're talking about. Um
022it's not a very large area that we're talking about. And so when you're looking at those statistical areas and how you could potentially take this plot versus that plot versus this plot, that was the intent of the community meeting that was had um earlier this month to say really those three scenarios paint a picture of what's possible. And there are only so many ways we can generate the relief needed. Those three scenarios pretty much encompass those options. And so we did get amazing feedback from the community um and really appreciate the community speaking into those options. And we hope that the one that has been proposed was the one that was most responsive to that feedback. But if we were to punt, delay, um, you know, I do worry that it risks conveying a message
023that there's another option out there when the team has done the work to identify that there isn't another option out there to generate the relief needed. >> I I appreciate your answer and I do appreciate, you know, the PAL community has mentioned that they do feel like you have heard and and made adjustments to the proposal based on their feedback. So there is I do appreciate that. I I still feel like they would appreciate the time to hear more options. And then the other thing I'll say to the board um is don't take just one voice, you know, from from the POW families as a lack of engagement. Obviously, you've gotten lots of emails, but they have asked Mr. Vada to speak for them in general. rather than having, you know, 40 people get up
024here and say the same thing over and over again, they've chose just to do it probably a little more logically and just have one person speak for them and and, you know, rather than take the next hour and a half and have somebody different come up and repeat the same thing over and again. So, don't take one voice as a lack of involvement or engagement, understand that he represents the communities as all of them. So, thank you, >> Miss Font Ridley. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I understand the importance of overcrowding classrooms and schools and portables and everything. I just had a few questions um just kind of make sure that I understand um how long has the resoning um conversations, meetings been in been happening? I mean, has it been like two or
025three years or two or three months or Uh thank you Miss Fono really uh madam chair. Uh so we started having these discussions about two years ago and the discussions revolved around portables. Uh we had not purchased a portable uh at that time. Uh and and as a matter of fact to date we had one portable that we had to completely replace because of fire. Uh so that was the only area where we replaced portables. One of the reasons was because of the age of the portable and the other reason was one of the portables did not have a restroom. So we repurposed newer portables to that site uh with the understanding that there were capacity um issues and so uh at the time we were looking at capacity across the district and so for
026the past two years we've looked at it um Mr. Triplin and I have visited the site uh and of course our team have visited the site and we had multiple conversations. So this has been going an ongoing conversation uh and and again then the community engaged us in conversations and uh to to come up with a viable solution and so we went through the process of looking at that. >> Okay. Thank you. Um the next question I've read emails that have suggested that we're that they're willing to wait for one to be built. What would realistically be the timeline from here for it to be built >> through the the processes that you have to go through >> finding a place to build it the money and capital expenditures and everything. >> So currently we
027are u confined to work within our five-year capital plan. And so when you look at the out years a realistic timeline to even place anything additional in our capital plan is eight years. And that's that's the earliest, right? And so even if you were to add something to the capital plan in eight years, you're looking at a project being completed in 11 years from now. >> Can I also chime in to you just for a moment. Um so Miss Fontner Ridley, I'll add to just a little bit of context that we had shared with the community at the community meeting and what Dr. Adams is saying is true. When you look at the five-year capital plan, obviously this is not a build that is on it. So every year when we consider what that sixth
028year is, what the next year is that's going to be on the capital plan, you're looking at the entire district and needs across the district. And so while that would be potentially um a timeline if we were able to justify a build at that time, something else that's worth noting is that we would need to look at the facility, go through all available options, determine that there is no other alternative than a new school, then determine that we have the funding for that facility, then determine that there are not needs elsewhere in the district that would supersede that need. And so while that would be the timeline for a new build at this juncture, there are a lot of decisions that would need to slot in and boxes we would need to be able to
029check before we could even say with a reasonable degree of certainty that it would be 11 years, 13 years, 20 years from now because that's the answer in a vacuum, not the answer taken in consideration of the rest of the district and needs districtwide. >> I had another question that just went >> Yeah. Can I can I just real quick if I don't care jumping on this piggy back on on what Miss Lner is saying. Um I think that's a really good point. When I I don't I just all the facts of this this is not well we just don't have enough money to build a school. The board asked us to bring a plan that was fiscally responsible. I just want to go back over there's,00 seats in the surrounding schools around there. So
030even if you ask us to bring a plan next year we'd probably bring a plan that talks about resoning. Um, and to what Miss Lner is saying, just because I mean resoning is the answer. Maybe there's a time down the road and I don't know what down that road is. Our projections are showing that that's not in the foreseeable future that we would have to look at the you move down to if you remember the decision tree, the addition or the new build. Those are not in the works and based on our projections would not be in the works anytime soon. So this is, you know, we can always make the argument of, you know, all of our facilities need upgrades and that sort of thing and and we know that we we we have
031what we have, but as far as changing the recommendation in a year, unless something dramatic happens, it would be the same. Again, you all can y'all can take it anywhere you want to go, but our job is to make sure we follow that decision tree and bring you that sequence. And as long as there's 1100 seats, I don't care in the surrounding zone, it doesn't matter where that is in the county, we'll bring you a reszone plan first because that's the most fiscally responsible. We'll go back to the drawing board if you want us to, but you know, we owe that to the taxpayers to bring the most fiscally responsible plan. So, I think that's what you're trying to say. I it's not in the projections that we see right now. Um, and and so
032everything in our capital plan does have that. So, that's why you see South Knox, you see MLB, you know, we see those things that have happened. Those were all ones that we went through that same decision tree and came to a build answer. This one stopped at his own answer. Um, Harden Valley was a was an addition answer. So, um I think that's really true. We're we're not changing our methodology. We'll continue to bring you the plan based off of that and we'll do whatever you all want us to do, but we'll bring you uh the most we're responsible. So, I just want to make sure that's a good understanding on this, too. So, thanks. >> Thank you, Dr. Risewick. Um my questions are growing. Um, what type of things would supersede Powell getting a
033new school if that's what the plan is in the future? I mean, I I don't know how long the Farragate schools were in the talks. I don't know about how long the MLB decision was in the talks before those schools were uh decided to be built. >> Right. Um, so Miss Font Ridley, members of the board, what I would say is that there's not really a hard number in terms of how long until um, we can talk about how long a new build takes once it's on the capital plan. I think what we're really talking about right now is the path to a capital plan solution. And so this is what Dr. Eiswick was saying in terms of having this conversation about what would it take to to reach the capital plan for us to
034propose a solution to the board that involved capital planning for POW. That would take looking at that decision tree and not being able to reszone. So, 1100 seats being filled uh in the immediate surrounding area. If that were to happen, then we probably would then need to go down that decision tree um and entertain an addition, entertain a new build just depending on the surrounding capacity. As long as there is capacity in the immediate area surrounding the school, we can't put a length of time on a potential capital plan solution because a capital plan solution is not needed. Um and and don't get me wrong, I um appreciate the efforts to um compromise because you know when we it was first brought it was we're going to do you know we want to do the
035resoning next year >> but with the transfers and the early exits and the feeding patterns and everything um I appreciate the compromise because It's hard to find compromise anymore um with people in general. So um All right. Thank you. >> All right, Miss Spike. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um definitely when we me mention portables, um I'm interested because my district has um I have like I asked for the information. I think I've got four schools that all have portables. Three have two portables and one has four portables, but each of those portables seems like house two classrooms per portable. So, and my kids, both of my kids have gone through portables. So, I definitely understand and um while and I get that they are a solution that we've used, it's definitely something that I've
036been asking for us to move away from and I've been talking with Garfield for a while now, especially since the one that um burned was also in my district. I was really sad to not have um an addition on that school and to find out all of this stuff then and be like, what? Um, and so, you know, I've dug in, asked a lot of questions. This has like felt a bit like a roller coaster of like, oh, this seems like a good solution, and then, wait a minute, nope. And then kind of going back and forth and kind of digging in because I think my last experience was Mil Creek. I know that the difference is that Mil Creek was a new school, but that also with Mil Creek it was they didn't have
037the same offer of the the grandfathering or legacy and and all those kinds of things. It was um I think like fourth grade you could stay in fifth grade, but I think I don't even know if the third graders could stay through fourth and fifth grade. And so and then like early options and things like that. So, I think that that is something that I felt like was really good about this plan and also knowing that it was coming because I think um it was maybe a couple of you that said if we don't do this now, we will be doing it basically in two years um because of the schools around it having extra seats. So, I've kind of been all over the place with this. Um, I've definitely, you know, been interested in
038our facilities assessment and that's also why I'd asked for kind of an assessment about our portables. I know that we can, you know, upkeep them, but if we are looking to move away from them, I'd love to see like districtwide because honestly, I've just been asking about my district. Um, and I'm sure every district has portables and um, yeah. So, so I've kind of been all over the place and just talking it through with you all. Um, but I I am curious especially um because I I look to board members uh because I feel like they know their district best like Reverend Butler in the K through eight and Betsy with Mil Creek and things like that. And so I'm really curious um Steve if you have any kind of feelings or projections on where
039we'll go from here if this doesn't pass. like what happens? >> Well, I from what I've heard from our community, they just want an opportunity to explore options to keep as much of the PAL community, the PAL community as they can. Um, and so, you know, they they've even, you know, I know that that Beltown was a topic of conversation. And I got some emails from so folks from Belltown that said, you know, I'd be happy if if we had to reszone to reszone to KS, but come back to Pal Middle and Pal High because that's that's home to us. That's where we, you know, and a lot of folks in the PAL community have been there a long time. Like I mean, generational, you know, and so it is a, you know, it is
040a it's a different community than just, you know, a Knoxville address. It's its own kind of its own world, you know, and so um folks want to stay in it. Um so I I I think really they just what if if there's a no vote, I understand from KCS, we're going to have to have some conversations. Um but what the folks from Palry School want is just the opportunity to speak into those and exhaust some other options before we we end up here, you know. And if and if if we exhaust all the options, we talked to all the options and we end up here, then we end up here. But at least we've had the opportunity and the long enough time to have enough discussion to say we've explored other options. You know, I
041I think the community is well aware that a new school's not happening in the next, you know, [snorts] short short order. So, what they're looking for is can can we have a seat at the table and have some more discussion around other options so that we when we get to the end and we have a vote, it's something that we've said, all right, we've tried all of the things and maybe one of those works or part of that works. Uh, but at the end of the day, we end up with an option that that they've had the opportunity to speak into more. Mhm. Um I mean I guess because it just it seemed like you know that you had previously mentioned that you were working on a plan and so I'm curious if there was
042any more to that or if >> Dr. as I've been talking about pal the portables and the space in it the space on the property for again for a couple of years and so we've talked about things that you know obviously I pressed for an addition on the back and I know that M frost worked on some options to bring all the kids from the portables in the building if you know an addition was possible and um so we we've talked through a lot of those things um you know ultimately they ended up with Reszone as as as their best option and I I I understand the logic behind you know that that choice choice in the fiscal aspect of it, but um so I I don't know that we had a plan that was
043I mean we didn't have like a new build plan or it just we've been talking about Pal School. It has it has had needs for a long time and the portables are aging. The facility is older. So, you know, what what are we going to do? Um and so this is kind of where they end up. >> Yeah. Thank you. I guess um I'm just stuck because also with what Miss Lner said, I don't want this to be a thing where it does give some hope that there's going to be this other option out there because I know that some some people have uh emailed talking about maybe um moving the elementary school to the middle school and I was like, "Oh, okay. Can we do that?" And I asked everyone, went through all the
044questions, was like, "Nope." the amount of work that it would take to do and then, you know, the moving the fifth grade over and kind of all these other ones. It really seems like we're ending at not having another option. And so it would be my worry, but I also get having more time. So that's just kind of where I'm stuck. Um, thanks for letting me talk out loud to everyone, >> Miss Templeton. >> Yeah, I agree that it feels it feels quick. um possibly because I've been on the board for a year and a half and so if this is something that you've been working with with your community for over a year um it feels somewhat quick um also due to a family emergency. wasn't here last month. So, I was watching um
045recorded um board meeting from last month. Um, but I remember you, Steve, talking in December about not wanting portables to be an option and that was a big concern um, of the community and um, and I appreciate that you've been involved in this process for so long and have been able to speak into the process for as long as you have. Um, so can you confirm that portables are not a concern at this anymore? >> The community would rather stay together and in portables then have to to reszone and leave and and and be in a brick and mortar. >> Okay. And this is something that we've discovered out of that meeting, [clears throat] >> the the community meeting. >> Yes. I mean, there is no doubt that the portables are concerned. They're they're older,
046you I mean, if you talk to and part of the in initiation of this conversation was the age of the portables and and what can we do about that? Um, but at the end of the day, if they said, "Well, obviously we take a new school over a portable, but I'd rather have a portable than reszone somewhere else." >> Okay. >> Leave the pal community. >> So, if we know that reszoning is inevitable and you're and from what I'm hearing, you're asking us to delay. >> Correct. Um, if we do that, that removes the grandfathering option and the early exit option, which frankly removes their choice on where they're going to go for their families. it would remove the early exit option. But if we have a discussion through the summer and we bring this
047in August, then it wouldn't rem it could potentially still have the grandfathering option because according to the timeline now, the decision if you want to grandfather has to be made by October 1st, >> November 1st, sorry, November 1st. So if the decision has to be made by November 1st, then really all we need to do if we're going to have some grand if we end up in this same scenario where grandfathering becomes a part of the plan, we would just have to have that decision made by, you know, if we if we started this vote in August, September, whatever, you know, then that vote could happen and we could still have the grandfather. No, the early exit does get eliminated if we wait. That is that is correct. >> Right. We're slowly I mean at
048the longer we kick this the fewer options remain for families. Right. >> Yeah. I mean I think really the only option that would leave is the early exit. The grandfathering would be on the table for you. We've got five months for that. >> We assume. Right. >> Right. >> Um Okay. Um because right now from what I understand we have a three-year kind of runway before and really this is probably a misl question. Three-year runway is where we are now. >> Miss Triplet, members of the board, three years out is really where we see um the population increase getting to a point at which we will no longer be able to serve the building in its current overcrowded state even with the portables. So that is where overcrowding even exceeds the portable capacity. >> Three
049years. >> Okay. Um I had a question today and this might be a Miss Himlgarn question um regarding teachers um and movement of teachers and this probably we we probably don't know the answer um but they were looking for um information from Powell Elementary you know would those teachers be relocated [snorts] to other schools or would this result in a staffing cut? Madam Chair, Miss Templeton, is your question for if the not for early exit. So if the resoning is passed once the resoning is instituted. >> Correct. >> Yes. So um there I mean we would anticipate that the children are moving from one location to another so that it would still require roughly the same number of teachers to serve those students. Um but yes, there would be a process um to transition teachers
050from one building to another potentially. We did the same um with Mil Creek. Um so there was an opportunity um for some teachers from Hard Valley and KS to go over to Mil Creek as well. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay, those are my questions. Thank you, >> Miss Spike. Thank you. Um, I also remembered that I had um a few people ask questions about middle schools today and I talked to Miss Lner, but I kind of wanted to if we could talk about it here too, just to get that out there because I didn't get a chance to respond to everyone about that. >> Miss Spike, thank you so much. I have spoken to a lot of you all today and can you remind me what it was, what your question was? It
051was the um it was the kind of complicated one about um if they're in PAL elementary um the side where so if they're on if they're being reszoned to bricky then they're bricky pal pal um and that that side realistically if they're reszoned to bricky then if they they can choose to stay in PAL and then they'll still be PAL all the way through but the other side I think mainly Belltown that >> it's coming back to me now. >> Yes. So I think this was a question of what do the feeder patterns look like right um post reszone and so there are two groups I think that make this easier to talk about if we think about this in terms of the students who would be reszoned from Powell Elementary School to Bricky and
052then the students who would be reszoned from Powell Elementary to KS. And so for the students who would be reszoned from Powell Elementary School into K's elementary school with the middle school reszone in the memo that is proposed, you would have purity of feeder pattern for kindergarten through 12th grade. I think the question you and I talked about was what if you have a family who is reszoned to KS Elementary that chooses to remain at POW Elementary on that grandfather transfer. So I'm a first grader. I choose to stay at POW Elementary School all the way through my fifth grade year. What happens then? So at that point, that family, if they are in the area that was going to be reszoned to K's Elementary, they would be zoned for at that time K's Middle.
053So they would have two options. they metriculate to K's Middle which is their zone feeder pattern at that time or they could apply for a general transfer um and may get that if they happen to have a student who remained at POW middle school who is an older sibling that's already there they would apply for a sibling transfer and so there are a couple of options at that point those families would already have been zoned for K's high school and so there's no change in their feeder pattern at that juncture um and so they would remain at K's High School or once again apply for a transfer to Pal High School or any other high school in the district if they so chose. For our families, Bricky and I think we had talked about this
054earlier as well. So, our families that are being zoned out of POW Elementary School and into Bricky Mloud Elementary School, their feeder pattern is already at this time POW POW POW. It would become Bricky Pow Pow. And so part of that, you know, purity of feeder pattern is just thinking about the large number of bricky students that already metriculate to PAL middle and then to PAL high school and that proximity to their future cohort graduating classes, that opportunity to build those social networks earlier. I think we had talked about there was one sliver um and Mr. Mr. Dillingham went through this Monday at the presentation that there was a sliver uh on the original maps that were shown at the community meeting south of Clinton Highway that would have been subject to be zoned out
055of POW Elementary and into KS. In so doing, that neighborhood, that swath of land would have been zoned KS Elementary, Pal Middle, POW High. And so that was not our best thinking. Um, and that was actually a great example of responsiveness to community feedback. So grateful for the community for providing that lens. It's exactly what we wanted out of that community meeting. We're able to take another look. We knew that was an area that had to be reszoned, but resoning them into bricky instead of KS provided for that purity of the feeder pattern to go Bricky Mloud, Pal Middle, Pal High, which is what it currently is proposed to be. >> Does that help? Was that the question? Okay. >> Yes, that was the question. And then I had one more regarding middle school that
056um came in after I talked to you. If um if there's a fifth grade, if this passes and there is a fifth grader this year that is potentially being reszoned for middle school, is that a part of the option to stay or where where would they be going? >> So for fifth graders this year, I would say that's the group of families that is driving this urgency, right? That's a great example of a family that um would be potentially impacted by the zone will know that for a year. >> And so for a fifth grader who's currently zoned for PAL middle because nothing is going into effect next year, that fifth grader will metriculate into Pal Middle next year as a sixth grader. at that time, then they would have access to the extended grandfather
057to remain as a seventh grader and then also to remain as an eighth grader without um not without, but if they chose not to take advantage of that grandfather, they would enter their sixth grade um year next year in PAL and then move to K's Middle, seventh and eth, and this is the reason again for the urgency, knowing that if the family wants to go ahead and make that transition to K's Middle next year and they want to begin at K's Middle so that they can have that continuity from sixth grade to 7th grade to 8th grade. The early exit would give that family the opportunity to have that continuity. And then one more question, if this doesn't pass um those fifth graders, is there still time for them if they know that this is
058probably going to happen? Is there time for them to apply for a transfer for next year? >> It's a great question. I think Mr. Triplet and I have talked about this as well. And so, um, I'm going to restate the question just to make sure I've I've heard it correctly. So, for families who will be in the areas subject to reszone, whether they're fifth grade or otherwise, um, and they know they're going to be zoned for another school two years from now, but not next year. Uh, could they without the early exit take advantage of just a general transfer? And the answer to that question is they could apply for a general transfer. What the early exit does is it does two things. is it guarantees the opportunity to leave. And so if you want
059to go ahead and establish that continuity sooner rather than later, you would um need an early exit for us to be able to guarantee that seat. Um and that's part of the urgency. For us to be able to guarantee that seat, we have to know that we can staff to it. Um because there may be more than two or three families or two or three kiddos that choose to take advantage of that. 20 students makes a teacher, right? And so 20 students if they go, we have to be able to have enough time to make sure that we make that staffing change for a teacher to follow those students. And so while yes, the general transfer is always on the table, it is a lottery and it is constrained by capacity and staffing is part
060of that capacity. >> Okay. Thank you, [snorts and clears throat] >> Miss Henderson. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh thank you, Steve, for bringing up those points. Um, you know, like I said Monday, um, I really want to take this back to the community so they have a seat at the table and a little bit more input into this plan. Um, but I do have a question for you, Miss Lner. Do you have an idea of how many families want to take advantage of that exit, that early exit option? >> Miss Henderson, members of the board, it's a great question, and we don't. So, without, you know, having a mechanism to put that out to families, um, and this is always the tricky part, right? the moment you put a survey out, half your families
061think it's happening, right? Um, and so you think because you've clicked yes on the survey, then you're definitely going. And so other than just word of mouth, no. Um, I can say this anecdotally, I know, I can't remember if I shared this or not on Monday, um, but we know that at least one of the elementary schools, we know both elementary schools impacted, both Bricky and, um, K's elementary, they're getting calls from families that are interested. Um, enough to warrant, uh, them telling us that they're getting a high enough volume of calls that are interested. Um, Kins Elementary in particular has received a high enough volume of calls that I believe pending this vote, if it is approved, plans on having an open house for prospective families after um, spring break just to give folks
062an opportunity to make that decision. Um, just seemed like they had enough interest to warrant that. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. >> All right. Anyone else? So, just a couple of thoughts. Um, first, um, Mr. V, thank you for being the spokesperson for the group and, um, I do recognize and appreciate what you were saying, Steve. I think that no doubt there would be many, many more people here tonight. So, um, you know, thank you to everyone that's reached out by email. Um, I know it's a widespread concern. Um, reszoning conversations are always really, really hard. What I'm struggling with on this one is I don't see $60 million anywhere in the near future um for a school. I that's the reality. Um, and I struggle with the false hope. The other thing
063I struggle with is and I understand what everyone is saying about rushing it but at the same time there is such a delay in the implementation. This is probably one of the more generous reasonzoning proposals I have seen as far as the early exits and the grandfather and all of that. Um, and we hear all the time, you know, people say, "Well, I bought my house so I could go to this school or, you know, and people have to plan." So, where where my struggle is is when you delay it and you end up with the same answer, right? Then you're going to hear the flip side. I didn't have enough time to prepare for my family. We didn't have enough time to work out these arrangements. you know, we may have been able to
064do this with transportation if we had known ahead of time and gotten a grandfather or grandparent or somebody. So, I think there's some planning on that side of things, too, when you rush it on that end and you don't give people enough time if if that's the inevitable. And I do think that the longer you delay, the less generous the re reszoning proposal becomes. I mean that that's the other reality. I mean and when you come back are we going to expect to see all these things that maybe we can't do any longer because you know the growth and we have more students and everybody that's heard this conversation might be thinking well this is going to be the worst that there is. But in reality when we come back it might look worse. Um
065that's what I'm struggling with. You know I did hear Mr. Triple asked Monday if the situation drastically changes can we revisit it? And the answer was you know we can always revisit it. So, these are I mean things that I'm struggling with because I think that inevitably we're going to end up with the same answer, but it's not going to be as an as desirable as this one is as far as the options that we're giving families if that makes sense. Um, so that's where I am on it. [snorts and clears throat] Does anybody else have discussion. Miss Morgan, >> thank you, Madam Chair. I really appreciate everybody from PAL again, like like we've all talked about reaching out and I certainly um would not want to split apart a community if we had any
066other options. Uh listening to everybody talk, you know, I've heard Mr. Triplet say that he and Dr. Adams have been talking about this for a couple of years. And if it's been on the table that long, I don't see what tableabling it for another few months is going to accomplish. Um, the district has put in the work to figure this out. And the thing I go back to, I appreciate the early exit and people need that time. Um the thing I go back to with why the rush to do this. I wouldn't want to rush any decision that we then that a community feels is forced upon them. But uh we have heard from community members since November saying that they don't feel like their kids are safe and they don't feel like the conditions
067are acceptable for their children to be in school. And so for us to have been brought that as a board and to have been told these things and then for us to look into it and not act upon a solution to help with that even though it's not the ideal solution and I completely respect um how they feel about that um how all of you guys feel about that in in your community. I it feels like it would be irresponsible. Uh it's not an easy decision to make to reszone and um I hope everybody knows that we don't do it lightly. Um but it feels like it is the responsible thing to do to make sure that everybody's in an adequate learning space even though it's not everybody's preferred learning space. Thank you, Miss Morgan.
068Is there any other discussion? >> [clears throat] >> All right, Miss Cotney, do you want to do a roll call? >> Dr. Butler, >> pass. >> Miss Templeton, >> pass. >> Miss Fonta Ridley, >> yes. >> Miss Bike, >> pass. >> Miss Morgan, >> yes. >> Miss Henderson, >> no. >> Mr. Triplet, >> no. >> Mr. Wright, >> yes. Miss Christie, >> yes. >> Dr. Betler, would you like to change your pass vote? >> No, I don't I don't want to change my pass. >> You don't want to change. >> Miss Templeton, would you like to change your pass vote? >> No, ma'am. >> And Miss P, would you like to change your pass vote? >> The vote right now is four yes votes, two no votes, and three pass. >> [snorts] >> Madam Chair,
069that's five yes votes, two no votes, and two pass votes. Submission carries. >> [snorts] >> All right. Um, public forum, Miss Trit. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have three other public forum speakers this evening. The first one is Gavin Gambuza. Gavin, if you would please state your name and county of residence. You'll have three minutes. >> Gavin Gambuzza, Knox Knox County. Good evening, Madame Chair and members of the board. I am a bulldog, class of 2017. I love my alma mada, but I have found a skeleton in our school's closet that I can no longer ignore. In October 1976, a Beardarden student named Triny Gibson went on a field trip and she never came home. for 50 years of bureaucratic coldness has hung over this case. I have spoken to Triny's mother. She is 88
070years old now. For five decades, she has waited across state lines for a single word of compassion from the district where her daughter was last seen. Imagine that. 50 years of silence from the people who were supposed to be her daughter's guardians. I am not here to talk about sovereign immunity or legal liability. The law is a cold dead thing when a mother is grieving. I am here to talk about humanity. You think you might think this happened before your time, but a community is only as strong as the promises it keeps to its children. In 1976, a promise of safety was broken. For 50 years, a promise of compromise has been ignored. To the parents on this board, if this were your child, you wouldn't want red tape. You would want your community to
071care. Triny was a greeneyed beacon of light. She was a girl uh she was a girl of deep faith who loved the hymn through many dangers, toils, and snares. I have already come. Madame Chair, Triny has been through the snares. I am asking this board to finally be the grace that leads her memory home. I have her mother's blessing to be here. I am joined by members of the class of 1978 who never forgot their friend. We are asking you to do what was not done in 1976. Look this family in the eye across the decades and say we are sorry. She was our student. She mattered and we failed her. I know there are some of you today that after the sun sets tonight, Triny's name returned to the archives. But I am here
072to offer a grievance, not a grievance, but a commitment. As long as the good Lord gives me breath, I will be in that chair. I will be here next month and the month after that, whether it takes a single season or the next 30 years. I will be the steady voice for this mother. I am not standing here out of anger, but out of a quiet, unshaken duty to the truth. I leave you with one question to take home tonight. What kind of legacy does this board want to want to leave? I look forward to seeing how you lead. I'll see you next month. Thank you and God keep blessing Knox County. >> Thank you, Gavin. [applause] Next is Candace Banister. Please state your name and county resident. You'll have three minutes. Candace Spannister, Knox
073County resident. I was making salad to go along with dinner one night when Will was about five. I asked him if he thought he'd like to have one. Will asked what a salad was, so I explained that it's a bowl of uncooked veggies on top of lettuce. He said, "I'm not sure what lettuce is." And before I could answer, he said, "Oh, wait. Do you mean like let us thank him for our food?" I thought it was the sweetest answer ever. He did have a salad that night and he found out he loved them. I've been coming to speak to you all for about a year and a half now. I'm having trouble understanding why the man who bullied, harassed, and intimidated our son is still in a very high level position called chief of
074schools. He knew Will had been diagnosed with and was on medication for an anxiety disorder. It makes no sense to me. I know no teacher would be allowed to continue to work for Knox County Schools if they treated the a student the way that this admin treated our son. I told you about an uh I was told about an adult who saw this adman really going after Will in the guidance suite. A person I don't even know sent a message to me on Messenger to tell about hearing this admin yelling. While she was on the phone with her daughter, she asked what he was yelling about and her daughter said, "Oh, he's yelling at Will again like he always does." Some of Will's friends came to our house and told us about the way he
075treated Will. Will himself told me about the admin standing over him in all four of his classes in four days time. Yet, the admin who did this to our son was not ever held accountable. I recently received a question regarding an item on our open records request from 2019 which we were asked to resubmit in August of 2025. It said for item number 11, emails received by Knox County Schools and board members during this man's tenure at uh Farragut High School concerning him and containing at least one of the following terms. Intimidate, harass, bully, complain, target, menace, pressure, coerc, threaten, inappropriate, vindictive, duress, browbeat, tactics, hound, single out, and favoritism. Your records coordinator responded with, "Our initial search found 2,220 potentially responsive documents. It would take 19 to 37 hours to retrieve, redact, and review
076these items. Would you like to adjust the search to reduce the number of emails?" I was stunned. Just the number of potential matches is appalling to me. Do you honestly not have an issue with that man being called chief of schools? Do you think there are any other admin in the system who would have 2,220 potential email matches written to KCS or board members to those terms with their name in the name of their school? And if you think there are, don't you think you should be addressing it? Several of you are currently running to continue serve as representatives of KCS school board and one of you is asking to be elected to the position of county mayor. You've heard me speak for a year and a half, but nothing has been done. If you
077don't care about student safety enough to care that this admin bullied our son who he knew was on medication for an anxiety disorder to the point of his taking his life, then what do you count about care about and why should you continue to serve on this board? Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause] Candace. Laura Dean Allen. >> Laura, please state your name and county of residents. She'll have three minutes. >> Okay. Sorry. Uh Laura Bean Allen, Knox County. Um I'm here to share a poem that I wrote about being an ESL teacher. I grew up a good little Christian girl. My mom and dad were both deacons. We were in church Sundays, Wednesdays, and for almost any other event. Most of my family and friends were Christians, too. I loved it. It felt like
078home there. Sometimes it still does. As I got older, I went not just to my church, but to my friends churches, too. We did Bible studies, mission trips, and youth conferences. We spent hours and hours learning the Bible. My leaders taught me to love others like Jesus did, to advocate for the poor, the hurting, the disenfranchised, to love justice and mercy and humility, to speak and act with kindness and grace. Around 2015, something strange happened. A man came on TV and began to speak with hate. It shocked me to be honest how anyone could speak like that. I had seen hate before, but not like this. I thought the church would not stand for it, but I looked around and people were cheering. Close family, friends, Sunday school teachers, church leaders. Something deep within me
079began to crack. Few a few years later, I began to teach ESL. How blessed I was. I thought Jesus told us to love the world, and here the world has come to us. how lucky I am to learn from them and love them. The same people who supported my mission trips did not want my students here. Do we only love them when they're far away from us? I wondered. They said it was only about documents and yet they didn't know anything about the process. They told them to just get in line without even noticing there wasn't one. My students asked me why people hate them here. I didn't know what to say. The strangest part is that my immigrant friends, students, and neighbors are almost all Christians. To see the church slam the door on
080my brothers and sisters still gives me chills. Year after year, the hate grew. They told me America was great again. I wonder what happened to all those Bible stories they taught me. I went back to look. Maybe I have the wrong book. They told me our nation was Christian again, but I remembered the Christ they taught me. And now these three things remain. Faith, hope, and love. I've never seen a faith more cruel. I've never felt a love more exclusive. I have never known a hope more misplaced. Was any of it ever real? The good little Christian girl wept. In excusing the worst in him, you crushed the best in me. [applause] Thank you, Laura. Madam chair, that concludes public forum. >> So with that, we are a journ. [clears throat]