001Welcome to the board of education's August 7th, 2025 regular session meeting. Please stand as we observe a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance led by Miss Morgan. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Just a few announcements. On behalf of the board, I hope that all of our students, families, and staff members had a wonderful first half day of school today. I know my own kids had a fun day today. Our next policy review meeting will be held on Friday, August 22nd at 10:00 a.m. in this boardroom. and board members. TSBA's fall District East meeting will be held in Campbell County at Valley View Elementary School on Tuesday, August 26
002from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. She'll be reaching out to us, but please remember to let Terry know if you would like to attend. And just as a reminder, item 5C13 was withdrawn. Are there any other requested changes to the agenda? >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Christie, second by Mr. Triplet. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? All right, Miss Terry. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Item five, consent agenda. Second, >> a motion by Miss Christie, second by Mr. Triplet. Do we have any discussion? >> Seeing there is none. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 6A, approve first reading of Knox County Board of Education policy J 191, misbehaviors and disciplinary options as amended. Second >> motion by Miss Christie, second by Mr. Triplet. And do we have any
003discussion? >> Oh, yes, Albert. >> Oh, hi. Um, I wanted to express a bit of concern about this policy. uh just because when I've brought it up to some of the students that I've been talking to, they're kind of surprised that a potential violation of policy 240 may result the suspension that's outlined in um disciplinary like option C. And I was just wondering if we could spend a little bit of time talking about potentially adding a provision in the disciplinary options where um a violation of 240 has its own guidelines and uh consequences just for that. uh because I just think there's a pretty big discrepancy between some of the things outlined in J 191 versus J240. >> Miss Bike, >> Thank you, Albert. >> I think Albert brings up some really great points and
004I'm curious if that would be a part of the procedures and if we know uh what those pro if those procedures are outlined yet. Miss Lner, >> uh, Miss Bike, Madam Chair, Albert, um, members of the board. So, we could absolutely look at adding some specificity, um, in an administrative procedure. I will say that Dr. Brown has a group of principles that he plans on engaging over the course of this year just in looking at where some specificity and some clarity can benefit this policy um in terms of whether that's revisions to the policy that are brought back to the board or if those are uh points of clarity that are raised in a procedure. I think it's still too soon to tell exactly what that committee is going to recommend, but that's something we
005could bring to that work. I will add just and looking at uh the red lines and what's been proposed in the policy in front of you all that there is some historical language there that's been preserved. So this is a discipline code that predates the changes to J240. So this is always there's always been a violation um present uh under this discipline code for inappropriate or improper use of electronic devices. in the past that inappropriate or improper use um has been an offense that this policy has uh labeled as a uh an offense that is warranted um a B or C intervention. So that would uh be an offense that could escalate to suspension if necessary if you follow that progressive discipline within the policy. The request from administrators following the change to policy J240
006was actually to add the option for a warning. So to add that A-level intervention um for all of the reasons you outlined, right, J240 has changed. Um and so this idea that there could be a violation with an electronic device that is just having that cell phone out of area or outside of the appropriate times, that's why the A intervention um was added to acknowledge the fact that that's a lesser offense that warrants a lesser consequence. Um, so I don't know if that helps in the discussion, but that was the conversation with administrators that led to this proposed change. >> What kind of offense would lead to the what looks like uh tier 2 suspension out of school under 10 days? >> Thank you, Miss Bike, Madam Chair, members of the board. Um, so as
007Miss Lner mentioned it, you know, we use a progressive discipline model. So obviously um and I would go as far as to say I don't know that a violation of the wireless communication device would ever result in a suspension unless that was taken to another level. So for example, you have your phone out and you're requested to put it up and you refuse. Well, now we're talking about insubordination. We're not really talking about the phone anymore. Um, so I don't know that having the phone itself would ever lead to a suspension unless maybe I'm got my phone out recording a fight, which would be again contributing to negative school culture. And you know, there would be a higher consequence for that. Not not actually the possession of the phone, but what am I doing with
008the phone? You know, am I you know, I know previously that that improper use was was really where that level B and C came in. not so much the possession of it which now has kind of been lumped together with this new um wireless communication device policy. So I I would say again from my experience as as being a principal for 17 years, you know, if if we had a phone, I would never suspend a child for having a phone. >> Um and that would be the guidance I would think and and again I think to your point why principles requested that we added the A code because it used to be only B and C. So, we we did really what we did here is we added some leniency to the policy to allow
009for more um warnings and those type of things and conversation uh versus jumping right to well that's a level B response which is you know a a day of you know ATS or or you know whatever the options are. Um, but I'll also say too, if you read the last line at the at the bottom of the introductory section to J191, any offense is at the discretion of the principal. So, you know, they always have the ability to do less or more depending on the the situation and the severity of the behaviors that are involved. >> Um, so given that information, it feels like we don't need that to be a yes and that that could be a no and we would still have all the options that we plan. Is that correct? Yes. Um
010I don't guess you have to have it, but I think principles felt better adding the A uh response option to >> So the A response I guess I'm reading that um there the columns are independent of each other. Is that incorrect? >> I don't have it in front of me. >> Sorry. >> But >> is that >> Go ahead. >> I could or >> Go ahead. No, you're good. I was just going to help navigate where it is. So go ahead. So, I could hop in and say that you're correct in saying that if we made no change whatsoever, could administrators choose to issue a lesser consequence? Absolutely. Could they choose to issue um a more severe consequence if they felt the situation warranted it? To Dr. Brown's point, >> given the way the policy
011is written now, the answer is yes. The request coming from administrators was twofold. Um one was just to create that clarity and consistency across the district. They were already saying across the board exactly what Dr. Brown has said. you know, just having that cell phone out of area, that's that's an offense that warrants a warning, right? And so, if we already know that's the case, we already know that that's true across the district. Going ahead and adding that lesser intervention um option was just clear um and provided some consistency districtwide. I think the other reason for the ask was to give families that sense of um security and knowing that just having a cell phone and that initial violation wasn't going to potentially result in a B or a C consequence if I'm an administrator
012who likes to implement the policy exactly as it's written and I don't like to exercise um you know that autonomy that the policy provides to me. So again, it just kind of was the impetus there was to add that lesser um lesser intervention as an option across the district and to be really clear and transparent in the fact that we do believe that those at least policy J240 violations would uh result in a warning and not in one of those higher consequences. >> Oh, I completely agree like having the A, B, and C option. So I'm not arguing with adding the A option. um just more so that kind of middle column where it's the um suspension out of school under 10 days. It feels like if you have a student that's abusing a cell
013phone policy that um an out of school suspension is not really going to help with a cell phone situation or mobile device. >> Yeah, thank you, Miss Mike. And I would say that goes back to what I was saying before. It's about the use of the device at that point, >> not necessarily a possession of it, but um >> but that would move into a different category, right? >> But it's still it would be like so let's say for example the the example I use two kids get in a a fight at school and a group of students has their have their phones out recording it so they can post it to social media. So those are instances where we would probably take a hard stand and I can tell you as again as a
014former principal we made it very clear to our students if you film students fighting and you're encouraging that kind of behavior then there will be a consequence and sometimes that was a suspension. So again, that's that's the improper use or in this case the now electronic device violation where we might go to a level B or C because we're saying it's not really that you have the phone in your hand, but I was videoing and and having a negative impact on our school's culture and, you know, trying to really put a stop to those types of behaviors. >> No, I completely understand and I think there have been more than just fights that um have been inappropriate use for cell phones. Um, I guess I was maybe misinterpreting a little bit thinking that there was
015another line that encompassed kind of that type of use. >> So, I think the conversation Monday was around like um if I remember Albert possibly what you had shared um maybe talking about bullying and harassment. I feel like I heard that that does have its own code. Um, so there are certain ways in which you may commit an infraction uh with a cell phone that incites a different disciplinary code, but you also may um, you know, use a device improperly or inappropriately. And that's where this code has historically picked up and been used and it's in circumstances like the one that Dr. Brown just identified. So we have expanded this code to also include uh, just having those devices out of area. So really, there are two different um infractions that could be committed here.
016They're all just related to electronic devices. Does that make sense? So there's that inappropriate and improper use, but then there's also a violation of policy J240. So those violations of policy J240, that's really probably where we're going to start with the A um consequence. If we are using the device inappropriately or improperly, that may escalate to a B or a C consequence. If we are using the device for bullying and harassment, that's probably going to fall under a different discipline code altogether. >> Um, that that that makes sense. Um, I guess for me, I see if we're moving to different discipline codes, then it feels like that could still be a no. Were there administrators that said that they would like that to stay a yes? I guess like I'm my concern is that you
017know previous to our our new um cell phone policy and that limited use. I know that I can see my in my own kids like they struggle with, you know, they have devices and I try to limit their time as best as possible, but I still get some behavioral issues and stuff like that. And my kids are only allowed 30 minutes a day. And I know there are other situations where, you know, kids can be on it all day long and then they have to come to school. And I think someone had brought up like withdrawal and things like that. I think that we're probably going to see some behavioral issues. And so it would be my fear and I think other people's fear that um those behavioral issues that could be bigger, especially amongst
018um older students that that wouldn't cause them to be suspended. >> Thank you, Miss Bike. Um, yeah. Again, I think I think what we're talking about here is it's always been a yes in the column. Um, and really I think now with the changes to 240, we're adding that in as why we added the A to it. But I think those circumstances that we've always had where there's been an improper use of that wireless communication device. And again, it's not not about even the the behaviors that follow. If if the if this is the trigger and that isn't, you know, antecedent to some behavior, um then I think we still would deal with that behavior and and and it would be communic classified possibly as something else. Um but I think specifically we're talking about
019instances where you take an electronic device and you are doing something improper with it >> that you could be suspended for. not not the possession of it like the recording of someone in a fight in a bathroom that may lead to other things as well. But again, that if that's the action that we can't classify as another thing >> um because you're you're using the phone improperly, then I think this just allows principles if they choose to to suspend for those types of behaviors that may not be able to be classified as something else. >> Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense. Um I'm curious if it's possible for us to well are we going to be tracking any sort of disciplinary actions um in regards to uh wireless communication devices? Yes, ma'am. We
020do track all discipline incidents as well as consequences for those and on a monthly basis those reports are given uh Steve Ruer and Miss Lner's division. Um he he sends a a monthly report to principles so that they can see what are the things that your students are struggling with individually which students are those so that they can intervene and we can develop plans and those types of things. But yes, that is data that we provide on a monthly basis to principles at their schools so that they know specifically, you know, and it and it's it's a good tool for them as well because they may see that they're overidentifying something or we've really got a problem here or we're really suspending too much for this. We need to intervene somehow. So, um you know,
021there's lots of great information in that >> for students, for administrators, and then also for teachers because you can also see if a certain teacher seems to be identifying a behavior more so than others. And so where where's the disconnect there? Um and you know that's probably when my my division would step in and school culture would go and provide some training and those kind of things to try to help them identify you know how they can better respond to those types of situations outside of a suspension because you know we all know our our number one goal is to keep kids in in the classroom in the tier one instruction so that they are able to achieve and and get the education they come to school every day for >> that. Thank you. That
022makes a lot of sense. Um then with that, um since you're already kind of getting these reports, would it be possible to parse out the the cell phone disciplinary actions and maybe for the first three months of school report that to the board? >> That would be possible to an extent. So um and Dr. Wilson and I were just having this conversation. the report would be constrained to incidents that received a consequence um that would be logged in Aspen. So what you will see uh potentially attached to this code would be those uh consequences that are probably being given for inappropriate and improper use because just those warnings that are issued because the device is being used out of area. you know, that's not really going to be picked up because we're not going to
023enter that into Aspen. It's a passive warning. Um, and everyone goes about their day. And so, yes, absolutely. Um, we could potentially provide those reports to the board. I just want to be clear on kind of what would be included and what wouldn't be included. >> Would a suspension that get >> a suspension would Yes. >> So, I think that that would be I wouldn't assume that every little thing would be logged >> as long as that assumption wasn't there. Absolutely. if it was taken away and given back to the student. I don't need to know that. >> But that is something to keep in mind when we talk about those reports is that there is generally a body of intervention um that precedes uh a consequence that is not present, right? Um simply because
024every little exchange is not logged. But as long as that that caveat is there and that understanding is present, that's that is absolutely something we could provide. >> Would it be broken up in elementary, middle, and high school and then potentially regions or districts? So we would really probably need to take a look at the number of incidents. Um we do have an obligation to protect students and so sometimes you know when a number of incidents falls below a certain threshold we move into identifiable territory absent of that then yes I mean we would have the ability to potentially break up and take a look at that um that data in different ways. >> Yeah I wouldn't want to identify any students but yeah that would be great to have. That's all I've got. Thank
025you. >> Awesome. Thank you Miss Christie. Do we need to approve this on first reading? I think we had that discussion. Was that the desired? >> I would say that is the desire of our administrators just to begin the year with that clarity and also that opportunity to have that lower level consequence. >> So I will amend my motion to approve as >> well. Yeah. >> Thank you for that clarification. Any more discussion on this item? All right. Why don't we go ahead and vote on it? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. >> 7A. Approved memorandum of understanding with Knox County Health Department in receipt of funding up to 648,195.89 for the inschool health program for the term of July 1, 2022 through June 30th, 2026. >> Motion
026by Reverend Butler, a second by Miss Christie. Any discussion? Seeing there is none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 7B. Approve Tennessee Department of Education fiscal year 2026 CTE Perkins Reserve Grant in the amount of $50,000. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Christie, second by Mr. Triplet. Any discussion? Seeing there's none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 7C approved teaching with primary resources southern region at Middle Tennessee State University grant in the amount of $24,915.86 cents for the KCS social studies department. >> A motion by Miss Christie, a second by Reverend Butler. Any discussion? Seeing there's none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 7D. Approve Melissa's Hope Foundation grant in the amount of $50,000 for Dogwood Elementary School.
027>> Second. A motion by Miss Christie, a second by Mr. Triplet. Any discussion? Seeing there's none. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 7E. Approve TVA uplift grant in the amount of $10,000 for Green Magnet Academy. >> A motion by Reverend Butler, second by Miss Christie. Any discussion? Seeing there's none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 7F. approved grant contract with the Tennessee Department of Transportation for receipt of an aeronautics division 2025 aviation education grant in the amount of $20,000 for Pal High School. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mr. Triplet, a second by Miss Christie. Any discussion? >> Seeing there's none. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 7G. Approve City of Knoxville grant in the amount
028of $1,700 for West High School. >> A motion by Miss Spike. A second by was that you Miss Christie? Miss Christie. Any discussion? Seeing there's none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 8A. Approve contract with Jenkins and Styles LLC for the construction of additions and renovations to Halls Middle School in the amount of 13,122,000. >> So move. >> A motion by Mr. Triplet, a second by Mr. Wright. Any discussion? Seeing there's none. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 8B. Approve voice terms and conditions with United Data Technologies through a TIPS cooperative contract for the provision of voiceover IP telephone services at an approximate annual cost of $415,000. >> A motion by Miss Christie, a second by Reverend Butler. Any discussion? Seeing there's
029none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 8 C. approved contract with Kerasoft Technology Corporation for cloud analytics, data warehouse, and dashboard services for the term of August 1, 2025 through July 31st, 2028 at an annual cost of 331,92240. >> Second. >> A motion by Miss Christie, second by Mr. Triplet. Any discussion? Seeing there's none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 8 D. approved contracts with instruction partners, Kids First Education LLC, Marzano Research, National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, Pivot School Improvement Leaders, and TNTP Incorporated for provision of evidence-based instruction strategies consulting for the term of September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026, which may be extended for four additional years. >> Second motion by Miss Christie, second by Mr. Triplet. Any
030discussion? Seeing there's none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 9A. Approve appointment of Knox County Board of Education Collaborative Conferencing Management Team. >> Second. >> A motion by Miss Christie, second by Miss. Any discussion? >> Seeing there's none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 9B. Approved school construction capital improvement plan budget line item transfer in the amount of $449,558 from Lawndale Elementary School project account to the Title N solutions project account. >> A motion by Reverend Butler, a second by Miss Christie. Any discussion? Seeing there's none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 9C. Approve capital improvement plan budget line item transfer in the amount of $4,200,000 from the Stury Elementary School project to the Halls
031Middle School project. >> So moved. >> A motion by Mr. Triplet, a second by Miss Christie. Any discussion? Seeing there's none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 9D. Approve memorandum of understanding with adopt a school partnership doing business as partners in education foundation regarding operation of the teacher supply depot. Second >> a motion by Miss Christie, second by Mr. Triplet. Any discussion? Seeing there's none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> 9E. Consideration of resolution requesting a commitment from the state of Tennessee to continue to fund public education. >> A motion by Miss Bike, a second by Reverend Butler, and we do have a public forum speaker before we begin discussion. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Lance McColl if you'll state
032your name. County residents, you'll have three minutes. >> Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. Lance McColl, Knox County. Um I come to for you to urge you to pass the resolution rep the um for continuation of funds. Um this is this is a moral issue. Um we are taught that we have two responsibilities to love God and to love our neighbor. We're also taught that the neighbors we should be most concerned about are the least of these, the ones with the least advantages. And the federal funds that we get almost exclusively goes to serve the lowincome kids, the kids with disabilities. That's where it comes from. And if that were to leave, and then you know I it's hard to believe we're saying this because in years past we wouldn't even think of
033it happening, but now the world has changed and it's quite conceivable that um that those funds would go away. And for us to lose about 10% of our funding, I'm not sure what the number is. It doesn't really matter. and all that money that's really going to serve the kids who need the most. To do nothing would be a moral abdication of your responsibilities. Now, none of us is ready to to pick up the millions of dollars it would take to do that. So, it calls on us to do whatever we can to make sure that if that were to happen that something would do. And the state of Tennessee obviously has much more money than us. This resolution makes a lot of sense. I think you know that the crisis that motivated it has
034passed it seems, but we know the budgets that are being proposed in Washington and we know that cutting funds for public educ federal buds for public education is on the agenda. It's time to speak to our our state legislature and tell them, you know, look, if they cut it, we're going to be looking to you because we don't have any other place to get it. And if we don't get it, it's the least of these our children who will be the ones to suffer. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. That concludes public forum. >> Thank you. We'll begin our discussion. Miss Bike, >> thank you. Um, I'm not going to speak too long on this because I already spoke on Monday about it, but just to elaborate that, um, I think these
035funds are vital to our success and to our ability to compete with other states, um, and especially in the support of IDA, which I know wasn't necessarily one of the ones that were frozen, but I know that that has been thrown out there. but also um in the other areas of supporting our teachers and um English like we've all talked about third grade retention so much um and I think it's just really important that we let our um state know that these funds are really important to us and that they we would like them to advocate on our behalf. Thank you, >> Reverend Betler. Well, since I second it, I felt like I needed to speak to it. Uh, I second it because I feel like it's something that we at least need to talk
036about. Uh especially with the um how our our district budget was affected by the the freezing of those budget uh uh line items that affected the title programs that caused us to have to change the lives of a lot of our employees. Can't remember the exact number, but I know it was more than one. And I know it was that their lives changed uh the number of the amount of money that they make, the time that they work. Uh some of them I understand changed from one uh uh specific career position to another. Some of them are working in areas that they have not worked in before in a long time. uh it changed their lives in in in a in in a blink of an eye. And and then our district uh I mentioned
037Monday turned uh obstacle into a opportunity, but they had to do it in such a short amount of time. And some of the decisions they made was not a right or wrong answer. It was just the best that they could do. So, uh, when we change when budget considerations come, uh, or we even when we look at working the budget, we spend time and effort with what we know we're going to receive, what we've been told we're going to receive, and then we vote on it, and we had a good, solid budget, and a decision was made that was not ours to make that changed that. So I I do agree that I think we need to have some assurance that when we do a budget that we don't look uh what a few weeks
038later and we have to do something uh that is devastating to so many people. So uh I would like and know I would like for us to look at that to look at the reason why we're all the reasons why we're doing it. One of those reasons wasn't listed here is that I heard someone say on Monday night, we have urban, suburban, and rural communities. And so all of these communities that we have in Knox County is also all over the state. And every one of them had was affected by uh those budget cuts. The second thing that I uh would see is that we in the therefore is resolved that we are respectfully urging uh we're not saying what telling them what to do. We're saying this is what we'd like to see you
039do. Uh, I'm not sure if we want to ask for immediate action, at least immediate discussion or immediate consideration of this because it can happen again next year. Uh, not too many months from now, we're going to be looking at a budget process again. And I would like to feel somewhat secure that that the the dollars that we're planning that to spend on these uh so important issues because we're spending that much dollars on they have to be that important that we're going to have uh a solid uh I think superintendent said we we got to look for beyond the soft money and so we need some more hard money because that soft money didn't work for us this time. So where the hard money is going to come from? If it's not going to
040come from the federal government, then it comes from the state government. So, so that and the last thing perhaps not the last thing I say is that um my understanding and talking with one of our state legislators is that uh there was a and I'm memory saying a task force that came out of the education committee that looked at these issues. Am I right? Uh >> They still are. So, this is not something that they're not already looking at. So, it may be we're just saying confirmation of yeah, we'd like for you to take a look at this. Um, obviously it's their decision. We understand that. But we're just simply saying, and I'll be honest with you, I really didn't think um that I would I would have a comment on this until this week
041when I visited with uh about eight of my schools and listening to staff talk about how their lives changed. And my thought was when I was working in a with in a quazar government position and the uh the uh federal government budget was not uh approved in October and so we had folk who worked longer side of mid desk that went on furlow or had to leave their job and go to something else because they couldn't live off furow. So this is a real issue that has experienced that that that we real people in our communities are experiencing and I think as a board we just simply saying to the state yes we agree we need to look at some as some hard money because the soft money is not is not we can't depend
042on it. Thank you. >> Thank you Mler. Anyone else? >> Miss Morgan. >> Thank you Madam Chair. U I appreciate the intention of the resolution. I am wondering if this is uh not something that would fall more as a legislative priority. I don't know who could give clarity on that. It seems like something when we're working on our legislative priorities that we would that we would share uh rather than doing it right now and the legislaturator is not in session. >> Steve, do you want to speak to that? I I do think that if we want this to happen, we will have to make it a legislative priority kind of a yearly thing just because because right now they won't do anything with this resolution because there's not a need for them to do anything
043and what they can do is appoint a committee which they already have and they're already doing. So I think that this conversation will probably come up again and again and maybe something that we take this resolution and shorten it down into some form that fits a legislative priority at some point and and add it in January, maybe year after year. or maybe it changes a little bit. But yeah, I could see that happening. >> Miss F. >> Thank you. Um I did actually um go back and forth as to whether this was just a legislative priority. obviously. Um, so I started working on this as soon as I got the notice that, you know, everything was up in the air and in order for it to be sent to TSBA to make it a part
044of their legislative priority, we would have to pass this before September. And that would be my goal. It would be my goal that this would also be a part of that we would take some verbiage from this um as to what the whole board felt were appropriate and make that a part of our own legislative priorities but also to make it a part of TSBA's. That's something that I did with the third grade retention resolution and it was pretty wellreceived and it was really a great opportunity to work with TSBA and they did make that a part of their legislative priorities and then you know especially since that is kind of we're looking at them to be our lobbyist because we don't currently have a lobbyist um that that is kind of our avenue to
045have some action. So, that's the reason kind of why I didn't wait. And um I have immediate action in there because when because we all know the time that it takes to get this through all the people and to tweak it and make sure it's like just right. Um we hadn't yet been notified that we were going to receive the funds. So, I would be amanable to taking out um immediate action or replacing that with some other verbiage um if someone has a preference on that. But otherwise, that that was kind of my thought process. >> Anyone else? >> I do appreciate this resolution, Miss Mike. Thank you for bringing it up. Um, I do agree with you, Miss Morgan. Um, I do think it seems more of a legislative priority and, you know, there
046was a delay in the freezing of funds, but then they release those funds after a few days. So, for me, it's a moot point. So, I'll probably be voting no on this. Um, but that's just my my thoughts on that. Miss Bike, >> I completely agree with you in some ways, but I think if you asked our staff and teachers who were reassigned, the um nearly 30 that they would not think this was a moot point or the um parents that were devastated um for the gifted and talented services that they receive and how that had to be upended last minute. I think that they would also not think that this was a mood point, >> which I totally understand and I am thankful for Miss Dr. Phillips for for working on the opportunity to
047make our GT program even more robust. I'm excited to see um how that pans out over the next year. Is there any more discussion? Yes, Miss Tim Oh, look like you Okay, Miss Templeton. >> Wow, your peripheral vision was on point. Um, I want to thank you for putting this together. Um, I think that um, what happened was devastating to so many people and it affected everybody in one way or another in all of our districts. So, um, we've all been impacted by the um, loss of that federal funding and um, frankly, we don't know when this might happen again. Um, and so I think having something written that is approved and already waiting on the desk of our legislators upon their return to say, "Please fight for the funding if this happens again because
048hopefully it will not." Uh, but it did require fighting to get it back from across the nation. So to all of those people, thank you. Um, and I think it's important to go ahead and have it written, approved, in their hands so that we're not behind the eightball later. >> Thank you, Reverend Butler. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. As I said earlier, I I I made I second the motion so that we could have a discussion. I'm I'm comfortable if we had it in a legislative uh format. uh and uh if we could get it to TSBA as well. Um and so um because I think that for me the practical part of it is is that you do it in the best manner that's going to be heard and be considered is their decision.
049We can't make their decision for them, but we we want them to hear us and we want them to consider what we've asked about. And so that's the legislative agenda, then I'm fine with that. Uh but I just want to make sure that we have something that will address the issue of the soft money as well as the hurt and and and and still the the what things that families and our employees and others are going through. So, I'm not sure what kind of what what that does other than just carrying the motion and then see what we go from there. But I think that if that's one of the things I would be pleased with that, >> Miss Blake, >> um I think uh maybe this is a question for Gary. It was my
050understanding that in order to send it to TSBA, the board would have to pass it. Is that correct? >> U Thank you, Miss Bike. Uh, and Madam Chair, so if if you want TSBA to adopt this as a Knox County Board of Education resolution, in other words, you know, voted on and fully approved, then yes, that would be correct. I mean, individually, you could say that you support this, but if you wanted TSBA to be able to say that the whole board, this is this is an action of the board, then yes, it has to be voted upon and approved. >> Yeah. And that's kind of what I understood too and that's what you know I always love the support of my fellow board members. So I think that's why I brought this instead of
051just working directly with TSBA. >> Miss Christie not specifically about this resolution itself but Dr. Roswick, could you or Miss Himlgarnorn speak a little bit to I guess my concern is and it always is be it at the school level or the district level is when we use these types of funds to um pay for staffing, there's always that risk. And if we are looking at ways to maybe not use so many um so much of the federal dollars for actual human resource staffing decisions, >> I'm glad you brought that up because I was I wanted the same discussion. So, Dr. Risewick, >> thank you, Madam Chair. Um M. Christie, I'll jump in. Uh Jennifer, you can clean it up. All right. Um, no, it is a great I think you know lessons learned from
052us. Um, I think the practice of the district has been to use some of those federal dollars probably like general purpose dollars just because I mean that that has been our practice. I think that's what our staff took away um when the dollars had been reinstated. We actually took a half a day and this summer went away to kind of lay out guidelines moving forward before we turned it over to people like Dr. Phillips and as they you know we'll get the ins and outs of what we do forward and some of our guidelines moving forward were that not people but contracts right uh trainings bandwidth bills like those kinds of things that's really what a lot of these dollars now let me separate some that's not necessarily idea dollars for sped or title one
053dollars like some of those kinds of things but some of the ones that actually we saw um title two for professional development title three uh we did have a lot of people in our title two professional development one um and So that was kind of what we're looking at for this reinstatement and use of these dollars or are there ways that we can do like contracted work with a with a group that can come in and train maybe around literacy as opposed to people being in that. Um far less volatile then when you lose that you you maybe cut some of the supports back or add some of the supports back. Um but we really think that's probably the way that we're trying to move forward with these. Um, again, not faulting. I mean, that's
054kind of been the practice of the district for a long time because I think those kind of have been guaranteed dollars. They'll fluctuate on an annual basis, you know, a few percentage points here or there, uh, but for the most part, we've been okay. So, I do think it will change our practice moving forward to try to make them more um, year-to-year things that we can use without impacting people. I don't know if you'd add to that, Mr. >> M. Madam Chair, Miss Christie, just echo that each of each of these federal dollars are are allocated to the district to supplement what the general purpose budget provides. Um, and they're each allocated for specific reasons. Um, depending on which which title they're under. Sometimes a person can serve that specific purpose. Um, but but sometimes
055something else could as well. And what this this has been a a good reminder for us that that not funding so many personnel out of these dollars um will make it less impactful to people if the dollars change. Thank you. I think that's wise, especially knowing the state has the committee that's already exploring um if we should be accepting all the federal dollars that the state accepts. So, thank you for that. Thanks for bringing up that discussion point, Miss Christie. Is there any more discussion? Oh, Miss Morgan, >> I think just I I appreciate your answer, Miss Bike, and I do like the uh I I like the what you're saying here in this, and I I certainly agree that it was uh hard, very difficult. Hard doesn't even begin to hit on uh how
056it was to lose this funding. Um, I find myself uh wanting to make sure that when we do put a resolution forward with the whole board support that it's a strong really saying something resolution and the state has already got the committee formed to look at this as well as um these dollars being back. And while of course we could lose them at any time, I do think it's great that at the district level we're looking at using how we allocate our our federal dollars, uh being very intentional so that we're not losing people. Um as you all just said, Dr. Eiswick and Miss Himgard. Um and so in light of all of those things, um I'm following uh along with Miss Henderson, I think I'll be voting no on this resolution. >> Thank you,
057Miss Morgan. the spike. >> I'm honestly surprised to hear you say that it's not a strong ask. Um I think that it's definitely been a theme with this board that we don't want to tell our legislature what to do. Um but there has not been a resolution yet from any board across the state of Tennessee that has made this ask. And I think as the third largest district in the state of Tennessee that was risk at risk of losing $3.8 million that this is in accordance and appropriate. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Pike. Anyone else? All right. Seeing there is not Miss Cody, can you please do a roll call vote? >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Betler, >> yes. >> Miss Tampleton, >> yes. >> Miss Fontino Ridley, >> yes. >> Miss Bike,
058>> yes. Miss Morgan, >> no. >> Mr. Triplet, >> no. >> Mr. Wright, >> no. >> Miss Christie, >> no. >> Miss Henderson, >> no. >> That's four yes votes and five no votes. >> All right, motion fails. >> All right, moving on to public forum. Mr. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Candace Banister. Candace, if you'll state your name and county residents, you'll have three minutes. >> Candace Bannister, Knox County resident. When will you hold the person who bullied, harassed, intimidated, and emotionally abused our sign accountable? Daily, the students from kindergarten to 12th grade and staff members in every school across Knox County schools are held accountable for their actions. But not this guy. He was promoted to a position called chief of schools. As teachers, we are encouraged and expected to keep records on
059each of our students for academic progress, but also for any other concern we have. The teachers from at least two of his six schools in nine years kept records of their concerns regarding this admin and gave them to HR and leadership. Nothing happened. Then in the summer of 2019, 43 stakeholders wrote to share their concerns regarding this admin. And on the Friday before the students returned to school, he was moved from FHS to HR. In my community, we were thankful he had been moved, but apparently no accompanying paperwork made it to his file at this very odd time for an administrative move. Where are all of these missing records? At that time, our family had an active lawsuit regarding his treatment of our son, Will. I feel the reason for no accompanying paperwork is because
060we could request those records in an open records request. In fact, we did make a very extensive request for records in the fall of 2019. And to this day, none of those requests have been processed, and we still have not received any of those records. Exactly what is KCS's time frame for providing requested records? In July of 2022, employees received the internal external communications document, which encourages employees to be cautious about what is put in an email as all emails are subject to being subpoenaed in a lawsuit or requested open records request. It then directs employees to routinely delete workrelated emails. Are you okay with this system hiding and/or destroying records for those who would abuse, bully, harass, and intimidate students? Is this who you are? Because we hired an attorney when Will was s
061suspended, met your attorney, Mr. Dupler, attended Will's hearing and appeal. It was Mr. Dupler who advocated for Will. After those meetings, he met with the superintendent and told him what the system had gotten wrong. Will's attorney told us that he himself did not say a word in this meeting. The superintendent ordered Will back to school based on what he heard from Mr. Duper. So, what did the system do to address what Mr. Duper pointed out? Where is the accountability for telling the admin to knock it off and leave Will alone? This admin, being the bully that he is, knowing that Will was on medication for anxiety, still went to all four of Will's classes within four days of his return to school and stood over him for 10 to 15 minutes, signaling to Will, his
062classmates, and his teachers that Will was a problem. and he was not welcome there. Four weeks later, Will took his life and our lives have never and will never be the same. Please hold him accountable. And let me just say, it should never be the deputy law director's job to be the one to advocate for our students, though our family much appreciated Mr. Dubler's efforts. Thank you. >> Thank you. Bo Sutton. >> Bo, if you'll state your name and county residence, you'll have three minutes. >> More exhibits. My name is B. Sutton, Knox County resident. As you know, since the uh last meeting, I have submitted evidence to the district attorney, all of you uh state attorney general, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Knoxville Police Department, Knox County Sheriff's Department about the falsification of records by
063Mr. Risewick. So, I'm going to leave that at bay today. Today, we're going to be talking about you guys. Okay? Now, I have some evidence. I had an open records request. So, the first piece of evidence that I have relates to my uh information I submitted you. This is the request to hire Chad Brooks. Okay. Coach Brooks was hired by administration, not Coach Brown. Okay. Scott Shaver was hired by administration. HR sent an email to athletic director principal. Scott Shaver is clear to begin his position as assistant coach. Now all of you know teachers and coaches cannot hire. Okay, evidence is clear. Okay, yet it was put in a record personnel record which is public record that Mr. Brown hired these individuals. You have the evidence he did. I had the submitted you the uh
064job description of Mr. Brown as a teacher, not a supervisor, no supervisor responsibilities, and I laid out for you that he has no supervisor responsibilities. Knox County Board of Education policy G330 tenure. Individuals involved in coaching shall be considered teachers first, coaches second. Personnel files, employee records or public records. Here's the Here is the uh letter that went into Mr. Brown's personnel file, public record. That is false. Falsification of records, criminal offense. Uh, Knox County Board of Education policy states, "Your responsibilities, the constitutional and statutory duties of the board of education include, except as otherwise provided in this title, dismiss teachers, principles, supervisors, and other employees upon sufficient proof of improper conduct." Y'all have that responsibility and if you don't carry out, you're liable. Qualification duties of the director of schools. Ensure appropriate admin administration
065of all board policies. Develop administrative procedures to implement board policy for items deemed necessary for the efficient operation of schools and disseminate these procedures to the appropriate staff. You all know that he didn't hire and supervise these individuals. All right. Criminal conspiracy district attorney looking at who wrote that who wrote the letter and who was involved in the letter. Accessory after the fact. This is where you guys fall in. A person is an accessory after the fact who after the commission of a felony with knowledge of a reasonable ground to believe the offender has committed the felony and with the intent to hinder the arrest, trial, conviction or punishment of the offender provides or aids in providing the offender with any means of avoiding arrest, trial, conviction or punishment. Accessory after the fact is class
066C felony. The next document I presented to you is has to do with tort reform or tort liability in the state of Tennessee. Okay, read that and who's responsible and your personal responsibility where it will fall. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sher Resnik. Sheriff, if you'll state your name and county residents, you'll have three minutes. Sherry Rosenek, Knox County Schools. Um, good evening. I'm a 17-year public educator. My kids are KCS graduates and I care deeply about the success and support of our students, teachers, and schools. I want to address the uh recent position cuts which coincided with the federal funding freeze by sharing my story. In spring 2023, I was wrapping up my sixth year at Bearden High School, the school that my daughters attended in a place that felt like home. I was
067teaching science courses that I loved and working nationally to support teachers as well. When the district facilitator role opened, I almost didn't apply. I was I was comfortable and happy. But after reading the job description, I realized I wanted to grow my impact in this district. And I'm so glad that I applied. Over the past two years, I worked alongside an incredible team preparing for what is now our implementation year for highquality instructional materials and science. We supported early adopter cohorts, collaborated with national partners, designed professional learning um that were all aligned to the coming shifts. In region four, the work was more personal. I walked along school leaders as we built our capacity together to lead the coming instructional change. Worked to ease the burden on classroom teachers, supporting new staff, guiding PLC's, analyzing
068data, and trying trying out new units together. Thank you to the teachers who took that leap with me. And to the principles, coaches, and teachers who shared how much that support meant and how much it will be missed. Knox County is one of the only districts in Tennessee to adopt true highquality science materials K through 12. It's exciting and it's backed by research. But curriculum alone isn't enough. These materials ask teachers to shift how they teach, how they question, and how they guide student learning. Ongoing embedded support is critical to success, and teachers deserve that. Without it, we risk our investment falling short of its potential. To quantify the impacts, last year, the facilitator to school ratio was close to 1:20. This year, it will be 1 to 50. Despite this, many facilitators, myself included,
069were returned to the classroom just weeks before the school year began, filling the open positions and often placed outside our certification areas. It's heartbreaking not to be able to continue supporting teachers in this critical moment. Mine is just one story. There are 27.5 others. While I was the newest member of our team um after the general funding cuts in the spring, many of the facilitators that were federally funded were the most veteran in their role. The timing and details of how this unfolded have left many questions about the process and I fear that the next chapter and many of those stories will be outside of our district. This will be a loss without measure for our district. In addition, there's a real threat that this will discourage others from applying for roles like this in
070the future. Um to prioritize great educators in every school, I ask us to ask more questions, communicate with transparency, value educators experience, and protect the progress we've made. We had a model that was working. Let's rebuild it stronger and more sustainable. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Alexis Rhodess. Alexis, you'll state your name and county residents. You'll have three minutes. >> Alexis Rhodess and I live in Knox County. Policy J359, private practitioners, was revised in July of 25. There was no public agenda item, no public discussion, no board vote, and for weeks, the revised policy wasn't even available online. I've requested multiple times that this matter be added to your agenda for public discussion and record, and those requests have just gone unanswered. You were made made aware that administration changed your policy
071on July 3rd, and this is the fourth board meeting since then. Yet, no public record exists of your decision. Or is it a lack thereof? But I'm not sure because again, you guys didn't vote on it. You knowingly allowed hundreds of parents and providers to submit students medical documents without notifying the public or their parents of a change and who has access to those sensitive documents. This isn't about whether the change was well-intentioned. I would like to thank Dr. Brown for taking his time to discuss the administration side and we've walked through that side of the process. But this is about how the board made this decision. You guys made it quietly, not in accordance with your own policy and without the public transparency that state law requires. More importantly, this isn't an isolated incident.
072I knew that you would not discuss this at policy review because I myself went to policy review. I rearranged my son's therapy schedule so that I could attend your policy review meeting because that's the only way that I can have access to what you guys discuss there. Policy review meetings where these decisions are shaped are not recorded. No minutes are kept. Agendas are not publicly posted and it's a toss up whether or not you guys even post a public notice for them. You claim that these are staff meetings, but your own words in meeting minutes year after year say otherwise. You've acknowledged that the board members participate in deliberations, decisions are made there, and that these sessions are your primary venue for policy discussions. That is public business, and the Tennessee Open Meetings Act ensures
073that the public has a right to witness it. KCS is not a private organization. Board members are elected by the public. This is a public school district. Your policies, your procedures, and your transparency belong to the people of Knox County and not just to the people sitting behind name plates in this room. I have asked you all multiple times why KCS is not publicly making decisions on matters that affect the that affect the public and I have continued to get no answer from any of you. So now I ask publicly, why do you continue to refuse to publicly conduct public business? Thank you, >> Madam Chair. That concludes public forum. [Music] >> Thank you. With that, we are adjourned.