001Welcome to the board of education's June 2nd, 2025 work session. Please stand as we observe a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance led by Miss Fonta Ridley. flag. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Board members, just a reminder that the TSBA Summer Law Institute is being held in Gatlinburg on July 18th and 19th. Please let Terry know if you want to attend. Also, if you need to review your TSBA transcript to make sure you're meeting all of the training requirements, Terry is happy to assist you with any necessary updates you may need. And each of us received our board evaluation survey from TSBA via email yesterday morning. So,
002please remember you have until close of business on Monday, June 30th to complete that survey. Once all of the surveys have been received, TSBA will tally the results and prepare a report for our review and discussion at our annual workshop. Are there any requested changes to the agenda? Move to approve. Motion by Mr. Triplet, a second by Miss Christie. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. I'm gonna kick it to Miss Christie for a special recognition of Miss Sophia. Thank you, Madam Chair. It's a lot more fun to introduce student reps than to say goodbye. I'm just going to say so I'll try not to cry. Um it's a little bittersweet though. Sophia has been such an important part of our board and I am so proud to have
003served on the selection committee that appointed Miss Elkins. It's been an absolute pre pleasure to get to know you and your sweet mom and dad. Um and thank you for sharing her with us. Um, I hope that Sophia's experience as her board student representative was not only memorable, but educational and inspiring as she continues into her next chapter. Um, and I'm not sure if all of our board members are aware. I'm gonna go off track a little bit, but as Sophia's final uh legacy, I guess, to future student reps, she did uh design a special graduation stole uh for our student board rep uh to wear at graduation, which we did not have anything like that for them to wear until this year. So, thank you for that idea. and um working to get that
004done so we can have it in the future. Um while at Halls High School, Sophia served as captain at the Scholars Bowl when her team qualified for the national tournament. She served as captain of the Halls varsity tennis team and was also selected for the all district team. Sophia served as a class representative for Hall Student Government Association from 2021 to 2024 and also as a small group leader, homecoming candidate, and leadership team member for FCA. She was also a manager for the Halls High School wrestling team, a madreal, an 865 Academyy's ambassador, and a member of the National Honor Society. And there's more. That's the in school. Um outside activities included work with Free Period Knox, participation in the Fountain City United Methodist Youth Choir, Beaver Dam Student Ministries, working for Knoxville Princess Parties
005and Magic Lamp Entertainment, performing with the Knoxville's Children's Theater since 2018, and serving on the Teen Board of Knoxville since 2021. She spent over a hundred hours serving Norwood Elementary School and Adrien Bernett elementary schools and the Western Heights Baptist Center in Los Angeles, California and through mission trip. Sophia also participated in community theater for over 115 hours. Sophia graduated from Halls High School with a 4.53 weighted GPA. She is an AP scholar and an Excel associate in and expert certified. Her honors and awards include the silent service award, the Kowanas Club's Andy Hudson a service award, Knoxville's Optimus Club's service to humanity award, accounting award, most likely to succeed, and best all-around girl in her graduating class. Please join me as we recognize and congratulate our 2024-25 board of education student representative, Sophia Elkins.
006Are we going to do another board photo? Yes. And mom and dad, do you want to join us in the photo? You're doing well. [Music] Slide one way. Here we go. Nobody. Sophie, I don't know if you sleep with all of those with all those activities. Thank you so much. We're going to miss you. You've been a gym on the board. The year always goes by too fast, too. It's always too fast. All right, Dr. Ry, do you have a superintendent report? Yes, I do, Madam Chair. Thank you. Uh madam chair, members of the board, let me start by saying first of all, it has been a great year. Uh we just celebrated 17 graduations in 8 days. I had the privilege of personally shaking hands with more than 4,300 students as they walked across
007our stages uh into the next phases of their lives. Most of those were dry. A few weren't. I still tell you guys Beardarden's cursed. I don't know what it is about Beard High School. Uh I told Debbie Sers it was her fault, but anyway, uh board members, a lot of you were there with me. That was that was great. All of you were there uh for those and that was great. Uh every graduate represents an entire network of educators, mentors, and supporters uh from their parents and coaches to the preschool and elementary school teachers. We begin each school year under the Friday night lights of football games, and it's fitting that we finish every year uh under on those same fields. Uh we talk a lot as a district about what we what we're uniquely
008positioned to do in this community, and it really is to prepare every student for life after graduation. That mission continues to drive us and our team will tell you we're already talking about opportunities to build on this momentum for next year. The last three years have been focused on building strong systems and structures that create alignment and predictability in our work. This year was an was exciting to see some of those systems in place. Uh and some things I just want to recap on. Since 2022, you all as the board and as a district, we've invested more than 120 million more dollars in our people and we're seeing results because of that. I've had conversations recently about that, people talking about shortages, and again, we're in a great place with that. And we know that
009our teachers make the difference. We started the school year with eight certified vacancies, and we're headed into the summer with fewer than 50 vacancies, which is incredible. We usually been around 450. Um, those numbers mean more uh students are being in a school or beginning a school year with a highly qualified educator in front of them, and that matters when we talk about gains in key areas like reading and math. Uh there no doubt that that's making the difference. Uh we won't have our TCAPS results back uh for some time, but the last three years alone, the ones that we just took, our elementary reading proficiency has increased by 9% over the last three years, and our math proficiency has increased by 6%. Um we've seen lots of years in my 20 plus years where
010we've gone up and then back, up and then back. We actually haven't. We've stacked three straight years uh of of increases in those areas. And we're seeing pockets of growth across the district that are even higher than those six and 9%. A few shout outs. Fountain City Elementary, their ELA scores have increased 20% in three years. Uh KS Elementary has seen a 23% increase in their math proficiency during those same three years. And they're not the only ones. Schools like Halls, Middle, West Valley, and Lndale have all made similar gains. Our focus moving forward will be on scaling the gains that we're seeing now to make sure that all schools are seeing those across uh the district. We're also seeing similar results in our high schools. The 865mmies are focused on preparing students for life
011after graduation. We're starting to we're tracking of the EPSOS. You know what those are Sophia? Early post-secondary opportunities. Just shake your head, right? Oh, yeah. All right. Perfect. See, I knew you had this. So, early postsecondary opportunities. Uh, and that that's things like AP, dual enrollment, industry certifications. These play a huge role. We like we said before, we're now trying to see how many kids can show they can do that before they leave. Kind of a our impact um um what's the other word I'm thinking, Corey? impact and analytics. That's a a department. We changed that. So, impact analytics has actually looked for a good metric to be able to say that for all of those 4,300 kids that graduated. And so, we started going how many EPS episodes per kid, right? How many that
012they were able to earn that districtwide, our graduates had 2.9 EPSOs. That means again dual enrollment class, an AP class, uh ACT scores fall under that, too. We had a few high schools like West High School that had an average of four per student graduate and Farragate High School led with 4.4 four episodes under their belt. So that's that whole we know we'll be successful when we graduate which is really important. Opportunities like these we're expanding. This is why we're expanding to IB programming in region 5. We're continuing to focus on the work the 865mmies. So next year will be a big milestone for our 865mmies. Uh it'll be the first year in the district that we begin their high school experience as freshmana that began their school year in I mean their their career
013in a freshman academy and we'll actually be leaving with a a capstone experience um which will be interesting for us. Uh so we'll have our first set of graduates who have gone through that. Those capstone experiences will be a chance for them to be able to prove uh all their industry work that they've done andor uh job shadowing that they've done. It will be a culminating uh project for them to do with that. So looking forward to having that last year. Uh we obviously have a lot to celebrate as a district, but we have a lot to look forward to as well moving into next year. Uh special education is one of those areas. Three years ago, we or it's hard to believe it was three years ago. I did a bunch of interviews last
014week and it was like you there talk about special ed and I was like well a year ago I was like no wait three years ago we called for a special ed task force. That's crazy. But we did uh and launched a deep dive into our IEP services and supports. Last month you heard the long- aaited results of that report from PCG. Just want to say PCG's been great to work with and we continue to work with them. I know Dr. Brown and has done a lot of work with them as we're building this action plan. But the findings highlighted several bright spots, areas that we're leading the way as a model district. Uh but just as importantly, and maybe even more importantly, it also called out some of our challenges identifying where we can
015improve to provide better service for all students. I want to take a moment and recognize Dr. Karen Ly for her and her team for the work of the past three years. I just want to say this, it's not easy when a superintendent comes and says, "We want to do a deep dive into your department." Um I think we can do better. they they work extremely hard to try to do that. Um, and I appreciate the fact that they have said, "Okay, let's do it." And uh and been open to that and been very cooperative for that. Continuous improvement takes time, as we've said before, will never arrive, but steps like the PCG report are major strides in the right direction. Um, as you know, Dr. Loy is retiring at the end of the month, and
016I'd like to invite all of you joining me to recognize her for her years of service and dedication to the students of Knox County. We'll clap for her. We'll do that. I think she's in the other room, but we'll do that for sure. Uh, also happy to say and appreciate to build on that work. Um, Dr. Loy will be followed in her new role by Dr. Brad Carr. He's with us today and and I'm going to ask him in a few minutes to uh step up uh and say a few words. Um, Brad's got a really unique experience in that he's been a special education teacher. Uh, but he's also been a principal for us and actually left the district for a while and did some administrative work at the district office in in a
017district in West Virginia. So brings a a really fresh perspective. Um so he's joining us at a pivotal moment in our special education work. The research is done, the reporting is done. Now it's time for us to build this plan for implementation. I'm confident Dr. Barakar is well positioned to lead this work. Um he understands that our biggest challenge is getting that decision-m closer to the classroom, closer to uh the principles and the school. And I think because he's come off a successful implementation at South High School for the last two years of our 865mmies, he's a proven leader who gets it done. I've known Brad for a long time. Um, and he doesn't he doesn't say a lot, but his actions speak a whole lot for what he gets done, and we appreciate that.
018So, I think he'll bring a unique perspective uh of where maybe there's some rub points that we can improve quickly. So, in a moment, I'll have him come up and speak. [Music] Um, okay. Yeah, sorry. I was supposed to read this part. Uh, in just a moment, I'll have Dr. Carr speak. Uh, but before I do that, I want to thank our educators, staff members, and families for their work and dedication in this past year. The progress I just reported wouldn't be possible without our talent, without the determination and focus that I get to go see weekly in our schools. I want to encourage everyone to take some time off and relax for the summer. I'm telling our team that same thing. I'm telling all the folks out there, six weeks go fast. So, so
019start gearing down now. uh and make sure that you're doing that. I also want to take a second before we end to recognize my friend, Miss Paula Hancock, uh and for her years of service as a KCA president. Uh board meetings are not going to be the same without you sitting in the front row in your seat. Uh and and Paula, it was good uh for me just to take a minute uh and really just reflect on all we've accomplished in three years. Uh and you've been right there through the whole thing. if it's the the compensation working through that and and you know we hadn't done that before. Uh and and and from your seat that was a big risk to take um but you trusted in what we were trying to do and
020I think all of our educators are benefiting because of that. Uh you've been a tremendous ad advocate for our teachers uh and for our students and for our public school system. And I just want to say publicly I appreciate your friendship and you will be missed. The work will continue on uh and and we're excited about that. But I also wanted to take a moment and just thank you for your work and your partnership. Let's clap for you too. We'll do that. Yeah, we're doing a ways. So, a standing ovation wasn't enough, Paul. We had to do away. Um, so thank you for the opportunity to share these highlights. Uh, Madam Chair, and at this time, if I could, if I'd like to invite uh, Dr. Brad Carr up to say a few words, and
021we'll turn it back over to you. Welcome. We're excited that you're here and the work that you're going to dive into, Madam Chair, members of the board, Dr. You can. Yeah, you can. There's a button where? Yeah. And the whole podium will lift up for you. It'll take a minute. All right. Um, madam chair, members of the board, Dr. Rwick, I appreciate you having me here tonight. Um, like Dr. Rwick said, I'm Brad Carr. I'm the incoming executive director of special education. Um, I'm a product of Knox County Schools, a graduate of South High School, so I'm a little uh sad to leave my alma mater uh in South Knoxville, but I'm excited for the work that we've done there and and uh Mr. Rocky Rally is going to take over and do a great
022job. Um, I've had an opportunity over the past two weeks to dive into the PCG report, spend some time with personnel from PCG, um, spend time with our staff here with Dr. Ly and, uh, excited for the month of June to kind of transition in and get ready to start in July. So, again, thank you for having me. I'm excited to get started. So, thank you. We're excited for you. That is very tall, by the way, that podium. I'll put Didn't even know it went that high. Mr. Triplet. Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have a couple things uh for uh related to legislative update. Uh public chapters uh from the legislation approved during the 114th General Assembly are now available. Uh TOSS, TSBA, uh Tennessee Department of Education, State Board of Education are all
023beginning to interpret those things and figure out what was passed and what that actually means for us. and uh KCS staff, Knox County Law Department is going to be taking those interpretations and figuring out what that looks like in policy. So, u the plan is for us to probably have another policy review meeting at the end of this month uh if we can figure out the schedule. So, I think Terry's going to send out an email sometime shortly and see if we can't get everybody on the same page and have a uh another policy review uh so we can work through some of those changes and get them addressed before the next school year starts. That sounds good. Thank you. Thank you, Terry, for doing that. All right, I'm going kick it back to Miss
024Christie. She's going to open us up for our strategic plan presentation. I'm excited about the work that's been that's been going on. I I am as well. Um just briefly and my notes are kind of all over the place here. Um just as every to to speak to the purpose and the reasoning for the strategic plan um you know not only is it a good practice but Tennessee school districts are required to create five-year strategic plans as part of their ongoing school improvement efforts by developing specific goals for improving student performance. And our committee believes that the plan being proposed is an excellent roadmap to guide district decision makingaking important budget development and evaluate program effectiveness. Um just a little bit on my perspective in working on this and I do appreciate you miss Hend
025Miss Henderson and Reverend Butler for uh all of your work and conversations that we've had over the past several months. Um, I know Dr. Risewick talks a lot when we talk about 865 about making big small, but I think this kind of goes the opposite direction. Um, all of our schools have school improvement plans. We know we have very different schools across Knox County. We have very different communities. And one of the discussions we had early on is how do you reconcile all those differences into a document that can reflect something everyone can see their communities, their children, their schools in. Um so this is kind of that overview and it builds on the priorities that Dr. Risewick has set. It is not unlike the region five strategic plan in going on those four priorities
026as well. And but just would like to speak to there are a lot of other things that happen in smaller groups across the district like those individual school safety plans and those individual um school improvement plans. you wouldn't want Bonnie Kate to write a school improvement plan for Dogwood or vice versa because they're very different schools. So, I do feel like this document is a good way of capturing um just the larger view of of what we do and what we want to do. Um, basically that is pretty much all I have on at this time, but I don't know if you or Reverend Butler have anything you would like to add or say. No. All right. So, I guess um is it Jenny here with Accenture to kick off the I was thinking earlier
027I'm like you're gonna have to lower that. Yeah. All right. Can you hear me? Okay. Hi everyone. I'm Jenny Brinkman with Accenture. I see lots of familiar faces today. Um, first before I jump in, we want to say thank you for allowing us to partner with you on this great initiative. We've had a great time working with Knox County Schools and look forward to presenting the plan to you today. So, what I'm going to do is give you a bit of overview of what to expect when you see the document and then um we're going to have Corey deep dive a little bit into the specifics. So, if we don't mind going to the next slide. Oh, thank you. Okay. So, we're going to go over a little bit about the guiding principles that really
028set the vision for how everyone was going to work together to create the plan for 2030. um go a little bit over the planning process, what it all entailed, all of the interaction along the way, your new mission and vision and the goals and objectives, and then we'll deep dive into how the goals are going to go into action. So, when we met with the strategic planning committee at the very beginning of this effort, we wanted to make sure we had what are our guiding principles that are going to result in your strategic plan. um knowing that this this district is large and there's going to be conflicting viewpoints and opinions and so one of the key points that the committee said is how are we going to work together remaining respectful open-minded all working
029towards the common goal for Knox County schools being honest and willing to have those hard conversations where it's necessary and then making sure we we stay grounded in the input that we receive from the stakeholders um and the expert feedback along the name. So when we started the strategic planning process, we kicked off with um you all engaged with Milan Chicago to do an extensive stakeholder engagement. There was great insight that came from that that we made sure we maintained a focus on during the planning process. Then we this past fall we held an organ organizational visioning workshop with you all where we came up with the new vision and mission for Knox County schools over the next five years. After that we conducted numerous discovery interviews with staff with teachers all across just to
030hear directly of what are the strengths and the opportunities that the district needs to be focused on over the next five years. We then hosted a series of strategic planning workshops first with district leaders and then we met with the regional leaders to really understand what were the long range goals and objectives that need to feed into this plan. We came back we synthesized all the inputs that we received including everything from that phase one Milan study um to come up with this draft of this plan that we're presenting to you tonight. Um there was some validation that occurred, resident test, residents testing that occurred and was very um wellreceived and we'll go over that a a little bit detail here in a few minutes with resulting today the adoption of the new plan. All
031right. So let without further ado um your mission. So as we mentioned at that visioning workshop, we worked together of what is why are we here? Why does Knox County Schools exist? And what you're going to see is is ultimately your new mission is to prepare students for life by providing a high quality education that is accessible, meaningful, and future focused. Now, we found as we've helped um we've helped organizations across the world is it's always helped to contextualize what do we mean by these words? And what you're going to see is what we heard from you all during that visioning workshop. When we said high quality education, it means providing access to evidence-based materials and best-in-class teachers. There was meaning behind accessibility that was very important to you all. That it's inclusive and accessible
032to all students. Meaningful, meaning you want to create an environment that focuses on the individual, their students aptitudes, and their goals. And then future focus in terms preparing them for that lifelong success and contributing to the future of Knox County. So, your new mission will be the guiding force for you all going over the next five years. The vision is where you want to go. And what we heard loud and clear is that you want to be the cornerstone of education in Knox County, empowering students to grow their talents, their skills, and there's talent, strengths, and skills to build a stronger community. And some of that context we heard from you all was very important. You wanted to be the choice provider of quality education in Knox County. You want to equip students with meaningful
033and intentional opportunities to explore their aptitudes and goals. And again, you want to prepare that future generation to contribute and invest in their community, whether it's Knox County or elsewhere. So, applaud you all. That was a a long day. We had lots of great dialogue, but we hope that you see what you told us is is evident here in this vision mission and vision. So the the plan is along five main overarching goals. Um you'll see you'll notice the first four are grounded in your priorities with a fifth domain around community engagement. So goal number one around excellence and foundational skills is your goal that you want to reach is that students will be regionally and nationally competitive in both reading and math proficiency. Now, I'm not going to drain the objectives because Corey here
034in a few minutes is going to talk a little bit more in depth, but we want to give you at a at a glance, here are your goals for the for the overarching um district. Goal number two around great educators in every school is that every educator will be equipped with consistent resources, training, and support to enhance instructors instruction. Goal number three that is embedded in priority around career empowerment and preparation is that your students will feel confident in their plans for life after graduation by 8th grade and be graduate ready for enrollment, enlistment or employment. The three E goal number four was around success for every student. You wanted to make sure every classroom will be equipped with state-of-the-art evidence-based strategies to accelerate student learning. And then as I mentioned the fifth domain that
035was added was around communication and engagement. And this was added because there was significant feedback during the stakeholder engagement portion of this process that really said this is something that this that Knox County Schools needs to lean into around communication and engagement. And that is that KCS will meaningfully and intentionally engage and communicate with stakeholders to enhance the student experience. And we'll go into depth a little bit about what that looks like. Now I'm going to pause there. Any questions about the planning process, the goals at large that we you would like to ask or any comments? Uh just for clarification on career three. Uh I think you misspoke. You said eighth grade. It should be 11th grade. My apologies. Well, you don't want them you want them graduate ready by eighth grade. That's the
03610ear streak. Great. Um thanks for that catch. All right. Um, so I'm going to kick it over to Corey to talk a little bit about how we're going to take these goals into action. Thank you very much. All right. So to kick us off, I am going to take a quick look at uh a framework we've had for a while, but a fresh look at that framework. So this is something that we adopted. should look relatively familiar um to those who have been with us for a while about three years ago. Specifically to break down how that annual action plan was converted into operational goals at every level across the district for every department, for every classroom, for every school, so that you know we were living and breathing from the same road map and
037doing the same work all kind of moving in the same direction. And so when we think about the five-year strategic plan, we really had an opportunity already embedded within the district in the form of the strategic planning framework to do something very unique and very innovative with the strategic plan. Not every district has a framework that is this robust. Um, and it's given us an opportunity to think a little bit differently about how we design our strategic plan, specifically at the intersection between the five-year strategic plan and the annual action plan itself. And so, for the sake of time, I'm just going to go ahead and dive right in, but you all slow me down if we're moving too quickly. So, you all have lived with us for a few years now. You've seen the
038annual action plan. Um many of you were part of the board that devised the annual action plan as a process within our district for just maintaining goals um and checking in and reporting out on those goals on an annual basis. And so I want to take a moment just to level set on what that's going to look like within the context of the strategic plan itself and what that's going to enable us to do as a district. So if you look at the screen or at the documents in front of you, you can also find this um in the strategic plan itself. So, if you're flipping through the booklet, I'm on page 19 uh 1819 in the booklet, but the top image here is a snapshot from the proposed strategic plan. And so, you'll see
039an objective, just one objective, um and some elements of that objective and how they will pull down from the strategic plan into a hypothetical annual action plan. So, we don't have an annual action plan yet that's been devised based on this strategic plan because we'll be building that in the fall. It's something we'll build annually based on the data that we've received um coming out of the previous year's TECAP looking at kind of our staffing numbers and all of the data that is made available to us each summer. That's when we really start building that annual action plan. So again, this one is a theoretical uh glimpse of an annual action plan, but it's built to give you an idea of how this would potentially work in practice for staff and from an implementation standpoint.
040So if you look at the objective there, increase third grade reading proficiency year-over-year, what you're going to see is consistency from the strategic plan into the annual action plan in the form of those objectives. Those will pull down directly word for word. The objectives in the strategic plan will be our proposed objectives for the next five years in our annual action plan where we then kind of differentiate and we really start to make that plan feel relevant, feel living, give it a chance to breathe, pull it off the shelf and we use it year-over-year, month over month is in the form of those annual actions. So under those objectives, you will see a breakdown of very specific actions that staff would be prepared to engage in and would propose to the board for approval each
041fall to meet the uh meet the objectives, move the needle toward those established objectives in the strategic plan. So here you can see we've outlined in the strategic plan in that top section some highlevel actions we would be prepared to engage in over the next five years. implementation of a three-year strategic plan to enhance literacy outcomes. That's not going to pull down word for word into the annual action plan. We're going to make it bite-size. We're going to make it meaningful year-over-year. So, that'll look like a very specific measurable target. And that measurable target here, we're hypothesizing it looks something like increase third grade reading proficiency by 1.8%. And so I'll pause there for a second because this is very very different and ask you all to imagine any strategic plan you've ever seen. Normally
042it has a really large table. It's very meaty. It's very dense. You've got a row of objectives. You have columns for every single year. And it's a little bit of an exercise in fortuneelling, right? You're trying to devise what's going to be true for the next five years. And hope you're very, very right. We know no human being is that good. We might be close, but we are not that good as people, right? things change. Sometimes we outpace ourselves and we perform even better than we anticipated. When that happens, we don't want to rest on our laurels. We don't want to have set a bar too low and say, "Okay, we've accomplished that goal. We'll just move on to something else." If and when we accomplish our goals for ourselves, we want to have a
043vehicle by which we can set a new more ambitious goal every single year. if something were to happen that was unforeseeable. Uh CO 19 is a recent example that requires us to adjust course and kind of adapt along the way. We also wanted a system and this was very important to the the strategic planning committee that we had a system or a mechanism by which we could still make those nimble changes, those nimble exchanges along the way while remaining true to and um coherent with the proposed strategic plan. And so that's where you're going to see those actions changing year-over-year. You'll also see when we start talking about the literacy landscape analysis or implementing that um you know three-year strategic plan in literacy, that's our opportunity to say we're going to do that and we're
044going to implement our year one metrics. So we're referencing other plans. This will be really important when we start thinking about the fact that we have a region five strategic plan. The 865 ummies has their own plan. Teach Knox has their own plan and that's something you heard from Miss Christie that we worked um handinhand with Accenture with and with the board committee just to make sure that this plan was capable of being an umbrella that sheltered and represented all of the work currently taking place across the district. And so this interchange is exactly where you're going to see how we make those plans real and relevant year overyear from staff member to staff member, from school to school. And so that's probably the most I've ever talked about, a process on a slide. It's
045not the most exciting thing in the world, but really this could be a gamecher for us in thinking about how we take a strategic plan and honestly a tool that's usually shelved and collects dust within months of having been created and we force it into like our living usage every single day. And this is how that's going to really help us uh play out and practice what we've put to paper already in the strategic plan. So, any questions about that before we get into the objectives Jenny referenced and the work that the committee has done? All right. I I do have one question. Yes. So, I I you know, as I look at some of these objectives and I maybe just in general, I assume that the annual action plan will give us some good
046like some of these don't seem real measurable. Some of them seem really measurable and really easy to go ah we've achieved that. But like 1 C doesn't seem all that measurable to me in its current form. But I I would assume that the annual action plan will give us some something to go we've actually succeeded in that. Like collaborating on something doesn't seem like a success. You know, it's like well we talked about it for a long time and that was really great. But you know like that'll turn into an annual action plan that'll give us a measurable where we can say we did move the needle on this and make that happen. Yes. Yes. So what you'll get in the annual action plan is what you've received um in prior annual action plans. So
047you'll have one of two types of actions in that plan. You'll either have a measurable objective and it'll be quantifiable like that increase of 1.8%. We'll be able to measure we'll be able to tie that back to something and say either we met the mark or we didn't. Right? Maybe we fell just short but we still increased. Maybe we exceeded that goal. Or you may have milestone objectives or actions in the annual action plan as well. What that's going to look like is a very specific action that would have a very specific report out on yes, we accomplished that goal or no, we did not. And it would not be something along the lines of we collaborated, right? It would be we produced this protocol out of the collaboration that was conducted or we created
048um you know this process out of the collaboration that was performed. So you'll have something very tangible, very physical to hold on to. And something to keep in mind too, and I do think this is just a nod in kind of the board's direction and having the foresight to create a process like this, we'll also have an annual opportunity at the board's retreat to propose those milestone and measurable actions to you all. So you have an annual opportunity to push back and say that's not specific enough, that's not ambitious enough, um or have you considered adding or picking this up um you know along the way in fulfillment of this objective. So we'll have kind of that annual compact and exchange with one another too to make sure that we're not only remaining current and
049relevant, but that we're also pushing the envelope um and challenging ourselves to the extent that you all want us to be as well. If I could just add, I just thought of an example. Um so I was thinking like the whole child support teams like the initial part of the annual action plan we put establish those, right? But I think in then future years we go well what what was that built to increase or or decrease? So if it was like increase attendance rates or decrease discipline rates like so like sometimes there will be an action to establish establish PLC's right the the professional learning communities in every school then in out years we'll say to to you know raise practice or raise this in an English classroom or that. So sometimes there are some
050acts we have to do to get them put in that's not going to have a measurable more of a check you did or you didn't but out of that in future years there should be a number we're chasing to try to get to. Y and along the way, ideally a physical byproduct, too. So, and that's a lot of what's being reported out on in the annual report as well. So, if it's more processoriented, you may get a report on the process that was built or the way that it's being implemented so that we can over time prepare ourselves and our community for being ready to measure those outcomes in a more quantifiable way. All right. So, now we can get into the plan itself. And so Jenny did a great job just going through those
051five very lofty, very ambitious goals that were set um you know really by the community by those of you who participated in the interviews with Accenture and the um the sessions with Milan that those months of of engagement uh really culminated in these next five slides. And so before we get into the content of the slide, there is a lot going on here and I'm not going to cover every word on the slide. So, I want you to know what you're looking at as I'm tabbing through. In the upper right hand corner on every single one of these slides, you'll see the goal that correlates with that priority. That's that five-year goal. Under each goal, you'll also see three objectives. So, every goal has three objectives. In the booklet that's in front of you, you'll
052see some supporting language. This was feedback we received from the community just wanting a little bit more context around what those objectives mean in practice, why that's important. And so you'll find that language and those explanations um available in the booklet. Didn't have room on the slide. Didn't want to clutter this up too much, but it is in the plan itself. And then you'll see under each objective three key actions that staff is prepared to engage in in fulfillment of that objective and the ultimate fulfillment of the proposed uh goal that's present there. These actions are by no means comprehensive. It does not mean that we're only going to do, you know, the actions and engage in the actions that are identified here. What this is intended to do is showcase what that work will
053consist of and what it will take over the course of the next five years to really move the needle and and meet these objectives that are established here. You'll also notice above each goal and above each objective, there's a colored bar with a percent favorability. So, this was something I see Miss Henderson nodding. was something that was extremely important to the board committee as we were building out the scope and sequence with Accenture um and with Milan of the overall strategic plan. Not just that we engage with our stakeholders once, right? And that's pretty common when you think about strategic planning to go out and do a battery of stakeholder engagement to put out the focus groups to put out the surveys to ask the interview questions and really to figure out what folks want
054to be true for the district over the course of the next five years. That was done. It was done comprehensively. Um and we are immensely appreciative of the work that Accenture did and that al Milan did before then. But in addition to that work, the committee challenged us to go back to the community for a validation period and ask whether or not we got it right. Um did we hit the mark with the objectives and with the goals that were proposed? Did they resonate with the folks who were reading them? And so what you see on the screen is one of the ways in which we engaged with the community to ask that question. We put out a stakeholder engagement survey. It was open to students. It was open to families. It was open to
055community members and it was open to our staff. We uh provided a snapshot of every single goal and every single objective. And we asked folks to rate them either not at all important, somewhat important, neutral. Um I don't feel one way or another uh that the goal was important or that the goal was very important. And that favorability score that you've got there, that favorability percentage reflects the number, the percent of respondents who said that that goal or that objective was either important or very important. I will be honest, when we did this, uh we were anticipating uh you know 70s, 80s as being a really good marker of we're probably moving in the right direction. We did not anticipate high 80s, high 90s. And so you'll see that across the board just in terms
056of the responses that we received from the community at large. I will also add because you have this in your booklet, it's not going to be on the screen that prior to even doing the survey, we took the goals to our regional teacher councils and our regional family councils and we asked that preliminary question. Are we moving in the right direction? Should we scrap these and start over? Do we absolutely have to make sure that these are the goals within the strategic plan across the board across all five regions? The answer was yes. these were the right goals and we doubled down with those uh councils early on and we said okay if those are the right goals help us contextualize what they need to look like in practice what needs to be true over
057the next five years for us to accomplish this work and you'll see a reflection of their input in two places you'll see some of their quotes throughout the plan itself in your booklet and then you will also see a reflection of their input in these uh highle key actions that are reflected in the plan itself so that is a tour of the screen now the content that's actually on it. And I'll go pretty quickly because we do have five of these. You'll see that the goal for excellence in foundational skills, Jenny's already shared it with us, is for our students to be regionally and nationally competitive in reading and math. The objectives 1A and 1B should look very, very similar to the board. This has been our work for the past couple of years. This
058is the work of, you know, a strong foundational school district of making sure that these key benchmarks in a student's academic career are met, that reading by third grade and proficiency in math by 8th grade. And so you'll see some of the ways in which we intend to engage in that work over the course of the next couple of years. The third one is one that I do want to call out, especially because Mr. triplet uh lifted it up just a moment ago and say to me, you know, as we are thinking about what we're excited about in the framework of the 5-year strategic plan and having worked with the vendors that we've worked with and looking at the product that we've received, I think everyone's hope is that you land with a product that
059makes you excited but also a little bit nervous. And 1C is a really good example of work that is very exciting, but it's also a little bit nerve-wracking because it is very, very hard work. And so this is something we heard from every single stakeholder across the board whether it was a student represent or a family representative, a staff representative or a community representative that there are inconsistencies from school to school in academic expectations, in behavioral expectations, in the way we implement our practices and our protocols as a district and sometimes it makes it tough to engage with us. You've already heard from Dr. Brown and you've heard from Dr. Wilson just about the work that they're already beginning to do to collaborate between special education and general education and how important that integrated functionality
060and collaboration is and how messy it can be sometimes. So, this is going to be deep and dense work. It's going to take us a while, but the goal is for our families and for our staff to have a more predictable, more consistent experience on the back end of this work. So, this one's incredibly exciting, I think, for the district at large and for our stakeholders as well. All right, great educators in every school. So, the goal there, we've already heard that from Jenny as well, equipping our educators um consistently with resources, training, and support to enhance instruction. And you'll see again some familiar work lifted up in the form of the teach no knock initiative. Some of the work we've already shared about wanting to be more intentional in our professional development space. really
061thinking about what it means to develop our leaders and our classroom leaders, our school and our classroom leaders in a way that is meaningful to them that kind of meets the and recognizes the point in which they're at in their um professional trajectory and what it is, you know, and is responsive to what it is we're hearing from our folks that they need to be successful in their craft as well. Um 2C is another one that is particularly exciting. Uh, and the favorability score there reflects the fact that, you know, we're not entirely sure yet exactly what that that needs to look like and sound like as a district. But I'm thinking back to the policy review meeting we all had not too long ago talking about, you know, the new wellness policy and the
062fact that recess is important for kids. Instruction is important for kids. It all takes up time. Instructional minutes are a resource and they are finite and time is just something that is very, very limited. And so looking at how we can leverage automation, technology, and just some common sense innovations to give time back to our educators in meaningful ways so they're not slogging through emails looking for resources and links that we can very quickly embed somewhere in a one-stop shop for them to access and move on um without having to, you know, really expend their lunch uh their 20 minutes of lunch, right? 30 minutes of lunch searching for resources because we've not organized those um in a responsive way. And so just little little improvements like that that could yield a big impact for
063our educators and giving time back in their lives is one example of where we might go in this space. I think that the sky's is the limit there. Um and we're very much in the forefront of imagining what that work could look like over the course of the next five years under that objective. Career empowerment and preparation. This is really kind of recognizing the culmination of the intent and the vision that is the 865mmies that every student is going to graduate ready for enrollment or enlistment or employment. They'll indicate that readiness by being able to express confidence in their choices by 11th grade. You can see in objectives 3A and 3B a continuation and a deepening of the work in the 865 academy space specifically in asking the question of whether or not our pathways
064and themies are fully aligned to provide the richness of an experience um and the intentionality in those experiences that students need to enter the workforce enter uh the post-secary environment and thrive based on the experiences and the knowledge and the opportunities that they've had during their high school years. Looking ahead at objective 3C, this one is particularly exciting. We talked about this a lot within the board committee. Um and just identifying the fact that every learner is different and we've seen tremendous su uh success with Ellen and STEM Academy with CMA with our magnet programs and offering students something that is unique to them and something that is enriching to you know a student population that may not be enriching to another student population and giving students choice to explore those unique interests um in
065a very innovative and through a very innovative lens and wanting to expand that across the district. We have a real opportunity to capitalize um in doing that work with the uh the new K8 coming on board and the MLB community. And that'll be a really great example of how we can dream a little bit as a community and imagine what we want to do with those spaces when we've got time and we've got the availability of um the spatial availability to to think and dream a little bit about what we want to do with that space. And I'm going kind of quickly, so slow me down if I'm going too quickly, but we're very close to the end. Under success for every student, um, you know, this goal of equipping our classrooms with state-of-the-art evidence-based
066strategies to accelerate student learning and thinking about that in a couple of different ways here, right? So, under objective 4A, thinking about the fact that we haven't fully defined the role of every single grade band. We did a lot of work three, four years ago to reimagine high schools and to really build a framework that sets our students up for success. We've pushed in a lot under Dr. Phillips and her team in building those foundational skills in the elementary school space and making sure that every student has the best possible start, but we haven't really defined those middle years. And they're a critical bridge from elementary school to high school. and the difference in capitalizing on the foundation that was built in elementary school to the realization of the opportunities that are going to be
067offered in that high school space. And so really zeroing in on middle schools and looking at what does it need to be um what is what do we need to have present to build a very resilient bridge for our students from point A to point B. ideally with a safety net beneath it too to make sure that every student is able to enter high school as their best selves. Um or is able to enter middle school as their best selves if we think down to the elementary school level as well. If you look at 4B and 4 C, these should look and feel very similar to what you've already seen in prior years annual action plans and looking at um the student subgroups that we are looking at on a daily basis and how we
068are providing intentional academic interventions and supports to bridge uh achievement gaps in our academic spaces and also to help restore students um in our classroom spaces. address any behavioral concerns in a way that is intentional, as meaningful, and return students to the learning environment as quickly as quickly and as seamlessly as possible. Something that I will call out and highlight in particular is that under objective 4B, you will also see a new reference to the implementation of that strategic plan for special education. We have not had that previously. And so, this will be another exciting opportunity to lift up and embed that work that's coming out of what Dr. Brown and Dr. car will be working on with PCG to develop the framework for continuous improvement in special education over the course of the next
069five years as well. And finally, communication and engagement. This is a new uh domain for us in thinking about the strategic plan, but it's not new work for us. Um so as we look at these three objectives, the first two really focus on engagement. The first engaging with our families, the second engaging with our community representatives. Something we heard again and again both from our regional family council and also from the family participants in the survey is that you know the world has changed, right? Um we have students who live in single parent working homes. Um we have students that live in two parent working homes. We have students that are growing up with grandma and grandpa and aunt and uncle. And that availability of engaging at the school, physically at the school, is sometimes
070a luxury. And really rethinking and reimagining what it means to engage in your students educational experience. Making sure that we're equipping families with the resources they need to actually leverage the technology that's at their disposal, how they're using Canvas, how they're using Aspen to be included in their students educational process. uh making sure we're streamlining our parent square messages so they're getting the most important information in a seamless and systematic way. Those were just some of the things we heard from families again and again and again about process improvements we can implement to make fam make sure families feel more included and are more included in the educational process. 5B, continuing to work with uh those partners that really help wrap around us um and create that village and that ecosystem in which we will
071be capable of thriving because we know we can't do this work alone. And finally, as we look at 5C, just recognizing the fact that this plan is only as good as our implementation and you only know whether or not we've implemented if we're reporting, right? And so that promise and that commitment to the community to in every single way be bringing a proactive communication stream back to the community to say this worked, this didn't. Here's what we're going to do next year. And just having that honest, transparent conversation around the work that we're engaging in with taxpayer dollars and on behalf of the students of Knox County and the families of Knox County. And so again, that was a very, very quick sprint. Um, but I want to thank Milan um, for embedding this really
072phenomenal slide in the presentation because I do think that it captures just how heartfelt um, and appreciative the entire KCS team has been that the board, you know, took this approach to strategic planning that we were able to work with two vendors over the course of the past year, Milan Chicago and Accenture to do some very meaningful, very, very deep and intentional work. And also thanking all the families, all the students, all our staff members and community members who took time to participate repeatedly in this process, our regional family councils, our 865 uh academy steering committee for engaging and help vetting some of that work and ensuring that we were on the right track, helping make our, you know, proposal just as meaningful as it possibly could be. um and saying thank you to the
073board especially um and the committee for the leadership and the direction that was cast to get us to this point. It's been a very enjoyable process and really appreciate the opportunity from a staff uh perspective to have some very challenging uh very ambitious goals set for us and to be able to think about what this will mean for the next five years for students and families. So that's our thank you that we'd like to end on. we do have an opportunity to switch over into Q&A. I'll probably pull Jenny just so we can distribute the mics as uh as uh broadly as possible. I know the committee members already have mics. I'll move back to my uh seat and we can bring Jenny back up here if you all have any questions. Thank you. Thanks,
074Corey. Does anybody have any questions the presentation thoughts? Miss Christie, I would just like to add the um my appreciation for Corey and Steve Ruer for all their heavy lifting and work on this project. I know it was a significant time commitment and a lot of heavy lifting behind the scenes and um we don't often recognize the work that goes on behind um the committees and just as far as organizing and pulling everything together. So I do appreciate all of the work you all put in. I echo that. I appreciate the committee and all the work that Corey and Steve and Jenny and the whole team has done. Reverend Butler, I saw you pulling that mic down. I just wanted to say I second that emotion. I love that. Uh, one thing we did see
075out of this work is this new strategic plan makes it necessary to revise the superintendent's evaluation tool because that superintendent evaluations tool falls under the strategic plan. So because we will have a new strategic plan um we have to revise that. So um I have asked the committee to stay on to take on that second portion of that work. Uh so that work will be done in the next few months and then we'll bring that new tool to the board. Oh goodness August September sometime late summer early fall we'll bring that to the whole board to vote on as well. So, I just wanted to to highlight that portion of of the work. And we work so well together, we're like, let's just stay on and keep doing some more work. Does anybody else have
076any questions or comments? All right. Well, thank you so much, Jenny, for being here. We really appreciate all your hard work. Thank you. [Applause] All right, we will move into our regular session agenda. All right, we've already gone over item five. So 6 C. Does anybody have any questions about that? You did get a board update on on this item, but if anybody has any more questions, let us know. All right, moving on then to items and items and contracts D one or two, three or four, five or six. Seven or eight, nine or 10 or 11. 12 or 13, 14 or 15. 16 or 17. All right. Then moving on to board policies. A or B, C or D, A or F, G or H. I, J, or K. Not quite the whole outfit.
077Oh, Reverend Butler. Yes. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to go back to to I please. Okay. So, senior classification. Yes. Okay. I still have some concerns um after attending graduations and seeing um the significance to uh those communities that I attended. Um, I I realize that having uniformity throughout the the whole district is important. Uh, but um I still think that there is room for for um both. Although I don't think everybody will agree with me, so I'm not asking for that change. But I do think that uh when we're looking at percentages, we're still leaving some students out who've done very very well. And as I was looking at this at the U college level, my understanding is is that they look at the GPA as the deciding factor of what category
078they're in and not at the percentage of the class. So, it's almost like we we're going in the middle. We decided that we didn't want to do the top two or the top three. We decided we do a percentage, but you still are leaving out people who accomplished uh ac high academic success. So uh my question would be would it be better uh to look at the level being the level whether it's a GPA of 4.5 or 4.2 2 or 3.9. So that all the students in the school who achieve those certain levels would be recognized with that classification versus it being a percentage of the kids in the school. And then also that may open up a category that is significant. Um and then I'm I'm going ask Mr. Dupler to talk about those
079three classifications that he had mentioned at the at I think the policy review. You mentioned three. Thank you, Madam Chair. Reverend Butler. Um yeah. Well, um yeah, policy review. Uh you had Reverend Butler, you had talked about um you know still being able to reward some of the highest achievers in the class and certainly the traditional um you know application of the Latin system with three levels instead of just two uh would allow for you know that additional recognition as far as you know creating a you know a percentage whether it's one two 3% somewhere in that neighborhood of having someone you know on a higher level uh without saying validictorian and saludiatoran. So I mean you know so that was talked about and that is an option. Uh you know as far as the
080uh the GPA I know that uh that Dr. Wilson and I talked about that and you know if the board wants to consider that I mean we can but but I believe the percentages were chosen because that's what fits the district the best as far as across the board um and you know not having uh you know possibly you know some very different numbers from from one school to the next instead of instead of having that just using percentages. So that was the thought pro thought thought thought process I know behind that portion of it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think one of the concerns about uh was the smaller schools and larger schools may differ, but if if there is a uniformity across the district of there being GPA is what qualifies you versus for
081example, you can have um a number of kids who have very closely related um GPA just by percentage points. And because of the number of in your class someone you you scored 4.1 3 4.12 4.11 and because of percentage if you score just 4.10 you don't fall into that but if 4.1 is that is that level then all the kids who score that level will be there. I don't see how that if if that's going to be the case of we want all the kids who who who who who make a certain level uh GPA to be identified. To me, that's the fairest way to do it versus doing it by percentage because if you do it by percentage, somebody's going to be left out. If you do it by a GPA, you you are
082what you score. Thank you. I think I'm going to let uh Dr. Wilson jump in and then real fast. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Brother, the only thing I would add in terms of that and going back to the original proposal when we discussed in policy review the first time when principles brought the proposal, we were using GPA as a driver. Um, and uh, Mr. Duper and I did talk through different scenarios with that. I think one of the things to keep in mind as you mentioned with the small schools and large schools and that that data is available. um you do get different distributions when you start to look at the total GPA. Uh so when you set a GPA metric for the whole district, which was kind of where they went for the
083original proposal. Um what will happen with that is just by a sheer distribution of those of that number, a very large high school um can have, you know, 150 students that that might fall above like all those categories that we talked about that would be recognized. while across town that might be 10 students that would have fall above. Maybe an exaggeration, but but that that number and that prediction um can vary greatly. I think in terms of that and and the concern was to set the GPA markers in a way that would ensure there was equitable representation across all high schools would ultimately end up recognizing such a large number in some high schools that it could potentially lose meaning uh in terms of the students that they were recognizing. So again, I know our
084goal here is to recognize more, but in terms of trying to set a standard that we felt like was fair to all high schools and the variation across total GPA um and those sorts of things was one of the reasons we talked about using the percentages and that being more of a predictable cut uh and predictable grouping as we looked at students that would be included. uh to your points on the GPA, I mean no matter what or on how we would calculate percentages, no matter where you cut, there's a there's a cut line, right? In terms of how you do that. So if we were talking percentages and students, I think we currently calculate validictorian saludiatoran out to that hundth of a of a decimal point, I would assume we would follow that same
085pattern as we think about equalization and looking at GPA and those sorts of things. So students that would fall in that top you know 10% uh according to that equalization formula would be recognized in that um and that would be no different than how we set for validictorian and saludiatoran now to say you know we we have very close cuts that happen there um and the same thing would be true at those levels now go ahead y not to belabor the point because as I say uh I think here we we just seeing how close we're going to cut. But the the discussion was about um having those kids who would not have to feel like they're in a competition with someone else. So if you if you're going to set it up on percentages,
086you're still having that competition to fall in that percent. And if you look at large schools versus smaller schools, if you're going to have percentages, the larger the school, the more students you're going to have in that category. The smaller the school, the less students you have, just based on the math. Uh if you have it based on a GPA, it's a student competing against themselves. Doesn't matter what anybody else does. If if it's if it's 4.0, it's 4.0. And so it doesn't matter what someone else does, as long as I do 4.0, I'm going to be in that classification. Whereas percentage-wise, you still have that competition. And that's was one of the reasons, one of the reasons I heard more than one person talk about this being something that we didn't want to have
087the valictorian or saludiatorum. And and I'm saying if you're going to still keep it as a as that competitive group, then go ahead and have the other two. That's why I say why not have both. Thank you, Mr. Triplet. Yeah. A couple questions. One, I know you mentioned, you know, the three divisions. There's no legal basis for that. There's not like a law. You're you're just just from opinion and experience. Is that correct? like that was brought up. I just want to make sure there wasn't some background that matters. I I know of no legal particular law that requires either one of these. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that Yeah. Sometimes when you offer an opinion, it's not yours. It's truly a legal thing. I just want to make sure that
088was fair. The other thing is I'm a I'm a little bit of a fan of competition just because I I do in some ways feel like life works that way. You know, I don't want to make everything about competition. I understand the the pressure to be a validator and solidator and changing the class you choose and to take to get the better grades so you can increase that and win that and I want to be careful with some of that. Uh but also um you know the reality of life is that there are a top 5% and they are frankly they have a better grade and I I love the fact that we recognize the best of the best and they are competing against other people. That's just that's just the nature of life. So,
089I'm not that I want somebody to force somebody to lose. But at the same time, the nature of life is there are people who are in that top 5% and there are people that are not. And some people do extremely well and just don't quite make it in the 5%. And some of that is a little bit like a sports analogy. You do your very best and sometimes you don't come out ahead. And I think there are wonderful lessons in life that can be learned in that. So, I'm a fan of the 5% and the 10% of just I'm, you know, if I'm in that 5% I am in the top tier and and I worked really hard to get there. and and other people did really really well and scored a certain score but
090they didn't make it in the top 5% and that's just part of it. So I'm I'm a fan of of you know some of that competition aspect because I I think I think life works that way. And the other thing um looks like Sophia has her has her mic on because I was curious as a senior who had a really high GPA and did really well in school. I was curious if you wanted to offer your opinion on it. Yeah. Um, I was actually going to say I do kind of have an issue with no longer identifying validictorians or solidictorians. Um, I don't know if you all know, but a lot of colleges offer scholarships if you're named as one of the two. Cuz I remember looking at colleges maybe early my junior year. And
091Liberty University, just to name an example, gives you um a full tuition scholarship if you get named either of them. So you're probably giving up a lot of money for some people potentially if you remove this. And um on top of that to brag on halls our top 10% cut off was 4.3 something 4.3 like two maybe. And a lot of my good friends who worked super hard took all the AP classes just missed it by a hundth of a point and they were really uh really crushed by that. And I just I understand that there has to be a cut off, but it really did kind of bother them that they did not get any recognition because both of them had over 30 on the ACT, but they just couldn't get in the top
09210% by a hundth of a point. So, I do think that this is a little um different, but um that was just my thoughts on it. I appreciate that perspective. Thank you, Cat. Miss Bike, thank you. Um, I just have a couple questions. Um, is there is there a, you know, well, first I was going to ask, um, do we have any sort of recognition for students, all students that make over a 4.0? Um, but then it sounds like we do not. And so I'm curious, um, if that's something that we've considered doing or thought about doing just as kind of like a blanket if you have a 4.0 0 or above. To my knowledge, it's not something that's been proposed. Is is that something that other districts do? Again, I'm not aware of it
093if if that is the case, but I haven't done any research on that either. So, yeah, I would say that it would include such a large number of students for us just based on the opportunities that are out there um that again, not a bad thing, but that would be a recognition for quite a few of our graduates. Um, is there a way at some point to know like for the last three years like how many students that would be? We could we could definitely get that. Again, as the as the principal association went through that, they examined um GPA distributions of the graduates for the last several years, looking at where possible cuts and scores and things like that would fall if they were to use different u uh you know cut cuts for
094these uh different designations. So, that data is available. They have that and that could be something we could pull pull forward. It'd be good to know. Yep. Um and then do we have any high schools where students do not score a 4.0? 0 I I believe we have a graduate in every school every year that's above a 4.0. Again, but the the way the catalog for the state has expanded to include uh AP offerings, some school we have one school with IB offerings, um our uh industry certifications, even honors courses uh will offer extra uh points for for the student in that regard. Is there a benefit for for Knox County schools? Like can you or could you kind of like quickly quantify recap it? I know we talked about this in policy review, but
095um what the benefits are for moving to this percentage rather than keeping with what we're doing right now. Sure. So again, as I think Dr. Butler asked when we were in the in the presentation uh last time or at the I'm sorry at the uh policy review meeting. The proposal that's been brought has been brought by the high school principles association uh supported unanimously by our high school principles. Um and again to to recap uh this is work that they began prior to 2020 uh before the COVID incident and kind of uh school became about something else for a little while for us. Um but that was work that they were proposing and bringing forward at that time. We've had high school principles change since then. It has continued to be unanimously supported by them.
096And the two factors that I would say are represented in the proposal is one the desire to recognize more students uh at our schools for the academic accomplish accomplishments that they've had and we've heard that here uh characterized already. We always have kids that have done above and beyond. And the current system with the validictorian saludiatoran technically only recognizes two students a year in that graduating class while there are many more that that could be recognized. So that's one the expansion of who we recognize. The second one would be um and again I would say I'm speaking on behalf of those principles but I think a pattern of um negative uh behaviors and things that have potentially come out of the pursuit sometimes of the validictorian and saludiatoran uh u recognition um that can begin
097even as early as middle school with students making decisions driven more by um how can I get the highest GPA possible and not necessarily by what's best for me as a student, what classes would matter most and support me best. Um, and I think that's played out in a lot of ways in the in the high school environment, including um sometimes the end of friendships and family family dynamics that um have been toxic at times. And I think they uh are looking for a solution that best supports their students and best supports more students in being recognized for the academic work that they've done and that um principles for the principles is that every single high school principal. That is my understanding. Uh again and since the public was not part of that uh for
098our presentation on that two different times our high school association president and vice president have come representing those principles. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Thanks Miss Templeton. Yeah. I had a question about um the idea of the percentages um and I'm not sure the point that I'm trying to make truthfully um because it's a moving goal by school. So the 5% at one school is not the same goal as it is at another school. Um whether or not that is good or bad remains to be determined by this group, but um you I'm not sure you when we talk about the competition factor um and not necessarily knowing what your goal is to get there is somewhat concerning um for for the kids in the process, right? like, well, I know that if I if I
099want this designation, I have to get to a 4.5, let's say, whereas that would not be true at other schools. But then I'm also thinking back to Miss Christiey's um real lived experience um with kids transferring schools for the sake of getting the name and the badge um feels disingenuous and feels just icky. Um, I mean that's not a but um, so I'm questioning and I'm hoping that you can clarify and maybe sway me one way or the other because I don't know this whole this moving finish line, the pro and the con on the moving finish line. Again, I will say the original proposal brought by the principles had GPA distributions. Um, but with that being said, in order to set those GPA distributions in a way that would ensure based on historic uh
100where the where the GPA for the graduating class are to ensure that we have every high school with representation. It created quite a different distribution in terms of um not that not that this doesn't create a different distribution but but a drastic difference in terms of um how many students would we recognize for example at a Farragut high school on graduation if we set a GPA metric versus how many students would we recognize at a Fulton high school. um percentages at least in doing that create um a quantifiable more predictable uh you know the graduating class for uh any high school is fairly consistent year-toear. Um you know where kind of uh what you'd be recognizing in terms of those percentages. The high schools uh principles last time they spoke to us as well said
101that that 10% cut line aligns with a lot of the traditions and a lot of those things that they already do at the high school level. Um and so it makes sense in terms of where they typically are recognizing and you know calling out student performance and those sorts of things as well. Um so those are the two I would say factors I remember from their uh discussion and uh and again I'll say after the first proposal um before bringing it back the that that difference in GPA distribution that it causes was a was a um point of conversation Mr. Mr. Dupler and I had quite a bit of conversation about uh in terms of uh potentially coming back with a percentage cut uh as an option. So, I don't know if he you've got
102additional on that, Gary, or not that you'd you'd add. Sorry, my list. Oh, Sophia, you were next. Lights are coming on and I'm I'm making my list. I just had a question from a lot of like students have wondered this. I actually have wondered it too, but the NIC certifications, do you know why they are weighted as much as an AP class? Um, in my personal opinion, I've taken both. Um, both are hard, but AP is just incredibly harder than the NIC certification. Um, I could understand it being weighted as much as honors, but it being weighted five points is a question a lot of people have had. Absolutely. So Sophia has asked a question about NIC courses. Those are state courses that are aligned to industry certifications. Uh typically obviously in this in the
103career and technical education field um state law uh changed a few years ago. That's all guided by the uniform grading policy. And so um that's a policy that changes a lot. Um but that was one a few years ago that got updated to uh recognize students who are uh maybe more on that career track and pursuing those industry certifications were recognized for that achievement. Okay. Y thank you. Miss Christie, I just had a clarifying question. Dr. Wilson, did you just to make sure I understood correctly at policy review when we were talking just to speak a little bit to Sophia's concern about the scholarships? Did I understand that the school counselor can still give a student their ranking whether it was one or two so that they could still apply for those scholarships? That's correct.
104My understanding is as a university were to reach out requesting information around class ranking that that can be provided. Now, um I would say too in the in the uh research done by our our high school principles in terms of like the title of validictorian carrying a a weight when it came to scholarships and things like that, they did not find that that was a factor. However, if there is a university that would say the top student in their graduating classes is eligible for that scholarship, that would be something that could still be provided by the school. Okay. and in neighboring districts. I know I believe Miraville has has Oakidge went to this as well. Yeah. So that might multiple surrounding districts that have moved to So that might be how they do that with
105their students. Yeah. For those scholarships, correct? Good. Okay. Just want to double check. All right. Oh, Miss Fonta Ridley. Thank you. I just had a question on a different policy. Oh, okay. Yeah. I don't think there's anything else on this one. So, right. Okay. Y um on I440 and again this is Okay. So J. Oh, was it J? Oh, no. I mean it's letter J. Is that what you're talking about? Policy I440 though. Yes. The wellness policy. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. Um on line 30 um emphasizing the term unstructured play outside. Um is there any way that we can put in there a phrase to make it part of policy that um specified physical activity cannot be given as a punishment. So instead of saying something like withheld from or given to a student as punishment
106such as walking laps or push-ups or I can chime in if that's helpful. Yeah, that'd be great. I do just want to ask um Miss Font Ridley, if you look on page one, line 32 um where it says physical activity shall not be withheld from a student as punishment, do you feel like that's sufficient? I'm sorry, I said page one, page three. Um, I don't think it should be withheld, but I also don't think it should be given. Like I know given as Yeah, I know that sometimes teachers I have their kids walk five laps or whatever as punishment for behavior in the classroom. And I mean both of them can can exist at the same time. You know what I mean? I misunderstood your question. I know what you mean now. Yes. Okay. Thank
107you. that I was just asking that question if that could be part of that policy. Yeah, I think if you if you brought I mean if you if you want to make an amendment to it on Thursday, you want to bring that as a motion to add that on or I think that would be we can vote on that. All right. Y thank you. Yep. All right. Any more questions about that policy or I think we got through that whole alphabet of policies. All right. Okay. Moving on then to grants 8A or B. Oh, Miss Himgard. Madame Chair, on item 8A, the attachment is correct and then the information in the board update is correct, but I did not catch this before publishing and have asked Miss Cotney to adjust the total dollar amount in
108the caption. Okay. It only includes one of those grants. Okay, gotcha. Thank you for clarifying that. All right. C or D under grants. All right. Or E. All right. Moving on to contracts A or B or C. Okay. Moving on then to regular agenda items A or B. Yeah, ML. Yeah, I just wanted to ask Mr. Dupler um because I have not combed through this yet if there are any market changes to this than the one that is in existence currently. It's a good question. It is a good question. Uh thank you, Miss Templeton. the so uh Emerald Academy Council and I had been working on this. We've been going back and forth for um a little while on this now and we were just able to to reach an agreement today. So that's why
109you haven't had this before. Uh but the answer to the question I think is is at least reassuring in that um uh KCS wanted to make uh some updates to the existing agreement and Emerald wanted to make a few updates to the to the existing agreement. Uh but I can I can say that that the original agreement with Emerald still u exists within this within this renewal and the updates are all uh to the effect of of uh you know new new laws that have come about in the 10 to 11 years since since Emerald started. uh and new policies and procedures that have come about through the uh Tennessee Commission uh state board of education and Tennessee Department of Education. So that's what all of our focus has been uh for for a couple
110months now. So uh there's nothing that I would term, you know, earth shaking or any radical changes to the way we do business with Emerald. Um, it is all updates which uh the Tennessee Commission communicated with I know Theresa Nixon on that and that that was their message too since this board has already approved the application of Emerald. Uh that that the agreement needed to focus on just whatever updates are necessary to put it into compliance with with current law, rules, regulations, etc. That's it. So, all changes are legal changes as determined by the legislature. I think that's largely fair to say. Yes. Um there I mean there's also some some changes that Emerald wanted pursuant to their application, right? their application is, you know, now going forward after already being been in existence for
11110 years. So, so the changes some of the and and we're not talking about a lot, but some of the changes they wanted were just pursuant to the application that they filed for the renewal. So, it's not it's not anything different than you've seen in the application. Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you. Great clarification. And thank you for that. Anybody else on regular agenda items? All right, moving on then to public forum. Mr. Triplet. Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have one. Miss Hancock, if you will state your name and county of residents. I think we know who you are, but for the record, and uh then you'll have three minutes. take care of this. Uh, Madame Chair Betsy Henderson, members of the board, and Superintendent Dr. John Roswick, I'm standing before you this evening to
112announce two important pieces of news regarding the leadership of the Knox County Education Association. First, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the Knox County Schools, uh, Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. John Ryzswick for their leadership during my tenure as president of the Knox County Education Association. Due to our collaborative efforts, together we have been instrumental in accomplishing key achievements and contributions that have led to more effective communications among stakeholders and increased student success. However, I say with mixed emotions that as of June 30th, I will no longer be an employee of the Knox County School District. Second, I'm thrilled to introduce Daria Turner as the new president of the Knox County Education Association effective July 1st, 2025. Daria has been an educator for Knox County Schools and is an
113active member of the Knox County Education Association, having served on the KCA executive board, KCA Pekka team, and as well as the TEA board of directors. She brings a wealth of experience as an educator and we are confident that she will be an asset in the relationship that has been formed between us. We look forward to a smooth transition and welcome your support of Daria as she gets settled into her new role. I'm excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for both of our organizations and believe that this leadership change will benefit us greatly. Thank you, Daria Turner. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Hancock, for all of your hard work and commitment. We appreciate you. All right, moving on to board forum. Sophia, I um I just wanted to thank everyone for my time on the
114board. There's really nothing I can say bad about it except for it deterred me from political science. But everyone has been so kind and it has been amazing to just sit and learn from you all and be able to advocate out in my community when people are like, "So, how's the board thing going?" And I'm like, "Oh, everyone's really great. They're all really nice. They all really care about the kids." It's been a real honor to be able to do that. Um, as a student rep, I just wanted to speak uh for a few reminders. Students, please have a nice great summer vacation. Um, relax and um, restore yourself. Um, AP scores come out July 2nd. So, definitely check those. And if you haven't sent them free to a college, do it by the end
115of June because I had to pay $20 to send mine. Um, and then Tennessee Promise hours are also due by the end of June. So that is something I would get in as well. And something that I kind of learned about the second semester my senior year. Um, is there a way we can get high schools to tell students that sometimes the dual enrollment grant does not cover the entire class because multiple of my f multiple of my friends including myself um we owed like $300 to the universities um at the end and we had no idea and they withheld our transcripts from other colleges because we hadn't paid. So, I think um finding a way to bridge that gap and communicate to students that oh, sometimes you'll still owe extra money would be really
116beneficial. Thanks. That's good to know. We're going to miss your insight, Sophia. I learned so much. I have a high schooler and I learn from you because he's so quiet. Reverend Butler. Yes. And I'm going to ask for some patience. Um we had our annual conference uh this week past week uh starting on Wednesday and end on Saturday. This is the Methodist Conference Amy African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and that's when I uh our assignments and appointments are made. Uh this year effective on May 31st I have been appointed to be the presiding el of the Concord district west central North Carolina conference pedmont Episcopal district and that is in North Carolina. I'll be a full-time presiding elder overseeing 20 churches. Um, I will be the pastor of Clinton Chapel and Mine Church here in
117Knoxville and presiding elder of the Knoxville district through June 30th and then a new pastor and presiding elder will be appointed. I plan to maintain uh my residence here in Knoxville. So to continue to serve out my duties as Knox County School Board of Education District 1 representative and to continue to do the things I need to do to make sure the district is represented and the schools are taken care of as well as all the schools in Knox County. And also I will be I have an office in um in Concord, North Carolina and I'll be in that office doing those duties when I need to. So um I believe I can do both and if there's a time when either fails, then I'll take the steps to make sure that someone else can
118do one or the other. But at this time, I just wanted to make sure the board knew and the community knew that I will be doing something different for the Amazon church, but I still be here doing the same thing for Knox County Schools. Thank you. Congratulations on that new honor and your thoughtful leadership, too, Miss Templeton. That's fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you. It's really wonderful. And congratulations Sophia again. Um I have nothing to be congratulated for um because they are carrying the full weight of that um this month and um it is an honor to sit next to both of you um as we do this every month. So um I just want to wish everyone a wonderful summer. Um we've started it. Um I know that um a lot of vacations have actually already
119taken place. Mississippi has already been to the beach and back. So, um that's exciting and um yeah, just looking forward to a great summer. Oh man, Miss Fner Ridley, thank you. I also congratulate Sophia. Well done. Um oftentimes I felt like she'd been on the board for longer than me, but she seemed to kind of know how to kind of feel her way and I'm still trying. So, um congratulations Sophia. you've got a really bright future ahead of you. And Reverend Dr. Butler, congratulations on your new position. Um, and I hope you find a lot of joy in it. Um, that's been it, Mr. Triplet. Yeah. Well done, Sophia. Good to have a Halls representative. I love it having a Red Devil in there. It's good to have. Uh, you do have such poise on
120this board. I'm so very impressed and excited to see what happens at UT and beyond. So, well done. Yep. Miss Pike, thank you. [Music] Um, congratulations again to all the graduates of Knox County Schools. Um, it was so amazing to be at the graduations that I attended and you know, each year you think like, oh, it's shaking more hands and you'll you'll you get used to it. Um, but I think this is my third year going to graduations and um, it was still pretty emotional and pretty amazing to see the the next generations really getting out in there and being so excited and what they're prepared to do. I'm it just it really makes me excited for the job that I'm doing here, but also for our future. Um, congratulations to Sophia and it's been
121a joy having you here and again can't believe that um, the year is gone already. Um, but I'm excited for our next board rep and um, then also want to shift over to say um, and wish everyone a happy pride month and to also wish everyone a happy Junth. Um, I know that those things aren't necessarily based on happiness. Um, but I hope that we can each celebrate in our own way to find joy in um, some misfortunes that have come before us. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Pike, Miss Morgan. Thank you. Congratulations, Sophia. You have, as Miss Fontley said, a very bright future ahead of you, and it's been a pleasure to work with you. Um my is my board update forum is all about congratulations as well. Um congratulations to Fairgate High School
122track and field for uh being the 2025 boys state champions. Great beat for them. And yes um to Fairgate High School baseball on their uh recent very recent win of the state championship again for the fourth year in a row. Uh they are over the last four years 16 and 0 in uh state tournaments. So four consecutive state championships for the ads. Very proud of that. Way to go admirals. And um hope everyone has a wonderful summer. Yeah, it's impressive. Mr. Wright, uh one more time, congratulations, Sophia. You're you're going to love UT and you're going to do well there. Thank you for your service to the board. Um, congratulations, Reverend Butler. Also, that's pretty cool. Uh, also I want to throw out congratulations to the Gibbs High softball team for their back-to-back state championship,
123division one 3A. Uh, that makes them the 12time state champions in girls softball. Miss Christie again. So Sophia, I still expect you to text me so we can do congratulations later. Okay, keep me give me your life updates. Um, Reverend Dr. Butler, you gave me a brief moment of panic over here when you started that. I'm going to say I was like, I know my eyes were like, where's where is and when you said when you said June, I really started to panic. I was like, where are we going with this? Uh, but congratulations on that. Um, Miss Hancock, we're congratulations on your retirement. Welcome, Miss Turner. Um, and sadly, our South soccer team fell one game short, but uh, we're still immensely proud of them. And I would also like to give a shout
124out for Emerald Youth for helping us get them to state again this year because transportation is something we struggle with sometimes and um our friends at Emerald always are willing to step in and help with that. So give them a shout out as well. Yeah, I echo all the congratulations Sophia. Thank you for your service to the board. Um, you truly are a bright light on this board and and we're going to miss you. And I just want to congratulate uh the Harden Valley Academy boys soccer team, one state. Um, so I'm excited about that. And last night we had 500 kids, Knox County students return from a week in Colorado at Young Life Camp. My son was included in that group. So, um, I'm sure they're all still asleep after a 30hour bus ride
125back from Colorado. Um, but I'm excited for those kids um to have that experience and also a big thanks to all the chaperones for watching 500 children. Um, so with that, I'll see y'all Thursday and we are adjourned.