001What? Welcome to the board of education's April 7th, 2025 work session. Please stand as we observe a moment of silence followed by the pledge led by Reverend Butler. 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. We just have a few announcements. As public notice, board members met in executive session with members of the Knox County Law Department just prior to this meeting. Mr. Dupler, do you want to provide any information? Uh, thank you, Madam Chair, and I can say that yes, it was just a very short meeting to discuss um, you know, pending or potential litigation and there was no deliberation. Um, and it's a typical type of meeting pursuant to Smith versus Anderson County.
002Thank you. Awesome. Thank you, Mr. Dubler. The student representative selection committee is scheduled to to meet tomorrow to formalize their review of applications for the 2526 board student representative. The application deadline was March 13th and the board office received 19 submissions from students at eight different high schools. The appointed selection committee consists of Miss Bike. Thank you so much for serving on that committee. I think that's a fun one. So, I'm excited for you. Corey Lner as assistant superintendent of strategy, principal Lacy Hatfield from region two, parent Tanya Williams from region three, Sophia Elkins as our outgoing student rep from region 4, and community representative Andrew Acqu from region five. I know all of us are looking forward to receiving a report and introduction of our new student rep from Miss Bike at our May
003meeting. Also, you've already been alerted, but I just want to announce publicly that our called meeting, previously scheduled for Thursday, April 24th for consideration of our fisc year 2026 budget, has been rescheduled to Tuesday, April 29th at 5:00 pm in this boardroom. Our annual calendar and the district calendar found on the KCS website were updated a few weeks ago, but I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of that date change. Are there requested changes to this meeting agenda? Second motion by Miss Christie, second by Mr. Triplet. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Dr. Risewick, do you have a superintendent report? I do. Thank you, Madam Chair. I know you just said we don't only a few announcements and I'd start with mine's a little long, so sorry. I was
004going to ask Last month was short. Last month was short. Yes. We're due for a long one. Yeah. Well, this is this is my my favorite time of the year coming back after spring break. we have so much to start celebrating and so that's why it's that's why it's lengthy to talk about some of these things. So um like to start by highlighting some exciting news for 865mmies. We we were recently invited uh to host a study visit focused on our high school transformation for the education foundation leaders from across the country. These leaders were in Knoxville for a national conference and had expressed an interest in learning about the 865 academyy's work. During the visit, guests heard from school, business, and student leaders about the 865mmies and how they're preparing students for life after
005graduation. They also had the opportunity to see firsthand the incredible work of uh that's happening at Fulton High School and also at LNN STEM Academy. The feedback we received was overwhelming and positive, reinforcing the dedication and hard work of our high schools and preparing students for success. We're proud of the progress we're making and grateful for the opportunity to share that with a national audience. I also want to thank Mike Taylor uh CEO of Knox Education Foundation and president of the National Association of Education Foundations for this opportunity to showcase the incredible work happening in the 865mmies. Uh on another exciting note, uh we hosted our annual recruitment fair at West High School on Saturday. Uh elementary, middle, and high school principles from across the district were on hand to meet with candidates and share
006ideas about their hiring needs. I was able even to visit with a few prospective candidates and share a little bit about our philosophy behind recruiting and retaining great educators. Over the last three years, we've invested more than $119 million in staff. Uh and it's paying off for sure. If you remember, we started this school year out with only six teaching vacancies. Uh this is huge when we consider the impact an educator makes on students. Having a great educator in every classroom is key to the success of our district. Uh at this time we have fewer than a 100red teacher vacancies. Without perspective you go, "Well, that sounds like a lot, right?" Uh typically this time of year, I was checking with Adrien Rucker. I called him before we came to the meeting. Typically, we're around
007450 at this point uh going into the hiring season. So, uh, a great start last year, uh, and very few with like 100, probably less than that as we finish placing people where they are going into this year, which is really what the goal, I think, was a few years ago to get to a place where, uh, we are staffed and now we're talking about just really trying to recruit the highest of quality people to join our team and continue to be part of that. U, so that was really good. We're continuing to recruit talented educators and support the staff that we have as we work toward our goal of zero vacancies by uh, next year. Alex Mosman, our director of talent acquisition. That's his goal every year and they're doing a great job of
008getting there. I want to give a huge shout out to our business and talent division, especially to our talent acquisition HR teams for their hard work to ensure we have great educators in every classroom. Uh, speaking of business and talent, as you know, we're proposing the budget or yeah, we're proposing our budget on April the 29th and Miss Henderson just talked about that. We look forward to previewing our budget proposal at our community meeting. The meeting will be at 5:00 p. p.m. on Tuesday, April the 15th here at Summerplace. And will be an opportunity to hear more about the budget for next school year and how we're aligning resources to drive the work of our four priorities to meet the needs of our schools. For anyone who can't make the meeting, it will also be
009a live stream on knockschools.org. We look forward to sharing more. Then last two things, we're getting there, I promise. Uh testing season, uh just speaking a little bit to that. Um I I just want to say this. I really appreciate even Saturday walking around talking to the principles just how they are approaching that now. I mean I think there was a time period when testing meant like everyone was nervous and everyone was scared and those things. I think just just because we've normalized a lot more of how we use assessment. Teachers are using it a lot more. Uh they're understanding it's a chance to show what you know. I really am happy with that. Not saying all anxietyy's gone for assessment but I think they've done a really good job at the school level working
010on that. So, uh, I want to also remind everybody that testing will begin next week. As a former teacher and parent, I know testing can be a source of anxiety for students and families, but at its core, that's funny. I'm not a former parent. I'm still a parent, but a former teacher and parent, that just hit me. Uh, it's important to remember that testing is just a measure of learning. Uh, at KCS, we view assessment as part of the learning cycle. What do students, what do we ask? What do students need to know? How do we know we know it that they know it? And what do we do when they don't? Um, that's really our learning process. So assessment happens throughout the year, sometimes through quick checks, sometimes through more formal assessments, and this
011spring window is just another one of those. We already seeing promising results from our fall window. Dr. Wilson has updated us on a little bit. We heard what we've heard from the high schools already. It's very promising, and we plan to continue that momentum through the end of the year. So parents, please encourage your students, uh, tell your students to stay to tell your students it's just another day. Uh, love them well, feed them well, and let them know that you and their teachers are proud of their progress that they've made for this year. And finally, uh, last, but certainly not least, education has been, uh, a prominent topic in state and national conversations recently. I want to let the board and our community know that our focus has not changed in the last three
012years due to these conversations. At KCS, we have and will always remain focused on providing a highquality education for every student, a allocating our resources closer to the students uh, for the highest impact, and maintaining a continuous improvement mindset. We're always monitoring state and national conversations pertinent pertinent to our work and anytime changes occur. Our commitment will always be to to evolve to meet the needs for all of our students. We also know that speculating on things that may or may not happen or rushing to comment or action before we receive clear guidance from the relevant agencies only leads to confusion and frustration. In meetings with our principles recently, I was able to remind them of the great progress they have made in recent years by staying focused on the work and putting our students
013first. Here's just a few examples. It's funny how fast this happens and what great job they've done and we go, "Wow." Three years ago, the state introduced new legislation around third grade retention and promotion. It was a brand I was a brand new superintendent at that time and I remember the immediate reaction. Parents were scared that schools uh were asking if they if we needed bigger third grade classes. Like that was the fear. We were how are we going to do this? We're going to have a bunch of third grades. We're not going to have many kids in fourth grade. This was all before we had received any guidance from the state on the specifics of that law. As a district, we chose not to focus on the uncertainties, but instead to focus on the
014strategies that we know work. Early intervention and highquality tier one instruction. Our academics and student success divisions developed a plan to address learning gaps, including tutoring and summer learning camps. Since the law passed, we have had fewer than 40 students retained each year. Last year, the state passed a new law related to materials in school libraries. We didn't panic. We took our time to explore law and the guidance provided by the state before developing a plan to bring ourselves into alignment with the law. In doing so, we were also able to balance the need for compliance with the purpose of school libraries to inspire love and reading and expose students to new ideas. Thanks to this approach, we are able to create a plan that leverages the expertise of our highly trained librarians and puts
015multiple eyes on our materials for evaluation. These are the types of results we get when we slow down and plan intentionally. We've seen the same thing happen with our 865mmies. We knew four years ago that it wasn't enough for students to walk across the graduation stage. They needed to be prepared for the next step in their life whether that's enrollment, enlistment or employment. So that's why we created uh this academyy's model which leverages meaningful partnerships with local businesses and hands-on experiences to prepare students to graduate with confidence for their next steps in lives. KCS stands ready to become a model for public education in the state and in our region. Our leaders are prepared to respond to any changes that we face. In the meantime, we'll do our best to keep our eye on the
016work of the four priorities. And when we do that, our students win. Madam Chair, that concludes our comments for today. Thank you, Dr. Mr. Riswick, Mr. Triplet, thank you, Madam Chair. Lots of updates on this agenda today. There's a lot of updates. Yes, I'll keep this brief. So, uh, board members of the House and Educa, Senate Education Committee, subcommittees, all those have closed. Now, several bills that, uh, if you want to follow up and keep an eye on around, uh, maintenance of local funding effort, capital uh, project trust, cooperative purchasing agreements, some clarification there, academic or athletic eligibility when transferring schools, some of those things. But a couple that we have talked about in here. One is the uh school lotteryies, the ability for schools um to conduct uh school support organizations to conduct a
017lottery that um that bill is on the agenda. Uh House Resolution 146. So there's a possibility that may pass and we can have cakewalks and all that fun stuff. You know, exciting times. And then uh the other one that uh is u is a bill related to funding for uh special education preschool students. And I think we've spoken about that in here. So, we'll see where um those bills go. The only other legislative thing is uh we have on the agenda actually um for the 10th is related to the Education Freedom Act and the Teacher Bonuses and we'll talk a little more in depth about that obviously when that uh we'll get to that item. Thank you, Madam Chair. That concludes it. Thank you, Miss Christie. Naming facilities committee update. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm
018actually going to uh punt this one to Mr. right? If that's okay because he's on that committee and this is actually exciting times for Gibbs. I guess great idea, Mr. Wright. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Miss Christie. The naming facilities committee met on Friday, March the 7th to consider the nomination of Morgan Wallen for the naming of the Gibbs High School baseball field, which was submitted to the board office by principal Jason Webster. Mr. Webster and athletic director Dustin Minet were present at the committee meeting and shared information regarding the support Mr. Wallen has provided not only to Gibbs High School but also to other Knox County schools and the entire Knox County community. Board members have the full nomination packet that includes multiple letters of support not only from Mr. Webster, but Gibbs
019High School athletic director Dustin Minet, baseball coach Jeff Davis, Mayor Glenn Jacobs, District 8 County Commissioner Adam Thompson, former District 8 County Commissioner Richie Beer, and community member Steve Hunley. As the committee discussed the nomination, it was also noted that no communications in opposition of any kind have been received. So, the committee voted unanimously to move forward with our recommendation to the board for approval of the nomination. The nomination is uh listed as 9C on our April 10th regular agenda and we can have discussion when we review our agenda items. Great. Thank you, Mr. Wright. Back to you, Mr. Triplet. Clothing center committee update. Yes, the clothing center. We met on January 27th and voted to send out a public no not notice and working obviously to see what other agencies might want to be
020involved in that. Um they were asked to submit a letter by February 28th and the full application by March 14th. Um there were a couple of agencies stating that they even they wanted to continue partnering with KCS to meet students needs, they were not necessarily uh wanting to be involved in the Cedar Bluff Auxiliary Campus and and the Clothing Center. And so, um, we did receive one joint letter of intent and application from the KCS school department, uh, culture department and the Knoxville Dream Center. So, uh, KCS social worker supervisor Heather Willis was present at the meeting on March 24th and reviewed that proposal with us, answered some questions. So, we've reviewed that and, uh, voted unanimously to recommend the joint proposal received for board approval. Uh, Mr. Duper was present as well and confirmed
021that anou with Knoxville Dream Center would be needed. So the joint proposal and theou will be on our May uh May agenda most likely. So that is the plan. Awesome. Thanks, Mr. Triplet. All right, back to you, Miss Christie, with y'all could just play ping pong. Uh strategic plan committee update. Thank you, Madam Chair. In my last report, um you may recall that the strategic plan committee had met with representatives of Accenture LLP earlier in the day on March 3rd to review finalized stakeholder engagement information and do a high level review of proposed strategic plan goals. Following that meeting, the committee had tentatively planned to reconvene on March 31st to receive our first rough draft of the strategic plan and to enter the final stage of preparing a proposal plosed plan for full board consideration
022in May or June. We're still hopeful that we can have um a plan for the board to review in May or June, but we did have to delay the meeting a little bit with Accenture to allow them more time to finalize the draft. and they are working diligently and um this of course isn't something we want to rush um because we do want the plan to make sure that you know it meets the board's expectations and serves KCS well over the next five years. So you will receive a notice as soon as our next meeting date and time is confirmed and I look forward to keeping you up to date on our work. Awesome. Thank you. Dr. Brown, do you have a special education update for us? Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the
023board. Uh, as always, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you tonight about the work that we're doing in the area of special education. Um, specifically, if you'll remember, we had hoped tonight that we would be receiving a report from PCG, their final report out, uh, on the analysis they've done. Uh, and while all along I was afraid that that may be a really lofty goal, and I was a little disappointed that they didn't make it, I will say I meet with PCG on a weekly basis to have check-ins. uh and and I am continued to be impressed with uh their uh sticking to the the integrity of their research, making sure uh that the numbers they have around staffing and around budgeting and around allocation within our district um are accurate so that they
024can give us the best recommendations moving forward. So, uh we'll look forward to hearing from them on May 5th at our next work session. Um, I did want to share with you in the meantime just some some of the work that's been going on, some things that have been happening here lately. Uh, most recently, uh, we have just wrapped up, uh, state monitoring. Um, so for those of you who don't know, I know that just seems, you know, what is monitoring? Um, every year there are 14 what we call APRs. Those are annual performance report indicators that the state looks at. things like IEPs, uh, LRE data, graduation rate, attendance rates, just all the different data we can collect on students, uh, with disabilities. Um, and what they do is they look for patterns or
025trends, and then they recommend training or improvements within the district. I will say that we are one of five districts in the state who have annual monitoring. Most districts only do that once about every five years, but because of our size and the amount of resources that are allocated to Knox County, Metro Nashville, uh Shelby County, Hamilton County, and Williamson County are the five, uh we are monitored every single year. Um this year, uh had some really good results. Um specifically, they were very impressed with our level of data analysis around our students. Uh the state provides us with a data dashboard and that's what most districts use to track the progress their students were making. Uh our department actually meets every three months to discuss every single child who has a reading or a
026math goal and to monitor their progress, making sure they're making adequate gains toward those goals that have been set for them. Uh so much that Summer Robertson, one of the special education interventionists at the state level, actually asked us to come and present at the regional director's meeting. Um so again, you this is an area that we were really able to shine and start working toward as we've talked about being a model district in this area for data analysis in the state of Tennessee. Um they did recognize some areas where we needed to grow obviously. Um this year's finding was around transition plans and so we're going to continue to work on our students as they transition. Um they pulled over 117 plans. Um there's a new set of standards. We're working with academics to
027make sure we align our transitioning with the post-secondary plans of the 865 academy. So, still work to be done there, but uh again, we feel like we're moving in the right direction. Um you may remember uh a story that I shared at my last update about uh a playground situation that had been brought to our attention from one of my special ed council members. Um that actually has grown. Uh so I think that um that one situation has made us realize that we need more of a systemic change. Um, so tonight you're going to see an agenda for some additional playgrounds to be approved for elementary schools that have been funded by KEF. Uh, and again, it will be supplemented by Dr. Adams department to make some more changes um, for greater accessibility. Moving forward,
028I've met with KEF and they're actually going to be changing their scope of work to ensure that all students have access to our playground. So, that's really exciting and and again, just a a credit to the work that's being done in conjunction with the special ed council. Uh also wanted to touch on some uh our newsletter that uh we put out monthly. Uh communication is obviously an area that we always want to improve. Uh this year we have uh seen a significant uptick in our views and interactions by parents and families. So far our newsletters have been accessed 5,797 times. Families have clicked on 315 links to resources that are embedded in the newsletter and 753 have watched included videos within the newsletter. Uh the biggest increase we've actually seen is our engagement with Spanish-sp
029speakaking families and is almost match our engagement with families who speak English. So that's really exciting. Uh and lastly, I would like to give a couple of school shoutouts. Uh as you know, Dr. Risewick and the assistant superintendents all do school visits to pulse check and see how things are going. If you recall, a little over a year ago, we rolled out the KCS way for special education. I want to give a shout out to two schools and principles who are really owning those changes that we're asking them to make. In recent school visits, I want to thank Dr. Cutter at Bluegrass Elementary and Mr. Brent Glenn at KS Middle for embracing the change and posting IEP protocols in their moving rooms. Um, obviously we've seen two, we have 91 schools, as you can imagine.
030Uh, Dr. Risewick tries to remind me all the time uh that that these these big systemic changes really take three to five years uh to take hold and as I've shared with you all previously I'm not the most patient person in the world. Um Miss Henderson we've also talked and you've you know you've reminded me multiple times that our kids can't wait three to five years and obviously I can't agree with that more. So I will say in closing today that I am encouraged to see some of the progress we're making. Uh but as always we are never satisfied. We're going to continue to do better. So, we're going to continue working to improve and be the state's model district for special education. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Awesome. I appreciate that. Look
031forward to May's presentation as well. Thank you, Dr. Brown. All right. We will move into our regular meeting agenda. Get that pulled up. All right. Item C, items and contracts C one or two. Do we have any questions or discussion about one or two? Three or four, five or six. Seven or eight or nine. All right, moving on then to grants A or B, C or D or E. All right, moving on then to contracts A or B. C or D or E. Miss Fonta Ridley, I just had a couple of questions. Um because I did a little bit of research. Um are is there a law that says that we have to have only one company? Are we talking about E? Yes. for the 403b. Yes, Miss Simgarn, I don't believe so. Miss Himgarn,
032do you want to answer that question for E? Madam Chair, Miss Fontau Ridley, no. There's not a law that says we only have to have one. All right. Um then I guess my next question is um because of the concerns that have happened this week with the market downturn. I mean people have lost thousands of dollars in their um retirement their 401ks whereas value teachers company has a fixed indexed annuity where the teachers whatever they put into it they're not going to lose that money. They may lose money that they have grown, but they won't lose the invested money. So, I just think that there's going to be a lot of people there will be a lot of people who are concerned about losing a lot of money. And so I think maybe we need
033to think about um honoring the couple of thousand teachers who have their money invested with value teachers and honor their decisions and respect their their wishes to continue with both. I mean both companies can coexist because I'm from what I understand USI doesn't have that type of a product. So all of that will be subject to market change I guess. Mr. Dler, you want to jump in? Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so I believe I believe the representative from USI indicated that that they did have s such a product, but I'm not I'm not going to get into that. I mean, that's that's for this board to decide. I just wanted to be clear for you board members. I mean, you all have have a decision to make on this particular contract and it's either
034up or down. I mean, from everything I've heard, everything I've read, uh, procurement did did their job properly. Uh, you all uh have a a before you, you know, a contract that includes both an administrator and a vendor. Um and um it's it's been through you know uh the the legal process with procurement and um it's I mean it's turned out the way it should have. Now, I mean, with that said, um if if if this board feels like or or board members feel like, hey, we don't want to to go down this road with a and you know, an administrator and a vendor combined or for some other reason, um as Miss Font Ridley just just mentioned, then then then that's a policy decision that this board certainly makes all the time. Uh but
035but but from a legal standpoint um you all have a have a perfectly fine valid contract uh if you want to take advantage of it. If you don't it's I mean then then I mean the directive is you go back to to where you are right now and then uh administration would have to come up with some other plan but it's either up or down. So do you have more? Oh okay. Okay. So, if we were to approve the contract, does that exclude value teachers from doing anything in Knox County or can they come back and get back in or remain? It's a good question, Miss Fner Ridley. So, I mean, if you approve the contract, what what will happen is then then USI consulting will be the both the administrator and the and the
036sole vendor. That's what that's the plan that's before you. So, so the answer is no. Value teachers would not be able to continue to to draw um um you know payments from u the school system. Is it possible that in the future they could come back in or is this for a certain amount of time? Miss Simborn. Madam Chair, Miss Fontno Ridley, uh the contract is for a specific term. Um the the contract that's on the agenda. So for that period of time, uh the USI would be the single vendor. Um and then at the expiration of the the contract, we may uh choose to do a new RFQ. So, there's no guarantee of when when any other vendors could potentially um become a vendor if this contract's approved. Miss Christine. Thank you, Madam Chair.
037Is someone from USI here tonight? Is would it be possible? I just have a couple of questions. Is it Mr. Cross? Welcome, Mr. Cross. Thank you. Welcome back. Thank you. Did you miss us from the last meeting? Probably not. Um, so I just I have a a couple of questions. One would be um if you do have a similar product, the other is do you offer any type of um I guess it's a retirement calculator? I know when mine changed once, I was given a tool to use where I could put in, you know, my age and the age I wanted to retire and and it gave me the different options like, you know, the um product like similar to value teachers would have been one option and it discussed the pros and cons with
038those and then also listed other options as well. And I'm just wondering if you have any kind of and it might be in the contract and I might have missed it. Oh, Bob Cross by the way 900 South Gay Street 1796 president of the central and southern regions for USI consulting group. So if I yes we do a couple of responses to the question and questions. Uh we do have a a pro a product or fund that does have a guaranteed interest rate uh that cannot change in terms the principal cannot drop nor can the interest rate credit. uh there are no commissions in the product that system that's available uh to uh personnel. It mirrors duplicates the system that's available for for Knox County. Uh just to make a note uh the delivery of
039these products and systems has changed dramatically over the last decade particularly in the last five years. The system that is in place group annuity product or something similar was pretty prevalent at that point in time. uh we have changed out our systems to be more competitive and I empathize. Believe me, I I get it. I've lost a couple of clients and it was very painful because I did not move quickly enough to change from that current system to a more modern up-to-date system. Uh again, we have no commissions in any of our products. Uh we are also there are no uh fees or charges involved. If a person wants to move from this plan to another plan, there may be some regulatory requirements, but there are no fees, no charges. If you got $10,000 in
040your account, you want to move to another provider, another 43b, you can do so. You can take $10,000. Uh so there are again no no fees in that regard. Couple of other notes that came up in the last meeting just to make sure I address everything. We do have local staff. They are fully licensed. They have a uh series 63, series 6. So, they're able to talk about any of these products. For the group annuity, you only have to have an insurance license. If you're talking to individuals about their own personal accounts and their securities involved, you do have to have certain securities licenses. We have two individuals that are employed or were employed. They're now with our firm. Uh Janice Amar and Jennifer Reynolds, they're former board of education employees. extremely sharp, very capable
041individuals. Thrilled. You did a great job. Thrilled to have them on board with us and they are available. We also have an individual who's an attorney and a CFA. Uh we have individuals who are uh very fluent uh uh Spanish and they can certainly communicate effectively with any individual that you might have on staff. Um, so, uh, be glad to answer any I hope I answered your question. I'd be glad to answer any other questions. I appreciate the difficulty of comparing different product and in this. I mean, I appreciate that. I would say that the the evaluation committee went through that and did the work for you. But I I respect the fact that it is not easy. It's not easy. and and I think that you know what the big one of the biggest
042concerns I've heard are the um fees that would be associated with moving um from value teachers to another account but now correct me if I'm wrong did you say that if when you do this you do not have those fees for people to move to other vendors so couple of different areas one is if you are on our system and you move to another provider, there's no no fee regardless of how if you've been there a month and you've got $10,000, you can move $10,000 with their system. If you're there less than 10 years, as I understand it, then you're first year, you're going to have a a 9% hit. So, I've got $10,000. I want my money. You're going to lose 9% of it. The second year, 8% of it, so forth. and that's
043a function of their product and their system and involves the front and commissions and I'm not even know whatever it is what it is. So the commissions for selling those funds so that's part of it. We do not have that. Now at the same time if a person wants to move in their current contract and it's understanding they could stay where they are they would not be able to make additional contributions but they could stay where they are in their current contract. If the individual did decide to move, we have a a means by which that penalty can be absorbed. The crediting rate instead of three might be two and three/4ers or what have you, but then they could move that money. Once they move the money, then they could move it out without a
044penalty if they chose to do so. So again, I get this is very complicated. Uh I this is not easy. I get it. I want to make sure I'm not disparaging their product. I want and nor the individuals. Uh this is just a different approach. A different product, different system. Uh I just I think our system reflects the current marketplace. That's it in a nutshell. Thank you, Mr. Cross. Does anyone else have questions for Mr. Cross before we let him sit down? I have one question for Okay, go ahead. So, do your products, they have penalties? They do not no penalties at all. Anything that anyone would assign up for they're not signing are they signing any contracts? No, this is a great question. So, this is a uh think of uh well, it's Nox
045County. So, you go online and we have individuals can meet with people to talk about the system, but you go online and you enroll or we go through the the uh board of education as you choose, but ordinarily you go online. So you would sign up if you met with us and you got all the materials and then online you would choose which fund or funds in which you want to invest. So would that be a contract? Is there a contract? No contract. It's it's just surprising to me that there would be zero fees, zero penalties. Another great point we are piggybacking on Knox County. They have it's public information a half a billion dollars in their defined contribution system. Because of that, we're making that same system available to the board of education. We
046do the same thing for the family justice center, uh the Knox County Drug Commission or the coalition. So any, you know, we live here, work here. So we make that available to community if you will. It's at least if it's attached or tied in some way to the county. Okay, I think that's all my questions, but I do have Okay. Yeah, we'll ask and then we'll go back to any board members who have discussion and questions. Miss Templeton question. Yeah, I do have a question just for clarity. Um, two questions. The contract says that it would start March 1st, 2025. So, this might be for Miss Himmler, but I do have a question for you as well. Um, so does that mean that everything is if if this passes on Thursday, it's retroactive March 1st?
047Madame Chair, Miss Templeton, I believe that what we had discussed last time and we would need to make a notation on the contract is July 1, that USI was agreeable to a start date of July 1, which would account for um Miss Christiey's concern for employees that were retiring this school year um to be able to finish out with a current provider if they had one. Thank you. that was something that wanted to make sure was resolved because you guys were going to have that conversation. Um, a second convers um is about the um the current teachers who are invested with value teachers um when I was looking at reports of the fees that they would have to pay to switch um range from $2 to $10,000 for one teacher could be penalized $10,000. So,
048and and up higher actually. Um, and that's the way that their system is set up. And y no harm, no foul. That's it's the way it works. The way it works, right? So, um, I have a concern about forcing fees and potential loss of retirement opportunities for teachers. Um, but from what you were just saying to Miss Christie is that those fees can somehow be absorbed or there's some sort of bridge. A bridge. Great. Good. So, one, I don't like to be forced in terms of the date. I don't Nobody does. So, I think this is a matter of uh July one is great with us. So, I want the you to be comfortable with the decision you're making. So uh in terms of yes so each individual I think would have to look at
049where they are now and so there are various provisions in those contracts. There's a uh nursing home. There's some other than life life b insurance provisions in terms of death and so forth. There's a bunch of stuff in those contracts. So an individual might look at that and say this is worth it to me. I know there's some expense. I know there's whatever. So I'm going to stay where I am. So it's great. No problem. Others may say, well, okay, this is an advantage to this, and that's the decision I want to make. And it's not really the dollars, it's a percentage of the the fund that will be impacted. So, it's three three and a half% on 300,000 is obviously a different dollar number and the penalty on on as opposed to 10,000. So,
050it's going to be the percent of the contract that would be imp or the dollar value that would be impacted. But in no circumstances these the individuals work for me all salaried. So there's no incentive at all for them to encourage or try to push or dissuade someone from staying where they are. So that's absolutely an individual decision. Right. And I understand that. Um when I'm when I say you know between $2 and $10,000 that is the percentage that they would be impacted. Uh so so they may have $100,000 but they're being impacted $10,000 whatever it is for easy math. So um and that and that is where my concern lies. Um and I appreciate the ability for teachers to be able to keep their accounts at value teachers but they will not be allowed
051to continue to deposit into value teachers. Correct? So we would not have that compound interest gain over the course of their tenure at KCS. Madam Chair, Miss Templeton, that's correct. And that that is is one thing that I wanted to clarify in my response to uh Miss Font Ridley just to to make sure that what I said was clear. If the contract is approved, Miss Font Ridley had asked, could could value teachers come back? um the accounts if if the contract with USI were approved, there could be at the time of the contract no more contributions to current accounts with Value Teachers or Corbridge um and then no new clients, but the the teachers accounts would still exist there unless they've selected to move them somewhere. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Are there
052any more questions for Mr. Cross? and then we'll go back to board members who have general questions and discussion. All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Cross. Appreciate the time. Thank you, Miss Spike. Thank you. Um, I absolutely understand why we would want to have a contract um and want to have an administrator and vendors. Um when I had talked to Scott Bolton, who I understand is no longer here with KCS, um maybe like six months ago, he had said that there was an opportunity to have multiple vendors and that's I was surprised to see this contract that didn't have multiple vendors after having that conversation with him. This this seems the conversation seems to be going of a like USI versus value teachers and generally makes me feel like I'm making the choice for teachers
053and I don't feel like I have the authority to make that choice for teachers especially in the market like um Miss Fontno Ridley brought up where people are losing a ton of retirement money and we already know our teachers don't get paid enough. Um, you know, that is a big conversation and um, yeah, I mean I I understand that value teachers charges things. I think when you sign a contract with them though, you understand it. I've talked to many of my principles and other teachers and I'm not necessarily one to sign up for things that where people have any sort of sales commissions or anything like that, but I also know I'm not everybody. And um I spoke with one of my principles recently who said that their value teachers person was very respectful and
054only came um when asked and really followed the rules that the principal had put in line for visiting the school, bringing things to the school and had generally had a great relationship. Um, so I mean I I understand UCI's or USI's um product is great and it's great that there are no penalties, but I I just really don't feel like I have the authority or want to have the authority to make this choice for teachers, especially given the market. Um, so I will probably not vote in favor of this, but I would be in favor of something where USI was the administrator and there were multiple vendors. Thank you, Mr. Triplet. Mr. Horn, a couple questions. Um, so we, let's say we vote no on this. What is KCS's next steps? You know, I mean,
055obviously I agree with the need for a contract. I think that makes sense, but if we vote no, then we don't have a contract. So what does what does KCS do with that? Sure, Madam Chair, Mr. triplet. Uh there's a a couple of options. Um what I what I think that we we would recommend and and we've heard um various board members agree with the fact that we do need a contract or contracts um plural. So if this was if this contract item was not approved, um there are we see two primary options where we where we could go either split it up, do an RFQ for the third party administrator and then an RFQ for multiple vendors. I will say that just like if we go that route, just like when we started this
056process, we did not know who the successful bidder was going to be. If we go through that process, we do not know who the successful biders will be. Um there's no guarantee that any one vendor would get a contract if we go that route. So I do just want just want to name that since I know that we we're talking about specific organizations right now. We would follow the procurement process um in in doing those two. There's there's also an option um to freeze um 403bs that that would allow current participants um with either one of our two vendors um to continue their plans throughout their employment, but no new 403b participation. Um and and employees would still have the option of the state 401k or 457 um which the state administers. There would there
057would not need to be a plan administrator for those two items. um but may still need to seek a a plan administrator for the current accounts. And then the RFQ we put out uh nothing against it, no issue with it, but it it was set up to be a administrator and a vendor. And so the current providers would not have they had no way to even apply for that. Correct. Because they're not an administrator and both current providers did. Okay. And they both have that. Okay. Okay. All right. That's the only questions I got. Thanks. Thank you. I appreciate that. Miss Fner Ridley. Thank you, Madam Chair. Were the decisions made just downtown or were the teachers in on any information that things could be changing? Um, I think are you asking kind of what
058the process looks like for an RFQ or what the process what what the impetus was to make this change? I mean, I did teachers ask for it. Is it something that was the decision was made without their input? I'm just not sure. Uh, Madam Chair, Miss Fontau Ridley, the decision was made, we we talked a little bit last time, you know, we the district um as the current um plan administrators, but also as the employer has certain fiduciary requirements. Um, and we also want to provide the greatest level of protection to our employees. Um, so the the decision has been in talks for quite some time. um but that we needed contracts with providers and the mechanism that we would use to get those is the the RFQ process in this scenario. But yes, the
059district um the business and talent um division made the recommendation, the decision to search for those together, the vendor um and the third party administrator in one RFQ. And then once we get to either that process or you know two vendors, a third party administrator and multiple vendors, there's not input um from either our department or other than maybe if if our department's participating in the procurement process or teachers on which company it is that the procurement pro process would guide um who the successful vendor or vendors would be. I do think, you know, there was a speaker, a public forum speaker last month and I thought he was pretty compelling who does federal works with federal contracts um about unbundling basically the current RFQ. So there would be two um RFQS like you were
060talking about, one for the third party administrator and one for the provider. And so can you kind of talk about why there was one RFQ versus why that wasn't done or looked into. Sure. Um, so like I said, our primary goal was was securing contracts. Um, and a plan administrator. Yeah. And I do agree that a contract is needed. Absolutely. Um, and so I I would say there several reasons. I'd call out probably the top two as cost to the employee. you know, once we once we unbundle, then there is a separate cost for administration. Um, that would likely eventually make it to our employee, whether that's charged to the vendors or or to the employee directly. Um, and then the second would be an effort to have the competition occur during the procurement process
061and not in in direct sales to our employees. Do you have an idea of how much that fee would be? I I couldn't estimate um right now. No. Okay. Thank you. Any more questions or discussions? Discussion. All right. Moving on then to regular agenda items 9A or B. Yes, Miss Bike. Thank you. Um, I am very happy to see a replacement portable on here for Rocky Hill Elementary School. Um, I was wondering um what the time if we have a timeline on that. We do not uh for the simple fact that the board has to approve it first and so once it's board approved, we'll work with the vendor to see uh the timeline and we also have to look at doing construction on the site. Mhm. Uh so we'll we'll get a a good
062estimate and a timeline once it goes through um once the board approves it and it goes through county commission. We'll be able to have a timeline within the next few weeks. Do you think that we would it be reasonable to ask for an update at our May meeting? We could have an update. Uh again, it it really depends on what the market is for portables right now. I know um when we were looking at portables last year uh it was u estimated 12 month uh leeway for portables to arrive. I think that is uh significantly reduced and so uh again we we should have that by then. Do you anticipate with all of the things going on right now um that this is a adequate price to secure a portable? I can't speak to that.
063Uh it it's the the cost could be in flux and that would be something that we'd have to come back to the board for and have a conversation. Okay. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Dr. If I could and Dr. Adams, maybe you could speak to this just to talk about the cost of portables. I think I I remember we getting them for 250 like 3 years ago. So I mean the fact that 625's in there, I think we're seeing that I mean that see it's gone up considerably in a short amount of time. But that does does seem we'll see what the market says, but that's quite over they've over doubled in probably three years. Yeah. And and sorry, Madam Chair, thank you, Miss B. Dr. Riswick. Uh so they were in a few years
064ago, they were closer to 800,000 to a million dollars for a new portable. Uh we work real closely with the vendor. They're able to get better prices. They're able to do a lot of the construction work. And so that cost has significantly reduced. It's one of our term bid contractors. And so that is a great price for a new portable. Normally we're looking at used portables when you look at the plumbing and the infrastructure. And so normally that's a used portable at $625,000. So again, one of the reasons we're looking at solutions instead of putting a band-aid on things with a portable because they're not affordable like they used to be at one point in time. Spike, I have one more question for you. I'm so sorry. Um I was curious and I apologize if
065I missed it. Um, but if I could uh receive a report on the ages of all the portables for district 4, I I mean if you want to do the whole dis like all of KCS, I'm fine with that, but I'll also just accept mine. So, we do have the ages of all the portables um for the district. So, I can certainly share that with you. We do have that information. Okay. Thank you. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great. That's a good ask. Thank you. Anybody else? All right, moving on then to C or D. And I know that we do have the principal and AD of Gibbs High School are are here, I believe, if they want to come up and speak. No pressure, but if you want to, you are welcome to come
066up and [Laughter] speak. Aren't you happy I called you out? Welcome. Madam Chair, I was not expecting that, but I'm Jason Webster. I'm the principal of Gibbs. And um I think everything in the information that you all received uh is really kind of speaks for itself. But um when you when we started looking uh and considering this, we were just honestly amazed at how much uh uh just goodwill and and things that are done by Mr. while in this foundation, his mother uh former Knox County Schools educator as well um uh has done for u certainly Gibbs uh for for obvious reasons, but also Knox County as a whole and and truthfully we were just astonished at the amount across the state and amount around the country. So while this u uh request to name
067the field after Mr. Wallen is u certainly um special to us at Gibbs. It in in in our eyes, it's also uh a a good gesture for Knox County Schools because of all of the work that uh and and money donated uh by Mr. Wallen's Foundation to probably most of the districts sitting in this room. So, um we we're obviously uh are in favor of of doing this and and believe that this will be a partnership that will uh benefit us. uh in the future as well. Awesome. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Is there any more questions or discussions on this item? All right. We'll move on. And Steve, could you uh Mr. Triplet, could you talk to um item D, please? I can. I know uh most of you know the Education Freedom Act
068was signed into law in February and part of that uh included a provision uh for a onetime teacher bonus of $2,000 um to receive that or to participate in that. Districts had to pass a resolution which is on this agenda uh to vote on Thursday. Uh TSBA provided some model language uh which we took and KCS staff and Mr. Dupler took that and made some adjustments to it. So, just want you to be aware of the the couple of adjustments that were made. Um, one was just the definition of an existing educator uh just to make sure you know how that is defined and um that can be defined differently by different folks and we wanted to make sure that was clear based on um state law and all that. So, that is in in
069the in the resolution. And then also um just some language that clarifies that those funds come from the state. It is not a KCS funded bonus. Um, but they that they come from the state. So, uh, Mr. Lner is the one who helped with a lot of the language. Obviously, Mr. Dupler, Mr. Smiggarn, the state's law defining qualifying teachers if you have questions about that. Um, but I know a number of you wanted this on the agenda and so it is here. Um, and everybody obviously, you know, wants to provide those bonuses, but I just we just want to explain kind of what we changed based on TS what TSBA sent us and kind of the reason behind that. So, with that, I'll just leave it for discussion. Awesome. Thank you, Mr. Triplet. Miss Fner
070Ridley, I just had one question. Um, the bonuses, do they get the full 2,000 or are they taxed? they would be taxed at the bonus rate. Thank you, Miss Bike. Thank you. Um, I don't know exactly who would be answering this question, but just for clarity sake, um, to confirm that this is something that we would need to have passed by June 1st in order for for this to happen. Miss Lner, that is correct. Okay. Um, and is there is there anything that we have to do in the meantime um between now potentially passing this and June 1st for those teachers to receive their bonuses? Miss Bike, um, members of the board, I will say from a board standpoint, I think the answer is no. But from a staff standpoint, um I do believe there
071are some back and forths Miss Himgarn and her team have been engaged in. So I would turn it over to Miss Himgarn. Madam Chair, Miss Bike, I would agree with what Miss Lner said. We will get a report, a list of eligible teachers on April 15th from the state to start reviewing and then another one on May 15th and then a final one on June 15th. So staff would begin um reviewing those lists and engaging with any any errors that we saw in that time frame. Okay. And so when we pass this then that goes to the state and then we just from that list go from there. And then is the money transferred to us to disperse or is it directly from the state? Transferred to us to disperse. Okay. So it would be
072on paychecks and that would be something that would be fairly simple for them to account for on taxes and whatnot. Yes. I mean they they would receive a a pay stub just like they would with with other payments. Okay. Thank you. Any more discussion on this item? All right. Moving on then to our final item. E Miss Bike. Hello. Thank you very much. Um, so I'm trying to keep it pepy on this Monday. Um, it's a Monday. Yeah, it it's been a Monday for sure. Um, so I hope everyone's had some time to take a look at this. Um, kind of where this came from. Um, we're from so so many of especially my constituents that are worried and I absolutely agree with everything that um, Dr. Risewick said earlier in his update that I
073appreciate our central office and our teachers and all of the work that and time that they take to make sure that they are moving accordingly and moving in the best interest of our students. Um but I think that that that still doesn't necessarily take away the worry of parents in the community for what could be. I know speaking specifically for myself and the third grade and my son uh with the third grade retention that you know while my son wasn't retained um he's in fifth grade and we are still working with some of the damages of him not passing the test and not passing the retest and having a lot of struggles in school that um stem from that. And so, you know, while KCS is definitely going, I think, above and beyond in a
074lot of areas, some students are still being affected by things. And so, this kind of came from that that I really want our community and our students to know that we have their backs and that we will continue to do everything that we have been doing. And, um, I met with Dr. Risewick and several others um in going over this to make sure that um I was on the right track. Seems to be on the right track with everything and I'm happy to answer any questions. But I do feel like this is in line with you know a lot of the things that the state wants for education and that um you know one of our four pillars is success for every student. Awesome. Does anyone have any other questions or discussion? Thank you, Miss
075Spike. Moving on then to public forum. Mr. Triplet. Thank you, Madam Chair. Brandy Gerald. Brandy, if you'll state your name and county residents, you'll have three minutes. Discussion. I have additional and so I'd ask that require a motion and a second and then approval of the board. So that's it. Motion made by Miss Bike. A second by Was that you Miss Fner Ridley or Miss Templeton? All right. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. You have two extra minutes. Thank you very much. I feel like we have forgotten all of the emails talking about how this is going to affect 2,232 people in real physical and emotional ways by this decision. You could see by the numbers that have reached out to you that it deeply affects them. You said choosing
076a different provider when the experience has been nothing but positive could have serious severe hardships with what benefit. Sorry, a little emotional. We asked if when we applied if we were able to put in a third party. Yes, we had to seek out a third party administrator. The procurement was seeking to have one company that does both. it was um prioritizing that as USI is a great company. I'm not I'm not comparing as Miss Spike says we don't want to compare between. We are standing for a platform that provides choice for employees. There are different options. There are fixed annuities, there are fixed index annuities, there are variable annuities and there are mutual funds. Both um the companies that are presented provide fixed accounts. We provide fixed index annuities and USI provides mutual funds. Both
077have a place. Both have a platform. Both in my opinion are necessary. And in fact, we've even forgotten a variable annuity option that um could be an option that we could provide. It is not a comparison as to whether you are under a surrender period or paying a fee to own a mutual fund because it is per personal preference. If our clients keep their monies in their account for the time period that they know go into the contract, they actually pay us. They don't pay a fee at all. 100% of their account, if you give us $100, it goes $100 into your account. It's just different. Some people want to pay the mutual fund fees. They would rather have that. Those mutual fund fees will grow as your account grows because it's based off of
078your account value. We're not talking about that because it's apples to oranges. We're up here saying that we are a different company but have great value to several people in the district. We have great value. We are fully licensed and educated in everything that we provide. So comparing the two lensures and saying that we do not provide the best or implying that we have sales tactics based off of all the emails that you have gotten and you haven't heard one person saying that we are pushing a product on them. We're educating employees. we're offering their options and we're providing a service to the district. So to be um implied that we're doing differently is is very heartbreaking to me standing up here knowing that there are all of our clients standing there and at home
079and even thousands of people that we have talked to. I understand that this was a procurement process it went through. You have a procurement in front of you that you could bid um yes on. But I will say it will affect many people. Leaving money in an account because you don't want to go to the new company will affect them. It will affect their compounding interest for their lifetime. It will affect them. It's not an an okay solution just to say we're going to leave the money in this account and not be able to do anything with it or as stated there will be surrender periods. That question was never answered. There are surrender periods. However, if someone um doesn't move it or chooses to move it, it's going to have a great impact. But
080the question is why are we saying that? It doesn't have to be USI or value teachers. Let's create a platform like Miss Bike said, maybe USI is the plan administrator, but they administer multiple plans. Let's go back to the drawing board on these things. We are a different company. and um to imply that our products are on the out just research index annuities, but it's really not the point. The point is that we have a a policy, a product that your teachers enjoy, that they're active in, and that they are not unhappy with. And so excluding that and removing that will be a great detriment. Checking my time. Sorry. And I had a list. Sorry. Um, I'd like to address the TPA fees. If you do go with an independent thirdparty administrator, um, the the
081companies that are on your platform, if it is multiple companies, they pay the administration fees. They pay those for. The client doesn't see that. The school doesn't see those fees. Like we said before, bundling the services doesn't make sense to include and complete your IRS compliance. you ha can have an independent thirdparty administrator with multiple providers in order to secure and make sure everyone has um what they want. I think about grocery stores. You don't find everything you want at one grocery store. You need multiple providers available to you to be able to. I just implore you to please keep multiple providers available in your district and say no to the procurement. It's important. William Mendoza, [Applause] not here. Okay. Al Holiffield, if you'll state your name and county residents, you'll have three minutes. Al
082Holoffield, U. Holofield Law, um, Knoxville, Tennessee, 11 11907 Kingston Pike. and just here to say a few things about I'm an employee benefit attorney been doing this for 33 years have a nationwide practice that's operates out of Farragate um most months I'm not in this state I'm in all over this country and the decision before this board is it's a serious decision and if you haven't figured out people are emotional about their retirement benefits and they like to choose not be old. And having said all that, I will say this. Mr. Cross's house is about half a mile from my office. Known Bob if you're in our this our world. Known him for 30 years. Um I'm not out here to disparage anything that he is says or his company. They're great company. And a
083matter of fact, I we have done business together. But on the other side of this is you've got 2100 teachers out of what 8,000 I've looked this up. So if AI is right, you got about 8,800 people in Knots County here. 2100 of them chose to do business with valued teachers. 28% of the assets of this plan are with valued teachers. And all they're asking is to say, don't make us move. They've had an agreement with Knox County School System since 2008. And to my knowledge, I haven't heard anybody complain about the service or complain about anything else. It's just you're going and anytime you have that kind of mass force decision. Um, my family came out of a bunch of Navy background. Um, you ever heard about slinging airplanes off a carrier deck and
084you make a turn real quick? That sounds like the decision here. And I I don't think anybody's saying that USI is bad. I'm just saying just take a step back and say is there a way to do a platform to make it work for both? And you know, can does you know value teachers have a mutual fund option on their IPX platform? Yes. Do they operate and not maintain 6,000 plans of 43B plan? This isn't a small company. This isn't a company that's not up to date. I mean, because if that's the case, then 2100 people we're trusting to educate our children, this group was saying made a bad decision. That's significant. And that's a that's a harsh communication to send to your teachers. If we trust them to educate our kids, trust them to
085make their retirement decisions, right? That's just a thought. So for an attorney, I'm going to give y'all 10 seconds back. Thank you. That concludes public forum. Great. Thank you, Mr. Triplet. We will move on to board forum. And Sophia had a tennis match this evening, so that's why she was unable to make it uh tonight. So I wish her luck in that match. Uh, Reverend Butler, Miss Templeton, Miss Fner Ridley, Mr. Triplet, Miss Bike, thank you. I'm gonna take up just a little bit more of your time. Um, it is April. I can't believe it's April already. Um, and April for many people is um, autism awareness month or autism acceptance month. Um, depending on who you talk to and what communities you talk to. um it could be labeled differently and um I want
086to recognize all of the communities and and how they feel about it and how autism touches them. And I empower everyone to reach out to the autistic individual um or person with autism in your life to ask them how they would like to be addressed and um what kind of things make them feel like a whole person. uh because I think even in 2025 we are all kind of dealing with that and um with that uh happy acceptance month. Thank you. Thank you Miss Mike, Miss Morgan. Thank you Madam Chair. Uh we have some exciting things on the agenda for Farragate this month and I just wanted to thank the board for um your vote ahead of time for our new elementary school and uh Dr. Risewick and Dr. um Adams and their the teams
087that have worked really hard on this school and we're excited. It's a exciting time and um I know Coach Courtney just stepped out, but the Farragate Fieldhouse is also on uh our agenda to vote for Friday and that's been a community uh long time in the making uh thing that they've been working on. So, that's wonderful. On a different note, uh I did sign up two of my kids for summer learning camp and I just wanted to say awesome job to whoever made it so easy to do that. It was the easiest thing. I just opened the message, filled in like a couple things right there in the app, didn't even have to go anywhere else. So, good job for making that so easy breezy. Um, I didn't even have to go back for the
088second kid. It's like, do you want to do a second one? Yes, please. I do. So, it's great. And, um, just to acknowledge the restraint that I'm showing right now to not play a Morgan Wallen song. It's I have one queued up, but I'm not going to do it. I'm gonna stay semi-professional. Mr. Right, Miss Christie. All right. Well, I'll see we will see everybody on Thursday. And with that, we are adjourned.