001of educations uh January 11th 2024 regular session meeting please stand as we observe a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Dr Butler I would right [Music] our Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all unfortunately Mr McMillan is absent uh as we've noted due to illness uh so keep him in your thoughts and prayers also board uh chair Miss Betsy Henderson she will be here but she's uh going to be late she is with her daughter just a minor injury but she's at uh East Tennessee children's hospital but she should be here uh sometime during the meeting hopefully so but thank you for coming thank you for your attendance
002tonight uh again just as a reminder this is the board's public business meeting to discuss items that come before us for consideration so we ask you to be respectful and courteous uh at all times and then as a reminder Knox County Schools will be closed Monday January 15th in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr Day Dr King's actual birth date was January 15th 1929 so it is exciting he will be celebrated on his actual birthday and many of you also I think probably received a text a little bit ago that school is closed tomorrow so I will let Dr rck speak to that thank you uh Mr triplet um yeah it's been quite a weather week uh so uh I do appreciate that we we uh our staff has really been working hard to try
003to monitor um monitor just everything that's gone on this week it's been unique so um I I I'll start kind of address some of the whole week and then uh I know we just did this about 30 45 minutes ago to kind of get the word out for tomorrow so I'll address that too so uh I just want to reiterate first of all safety of our students and our staff is always our number one one concern um you we can't say that enough it really is what we what we focus on um the events of this week have been very unique um we we are are very good and very versed historically with ice and snow and freezing temperatures and even illness that we can look at three-day Trends and that sort of thing you
004know wind is hard to see uh and wind is a very different factor that we've dealt with this week uh and I Know It kind of seems odd but um so just kind of talking through some things you know I know I know Monday night let me start start back on there and kind of take us to where we are now so uh you know Monday night we were following the National Weather Service and the things that were going on then too uh even actually during this meeting I had a few texts with uh some of our staff members to kind of where we were on that from our transportation side also from our security side uh felt very confident at that point after the meeting Monday night we monitored as well um I talked
005to a few other East Tennessee superintendant who also chose not to close and we had those conversations um we were aware that the possibility of gust could could happen um Tuesday afternoon um when when we all went to bed uh Monday night uh what we were hearing was definitely you know Foothills and close to the mountains uh were places that uh they were they were predicting that but kind of seeing what would happen uh the other Factor we had at that point was potential late uh they were saying 3:00 it's real close you know for us it's really about um you know dismissing and and again with winds we even talking about you know Terrible Weather or flooding and all that we were fortunate to have a lot of that so uh Tuesday Morning chose
006to go on regular time 98% ridership of our buses we have roughly 20,000 students a day who ride our buses 98% picked up things went fine a few routes weren't able to run but most of them were uh we were continuing to monitor I know different media Outlets are reporting different things about you know what did we learn new at 11 o'cl we didn't learn anything new at 11 o'clock what we were trying to do is monitor that window of the of when the gust we're going to hit so uh and the real goal on wind is there are certain levels of gust you don't want to hit for high-profile it's very unique high-profile Vehicles during drop off and pickoff time so and pickup time our schools are totally fine to handle 30 40 50
007m hour gust when kids are in school what we don't want to do is have buses out when those gusts get to that level because that's the safety problem so if it was between 11: and 1:00 during the day we wouldn't have made any kind of call uh and Our Hope was waiting for that um National Weather Service report uh that they were going to somehow push that back cuz it was talking 2:00 3:00 when those gusts would start we were fine for the whole day when we got confirmation I think it was 11:16 when that um uh when that came across for us uh Ryan Dillingham and chief who do a great job notified Dr Adams within 15 minutes we were in my office going through those things verifying that looking again one more
008time at the reports uh we moved at that time um I think notified the board shortly afternoon and our goal at that point was to try to get students out as fast as we could uh for those of you who kind of in the public who don't see that side there's a lot of pieces to that I mean I usually let you all as the board know first uh and then we've got a sequence of letting principles know because they have to operate their schools it's also in the middle of food service U trying to make sure everyone's got their food and their lunch for the day um making sure that's all place and then we have a ton of bus contractors right who have to fire up their buses and get them there as
009well so all that's coordinated in a short amount of time uh we did that again trying to get that dismissal it's always hard when you do early dismissal but we tried to get that out and get that going um and then we actually did we didn't know at the time but we're experiencing somewhat of a glitch in our communication program uh and and so it was slow to go out still wasn't a lot of time so I'm not blaming that going oh that was our problem you know we still had a window of about about 45 minutes to an hour to get all this messaging out to get there uh we made the choice to do that soon as to get folks and get buses off the off the roads at that time um that
010night uh we made the call for the 2-hour delay and again uh we we were on monitoring to that point uh we got on our team on a call at 8:30 um and had uh our security team in in conversation we like we don't just watch the news right so we're calling the National Weather Service talking to their meteorologist in in moristown as well and we wanted the hour by hour breakdown again right so it's very different if wind gusts could be at 50 but they're done by 4:00 in the morning so for us we wanted confirmation the latest hour as possible that they thought these wind gusts could proceed our buses hit about 6:00 in the morning so we we wanted to make sure that we were all clear by then we were getting
011reports 4 in the morning big gust will be gone 6:00 they'll be gone so we got that confirmation at 8:30 in the phone call we made uh that it would be 8:00 a.m. before they felt like that well that gives us about a 2hour delay to make sure those gusts have moved at that point and to move forward so really again roads weren't a big deal down trees weren't a big deal like we weren't seeing a lot of that um so that was the reason for our two-hour delay on on Tuesday looking forward to tomorrow again this is all win guys like we're not we're not looking at other things like yeah hazardous Road it's not um what everything projected we started getting reports it's a it's a you know and then sometimes weather's hard
012to predict in East Tennessee I give it to all the meteorologists out there you know it's always are we going to get snow are we not or when's going to do this or they not uh we got the 24-hour kind of cover everything 7:00 a.m. to 7: a.m. it's going to be windy right and like what does that mean is that you know is that in Jamestown is that in severable is that in so processing through all that stuff uh we looked at those things today they are calling for the morning would probably be fine for us tomorrow uh I think we could get everybody picked up and we could get going but we asked for the hour by hour breakdown from the meteorologist they gave us uh surface sustained winds and when those would
013be where they were and then they also gave us the gust and when those start and it sounds like what we had um when we made the call about 4:00 today for tomorrow was around 11:00 is where we start hitting that again for high-profile Vehicles so back to our buses and 20,000 uh of our students that transport that way we could get them here tomorrow but we be turning back around at 11:00 to send them home in hopes that we could get them off the road before the gust hit at 12:00 so uh I I want to say this totally understand as a dad myself uh that that is extremely inconvenient for families to do early dismissals it's always tough on work schedules to do late starts and the call days off but uh you
014know the wind is kind of a new creature we haven't had a lot of that to to deal with but um I applaud again our transportation team and our security team for uh you know monitoring that with us us you know looking through those things and trying to notify families as as soon as possible um and and trying to be you know good stewards of the days that we have because we don't know I mean I know we're looking at weather for already for next week we're monitoring that you know we've seen that change right we when we were looking at it three days ago they were saying one to two degrees in the morning now that's up to 14 so you know it's hard to predict I don't want to be a meteorologist but
015we're trying to do that as well and in the meantime keep 60,000 student safe and trying to be cognizant of families and what they do too so uh wanted to explain some of that cuz I know there's been some some different kinds of things and uh that have been out there for it but uh I do think in the end you know we're blessed our kids all got home safely uh through all that and we appreciate the patience from families and us trying to keep everybody safe sorry I was late let me my daughter was in the hospital so we just came from the hospital so uh thank you Mr triplet for starting the meeting thank you Dr riswick for for that uh board members there were some changes to the agenda as discussed at
016our work session on Monday night a proposed revision was made to board policy j580 which is the student suicide prevention policy um it's being considered as item 7u and thank you Celeste for bringing that to our attention and for that I appreciate that the revision clarifies where available resources will be posted so a version two of that policy is attached to the agenda for your consideration on first reading so again thank you Celeste for bringing that to our attention and being such a great student representative to this board additionally at the work session we were asked to communicate ideas or suggestions we had regarding our 2024 legislative priorities to miss cotney she took all of the communications received and compiled a draft document for our consideration the document is attached to the agenda and you
017also have a paper copy at the table consideration of the priorities is agenda item 10e so I will entertain further discussion or motions when that item is read are there any other requested changes to the agenda motion by Miss Horn second by Miss Christie all those in favor I any opposed motion carries next we have special recognition of leading innovators of in of instructional technology uh we have Miss Amber Moser of Learning and Development supervisor is she in the audience tonight hello welcome welcome we're excited to have you thank you madam chair Dr risewick members of the board and others who are here it's an honor to be here tonight to recognize Knox County School's second cohort of leading innovators of instructional technology also known as the light group that's l IIT in joining this
018cohort interested staff members went through an application process the members of this group were selected because they exemplified initiative sound pedagogy content knowledge a growth mindset and vulnerability they committed to engaging growth and Leadership that impact Student Success and to share and model best practices using technology to maximize teaching and learning at their schools and across our district this group spent the 2023 calendar year January to December learning and networking with each other the main goals of the Light Group are to gain a deeper understanding of effectively using educational technology and how to share that understanding with other Professionals in service of ultimately impacting our students in addition to their efforts within the cohort meeting structures members of the light 23 cohort have been able to support our district by presenting at District learning day
019promoting tools at our summer edtech mini conference professional learning event sharing learning with their school-based colleagues and through providing feedback on various procedures related to educational technology when members of the cohort were asked to reflect on their experiences one member made the following statement I gained confidence and Leadership and feel as though I have valuable information to share I was also introduced to different pers perspectives and Tech tools that have informed my practice I believe the individual and Collective growth displayed By the Light 2023 group will complement our District's four priorities and at this time I would like to recognize the members of the light 2023 cohort we have several who were unable to attend tonight so I will announce their names at the end of the presentation from District three we have Caleb Herer
020from Cedar Bluff Middle come on [Applause] thank you from District Six we have Brook Peters from K's [Applause] High conratulations from the noo County virtual school we have Missy Carter and Monique [Applause] Miller from District 8 we have Autumn Smith [Applause] conratulations thank you and those who were unable to attend tonight were Scott Beville Ellen and STEM Academy from district one um Eve bevel from chrisenberry Elementary in District Two alfeld Bloom from um K's High and um District Six Alicia noi from Hall middle um district 7 and Katie Roy from South Doyle high in District nine thank you so much for taking the time to recognize these Educators [Applause] tonight where would you like for us to stand like oh yeah [Applause] two it's always good getting to celebrate the fun things thanks for being
021here congratulations again all right I just want to remind the public that the board has had a detailed discussion on this agenda at our work session this past Monday January the 8th so with that Miss cotney why don't we go ahead and get into the agenda thank you Madame chair item six agenda motion by Miss Horn a second by Miss Christie is there any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries item 7A approve first reading of Knox County Board of Education policy I 241 School libraries as amended motion by Miss Owen a second by Reverend Butler is there any discussion Mr Mr Watson thank you madam chair I know I didn't bring this up the other night on Monday but um I know we had quite a bit
022of discussion about this and I think it'd be good just to let the public know why we're making the switch from the standards of the American Library Association uh to the American Association of school librarians from what I remember from the conversation um it's because the American Library Association um is set standards for all libraries of all types um and we felt like it would be important to really solidify that look to the association that's really about school library specifically if I'm wrong about that please correct me but I thought that was important to make note is that correct is that that was what was driving that change uh thank you yes that is correct actually the U the way you characteriz that that that larger entity the American Library Association they set standards for
023like a Med medical school library a law school library um all kinds of different like research and and and data centers if you will um I think another point to make there too is and to to your point we would probably um go back and look for guidance more from the American Association of school libraries and and even in that we are not um necessarily adhering to or membership or a member of any type of Association but we do lean back into them at times for professional learning and for guidance and things like that yeah thank you Miss Owen thank you mam chair I if I recall correctly I think one of those is under the other so it's really one big entity thank you any other discussion on this item is there a motion
024that oh I'm sorry yeah Miss Owen actually made that motion to approve and that was seconded by Dr Butler by Dr Butler sorry I'm a little off tonight um all those in favor I any opposed motion carries item 7B approved first reading of knots County Board of Education policy J1 191 misbehaviors and disciplinary options as amended motion by Miss Owen a second by Mr Watson do we have any discussion on this item all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7c approved first read of kns County Board of Education policy j210 harassment of students as amended motion by Miss Horn a second by Reverend Butler and we do have some public forum speakers on this item yes we can go to discussion thank you madam chair we do have three public forum speakers on
025this item Megan want to have you come I apologize for not pronouncing your last name I am sorry that's a long one and uh if you'll state your name County of residents and then you'll have three minutes great thank you um good evening my name is Megan Hazel schwar Knox County resident um Mom to two future KCs students and I'm an associate professor at child and family studies at the University of Tennessee um no one understands the desire to get policy like language in alignment quite like an academic I understand the seemingly logical decision to strike actual or perceived gender and sexual orientation from the list and replace it with sex to align with some of the Upstream policies I recognize that the harassment of students policy affirmatively states that KCs schools do not tolerate
026harassment for any reason which at least in policy includes gender identity and sexual orientation um but I think it's important to consider our country's sociopolitical and historical backdrop um is particularly vital to consider when deciding to strike gender identity and sexual orientation from the truncated list um replacing it with sex 510 anti-lgbt bills and um were introduced and 84 bills were passed in 2023 10 of those were in Tennessee were leading the way in anti-lgbt legislation particularly against youth um most of these targeted education and gender affirming care uh when it comes to LGBT youth politicians have decided that science and medicine are not relevant to legislative decision-making as every single reput reputable pediatric medicine child development and family science organization including the national Council on family relations to which I belong um stand by
027the overwhelming EV evidence of the essentiality of providing gender-based evidence care for transgender youth um it's important to also note that sex and gender while often and conflated are actually quite distinct Concepts and sexual orientation even more so so the replacement of sex doesn't really address kind of the two others that were addressed approximately 10% of us youth identify as lgbtq plus including the 1.5% who identify as transgender despite their small numbers peers adults and legislators seem uh motivated to make these lives uh these youth lives more difficult 84% of transgender youth are bullied or harassed at school based on a recent survey from this past year of the of the country suicide ideation and completed suicide rates are exponentially higher for transgender and other LGBT youth when compared to other to cisgender and gender
028majority youth their risks of all sorts of mental and physical health and academic outcomes align much more closely with their straight heterosexual and cisgender peers when they have support of parents peers teachers and school districts that explicitly affirm them transgender and gender and sexual minority youth can and do Thrive we have ample research that demonstrates this but the community context particularly our policies um are essential in acknowledging their existence their reality and naming and boldly standing up against anti-lgbt harassment by stripping out gender identity and sexual orientation from this policy you would be doing the opposite replacing them with sex is not the same thing uh as elected officials you have the unique opportunity to contribute to a better school context for all youth especially the small percentage of Youth and their families who remain
029under legislative attack legislative attacks that will shorten the lives of our young people words matter the meaning behind them matter what we include as exemplars and policy lists indeed matter I urge you to stick with the current policy and keep gender identity and sexual orientation named in j210 thank you thank you Megan Leticia Flores if you will state your name County resident and you'll also have three minutes yes uh my name is Laticia Flores I'm a Knox County resident I'm a straight cisgendered psychologist who has lived in Knoxville for 10 years I work to help to educate the community about lgbtq issues on behalf of the Tennessee equality project and I work with graduate psychology students who provide therapy to lgbtq youth adults and their family members I'm here tonight to urge the Board of
030Education to keep the language protecting lgbtq youth from harassment or discrimination in their policy and I will um uh Veer a little bit I it's not clear to many of us why they're considering why you're considering taking away that text so if there is any time to kind of talk about that I would I would appreciate hearing it um but it's very concerning for many of us to hear about this change as you heard already over 500 bills were lodged against lgbtq people including youth in the nation in 20123 a historic high and we passed many of those laws here in Tennessee High numbers of mental health issues are being reported among all of our youth but especially among lgbtq youth specifically due to bullying at schools as well as other experiences where they feel
031targeted simply for who they are some of you may have experienced bullying in school yourself and so you may remember how isolated and scared you were when this happened this is easily one of the most vulnerable youth populations in our city in our state in our country and you are seriously considering still explicitly removing protections for one of the most vulnerable populations University presidents were criticized and some lost their jobs recently because they hemmed and haw about the hate lodged against certain groups of people hiding behind liability concerns the board's decision to not leave well enough alone to not show simple human compassion is at risk of committing the same mistake these children are not potential lawsuits they are flesh and blood and they will feel the effects of the stroke of your pen and
032taunts and fights and worse so again I'm I'm curious about your intentions I don't know if this is Extreme tone deafness or is it a loud and clear message that you are sending to these children and their families that you do not value their safety if it's a mistake made honestly then you still have the opportunity to reverse course and let lgbtq Youth and their family and friends sleep better at night reversing course and leaving the policy is as is harms no one no one if revising this bill is in fact an attempt to further marginalize and ostracize these vulnerable youth regardless of the arguments you use we'll all learn a valuable lesson about who you are and your intentions for protecting all of the children of Knox County as my Angelie said when someone
033shows you who they are believe them the first time so who will you be thank you Ali [Applause] Chapman if you'll state your name County residents and you also have three minutes my name is Ali Chapman um I'm actually a Rocky Hill Community resident in District 4 um I'm also the chair of the Tennessee equality project here locally in Knox County and we focus on lgbtq plus policies that impact people across the state now for over 20 years um I'm here to request that you choose to support all of your students by rejecting the backward revision of this policy by removing the terms actual or perceived gender identity and seual orientation it sends a harmful message to students and your Educators who identify as lgbtq it also is an invitation to students and Educators to
034harass exclude and bully lgbtq people this this includes students staff anyone in the building after doing this for eight years um I can tell you I've heard a lot of stories I've done a lot of research and as a leader in the community in the state um I work with the current administration at all levels in the white house um I've shared conversations with the Department of education's office of civil rights and the Department of Justice I can tell you that there is a wealth of evidence that unequivocally supports enumerated protections for different classes of students in this case in this policy your lgbtq student meaning that rather than reducing a language in your policies to sex you would want to actually increase the language in your policy to protect all of your students there's
035no reason why you can't it's a choice during the most recent work recent work session the law director attempted to justify the use of sex and remove the terms gender identity and sexual orientation and the harassment of students in the policy and read off the federal office of civil rights um explanation which I thought was interesting because it included describing male and female lgbtq students students with disabilities and students with different races ethnicities and other and also students of the same sex so while citing this um makes more sense to actually increase the language that's in this policy I also reached out to two school board members in the last week and received no reply so I reached out to one of Tennessee's most prominent um Public School allies that we have in the Tennessee
036legislature and I asked her for help and she actually submitted and I've received a legislative analysis for this policy that I'm happy to share with everybody and there was a comment on Facebook that um I found very interesting that said the reasons why this change are moot rather than focusing on this language more concerning should be whether District administration is enforcing any of these policies and how their procedures impact enforcement this was said by one of your own board members someone said before I will Echo words matter in conversation we all know this everyone here is an educator I hope by extension of being in the board um also a matter in date and debate and public discourse if you need evidence-based guidance I suggest you visit the office of civil rights the Department of
037Education and they all have resources um that you need to do right by your minority identified students please reconsider adopting a revised policy that appears to erase the need of carefully protected students in a large group people here in Knox County and don't forget that success for every student is priority number four thank you thank you ell Madam chair that concludes public forum on this topic thank you moving on to discussion Miss bike thank you madam chair um I don't think I can say it better than our public forum speakers I had planned to say something to similar effects um I I understand the justifications for this I understand that um before what we're proposing to take out says for any reason including but not limited to I understand that but I do think that
038now is not the time to make this change and um so I don't support this thank you Miss B Miss Owen thank you madam chair um I'm sure we've all spent significant time talking to people about this policy and the proposed language change I support a policy that is clear and concise while also being um broad enough to cover everything that it needs to and over time a lot of our policies have become bloated this particular policy has actually grown both better and worse over time there was a time when our harassment policy covered only sexual harassment so if a student or staff member were harassed for any other reason or any unknown reason um there was absolutely nothing to be done um and it was a very long time ago but also during that
039time if a person were reporting it over and over that person would end up seeing some disciplinary action rather than the other way around so I think that over time we have made this policy much stronger however I don't always see it being truly looked into when things come up I think it's it's a lot easier to say well there's no proof than to really really look for that proof and I think that's something that we as a board need to hold everyone accountable for um I believe that this language change meets the requirements that I usually feel good about for being concise and clear and also being broad I also feel like it's legally appropriate and on Monday I would have voted in favor of it since then it's become very clear to me
040that this issue isn't just divisive it's a lot worse than that regardless of our intent there are a lot of people in our community who see this change as this board adopting a philosophy that we've never even talked about and that's um that's concerning because we are not going to be able to convince them otherwise I've already been contacted by a person who used very specific disparaging concerning and frankly disgusting language regarding our students the person made it clear that the revised language made her feel very empowered to say those things and to sign her name to it um and therefore even though we feel like this language is legally appropriate and provides the appropriate legal protection if this language change makes people feel empowered to treat our kids that way that's something that there's
041no way I can support thank you thank you Miss Owen Mr deepler do you want to I know we discussed this at um the last policy review do you want to kind of weigh in on that I know your light was on yes thank you madam chair so since Monday when this was discussed I've heard uh from both sides of the of the aisle and frankly what I've heard is sociopolitical arguments about you know the merits of this and the and the uh demerits of this and you know and again I've heard from both sides the the suggestion the recommendation was made purely for legal purposes as I indicated Monday night lgbtq individuals are protected under the harassment law have been for decades and it's gotten even better for those individuals recently there have been
042court cases come out since 2015 and as late as last year in 2020 that have strengthened those uh principles so you know again legally uh as as Miss Owen indicated I mean it makes sense however uh obviously uh sounds like a lot of people are uh concerned about uh some other issues other than harassment they're concerned about you know other uh political issues before uh this nation and this state and everywhere else uh such as restrooms such as Sports and things of that nature okay so but so in any event that's that's what I've heard since Monday I would also say this again for the for the for the good of the board the good of the school system one other thing that this board could do is to send it back to policy review
043and do something similar to what uh UT has done and UT has put in their harassment policy that changes to applicable law Andor binding legal precedent may impact the applicability of certain provisions of this policy so this board could look at something like that uh you know instead of having to change the language that's what I would say thank you thank you Mr dor and D Mr Watson and then Reverend Butler I think it was that order yep there's a lot of discussion thank you madam chair and uh thank you for those who uh chose to come and speak to the issue in front of the board and also those who uh reached out and communicated to us this week um Mr duper I I just uh want to confirm that I heard something correctly
044I think both in policy review and the other night I remember you stating that in other places in our policy manual this type of language is already reduced to just the word sex is that correct and or am I misremembering that I know we had that discussion relative to legal guardian but is that also true of this particular topic where there is other language that just says sex and other policies that's correct okay um are there any other existing policies that state this more full language that we still have on the books or is this the only one that you're aware of uh I was reminded of that of that the other night um and uh Mr May shark and I talked about that but I hadn't looked at the policy I believe there is
045there is one that talks about it perhaps in the employee in the employee section okay so the reason I'm asking you those questions uh Mr duper is because um I think the board and I think the law department has come to this in good faith and I I do think it was an attempt to again simplify uh the policy as Miss Owen stated as well we've taken similar steps in other areas right now like the legal guardian and to be able to bring some more clarity uh that being said I was I was disappointed uh very much so in some of the emails that I received this week in that just like Miss Owen stated for some this change does signal something to them and and something to me that um again to Mr duper's
046point the board has not intended to make a sociopolitical statement at least I hope we have not uh in this statement I would hope that we would have a much more robust discussion if that's something that we're going to present in the board but there's definitely people in our community have who have watched this and who have followed this in who are making the assumption that Knox County Schools by reducing this language is making some type of statement um and in some ways I think making our are thinking we are making a statement to uh that actually could feel harassing to people which is interesting because it's a uh anti-harassment policy um which is really unfortunate that we would be shifting language and people would use that as an opportunity maybe not to directly harass
047Somebody by sending us an email but certainly have indicated to me they're more than willing to harass somebody in the larger Community um and so for that reason I can't support this change I do support the idea of bringing it back to policy review and seeing if we can have a more robust discussion about what do we do need to do to shift this policy both to continue to offer the protections that we want to offer and need to be offering but also to make it more clear um yeah I I don't know it's interesting I think the people who probably emailed me and and probably all of you uh probably hope that their um their statement was a stamp of approval to all of us at least for me it wasn't um it it
048was very much seeing the uglier side of what this thing is trying to actually do and to protect um so and and as a person of faith I'm against all forms of harassment of anybody no matter whether or not um I agree with anything that you choose to do in your life or not doing your life and by me saying that I'm not making a statement about this particular policy um so anyway I don't know to me that was really unfortunate thank you Reverend Butler thank you madam chair um so is a motion required for us to send it back to policy review and the reason why I think I suggest this is because I don't think we had this conversation about this doing policy review and this and and so I think we need
049to go back and look at it or we may spend the rest of this evening talking about it but I think it's worth talking about again so is there a motion required if so I'd make it I think it would be up to I I know Susan you who made the original motion I'm sorry yes mam chair Miss horn made that original motion and it was seconded by Dr Butler yes and and basically what my understanding is or my desire is is that you make a motion to put it on the floor for discussion because you can't discuss until you make the motion so uh but the well I guess the question I asked what the process I need to listen to the answer subtit we could do a substitute motion you can make a
050substitute motion so I would make the substitute motion that we send this back to policy review I need to yeah so uh Miss Horn I think you're no I'm Sorry Miss Christie you were next for discussion on this yeah I just think we need to make it clear how these policies end up on the agenda anyway right I mean and you know maybe Mr dupler you can speak to this but we are required as a board to review our policies and we take that's why we have regular policy review meetings we take it by sections um and when we review a section and language has changed or state law has changed or something like that we typically change our policies to reflect that um it happens all the time you see it frequently I think
051that there might be some misc exceptions that the board just randomly pulled this policy so I do want to make it clear how this policy ended up on this agenda to begin with uh just in the and maybe you can speak to the frequency of that if don't know if it's necessary but I do think that's important to um know MH I think I think you said it best Miss Christie I mean the these these policies it it's the board's primary duty to uh enact policy and so as such these policies are constantly being looked at now I mean it's not just the whole uh policy manual every month it's usually uh you know like you said a section or two uh every two months uh but yeah I mean unless there's some type of
052specific legal change uh uh you know they're not just picked out and this one in particular to your point was just part of a group uh of student policies that was that was up for review that's it thank you Mr dler Miss Horn thank you madam chair um yeah I mean I I think I I'm glad you brought that up that this is just a policy that we were reviewing and this is not the board um making some sort of political statement I think the public is trying to make it sound like we're making a political statement that's not what we were doing um this is changing um to I think from I think if you read the policy you see that um we're not tolerating harassment of students from anyone for to toward any
053anyone in any group so um I'm I I'm fine with taking it back to policy review but I'm in favor of changing it to be a more broad term because I think it does include um everyone and I think if we start um having a list of of groups that we're going to have a policy that's like 400 pages long so I think I think that we need to um we really need to think about that and you know as Mr Watson said we're trying to um focus our policies so that they are as concise as they can be but also communicate what they need to I would certainly never want anybody to think that um that this board did not care about the safety of students as Dr riswick said at the very beginning
054of the meeting we care about the safety of every student regardless of what they who they are so um I don't that never that never came up in policy review that was never part of it I think in policy review um I think we did talk about that the intention was to change it to match other policies and to be in line with the policies that we have El whereare that simply have that list that um that we do see in other places so um so I'm fine with taking it back to policy review but I I think um you know basically that's that's my opinion on it thank you Miss Horn Mr triplet yeah truth is the policy would have the same effect if we put a period after the word reason we don't
055we don't does not discriminate in its programs nor does it tolerate harassment for any reason period harassment is defined and go down to that last sentence it would have the same weight I do think that if you start getting into naming you're just going to be I mean how far are you going to go with that so um I'm content with the policy as we have edited it but if you want to take it back to policy review and have the same discussion then then that's fine but I'm I'm content with the way it is I agree with Mr triplet I'm fine with the policy the way it is but if we want to take it back to policy review and have a more robust discussion again I'm fine with that I guess um I
056guess so we're now oh Mr Watson sorry thank you madam chair um so the the policy the other policy that Mr duper was representing was g220 and that's actually our employee harassment policy um it' probably be good to discuss both at the same time because if they both have this similar language um my guess is at some point when that came around in that section we would have the same conversation and we should probably address both and to the point as some of our public forum speakers um as I stated already I do think the intent of of the board was in good faith and it was we came to this honestly um if you if you look at our Collective histories in the US certain things we say s send certain messages to certain
057people whether or not we want to or not um and somebody I think made the point to um employees uh that might be lgbtq or other um who might perceive this and if we get into the same conversation with that policy around our employees and harassment um there's signals that get sent right we we've seen that we've seen the evidence of that and again like Mr duper said on both sides of the aisle so I think it's important not only for us to bring this back to policy but we should probably have a robust conversation about this relative to both policies so thank you Mr Watson if there's no more discussion we will vote on The Substitute motion Miss con can you read that substitute motion again yes substitute motion was to send pause j210
058harassment of students back to policy review process all those in favor I any opposed motion carries thank you item 70 approve first reading of knot County Board of Education policy j212 student conduct and safe relocation of students as amended motion by Miss Owen a second by Reverend Butler do we have any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7 e approve first reading of KN County Board of Education policy j280 alternative school programs as amended a motion by Miss Owen a second by Mr Watson do we have any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries seven F approved first reading of kns County Board of Education policy j290 unsafe school choice as amended a motion by Miss Owen a second by was that you miss
059Christie okay any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7g approved first reading of knots County Board of Education policy j330 student counseling program as amended a motion by Reverend Butler a second by Mr Watson do we have any discussion nope all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7h approve first reading of knots County Board of Education policy j350 school and student health services as amended a motion by Mr Watson a second by Reverend Butler any discussion no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7 I approve first read of KN County Board of Education policy J 351 physical examinations and immunizations as amended do a motion by R Butler a second by Miss Owen do we have any discussion no discussion all
060those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7j approve first reading of kns County Board of Education policy J 352 medication as amended a motion by Miss Horn a second by Mr triplet do we have any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7 K approve first reading of kns County Board of Education policy J 354 glucagen Administration as amended a motion by Miss Horn a second by Miss Christie do we have any discussion no all those in in favor I any opposed motion carries 7 L approved first reading of knots County Board of Education policy j355 guidelines for managing life-threatening allergies as amended a motion by Mr Watson a second by Miss Christie do we have any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I
061any opposed motion carries 7 m approved first reading of not County Board of Education policy J 358 adrenal insufficiency as amended motion by Miss Horn a second by Miss Christie do we have any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries seven n approve first reading of KN County Board of Education policy j360 student Psychological Services as amended motion by Miss Owen a second by Reverend Butler is there any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 70 approved first reading of Knox County Board of Education policy j370 School Social Work Services as amended motion by Mr Watson a second by Miss Owen do we have any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7 P approve first reading of knots County Board of
062Education policy j3 92 students and Foster Care as amended a motion by Reverend Butler a second by Miss Christie do we have any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7 Q approve first reading of kns County Board of Education policy j410 married Andor pregnant students as amended motion by Miss Horn a second by Miss Christie is there any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries seven R approved first reading of KNX County Board of Education policy J 421 heat illness prevention as amended motion by Miss Horn a second by Miss Christie is there any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7 approved first read of KN County Board of Education policy j460 student clubs and organizations as amended a motion
063by Miss Horn a second by Miss Christie is there any discussion okay seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 7 approved first reading of Nots County Board of Education policy j560 student fees and fines as amended a motion by Miss Horn a second by Miss Christie any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries seven you approved first read of kns County Board of Education policy j580 student suicide prevention as amended a motion by Reverend Butler a second by Miss Horn any discussion Miss Miss Owen you um I believe we have two versions of this one so i' would like to um request a friendly amendment to adopt the version two friendly Amendment brought by Miss Owen second by Mr triplet thank you
064all those in favor I any oppose to that no oh I'm sorry to motion carries do they need to go back to the original motion do we need to go back to the original to discuss the yeah oh yeah sorry about that you want to substitute me do you want to substitute or a friendly Amendment you agree okay so do we go back to discussion on the overall yes okay okay because I know Celeste had added in um or suggested that added in language and so we'll go back to discussion on the version two so thank you Celeste is there any discussion on that item okay all those in favor I any opposed motion carries item 7 V approve amendments to reflect staff title changes in Knox County Board of Education policies J1 196 admission
065of suspended or expelled students j260 dress code and j320 independent evaluations of students waving second reading required by board policy b200 a motion by Miss Owen a second by Rend Butler do we have any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries item 8A approved Knoxville TVA Credit Union simply smart project grants in the total amount of $ 22,6 125 for multiple Knox County Schools a motion by Reverend Butler a second by Mr Watson do we have any discussion all those in favor any opposed motion carries 8B approved Batel education TS n stemx stem classroom grants sponsored by TVA and BVI in the total amount of $20,000 for Gibbs Middle School K's High School South High School and whittow Springs Middle School a motion by Miss Christie a second by Miss Owen do
066we have any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 8 C approve American geographical societies 2023 Geo boost Grant in the amount of $300 for K's High School a motion by Miss Christie a second by Miss Horn any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 8D approved Delta Kappa Gamma Society International early career educator Grant through the Tennessee State organization Zeta chapter in the amount of $250 for Morland Heights Elementary School a motion B by Miss Christie a second by Miss Horn any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 8 e approved National Education Association Foundation Student Success Grant in the amount of $5,000 for Pleasant Ridge Elementary School a motion by Miss Christie a second by Miss Owen do we have
067any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries nine a approve contracts with Holston Construction Services LLC Shelton General Contractors LLC skilled Services Quality Construction LLC and stookesberry Construction Incorporated for provision of grant-funded miscellaneous construction renovation services for the term of february1 2024 through January 2025 which may be extended for two additional years a motion by Mr Watson a second by Miss Christie do we have any discussion all those in favor I any oppose motion carries 9B approved contract with skilled Services LLC for phase two of work-based learning projects at Austin East Fulton Gibbs South do and West high schools in the amount of 2,635 241 a motion made by Reverend Butler a second by Miss Owen do we have any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed
068motion carries N9 C approved contract with skilled Services LLC for phase three of work-based learning projects at KS faragate halls and pal high schools in the amount of $2,343 500 a motion by Miss Horn a second by Mr triplet do we have any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor favor I any opposed motion carries 9d approve contracts with cross Gutter and sighting and skilled Services Quality Construction LLC for provision of guttering and aluminum walkway covers up to $1 million annually for the term of January 1 2024 through December 31 2024 which may be extended for four additional years a motion by Miss Christie second by Miss Horn any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries n9e approved contract with Goodwin Mills kwood LLC for design
069of secure entry vestibules within KCs facilities up to $400,000 using Esser 3.0 funds motion by made by Miss Bike second by Miss Christie any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 10 a approve replacement of existing playgrounds at a quoted total cost of 1,472 19031 at Fair Garden Family Center Knoxville adaptive education center and B Morris Fountain City Sarah Mor Green Spring Hill and West Haven Elementary schools using $250,000 of general purpose funds up to 1,876 $ 43.93 of donated funds from Knox Education Foundation and $ 69,6 4638 from The Fountain City Elementary School playground fund a motion made by Mr Watson a second made by a lot of people Reverend Butler and that was a long motion Miss cotney yes is there any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in
070favor I any oppos motion carries item 10 B approved fiscal year 2023 School nutrition fund balance expenditure in the estimated amount of $450,000 for the purchase of three refrigerated trucks to replace existing trucks in the school nutrition Fleet a motion made by Miss Christie a second by Mr Watson do we have any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 10 C approve appointment of the Knox County Board of Education collaborative conferencing management team a motion made by Miss Owen a second by Miss bike do we have any discussion seeing there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries item 10 D approve superintendent annual evaluation a motion by Miss Christie a second by Miss Horn do do we have any discussion on this item seeing
071there's no discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries 10 e approved 2024 legislative priorities a motion by Miss bike a second by Miss Horn do we have any discussion on this item yes Mr so I'll just say that I I appreciate it being condensed to one page I think that'll be very helpful thank you Mr Watson thank you madam chair um Can someone speak to the addition of the last paragraph I don't think that was on our previous one and I don't know who suggested it but would like some commentary right it was it is a new one Miss Horn thank you madam chair and thank you Miss cotney for putting this together um so I don't that is one actually as I review my notes the other night that I had
072totally forgotten to mention but this is basically if the purpose of this is if a school wanted to do a raffle like a a cake um a Calk what are they called Cake walk if a school wanted to do a cakewalk and raise money for whatever um in the school this would allow them to do that right now they cannot do that um so that's that is one of the biggest um and we we talked about that at the tsba convention and several schools spoke to that and so um this would this would encourage the legislature to adjust that um statutes so that we could use those kinds of if it passes I'm going to get you a t-shirt that says open the cake walk I love cake we need to too he doesn't love
073cake cake is one of my favorites makes people happy Miss Owen thank you madam chair there was a a bill for this last s last part of this session that did not move forward I'm not sure exactly why um for a school to be able to do something like a cakewalk at a fair they have to request permission more than a year in advance from the Secretary of State it's a ridiculous process um because they consider that just like just like any kind of you know game of chance um any kind of game of chance so yeah I I gu little ducks with the numbers on them all of those things um so it's it's a pretty big deal for something very small atool fa for 50 cents like a 50 Cent duck like we
074just want like a and I a dollar I think our legislators understand that there's an issue there so I'm not sure why it's not being corrected I no as a former PTO president who you know ran a fall festival and a cakewalk I fully appreciate what you're doing here Miss Horn it's ridiculous thank you is there any other discussion Reverend Butler did you have your light on earlier okay oh okay Mr deepler oh I was just gonna add that I don't know how many times I've been asked are we are we able to raffle an American Girl doll the answer is no but you can auction it so this this would change that yes yes for the better Miss Horn thank you madam chair yes so I would I mean you would think that they
075could enact something on this that would help all of us so truly like let's let's try to push for that because that would be for one the ease of Mr duper's job and all the all the PTO PTA presidents and it would be so helpful Miss um Owen I did have one question the teacher evaluation portion is just lifted from from last year is that still um good and appropriate as you see it I think so okay all right thank you and thank you for those who put um who gave your suggestions to miss cotney and miss Cy for putting that together I think there's some good suggestions this year is there any more discussion on this item seeing there's no more discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion carries I love that
076we're ending this meeting on cake that makes me [Laughter] happy what yes uh Mr triplet are there any more public forum speakers seeing that there are no more public forum speakers we are now adjourned thank you everybody