001welcome to the board of education's May 4th 2023 regular session meeting please stand as we observe a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Miss sword face to flag salute I pledge allegiance thank you Miss Horn a couple of announcements um as superintendent ricework announced at the work session High School graduation ceremonies will take place between Thursday May 18th and Friday June 2nd also the last day of school for students will be a half a day on Wednesday May 24th and the last day for teachers is Thursday May 25th and on behalf of the board I want to wish all their students families and staff a wonderful and restful summer break and also all of their teachers a happy Teacher Appreciation Week you're almost there but we do appreciate all of
002you and your hard work as well as all their support staff board members you received an email from his coatney last night regarding regarding item 10d and the contract with King construction for renovations at Lincoln Park Center the contract amount was listed correctly on the contract but the amount stated in the agenda caption and on the fiscal note was not correct and have been taken from an earlier contract draft both of those have been updated to reflect the correct amount of four million four hundred and seventy eight thousand and 590 dollars and as far as changes to the agenda no one requested it um on Monday but I do feel that we need to remove item 10 from the consent agenda so I'm going removing that from the consent agenda and just placing it at
003the top of the regular agenda items um are there any other requested changes to this agenda do we have a motion to approve submission by Miss Horn a second by Miss Henderson all in favor say aye hi any opposed motion carries I am Super Nintendo rice foot I think we have some special recognition strike tonight thank you madam chair we do and I'm actually Dr Wilson prepare for that uh to recognize the uh valedictorian salutatorians from our all of our high schools guys welcome good glad you're here tonight thank you madam chair members of the board and superintendent ricewick it's my great pleasure to join with you as we recognize some very special students tonight board policy i-330 states that the valedictorian and salutatorian at each of our high schools shall earn the highest and
004next highest grade point averages but these young men and women are much more than these high grade point averages that they have carried through their High School careers they are leaders in our schools and communities and they give us all confidence that we're in great hands for a very promising future I'm proud and honored to serve them and to introduce them to you this evening so students handsome group thank you for being here um I will introduce you in alphabetic order by your school first and then your name when I read your name please come forward and stand in front of the board table area here uh Miss Cooney has got something she's going to be handing to each of you as you come forward and once we have the whole group we're going to
005take some photos with the board and the superintendent also if I could ask everyone in the audience to please hold your applause until the end we will celebrate all of our amazing students after I finish reading the names there are a few students who could not join us tonight I think are we still there a couple because of our scheduling conflicts but we're going to read all names aloud and we'll get their certificate to them at their schools all right so without further Ado we're going to begin with Austin East Magnet High School and our valedictorian Darius Jackson [Applause] salutatorian Tamiya Stinson coming in awesome there she is [Applause] next we're going to recognize Bearden High School Valedictorian Kathleen hartano [Applause] salutatorian Nathan brousseau [Applause] I'm going to take a moment here to offer a
006special note that if there is a tie through the 100th of a point for either the valedictorian or the salutatorian then all students qualifying for that award will be named and you're going to see why I offered that information in just a second so from career Magnet Academy we have four co-valedictorians the first one is Ellie our way [Applause] another valedictorian Ariana Beatty Duncan green [Applause] and our last valedictorian Angel Helen our salutatorian from career Magnet Academy is Haley komarovski next we'll be recognizing for Carter High School Valedictorian Laken wolfenbarger salutatorian Samuel North from Central High School Valedictorian Christian Cox and salutatorian Jack Turrentine you want to kind of help them kind of push back a little bit guys there you go we got more coming all right Farragut High School is happy to recognize
007two co-valedictorians the first one is Aaron Kim foreign the second Justin Lee and our salutatorian from Farragut High School is ridhima Singh [Applause] from Fulton High School Valedictorian Shaylin Bargo salutatorian is Lydia indicaiah Saba I really hope I got that right next from Gibbs High School our valedictorian is Kennedy Graves our salutatorian is Carolina Pittman [Applause] from halls High School our valedictorian is Bailey jeans and salutatorian Isabelle Benson from Hardin Valley Academy a name that may be familiar to many of you on the board our very own valedictorian Grace Deckard [Applause] and our salutatorian Elijah Johnson [Applause] Karns High School has two co-valedictorians the first is Eli Hicks and our second valedictorian Meredith Morgan salutatorian from Karns High School is Ethan Crandell [Applause] from the Knox County Schools virtual High School our valedictorian is Leah
008Wilson and our salutatorian is Mackenzie Scott next from lnn STEM Academy our valedictorian is Hayden bracking foreign salutatorian Duncan Arnold from Powell High School the valedictorian is Kim ha we have co-solutitorians from Powell High School the first is Bryce jardray and the second is Annabelle rashaw [Applause] from South Doyle High School our valedictorian is Thomas Greene father he's at a soccer game okay our salutatorian is Maxwell Hull [Applause] and finally from West High School we have two co-valedictorians the first is Oliver himmelgarn and our second valedictorian from West High School is is Sultan [Applause] the salutatorian from West High School is Benjamin Schaefer [Applause] ladies and gentlemen I give you the Knox County Schools valedictorians and salutatorians of the class of 2023. [Applause] now you all be nice and do what Carly says because she's
009the one that sends out the snow notices when we cancel school I know she needs you to get in tight for your picture because there's lots of you guys and so just work with Carly you get everybody the boardrooms as well all right now board members I think are joining Dr Oz but can you do a push-up in front of myself got them oh yeah so I'm referring to go home it sounds like you said it's kind of like you said Nicole Kidman I'm moving on you can deal with the rest of us we're ready all right hello so board members we have one more recognition tonight I guess we'll wait for a second we have one more recognition tonight and then we will take a five minute recess and let um folks in the
010Overflow room come in I believe Dr Adams this issue thank you madam chair members of the board uh it is my honor and privilege to recognize our officer at Bearden high school and our school nurse at Bearden high school at this time I'd like to call Chief period to the podium to recognize and provide them with a token of our appreciation thank you sir good evening Madam chair members of the board it's always an honor to be able to uh to talk to the board but today I'm especially honored because not only do I get to recognize one of my officers I get to recognize what we see as teamwork and a success story in the teamwork with staff members and security officers and folks who are just assigned to the school as volunteers I
011mean this is a great story I want to share it with you I'll keep my remarks short I know I tend to ramble on it just a little bit forgive me I have a waiver from New York can we bring are we going to bring them up first can we bring officer Tyler Bowles and then uh Rebecca nurse Rebecca Rice UT student nurse Bailey Bentley and UT student nurse Rebecca Doris thank you on Tuesday 18 April 2023 about 12 15 hours officer Tyler Bowles while on duty at Bearden high school was called via radio to respond to a medical emergency in one of the classrooms upon arrival officer Bowles was made aware of an unresponsive staff member in cardiac arrest needing the AED machine officer Bulls ran down the hall to locate and bring back
012the AED machine while the BHS school nurse Rebecca Rice and the two UT student nurses Bailey Bentley and Rebecca Doris moved the staff members to a safe location on the floor to check for a pulse and prepare for CPR officer Bowles then began chest compressions while nurse rice set up the ad machine and placed the pads on the staff member after the nurse rice deployed the device officer Bowles provided life-saving chest compressions approximately 80 and then each of the student nurses took turns with compressions before bulls continued with another 80 to 100 compressions officer Bowles was needed to do these compressions as long as possible due to Bull's strength this is where you're supposed to pose and stature of the staff member officer Bowles and the two student nurses continued chest compressions for more than
013five minutes until kfd and AMR arrived thanks to the quick response and the continued actions of Officer Bulls and the medical staff at Bearden high school that day the staff member received the medical attention needed to restart his heart and keep him alive while AMR responded to take him to the hospital congratulations to all four we're going to be giving the Chiefs Lifesaver Award to all four of you and if you'll indulge me for a round of applause thank you foreign thank you foreign I have several books I'm gonna no I'm just thank you so board members we first we are going to take a five minute recess because I know some of our guests probably aren't wanting to stay for the meeting and we have some people in overflow so we're going to take
014a five minute recess just to kind of um give them an opportunity and if some seats free up there's an opportunity to come in foreign okay thank you all right so with that we are back from recess and before we get into our regular agenda I just want to remind everyone in attendance tonight I know sometimes issues come up that people are really passionate about um and we're glad that you chose to attend this evening but please please please note that elevated noise makes it very difficult for us to hear each other as well as for you and people at home to hear what we're saying so we ask that you refrain from um interruptions clapping booing cheering all that snapping what whatever and and just be mindful of that we certainly do not want
015to ask anyone to leave tonight but we do have um a lot to get through tonight so just just be mindful of that we we can't just have constant interruptions so we will have to ask you to leave and also if you want to have a discussion with someone sitting beside you please step outside to do so all right and with that we will go into our regular agenda this company item seven consent agenda so motioned by Miss Horn a second by Mr Watson any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries item 8A approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy e124 risk management as amended a submission by Miss Owen a second by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries eight B
016approved second ready of Knox County Board of Education policy e201 workers compensation as amended motion by Mr Watson a second by Miss Owen any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 8C approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g150 staff community relations as amended motion by Mr Watson a second by Miss Owen any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 8D approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g180 Personnel files as amended most of my Miss Henderson a second by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries eight e approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g211 smoking and use of tobacco as amended motion by Mr Watson a second by Miss Henderson any discussion
017all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries HF approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g220 harassment of employees as amended motion by Mr Owen a second by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries eight G approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g240 compensation guides and contracts for professional personnel as amended motion by Miss Henderson a second by Miss Horn discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries eight approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g280 qualifications and duties of teachers as amended message by Mr Watson and second by Mr Triplett any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries eight I approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g430 Personnel
018Health examinations and communicable diseases as amended motioned by Ms horn is second by Miss Henderson discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 8j approves second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g461 sick and bereavement leave as amended most of my Miss Owen a second by Miss Henderson discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries eight K approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g530 transfers of classified personnel as amended motion by Miss Horn is second by Mr triplet discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries eight L approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g560 classified Personnel Health examinations and communicable diseases as amended Henderson a second by Mr Watson discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries
019eight M approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy g590 leaves and absences of classified personnel as amended motion by Mr Triplet a second by Miss Henderson discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries eight in a proof first reading of Knox County Board of Education policy J 123 Summer School attendance as amended motion to adopt on first reading due to the timeliness so motion to adopt our first reading by Miss Owen a second by Miss Henderson all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 9A approved Knox County government grant the amount of sixty two thousand three hundred and seventy one dollars with required matching funds in the amount of sixty two thousand three hundred and seventy one dollars for replacement of Auditorium seating and audio equipment upgrades to Bearden
020Middle School's Auditorium motion by Mr Watson a second by Miss Horn discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 9B approved Knox County government grant the amount of 62 700 with required matching funds in the amount of sixty two thousand seven hundred dollars to be held in trust through June 30th 2033 for a future Karns High School field house motion by Ms Henderson is taken by Mr Watson discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 9C approved memorandum of understanding with Knox Education Foundation for Grant funds in the amount of twelve thousand dollars designated to stipends for Mentor teachers approved in a partnership agreement with relay Graduate School of Education by Miss Horn is taken by Miss Henderson any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 9d approved
021nicewonger Foundation AP access for all mini grants and the total amount of nine hundred and twenty seven dollars and seven cents for Fulton High School is second by Miss Horn discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 9e approve Oak Ridge Associated universities extreme classroom makeover Grant the amount of five thousand dollars for Karns Middle School motion by Miss Henderson a second by Miss Horn discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 9f approved pilot company Grant the amount of two thousand dollars for Maynard Elementary School motion by Reverend Butler is second by Miss Owen discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 9g approved Casey's cash for classrooms Grant the amount of fifteen thousand dollars for West High School motion by Miss spike is second by Miss Owen
022discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries nine age approved Walmart community Grant the amount of one thousand dollars for West Haven Elementary School Owen a second by Mr Watson discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion cures nine I approve fiber art Now teacher Excellence Grant in the amount of 300 for Whittle Springs Middle School motion by Miss Owen a second by Reverend Butler discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries item 10 approved memorandum of understanding with East Tennessee Freedom schools for provision of Summer programming for KCs students for a time of one year which may be extended for four additional years some motion by Reverend Butler in a second by Miss Owen and before we get into discussion in public forum board members I'd like to have
023more discussion first on this because um I've been talking with Mr dupler and the superintendent and Dr Wilson we've had several several conversations about this week because there's been some some things that have changed kind of or been brought to light as far as some of the the legal questions about it and first of all I want to be very clear that um for the public because I think there's some misconceptions out there and we are not voting on whether Freedom schools can exist or operate that's not what this is about they've been operating for years in our facilities we have 8 000 facility requests a year I believe Dr Adams you said we processed yearly and a lot of outside organizations do summer programs and so this is not a vote on whether the
024merits of the program or whether the program exists or doesn't exist I mean I think that's it's well established and so what's before the board it's before the board for two reasons one is an mou for data sharing which um parents opt into we don't just randomly share data with other organizations parents have to choose and in this case like many other ones um from talking to miss Dean it sounds like they can evaluate the merits of their program because it's very it's a literacy Focus program um and the other reason is for transportation and because we did have buses in these neighborhoods going to these schools and after several conversations with Mr dupler and superintendo reiswick and Dr Wilson and there seems to be some concerns about the transportation piece in regards to um
025curriculum and if that binds us to have to monitor their curriculum and it's sounding like there that is the case after talking to the Law Department and in to be honest we do not have the resources or the structure to monitor outside organizations curriculum is my understanding um or the legal expertise I don't know unless Mr dupler has that um so what what would be the um consequences of that if let's say someone deemed the curriculum didn't follow under State guidelines would that would basically compromise State funding so so there is an issue with transportation and the other the other thing with Transportation that's been kind of brought to lie is other organizations that we partner with are now saying well maybe maybe we can look into this for us right and we do not
026know what buses are going to have in seats and what buses aren't and then are you going to get in a situation where it looks like you are doing something for one but you might not have seats for the other and so for all of these reasons and and I am supportive of this mou but in Mr duper maybe you can weigh in on it I just feel legally that um it it might be in the district's best interest to pull the transportation piece out of it can you speak a little bit to that thank you madam chair first of all I would I would like to say that I think the board missed an opportunity uh I know the city council of Kyle Texas dressed up in Star Wars costumes for today and so
027I don't know I don't know who's supposed to organize it yes but y'all missed that that's the vice chair's responsibility so but beyond that um so I'll just give a little bit of history about this or at least what I know which is um this this mou came came to our office just like hundreds and hundreds of contracts come hey take a look at this for the form and then you know is it in legal form or not uh so at face value it was in legal form uh but after Monday's discussion um we were you know I was asked to take a closer look at it I know state legislators had reached out I know that there were conversations with other state officials about you know concerns about a particular statute and that statute
028is just I don't want to make sure I get it right 49-6-1019 and uh the uh some of the legislators you know mentioned that hey we feel like this this could be a violation and legally what I can I I can say a few things about that one is this is a fairly new statute uh I searched for cases uh and I think Mr Watson and I talked about this I searched for you know precedent either from appeals courts or the Tennessee Supreme Court and there are no precedent so there's no there's no Court decisions on this particular statute uh again it's fairly new uh so so we don't have that piece uh but but at least there is the concern out there and I can also tell you this that that this statute applies
029to you know the Knox County Board of Education and any other board of education you know in in the state of Tennessee so if if funds are being used uh from uh the Lea which is this board uh then then the only one that stands to to lose anything is the Knox County Board of Education so with those concerns you know you had asked me to create a an alternative data sharing agreement uh which which the board has you know several data sharing type of of Arrangements you know they differ slightly from from entity to entity uh but uh but that would not use any funds and would simply be a non-compensated agreement so that's that's where we are right now Miss Owen Mr dibbler could you clarify the length of time the buses would
030be used well that might be something that that superintendent rise with might be better to answer again I I've been learning more about the inner workings again I just looked at this agreement for the form initially uh but since Monday a lot of the substantive questions have been have been asked so I'll I'll pass that Dr Eisley thank you madam chair uh so I think the same kind of thing let me let me say this on on behalf of the staff um I really think again with Miss Dean and with our staff everything was was well intended I think uh you know 10 months ago we made a call to the community to say we can't be everything for everybody who can come who will come around and help us I think you know Freedom
031schools has been a six-year partner uh working with students who go to Knox County Schools uh and and has been very successful in the community and I think the way those conversations happened with staff members we're just in conversation with Miss Dean to my knowledge Ms Dean didn't ask for the transportation as we've looked into some of those it was just a conversation that struck that's that began talking about ways to again work with Community Partners and to make that happen I do think the staff members who had that conversation had no intention to try to push anything outside of just trying to help an organization have access to more kids I think even when that came before the board even into Monday day that's still where we were that this might be something that
032we could try to do it was not a practice we'd had but we always like to try different things to try to give kids more opportunities I do think again in talking with Mr duper and kind of looking through those things the law that that was passed that has certain content that can and can't be taught and that's in in our schools we still viewed that as summer programming is not something that we we don't police anyone's summer programming and the content that's in those but as as you know he has expressed talking to different people um you know if we are providing resource for um which could be seen as promoting any of those we now fall under as a school system that those same laws and rules again that was not the staff's
033intent at all when that happened I think they were just trying to try something out to try to give access to students for that so with that new information I do think it puts a situation where as a staff I've talked with Dr Wilson and he may want to want to jump into that too um it we have supervisors and things like social studies and English they are trained in pedagogy which is how to teach and how to how to be better and more effective teachers um they are not legal experts in interpreting how a law applies to curriculum our uh our the way our curriculum works is the state does this for us they pick the text based on the law they give us a list done for a committee to choose off of
034so we don't we've never had to address the issue of what is prohibited content and not and we're not prepared as a staff to be able to do that it would take some legal counsel on our side to make that happen and so I think those are things that have that have happened since Monday our Clarity that that could be seen as promotion of by the district to provide transportation and then our inability to be able to do that we're not positioned to do that so I think those are new things that have come to light as we have a better understanding of that situation but I want to say again miss Dean never asked for that I think our staff was just trying to find a way to give students opportunities on a program
035that has meant a lot to a community can I ask him a question again sorry I'm going to ask it in two pieces how long is our summer program that's a good question too this is where I was going with them for someone thank you so I got lost in my own thoughts so so that was another thing as we looked into that so our summer program for our summer camps is four weeks long and there's there's six weeks long so that was something as we look into mou as well that there uh there would obvi the thought was originally there would be kind of that time to be able to to piggyback if you would for those four weeks but there are two extra weeks and again no fault to Freedom schools for for
036having that I think the the way the mou is written it talks about the duration of their program duration of our program there was no talk about the two weeks in between that theirs is longer than ours and I think that's something as we look closer to mou that's there as well all right all right thank you I think as as a board member I was my understanding was that it was the same length of time and I think that's sort of what was presented on Monday and I mean through no fault of of theirs at all so um knowing that it's a different timeline and knowing that our buses are contracted by Knox County Schools they could still contract with our same bus contractors not at the same time but they could contract a
037bus also and still have transportation to our schools just not on the same buses right so I I think I'm going to answer your question so tell me if I don't so we do have and Dr Adams maybe we'll speak to that we do have other Community Partners who do actually contract and I'm not 100 sure Dr Adams I don't know if they contract that through us with payment or they contract state to straight to the contractors but I'll have you speak to that if you don't mind please Dr Adams certainly thank you Dr roswick Madam chair and someone so basically our other contractors they partner with kef and so they reimburse Knox County Schools so to answer your question I believe what you're asking is can Freedom schools Reach Out directly to our contractors
038to contract a transportation and answer that is yes and when local agencies ask us to connect them with contractors we certainly do that right thank you you're welcome Reverend Butler foreign that because of the promoting of the but the buses that Knox County Schools would be promoting the freedom schools so then Knox County Schools would be responsible for making sure that the freedom schools curriculum met the state law that is my understanding from talking to Mr dupler this that correct yes thank you madam chair Reverend Butler uh the way the mou is is is worded Reverend Butler I mean it's it's it's more of a partnership it's it's School funds used for this for this purpose and and then that's going to require that that Knox County Schools and this board have more oversight and
039then that's that's why the uh you know the legislators and you know in the state officials are speaking out so um the legislators put pressure on us to look at it that way or why was the legislators involved I mean why why involved with I'm sorry I'm sorry Reverend Butler please please we do not want to ask you to leave but we have to get through this conversation and it was my understanding well just to be honest probably because a mass email went out telling everyone that we are partnering with so probably to answer your question I'm just assuming they're involved because the mass email went out telling people in the community that we are partnering with this group and they reached out to their state legislators and they gave feedbacks what I am assuming
040however I can tell you the ones that I heard from did cite the law that Gary cited as well um what is the state laws um directive on how Knox County Schools is supposed to make sure this happens what does the law say that I mean it's a it's a fairly lengthy uh statute I mean but it but it I'll read the starting paragraph uh says that and again this is 49 6 10 19 and Lea which is a board or Public Charter School shall not include or promote the following concepts as part of a course of instruction or in a curriculum or instructional program or allow teachers or other employees of the Lea or Public Charter School to use supplemental instructional materials that include or promote the following concepts and then it lists 14
041Concepts and then it lists some exceptions okay but does it list how Knox County Schools since they that we're the Lea how we would have to make sure of that I think that's part of the problem that Miss Christie and Dr reiswick are talking about I mean is that this this law is not it's not real specific I mean it's fairly General there's not been again case law on this law so you know our office might have to spend you know long time researching this along with Administration to try and come up with something we may have to reach out to other professionals so I think the concern is that KCs at this point is not prepared to try to police this so now um and I can have Miss Dean come up she's she
042sent me the list oh she sent me that information you just read from and the 14 items she's looked through her her list I think even on Monday night Miss Owen mentioned one of the books that wasn't against the state law so you know it doesn't sound like it's hard to determine if that is in fact true but one of the things I'm seeing here is we had some and I'm gonna use the word conflict about whether or not we should have this organization and now we have a law that says that they can't get the needed Transportation one of those areas that we were talking about and now there's a law that says that we can't do it and we don't have the means to meet the requirements of the law when the law
043don't say what the requirements are and also that there's no indication that this organization is not already meeting the law it says assumption that they they may not be then I think about that there was also a law that said during the child of schools discussion that about there was a concern about Title IX but then the the applicant said that they it wasn't a problem and then we said well we weren't concerned about being a problem even though Title IX issue was there and so it just sounds like a double standard to me it sounds like that you're applying something to this group that you hadn't applied to another group and I'm not saying that's the case I'm just saying that's what it sounds like to me and I think if you had people
044who could respond without being put out they would say it sound like that to them too and so my my concern is is that this is one of those legal things that you know puts us in a situation that we may not be able to do anything about we just gotta suck it up and so which is which is you know initially I felt like it was a slap in the face now I think it's a kick dirt in my face and slapped me in my face can I do this though can I have Miss Dean come up to to speak on this occurrence because she is uh representing the other party in the mou and see what her statement is all about this is that fair right we can do that but can I
045speak to your question about the Title IX just from my perspective because I did vote for the charter school and you know I'm not an attorney I I rely on the advice that we are given and just from my perspective and you know Mr dupler did discuss that with us or to to a point where I was reasonably comfortable with that aspect of the the charter school it's not you know like I said I you know I was supportive of this Monday you know I'm going to be fair I mean it that's not what this is about to me this is about the the legal the the legality and you know my understanding is it's the the burden is put on the Local District that us to make sure once we have shared resources to
046make sure that those state curriculums are followed and we have not ever had anything in place to evaluate and outside organization's curriculum we've never had reason to have that in place and that was my understanding um from talking to Mr dupler just just answer that question but I'm fine with Miss Dean coming up but part of that question of mine as well is that we don't have a way that is designed for us to do it and we do have people who uh have experience in Knox County Schools reviewing material because they review textbooks and they we're not talking about thousands of books you know we're talking about a book list for six weeks of of right I I think that correct me if I'm wrong Dr Rice what the curriculum that we review is
047for I mean that what we choose from is already chosen for us by the state we is that correct thank you madam chair you're correct I think that's the difference here and again Dr Wilson you may want to speak today but how that process works I'll pass that to you but you're correct in what you're saying all right yeah just I think I spoke to that process a bit the other night but um again as as we adopt curriculum that our curricula they're used in our classrooms um there are State panels and groups that are convened to assess those materials for alignment to the law support for the standards all of those pieces certainly through a high quality instructional materials additional pieces that go into those and requirements and from those we have local teacher
048panels that then convene to assess from those choices what we want to adopt here locally so when we think about the role we play at a district level uh and and the expertise I guess of the of the academic team to then review and deal in those materials by and large we're we're reviewing things that are already curated um and selected at the state level and then in the case of where we might have questions which we do from time to time around uh say texts that are available in a library or supplemental materials that a teacher may choose and can choose to use in their classroom our Pathways for that are are defined in policy and we are dealing in those moments in grounded in curriculum that we've adopted and expectations around those standards
049and those pieces that that drive the you know instructional outcomes for for our programs and then also if we find ourselves in situations where um you know something we're not being done correctly we're also dealing in situations where we have oversight and management of those personnel and employees that are actually engaged in that so it's a very different position to operate from when you're talking about a curriculum that doesn't belong to us and a program that we don't run or manage with Personnel that we don't run or manage to um to try to start from scratch so to speak when we think about building curriculum and and and and curating a collection that belongs to someone else swatson thank you madam chair I do want Miss Dean to come up just in one second I
050know Mr Butler asked for that um it uh Mr dupler is it it's true that um Freedom schools on its own is not subject to that law correct yes that's my understanding I mean this is this is this law is specifically references an Lea which is a school board or Public Charter School okay and you talked about how the law is not very clear and the way I can read those first two sentences is that within the Lea that it is not to be to include or promote within the ELA Lea I can also understand how it could be read outside of that but what I'm hearing in this discussion is we have some thoughts about what the implications might be but there is no definition in the law there is no case law that
051says that if we provide buses to this organization and should they be fine found to have broken this law or not be in compliance with it again it would not affect them it would it could potentially affect us but we don't even know the answer to that question yet whether or not they would or they would not um Miss Dean would you mind coming and speaking for just a moment and I would I would love to hear uh you were here on Monday night and I know that you listened intently to some of the concerns uh from from the board and some of the just back and forth in the dialogue as we try to process this and Nuance this I'm wondering if you just have any thoughts to share out of that conversation and
052then specifically um I know you've tried to look into this law since that night I don't know how familiar you are with it before then um but also would love your thoughts on whether or not you believe Freedom schools not that you are subject to it but that you would be should you be subject to it um thank you um first thing I would say is when we had conversations with Knox County Schools over the past few months number of months actually we talked about three things in particular one was expanding our availability to more scholars in the community and that's why we're at Spring Hill this year we talked about data sharing and then I share with them the importance of Transportation because that was one of the biggest barriers to the families that
053wanted to participate in Freedom schools and I I have to say the conversation on Monday um hurt to some extent because there were assumptions made about what our program does and what it's about and I would say unfounded primarily because I think I don't know how many of you have ever even attended a freedom school session or really even looked at our curriculum guide or anything of that nature so when I looked at 49-6-1019 and read through it my husband and I actually I mean we checked off each one um and I'll just read some of them um the lawyer didn't read all of them but just some um I really believe that freedom schools can easily abide by that law just as an example we don't believe that because of one's race agenda they
054are inherently Superior privileged racist sexist or oppressive we don't do not believe anyone should be discriminated against due to their race or gender we do not believe once moral character is determined by their race or gender we not do not believe any individual Bear's responsibility for past actions competed committed by others regardless of their race or gender when we went through all 14 um that's just not how that's not the Freedom School way that's not how we roll um we're about um we have we have our own Freedom schools um kind of core beliefs and some of them are about we have respect for the emotional mental physical and spiritual safety of ourself and others and we have beliefs values and practices that demonstrate the higher standards of honesty and integrity I mean we're trying
055to raise up you know children who can read can think be thoughtful who can be good citizens who can be effective members of the workforce there's nothing anti about what we do in terms of that law thank you Miss Dean I appreciate that and I appreciate you taking the time to look at it I know on Monday night there were several books that were referenced as maybe um maybe a suggesting that maybe Freedom schools does believe some of those things I think it's important to note for the board that there's actually no specific laws mentioned and books mentioned in that law that law is significantly up for interpretation and you're saying tonight that you believe that freedom schools is complete in complete compliance with that I think some of the other comments I knew were
056made the other night is that freedom schools has an agenda because it's Associated I'm I'm curious what this agenda is for anybody who maybe brought that up because when I heard that that night I'm trying to figure out what is the agenda that was an alternative yeah that's the alternative so alternative to what so what's the right agenda and what's the one that we're concerned about and there was no definition or specificity um brought out about that and that could be helpful because if I were in your position I would want to know what am I alternative to um and I think that should be called out because I think it's important irregardless of this bus contract there was a lot of things that were said that had nothing to do with an mou it
057was really about elevated concerns about a group trying to influence a segment of our population in negative ways I mean that's what was being indoctrinating was the term yeah indoctrination was the term so I don't know if any of the board members who spoke to that would be willing to speak to that but I would love to know what the I what the ideal um ideology is and what is the alternative one that we're concerned about well before we move into that I just want to be clear on where I am and that is you know I I don't feel comfortable with our structures in place for this or any organization as far as monitoring an outside organization's curriculum when it comes to funding um so and this is all I'm going to say about
058it you know I was supportive Monday night I will support the mou minus the transportation piece um and that was really off all I'm going to say Miss Owens I also at one point um I know that typically we have public forum at the beginning of an item and I know you suggested that we have more discussion first but what I didn't hear is when will we have public forum before we go before we vote Yes okay yeah I just want to make sure the question doesn't get called and all that things because sometimes that happens and I would love the questions if the question gets called then we'll have public forum prior to that but about the devotion now hasn't been changed I mean I'm just saying that I understand I just and I'm
059not saying don't hear me wrong um Miss Christie I'm not suggesting that you were trying to avoid public forum yeah I'm just trying to understand because it typically happens at the beginning my intention with that was I felt from my personal conversations with the law Department more context I get that that maybe people needed to have more context before they spoke at public one I appreciate that that's that was my only intent yeah I just wanted I just wanted to be clear for me when it is going to occur right it will occur we will have public forum before the vote as as we always do but right now [Music] um actually I might need to make a substitute Motion in case that happens and I believe the motion was to approve the mou with
060a second wasn't it is that the case so Reverend Butler made a motion to approve it and Miss Owen did you second it yes okay so um before we go any further I would like to make a substitute motion to approve the mou minus the transportation piece before you make before that is seconded I I didn't hear from Miss Dean of being the party has she been talked to about the this the the part about the change has she been had that been discussed with her as she's agreed to that I mean is it an mou it's something that both sides agreed to before it comes to us or do we or do it this is my this is my question or do we can we do we vote on it first and then we
061offer it to her well I guess my thinking on that Reverend Butler was because of the timing of it because Summer is rapidly approaching to do that we would have to pull it off and it would delay it if we but does that make sense if I'm yes but I'm still thinking that the ammo the motion that I made was the mou that had been agreed upon between Knox County Schools into East Tennessee Freedom schools correct yes okay and I don't I don't have a second on my motion so I can just withdraw it and we can leave it as is I'm just wanting to know how do we do that because if we change it then are we saying to her then she accepted as it is or not uh Mr dickwark can you
062weigh in on that yes thank you madam chair Reverend Butler uh I've seen it done either way Reverend Butler I mean sometimes uh well most of the time it is as you describe that that that both parties are aware of what's coming before the board and then the board approves but there have been times when the after a board has discussion that something has changed then it becomes an offer to to the other party Freedom schools in this case and then Freedom schools can accept or not um Miss Owen I think you're next thank you madam chair um if we were talking about this bus piece from the perspective of the difference in time and the fact that the staff had somehow given us a very serious misrepresentation of how that was going to work
063I could understand this conversation but that's not the conversation we're having the conversation we're having makes no sense to me the reason we don't have guidance on how to evaluate an outside group's curriculum is because this law doesn't have Jack to do with evaluating anybody's curriculum except our own that there is no case law I think really helps my point because all we have is the law at its face and at its face what it says is an Lea or Public Charter School shall not include and in that it's talking about in our instructional program this is not our instructional program we are not promoting anything in our instructional program we are not promoting anything in our curriculum we are not allowing our teachers or our employees or any public charter schools employees to use
064supplemental instructional materials in our programs this law is very specifically regarding the Lea's instructional program and it's I mean I've seen plenty of laws that our legislators don't understand that they themselves passed but to say that this law in any way would hold us to looking at something that is completely outside I mean so obviously outside of our instructional program that it's not even happening during the school year that seems pretty ridiculous to me they've already said that even if even if we were looking at this and considering this they're well within it we could also look at this and say we also don't have a process or any guidance on how we would hold any of our charter schools to this we would just trust that they would do it but that still shouldn't
065matter because this is specific to an Lea's course of instruction and curriculum curriculum instructional program this is not our instructional program that we're talking about it's completely separate this isn't something that should even be a consideration now if we want to talk about the fact that the timeline is different for the buses that would make sense to have a discussion about but it's just stupid to have a discussion about this part this bike thank you madam chair um I think this could be a question for Garfield um what is the cost of the busing contract for our summer schools do you do you know or is that a wrong question so technically we have individual contracts right with contractors I can get you that figure you know [Music] um if there's a difference would there
066be a difference are you depending on this mou yes for that do you know could you get us numbers on what the difference would be yes and actually it's it's those were the Ester dollars as well so that's a conversation for um Sam mcgarn as well so we can look at when you say a difference the additional cost if this mou is approved with the bus so we can look into that we we do not pull those figures prior to any board approval because that would be presumptuous on our part sure um I'm also curious what the difference so I know the difference um technically between the contract that we had before and now is the busing and the data but the way it was in previous years would that leave us to the same
067liability or supposed liability maybe that's for Mr dupler thank you madam chair Ms Pike uh I think we touched on this Monday uh that there's numerous outside entities that go through the uh through the facility use procedure and that's all they do they just go through the facility use procedure and if the schools aren't aren't using it then they pay for uh you know the janitorial staff and things of that nature and then they use it on on their own accord so I mean there's no there's no school uh funding or promotion of the activity so it's literally just because they're using the same busing contracts that's that would say that we are promoting this school that's the uh that's the the risk at this point yes um have there previously been any complaints in
068the last six to seven years about the school made to us it's like I I'm not aware of any but again I'll say this we to to Mr dupler's point we don't we don't have any jurisdiction over that it's really a facilities use that that they or any other organization could do so there wouldn't be um there would be like a complaint structure back to The District in other words so it is Family Choice to go to that just like there probably are you know 50 other organizations that run kind of Summer programming they could be using a facilities Knox County Schools facilities as well so they wouldn't if they had those complaints they probably would do that through Freedom School not through like it wouldn't come back to our English supervisor or something like
069that sure um then I would just Echo Reverend Butler in that if we're willing to risk a Title IX lawsuit for a charter school that's going to take millions of tax dollars that why wouldn't we allow this risk based on their guarantee I I'm really really confused on this it's Miss bike hold on just a minute I'm going to ask one more time respectfully that if we have to hear each other and I'm hearing noise out there and it's conversation or something that's distracting to me yeah I yeah I just I'm just really confused on that one um that it's just this bussing nugget that's all I have Mr Triplett yes to answer Mr Watson's question about what I feel like is a concerning agenda if you go to their website on their home page
070they have an article about banned books we love and those banned books are books that are would fall actually probably most likely under that state law and East Tennessee Freedom schools has as its parent organization the children's defense fund and that defense fund clearly has a a goal to promote banned books those books have content that I think create confusion among genders for children and any gain of reading and literacy would be certainly offset I Believe by this kind of content they have books about and they list some of those things some racial division sexual content an lgbtq agenda so those those are the the agenda that I feel like the children's defense fund promotes and the agenda I would like to see is one that is just clearly just about literacy I don't know
071that you can get that through the children's defense fund organization I'm also not ignorant enough to think that you know we are not as Miss Christie said you know voting to for them to exist or not exist they will continue to exist in the same way they have I just believe personally that parents have trusted Knox County and any sort of mou in my mind is a partnership with them and I I can't partner with an organization I believe that that promotes these kind of things that really at any level um you may say well it's not a lot or may or may not show up in these schools or in in the freedom schools in East Tennessee but I cannot partner with an organization that promotes this kind of agenda to Watson thank you
072manager Mr Triplett thank you for shedding some light on what you referenced the other night I wasn't sure what blog post that was so the the blog post that you're referring to when you talk about issues of race and racism lgbtqi issues and sexual encounters you re you do realize that what they're referencing is just a catalog of books that are banned across the U.S they're not saying that all of their books have that percentage of those different issues do you under do you understand that piece correct I do well the reason I'm asking that is because you've referenced that several times as being the concern all they're saying is across America pin America has tried to catalog the issues and all banned books Across America what CDF is not saying in that blog post
073is we endorse all these books that's not what they're saying if you read the blog post now they do have a list of books that they do endorse that's separate from that and I'm curious I'm not familiar with all the titles I'm curious if if you're aware of those titles or do you have concern with those specific titles I do I'd have to I looked through some of them and some of that content is is there there is an LGBT lgbtq content in in that list of books okay um Mr tripple I'm not trying to be disrespectful but you do understand that we have lgbtq kids across our district do you understand that okay and and I'm not um I'm not one I'm not in any way wanting to date Faith or your values or
074your beliefs or whatever but I think when we get to the point where you're saying you're going to make this decision based upon your personal beliefs and your personal values about something that you think may be occurring but you don't know if it's occurring or not um and I mean rarely do I engage with anybody that I fully agree with them I mean there's rarely would that be the case but there's a lot of other things that would speak to me about a positive agenda I mean Mary Mary Marion Wright Edelman is actually still alive I mean the founder of CDF and a couple of things that she said over time that I really appreciate she says when Jesus Christ asks little children to come to him he didn't say only Rich children or white
075children or children with two parent families or children who didn't have a mental or physical handicap he said let all the children come I appreciate that agenda she also said parents have become so convinced Educators know what is best for children that they forget that they themselves are really the experts we've talked a lot about parents parental Choice the last couple weeks which I also appreciate she also says education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and World better than you found it and I can get down with that too she also says service is the rent we pay to be living it is the very purpose of life not something you do in your spare time and when I see Freedom schools that's what I see I see people
076who for way more than it's existed in East Tennessee who has looked at a group of children who have been underrepresented that have been historically oppressed [Music] um again and again having to fight for a little scrap of something and my concern is that we in the positions of power would say to them but you don't get this crap and I know that nobody is saying this directly but we do understand that we are talking about black children on buses right I mean that's really what helped Elevate and kick off the civil rights movement and Mr triplet out of due respect I know that's not what you're saying but that's what this community is hearing that is what they're hearing and at some point I want that Community I want this community to hear the
077people in positions of power standing up for them and not succumbing to legislators who hear about a consent agenda item on a Knox County Board of Education and get riled up and start rallying the the wagons about what we should or should not do on this board that's my concern and I've walked in this community with Denise Dean for five years and this woman has no agenda other than giving the children that she gets to interact with the very best and wants them to be giving the berry best back to their community and the other thing that I know is there's people in leadership in this District who have come through Freedom schools and I'm not going to out them I'm not going to put their names out there but they're damn good at what
078they do and they love children and I'm not trying to get all whatever but because I do I feel like what you're saying is authentic like I get what you're saying I totally understand um that that's the journey you've been on and you've gotten to this place but what I'm asking you to do is I'm asking you to look at the community and saying yeah but even though that's not my journey they're asking for something here and nobody's asking you to sign on the dotted line and become a board member of CDF nobody's asking me to do that is it okay if I respond to that Mr or is there somebody else ahead of me Miss spike is ahead of you um I would be fine with him responding and then I'll go okay I
079I appreciate what you're saying and I I do understand um uh there's a community that we serve and people we serve and people that need help I would agree with all that I'm a fan of literacy I think anything we can do to promote literacy that's good and valuable I speak no ill will towards those that are involved in Freedom schools or work for stream schools or have come through Freedom schools use the freedom schools attend the freedom schools I've got I've got nothing no ill will and nothing negative to say about them I don't believe that I don't believe I've said anything negative about them individually in particular I just know that the parent organization that oversees them is not something I can support and by her own admission Monday it was that she
080gets her curriculum from them and I I don't believe that I can support that that agenda it's all again thank you madam chair I have a question for Miss Dean is that thank you um I understand that you're working directly with some of these children and I'm curious how you would approach it if a child felt uncomfortable about some curriculum or a book that they were reading have you has that happened have you encountered that before no no no they might not have liked it yeah well that's they're kids but they weren't uncomfortable or felt um out of sorts in any way do you feel like you and the adults um that are in the rooms with these children have the capacity to judge when a child is uncomfortable and to redirect absolutely okay that's
081good enough for me Reverend Butler so my question well this is a question yes my question is um if we don't have a process that's determined for us to use for outside organizations and if we determine that the process is is that we look at the curriculum and if it violates any of those 14 tenants then we would say okay you can't use that particular book would that be a legitimate way of determining because that's what uh Miss Dean has said that she's done so that would that be a legitimate process legally would that be a legal price because it's not one that's there all I can say Reverend Butler is is uh perhaps I mean again there's no I I've got the same right you got the same thing I have yeah I mean
082you know so that's what I'm saying is I don't know that I can answer that question I mean I mean I think if if the board votes for this mou then then I then KCs Administration is going to have to come up with something to have some oversight I mean you know do I know exactly what that looks like now so yeah and I think part of what I remember now is that we talked about the Title IX issue and that was a concern from a number of people uh maybe not a number of people on this board but a number of people and um I think the applicant said that they would take care of it they would handle it be on them and although we know if it's on them it's on us
083that we were comfortable accepting that risk because it is there's a risk there and we we became comfortable am I missing that did we not become comfortable with that risk am I missing that nobody is saying that I believe the option we were also given was that you said that it could close right I mean that's the other option for a Title IX lawsuit is not just building another facility but you could you could close down the exit the one that the complaint was ever right yes that's right so if there's a complaint that comes against this then we can stop the stop the uh mou because what uh uh page four item number four on page four said that they would comply with all federal All State laws and regulation regulations and I may
084have in my mind put local in there as well so if that's the case that's already in the mou they've already said that we're going to comply with this law and they and and they've gone the extra mile to make sure that they're complying with the law let me just say this we have a community uh and and it is uh and two district one schools and I think one is is it that in District Two and one one is in District Two uh all having the two in District One are on the state's bottom five list they have uh literacy issues this is a summer literacy program did we say that it doesn't cost Knox County Schools any money none we're not asked they're not asking for money so we understand and I thank
085you Miss Miss Christie for saying that okay I can support the data sharing the data sharing is important because that helps the school uh do the best job they can and know if they're doing the best job they can know what they need to do better and also I think it does it can over time give Knox County Schools an opportunity to see what's going on how they can better utilize the relationship and they have uh a data based uh or they've used data to get to to show that they've been successful over the last seven years of of either maintaining or improving uh student learning from keeping the student learning from the end of school year to the beginning school they they've proven that they've they've had 90 percent or above a couple of
086years a hundred percent uh parent satisfaction so it's not the parents who are going to complain is not the students is going to complain they have Community Based support from churches from Community non-profits when we finally get to talk here from the public there's a number of people here that have been in support of and working with and these are people who are not don't have an alternative agenda this school doesn't have an alternative agenda this school hasn't one agenda and that is Literacy for schools there are other by-products and so even with the buses you're not paying any more money now we know it's four weeks you're not paying any more money in four weeks than you would be paying and I don't know what the answer is for the two weeks because I
087think we just found out that there was a two-week difference in the last day or two so so that can be worked out this is a win-win I believe that's why I was on the consent agenda because it's a win-win and I think the only reason these state legislators got involved quite honestly this is what I think I can't prove this I hesitate to say it but it's because they it was a leverage deal to say hey you got to make sure you can pass this you can Pass the Mustard of this law if you want to do this and and so otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion but even with that I believe that there's a question uh there's there's a a little gray area of when we are promoting and when we're
088not there's a gray area there you know and uh there's a gray area on what the procedure should be and so we're concerned about that but I know I'm not the only one who think that was a gray area with the Title IX we just as a board and I say we because we passed it we as a board felt like that was a risk we could take this is a risk we can take seven years of 100 or 90 percent satisfaction of parents they're the ones now this is what's key to me though this school serves primarily East Knoxville kids it may be some kids from other areas but primarily East Knoxville kids and it has been serving it is going to continue serving and it's almost like you're saying we're concerned it's going
089to affect our kids it's not the people who've been going there have already been going there so the concern you have about this thing we've been fixed that when I said this as clear as I could you have people with high intelligence you have people with high moral standards and when we have something that concerns us we speak up and we talk to one another and it gets resolved and the other thing is is that I'm gonna go uh piggyback off what uh Mr Watson said not only do we have students we have teachers in Knox County that uh that's part of the community that you have talked about and you have constituents and so I don't know the the the things we're talking about are things that we're already talking about there's not nothing
090new so I guess what I'm saying is is that the uh the mou as is written works for East Knoxville it works can't speak for District Two but I think it I know I know Spring Hill I've been at Spring Hill several times been to several Spring Hill uh uh uh school plays and such because I've had members of the church that go there so so it fits their Community as well I have two two people two kids are that's a member of the church that goes there I've been there to visit them at Spring Hill it this this works for them Freedom School works for us and and I'm not saying it's not for you but you're not utilizing it why not let us have what we need to keep on trying to increase
091the literacy for our kids that's what's needed and when you add the buses you expand it to more kids this is not a danger to us unless someone outside of East Knoxville makes it a danger this is not a day this works for us so somebody said to me if you bring me something that makes sense not gonna cost a lot of money it improves education that I would vote for it and that's what we got here this is a win for the East Knoxville and I really believe it's a win for Knox County Schools thank you Mr Watson thank you madam chair we had a little bit of discussion about this law when it came to setting our priorities because um and ultimately the board voted to send a message to the legislation that
092hey we really appreciate it what do you what you did with this law and maybe that's why they're calling this because they wouldn't give us Kudos back but um this law the reason I voted no um that particular night is because the whole this whole law is couched in fear that's what this law is about it's a it's about people being afraid about um other people being told to uh for white kids to being told you should be feel bad about yourself or that black kids are going to be told that you shouldn't like white kids because they oppress you or you shouldn't um don't say gay and all those types of things this law is based in fear and some of this conversation has been based in fear about indoctrination I had a person
093that I have known for 20 years in this community um that his per his kids were actually in the youth group that I ran when they were younger and he emailed me today and he said and he doesn't live anywhere near East Knoxville and he said I'm afraid of how this is going to affect my grandkids that's what he said I'm not making this stuff up that's what he said he said I'm afraid of how this is going to affect my grandkids and we had a little dialogue about that one he's never going to enroll his kids in this program I guarantee you that um but that's that's the bigger problem with this whole conversation even the risk that we're talking about it's couched in fear it's about oh what might the legislature do to
094us um and I don't want to operate out of fear um and that's so much of what's happening in our culture today is we're making decisions and we're making decisions from the seat of power couched in fear and when we do that it affects those that it's been affecting for Generations and honestly I don't know Miss Dean would appreciate me saying this or not but Miss Dean actually told me a little bit ago that this was going to be coming up and she just told me that hey I'm going to have this thing and I'm going to come to the meeting I said great I said that I think you should be there and I messaged her earlier in the day on Monday to say hey mistine when you when you do come would you
095like me to call you up so you could speak in support of Freedom schools because it was on the consent agenda like I thought nobody was going to say anything I was just asking her permission to call her up so she could like just speak to the beautiful program that she's been operating for six years because and I've done that several times y'all have seen me do that with other people Ellie Kittrell and others because I want them to speak about the good work that they're doing I mean I could not fathom that a program like this that has these kinds of I'm in the nonprofit world and we care a lot about output and outcomes and being able to speak to the efficacy of what we do you're not going to get this level
096of outcomes in many other organizations we don't see these level of outcomes around literacy in our own organization and Knox County Schools that's because we're dealing with a massive system I know it's completely different scale but they do good work and regardless of what happens with this decision as a board as a community as people in the this particular group and people of positions of power we have to move Beyond operating out of fear I guarantee you there's going to be some public forum speakers up that are going to that are going to come up here in a little bit and they're going to speak out of fear I guarantee you that's going to happen I don't know who they're going to be but they're going to be there and that's not what we need
097to be doing because when we are afraid of one another it's very hard to move forward as a community and man I'm so disappointed in this conversation I mean I'm just disappointed and it's not about no freaking buses it's just um Miss Ellen thank you madam chair I have a couple of things first I have reached out to some of our local band directors because they have they know bus costs for that kind of short period of time and they are looking at around 250 to 300 a day for a local local like traveling to from corns to Gibbs that kind of football game and so if we are looking at two weeks of time the additional time it would take it would be roughly nine thousand dollars or less for three buses which is
098um to put that in perspective it's roughly the amount of our school board raise that we got this year so I would like to since Reverend Butler kindly mentioned Spring Hill I would like to share an email that we all have that we may not have had time to read today from our principal at Spring Hill Elementary it says our summer learning Camp has prioritized enrollment for our Rising fourth graders I'll wait our summer learning Camp has prioritized enrollment for our Rising fourth graders due to the third grade retention law Freedom School stepped up to offer more programs to schools like Spring Hill with high projection numbers of students needing summer intervention they are extending a helping hand to soften the blow of additional summer learning gaps by hosting the program at our school and
099offering to enroll students who won't be eligible to attend the summer summer learning camps through KCs as a community school we are grateful when the community reaches out when they see a need I was honored to work with freedom school when it first came to Knoxville I became a better teacher after the intense training they provided each year for their teaching staff now as an administrator We Begin our school day with our students coming together for morning assembly which is something I learned from the Freedom School we're building a school culture at Spring Hill where we come together daily to learn from and support one another offering Freedom School at Spring Hill will strengthen our efforts the efforts we began and push our students to become better readers and overall better people I hope we
100move forward with freedom schools so they can continue empowering our students through the love of reading why on Earth would we not do that all right so do we have any other discussion on this Reverend Butler I do ask him we have the uh public forum and then after that if there is uh we can see where we go from there yeah so once they're discussed it looks like our discussion is complete so we can move to public forum on this side of Miss Henderson thank you madam chair we have several people signed up um for this first Dr Andrew Steen are you here Dr Andrew hello welcome please just set your name County of residence and you have three minutes thank you I'm Dr Andrew Steen I live in Knox County and have a
101couple of kids in the schools here um I'm also a professor in the department of microbiology and Earth and planetary Sciences at the University of Tennessee and I'm asking the school board to approve the mou like most researchers I love to share my passion for science not only with UT students but also with anyone who wants to learn and particularly with K-12 students um and what I love about science is the thrill of discovering the unknown when we make a new scientific finding there's a moment when we as researchers know something that no one else on Earth knows and that feeling is electrifying and I can tell you from experience it never gets old so for two years Dr Joy Bongiorno who's here tonight from Maryville College and I have been collaborating with East Tennessee
102Freedom schools to involve the ETFs scholars in authentic science research so by involving middle schoolers in real life science uh my hope is to teach them how exciting science can be that experience will hopefully lead the ETFs Scholars to be more invested in their stem classes as they enter high school and perhaps to pursue stem careers as they become adults educational research supports the idea that when students participate in science research they're more likely to maintain positive attitudes about stem and that stands to reason because doing science research can be a lot of fun in a previous iteration of this project in which I worked with high school students in New Jersey led to over 60 high school students presenting their research at real professional science meetings one of those students was accepted at Harvard
103and she was the first student in memory from her High School to attend an ivy league university ETFs is a really great partner for this work for two reasons first of all in my experience ETFs Scholars are highly motivated to learn second and this is critical they're also learning reading and comprehension skills that are essential to doing stem work so the reality is that a budding scientist who is driven to read widely and understand well is more likely to be successful in stem than somebody who just knows a lot of science facts research and also Common Sense suggests that the best way to get students invested in Reading is to encourage them to read works that they relate to personally the ETFs curriculum does that extremely well and I can attest that it does not
104in any way violate the ideas listed in section 49-6-1019 ETFs Scholars are being able to take school buses to the program will be tremendously helpful in making sure that all Scholars who might benefit from the program can take part this mou represents an excellent way for Knox County Schools to help Knox County students learn both reading and stem outside of the traditional classroom and for that reason I hope that you will support it thank you thank you so our next our next speaker is from out of County we're out of Knox County so what to vote on that correct okay yes yes what's that yes Miss Susan and I'm so sorry I'm going to butcher your last name Miss Susan is what I will call you uh so since you live out of Knox County
105we'll just have to vote um no you stand right there you see right there come on up saw my commotion that we vote on this speaker a second okay all those in favor of letting Miss Susan speak I kind of like you taking over why don't you you can be you can be cheerful all those opposed all right okay Miss Susan just state your name uh County of residence and you have three minutes okay my name is Dr Susan Greinke I am a resident of Sevier County um I'm a professor of English education at the University of Tennessee where for the past 18 years I've helped prepare over 200 beginning middle school and high school English language arts teachers I say that because I'm very very familiar I have to be very familiar with the
106Tennessee law on prohibitive Concepts because uh we have a partnership with Knox County Schools and all of our students are required to do a year-long internship in Knox County Schools and so we we train them on that law um prior to starting my career at the University I taught middle and high school English and went to graduate school to obtain my PhD in curriculum and instruction I have had the honor to work as a curriculum writer for the children's defense fund Freedom schools program and I can attest that the curriculum is rigorous it is standards based and it does not violate Tennessee law the curriculum is centered on the theme of I can make a difference so each week of the six week program the children read books that encourage them to think about how
107they can make a difference in their own lives their communities their families and the world the children's book themselves are carefully selected and vetted each year by a committee of University professors school media specialists Community stakeholders and members of the prestigious Coretta Scott King honor book award committee as expressed at the meeting on May 1st parents of the children who participate in this program are familiar with the curriculum they support the curriculum and they express satisfaction with the freedom schools program for the past six years this program has run for Knox County Schools children without a single complaint from parents in fact popularity of the program is such that additional sites to accommodate programming are needed as is easy access to these sites if Knox County Schools parents rights are important to members of this
108board let's keep that in mind let's also keep in mind what research tells us about who has access to engaging reading materials over the summer and who doesn't we know that students in underserved communities have less access to reading material at home than their more advantaged peers do researchers have found roughly 10 times greater access to reading material and higher income neighborhoods than in lower income neighborhoods there is no Barnes and Noble or Target or Union Avenue books or other commercial bookstores in East Knoxville and the Burlington branch of the Knox County Public Library is located on a highway here we have a popular program that wants to bring award-winning books and high quality reading curriculum to them thank you I'm sorry vulnerable youth in our district I urge you to vote Yes To Freedom
109schools thank you Aaron Keck you've signed up for two uh which you might I'll spill them in time okay great Aaron Keck Knox County um I am also a parent representative on the Region 5 family advisory Council which um the freedom schools is directly in I appreciate um the being selected for that group and as parents put in a lot of hard work trying to coordinate the Strategic plan specifically for region five we were told that region five is going to get lots of support so I would hope this vote would be part of that um do you want to know why I'm here every month why you guys see me here month after month the reason that I'm here every month is because I care I care about Knox County Schools I care about
110public schools I care about my community I'm a graduate of Knox County Schools I'm a parent of a child in Knox County Schools I've served on any parent Community Committee that I've been allowed to serve on I'm an educator and have been for over 20 years and I believe that like a board member stated tonight I'm blown away that this conversation is even happening there there is no reason for any board member to vote against the freedom schools you have selected Dr reiswick as your superintendent your faith is in him and his priorities if you vote against this you are saying you don't care about the success for every student you don't care about the early foundational skills because this program has proven that they complete both of those requirements they assist the children in
111my community that desperately need it last month we heard a lot about parent choice the hypocrisy the hypocrisy of saying only certain parents and only certain choices these parents have given a hundred percent satisfaction that is apparent choice that they have made you don't have to send your kid there but don't take it away from these people I hope that at least one of you guys actually ran for school board because you care about the children and you care about what's happening even those of you that I strongly disagree with most of the time I've seen you do the right thing so I hope you'll do it tonight I'll save my last minute for the other agenda thank you Vivian shite Vivian Miss Vivian I know you know that you know the drill [Laughter] 503
112Longview Road Knoxville Tennessee good evening tonight you will vote on the mou for the Freedom School that will make the learning experiences of children in the inner city much easier over the coming summer months the key word to the success of this next level of collaboration is focus there is much minutia swirling around this decision however you only have two items to on which to focus one to provide for children who have no other way to get the help they need a seat on the bus that is already going to the place where their needs could be met the second to data share to see where the children stand scholastically and to share that data to allow those who have been doing this work successfully for seven years the opportunity to improve the children's skills
113and help them retain knowledge that children all over the country are losing due to Summer slide I ask you to focus only on these two items I ask you to give Freedom schools the opportunity to show you what the community they serve already knows children put down their phones and pick up their books and want to learn they put down a phone that already shows if anything they want to see good and bad at the touch of a finger or at the sound of their voice Instead at the Freedom School they turned their focus to a teacher who wants to be there with them in the hot summer days they listen to community members who volunteer to come in to do activities and read to them sharing the most precious thing they can offer their
114time generation Alpha is 13 and under they only know technology they socially interact with devices majority of their time here in the freedom school programs are opportunities to physically occupy space with another human to learn how to communicate to fall in love with reading to see and experience a world outside of theirs to learn to use all of their senses to go back into the fall session more confident not lagging behind ready to learn the new skills of the new grade level they have moved to without playing catch up for the first half of the year so tonight look neither left nor right choose not to look too far down the road to the next mou tonight focus on what is needed for those children in one of the most critical times in our education
115history if you will focus tonight on just these two items they will be able to focus this summer I ask you to vote Yes on the mou for the freedom schools thank you Kenneth herring Kenneth it's Kenneth here okay welcome hello hello just state your name County of residence and you have three minutes my name is Kenneth Herring and I'm a resident of Knox County and I live here in the downtown area first of all Susan that's where Susan Susan thank you so much for your time Danny thank you so much for your time I appreciate you all um speaking with me about the matter um I come to you today um as a former Freedom school counselor as a matter of fact I was a freedom school counselor in 1999 the first year that
116Freedom School kicked off and I've heard a couple of words today that have really struck a nerve with me and those being fear and honesty and I think if we're going to be honest then we need to talk about several different elements of this several of which have been talked about today I think the most challenging thing that we can look at this and say and take from is um we have an opportunity right now to invest in young people and we're trying to fight it and the reason that we're trying to fight it is that there's fear and I'm going to say what Daniel alluded to and kind of talked about earlier in the fear is that of black and brown children are exposed to American history that white parents are fearful that their
117children will hate them and that's what we're talking about today and once again has it been the process throughout American history black and brown people are forced with a burden of ending Division and racism which is asinine it's crazy it's never benefited us we've never gained anything from it so for us to be asked to make sure that we don't make people feel uncomfortable to be asked to make sure that we don't let our children have a space where they can learn and be together and grow it's a continuation and it's a disenfranchisement of students that you have an opportunity to help and you're choosing not to do it and I understand I run a business so I understand working with unions I understand budget constraints I understand things that you can and can't do
118and I also understand when you use policy and legislation as a way to not do something that you should do as a way to not invest in people that you should invest in these are children who are already struggling these are children who already are facing barrier after barrier and here we sit all of us privileged enough to be here and yet the thing that we're talking about is how we could not help them instead of how we can help them the attitude of not is really really detrimental to children who already don't have a lot as I sit here today and stand and talk to you we I had seven Freedom school counselors that went to that program with me in 1999. two of them on this very day teach at Knox County Schools
119one of them is an administrator so the ideology and the thought process that there's harmful rhetoric that there's harmful words that there's harmful things that are going on is not true because the people that have gone through that program are leading our students right now [Applause] [Music] Megan Megan Barrett Fogerty welcome good evening Megan Burley Fogerty I'm a Knox County resident my name is Megan Burley Fogerty I'm director of Youth and Family engagement at Centro Hispano the East Tennessee another of kcs's Partners we run after school programs summer enrichment Camp parent education family engagement and college access programs for Latino families in Knox County and the surrounding region I'm also a parent of two Knox County students I'm here speaking in support of the East Tennessee Freedom schools this is a program that I've been
120aware of for at least the last five years in my work with education in our region I was so impressed by the program's curriculum and guiding values that I have repeatedly sought every opportunity to meet with and collaborate with a program's director Miss Dean and I served together on several local advisory boards that seek to improve educational outcomes for all children in Knox County what most attracted me to an East Tennessee Freedom schools is emphasis on culturally relevant materials and Educators that come from shared experiences and backgrounds of the students that they are working with these reflect similar strategies that we utilize in our programs at Centro Spano these strategies are important because research has shown that utilizing culturally relevant texts in which readers can see themselves and their experiences reflected leads to Greater engagement
121and literacy of outcomes among students from underrepresented groups Freedom schools also works hard to recruit staff with shared experiences with their students this is particularly important in our district which has struggled to attract and retain teachers of color the Knox County student population currently is 17 percent black and 12 percent Hispanic and yet only three percent of teachers identify as African-American and just over one percent of teachers identify as Hispanic or Latino why does this matter well multiple Studies have shown that having Educators that look like and have shared cultural backgrounds with students can have long lasting positive impacts on their academic outcomes for example an economically disadvantaged black males exposure to at least one black teacher in elementary school reduces his probability of dropping out of high school by nearly 40 percent unfortunately the
122chances that blackmailed students in Knox County Schools will encounter a black teacher in their Elementary School are very small however participation in East Tennessee Freedom schools help supplement these experiences by utilizing Educators that are much more likely to reflect the diversity of students they are working with the attacks on East Tennessee Freedom schools are perhaps most perplexing to me because they come at a time when Knox County Schools is struggling to meet the needs to address literacy scores and its students particularly in the exact populations at Freedom schools specialize in serving and the last doe report card only 19 percent of black students and 22 percent of Hispanic students are meeting or exceeding grade level expectations in literacy and math this week we've heard that Knox County Schools cannot meet the needs for all the
123um all the students that have been needed to go to summer learning camps so it doesn't make any sense to me why KCs is turning students away from someone learning supports but our own school board members are attacking in organizations that prepare to provide additional literacy support for these students ha for the past three years we've heard about how we need to come together to help our students this organization is trying to do that and trying to support Knox County Schools and it doesn't make any sense to not support them thank you Reverend Leah Burns Reverend Leah Burns good evening my name is Reverend Leah Burns I'm the pastor at linensini United Methodist Church and you will have to vote on me I am a former president of Knox County but I live in Anderson
124County so please vote so that I can solve my commotion to approve this speaker I second that motion all those in favor of the speaker um all those opposed muffin carries thank you very much for listening to my words and the words of all who will speak tonight as I said I'm Reverend Leah Burns and I'm from linen sini and before I get started I came to speak on behalf of supporting the mou for the freedom schools that I dearly love but before I do that I want to start with one of the things that we say at the beginning of each day during Freedom schools if you're familiar with freedom schools you know that there are energetic tears there are chance there are songs to get children ready for the day and one of
125the things that they say is I have a recognition I have a recognition I recognize the Great Value that freedom school has in particular for all the children in East Knoxville they have access to books they have access to experiences they have access to learning during the summer months they have access to breakfast and lunch that they do not get and so why are we standing in the way of what we are to do the quote that you already heard today is the quote that I was prepared to share with you all today from Marion Wright edelberg but it it's worth repeating when Jesus Christ asked the little children to come to him he didn't say only certain children he didn't say the children whose parents agree with what I think he didn't say only
126the children in two-parent families that I recognize or only the children who don't have mental or other physical handicaps he said let all the children come to me we have an opportunity with the freedom schools to do that and all I've heard all I've read is how people want not to provide it I know that there are smart people in this room here and here we can put our heads together and figure this out we've got a law before us that few people even understand we have a problem we don't even have a process for dealing with it and so I say why let any of those things get in the way of helping our children get in the way of helping them be the adults that they know that we know they can be
127and so I ask no actually I'm imploring you I implore you as a board don't impede the the future of our children and the future of our community this is a risk yes but it's a risk that we have to take and so I end with how I started I have a recognition and it's called Freedom schools Denise Dean Denise Dean oh and we will have to no come on up um but we will have to vote on you as a speaker just because you do live out of the county uh Denise Dean Jefferson County I'll make a motion to approve this speaker I second that motion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries good good evening I'm I'm this time I'm reading just sharing a letter from a parent um I
128think you may have received it as well um the children's defense fund East Tennessee Freedom School summer program is a six week long summer enrichment program with three hours of reading per day the program helps children fall in love with reading and increases their self-esteem cultivates positive attitudes to learning and reduces summer reading loss according to the 2022 assessment the data shows that 84 of children improved were maintained their instructional reading level 100 of parents say their child is a better reader has more confidence and believes they can make a difference in their Community Schools and Society as a member of the community and a parent of a Knox County school student my son has been an intervention reading at school and with the additional help he received from East Tennessee Freedom School summer program
129has helped him increase his reading level and become confident in his studies he loved the program because he was exposed to the history of his culture in other cultures he learned about different cultures through Reading songs instruments and other things that raised awareness about others he learned also the importance of loving sharing and caring about other people and to accept their differences also finding the joy in Reading he has increased his test scores in reading and math attempts to read reading in math and he attempts to read 20 minutes a day and realizes the importance of reading that he gained while attending East Tennessee Freedom School summer program as a parent I enjoyed East Tennessee Freedom schools and liked the curriculum and my son plans to attend this summer therefore I'm concerned that the KCs
130school board's decisions for the East Tennessee Freedom School summer program are inspired more by politics and personal views than a commitment to our students history of our education and other cultures teaching the importance of reading by learning about others cultures histories that mean confronting history's complexity that many of us are not willing to learn it is a blessing that it is taught at East Tennessee Freedom schools on the other hand providing transportation for our students is important due to some not having transportation or parents working and unable to provide transportation this program has helped students to become better students in their schools and will be a great asset to society in closing I hope that Transportation will be provided to East Tennessee Freedom School summer program by KCs and the curriculum will remain the same
131the program has grown and thrived throughout the years by providing the support and education to our students and families of the summer program thank you for your time and this is from Christy Blevins thank you thank you Elizabeth Garcia welcome hello good evening my name is Liz Garcia and I live in Knox County I hold a PhD in literacy education with an emphasis in children's literature and the author of 70 educational stories for children and I've been an educator for more than 20 years I've also volunteered many hours supporting Freedom schools and I can say with full confidence that this program is the best summer literacy program I have ever seen we are so lucky to have this program available to Children Here in our backyard it's no secret that we have a literacy crisis
132in Knox County voters want to see this board acting to positively address that crisis current demand for summer literacy enrichment offerings exceeds the County's capacity we're calling into question the heart of Partners who've offered us a proven successful program that's helped some of our most vulnerable and under-resourced students maintain and improve their reading levels year after year this unfounded distrust and paranoia Echoes sentiments from decades long past today's Freedom schools program has its roots in the Civil Rights era Freedom Summer in 1964 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee sent hundreds of white college students to Mississippi to register black voters and to run Freedom schools summer enrichment programs for young black mississippians who suffered in an educational environment where their literacy was not prioritized according to PBS when the local White Community heard that this Freedom
133Summer was going to happen many people reacted with suspicion and fear in Jackson Mississippi the city increased their jail capacity and they even bought and armed a tank instead of letting fearful community members outside of East Knox tank the modern day Freedom schools program with speculative fears I ask you to look at the Hard data in facts the local Freedom schools program has been an outstanding partner to Knox County Schools providing countless hours of Summer enrichment and other resources that have led to 80 percent of local participating Scholars maintaining or exceeding their reading levels nationally data on over 7 000 students who've gone through the program during the last five years demonstrates over 85 percent of students maintaining or improving their reading skills with the majority improving this success rate Bears out another National peer-reviewed
134studies of the freedom schools program as well in a 2020 study of over 400 Scholars they found that significant gains happen for students reading at frustration levels so students who were having such a struggle to read that their frustration just got in their way and they just couldn't even do it after they participated in Freedom schools they were able to read with greater ease and confidence the same study particularly found strong skills development in students with a history of great repetition the national program has also been recognized by the Harvard family research project for demonstrating ongoing success in providing quality learning opportunities for youth as Mr Watson said it's painfully ironic that nearly 60 years after Freedom Summer we're having a discussion on whether predominantly black students get to ride a bus please approve the
135Mau for these kids to use buses were already running let's keep the county moving ahead instead of getting left behind thank you Andre panty Andre [Applause] welcome state your name and County of residence I'm Andre cantian uh as a month now officially back in Knox County so I'm back here uh so I'm going to get started uh I was the former co-chair of the spirit of educational outcomes committee a couple years ago Knox 10 Tennessee called me a professional agitator y'all can just call me Andre right so why am I here there's always been delay and doubt when it comes to the benefit of our kids is why we wasn't integrated until 1972 it is why the recommendations that we put fourth years ago with the Deo task force was delayed while we were hearing
136Mass numbers for project grad and while we're here today it's always doubt and delay when it comes to the benefit of our kids so while we here again it works Freedom schools Works in fact I have this thank you note right here from some kids I uh came for a reading a book called Marvelous World um it wasn't anything Superior as far as race let's talk about the human race it was a black kid beating up aliens right so I think that's okay right I did a little dance to around I embarrassed myself and everything right but the the important part was that these kids got to listen and read about black kids black Heroes their own culture their own people right and it builds their confidence to build their self-esteem I'm an English major
137I read Beowulf I don't know how many times weatherman rights weathering Heights The Great Gatsby had nothing to do with my development had nothing to do with I saw in East Knoxville but those books were important to me and my development not a lot about people like me but against what Freedom schools are all about and the text that were brought forth that was in question we're talking about texts a lot of these kids are living out that six they're living what 1619 were written about they were they're living all these we're talking about ticks their experiences of why these ticks are written right um and it doesn't make anybody Superior or happy to buy a tech I'll watch Rosewood in 1998 uh they talked about a black a black Town decimated by a false
138accusation with the South door middle I was just fine right red Malcolm X I was just fine right these kids are smarter than what you think they are right and the people that are involved the teachers the parents everybody involved are backing this up right so the question Freedom schools in spite of the validity in spite of the impact that it has on district one District Two and minority kids throughout our wild books like 1619 exist and if this mou is not passed with Transportation I won't be worried about 1619. I'll be worried about how history talks about this board and what they did um with that uh thank you thank you Patty King Patty Patty King can we keep the Clapping down a little bit because we're trying to get through this we have
13914 more just on this subject so if you guys can just keep the Clapping down we'd appreciate that thank you the speakers can't hear me calling their names you Patty King Knox County I'm here to speak against this MOA mou um I've heard a lot of people saying we're speaking out of fear I'm going to tell you a little of my history because Reverend brettler and or sorry I'm not allowed that sorry I because some school board members are saying that this is based on fear and stuff when I was in elementary school I was one of two white kids in my entire Elementary School okay I know what it's like to have the the uh excuse me I'm nervous tonight and I don't know why to have the economy and all of that that
140everybody says district one and District 2 has okay I lived it I lived it from all of my elementary years okay this isn't about that this is about a law okay this is about a law that can cause issues with Knox County Schools and that is why I'm speaking out about it this we have been reached out to by legislators as members of their congregate constituents sorry and I want to let you know I do feel sorry for these students okay I would be right there helping them and I do help them with my business okay I just want you guys to know that it's a law that we're fighting talking against not the use not Freedom schools Freedom schools like any other people can use the schools all they want but it would be
141the same thing if if another group that other people did not agree with was to come and want to use the buses there would be this same fight thank you thank you Philip Sherman welcome thank you Betsy my name is Dr Philip Michael Sherman I'm a resident of Knox County Schools a professor of religious studies and chair of the division of humanities at Maryville College and I'm here to voice my support for reaffirming this mou with the freedom schools I too was a bit surprised and I've become more surprised hearing the conversation this evening that a few members of the board were raising questions about our connection to this program I believe the freedom schools do important in vital work both academically and socially for students in Knox County and the time is right to
142renew this partnership I'm especially concerned given reports that Knox County Schools is facing Staffing shortages for its own summer programming at precisely the time when around 60 percent of rising fourth graders may need to access summer educational programs I would suggest these Partnerships are a Lifeline we cannot afford to lose this past June Dr reiswick shared his four priorities for Knox County Schools the first priority was excellence in foundational skills particularly early literacy and middle school math I know there's broad agreement on this board about the importance of these foundational skills reading initiatives like one book read City testify to the work members of the Border already doing to strengthen student literacy and instill a love of learning at an early age I'm grateful for that if there are legitimate nonpartisan concerns about the curricula
143utilized by the freedom schools it sounds to me as though parents are being given an informed Choice as to whether or not they want their students to participate I believe the Board of Education should air on the side of providing a wide range of choices for parents and families wherever possible even if some members of the board might not choose that curriculum for their own children in truth many of the concerns I heard in the work session and have heard this evening seem to Simply Echo political talking points which should have little to no bearing on the local work of this Board of Education I've been deeply concerned for some time with a shift to a partisan election for the Board of Education and I think we're seeing the results of that shift this evening
144I know that some members of the current board have expressed their desire for more deliberative discussions amongst members of the board and while members may now be elected with a party label attached to their name they are elected to fully serve all of the faculty staff students and families of Knox County everyone that is a very diverse population convictions even deeply held ones of individual board members should not be allowed to deny students opportunities to learn and grow I do not believe the students of Knox County especially those who are most in need of Summer programming to help retain and strengthen literacy and math skills should have their options limited because of larger political debates or to score points or because the state legislature told the Republican members of this board how they ought to
145vote on this matter simply put a vote against the mou as a vote against literacy you cannot say you support literacy and then decide which books you think other people's children ought to read thank you Matthew best oh thank you welcome I saw you running you got some time state your name and County of residence uh Matthew best I live in Knox County my name is Matthew best and I currently serve as the executive director of the change center I've had the pleasure of working with young people in this city for at least the last seven years or so mostly in East Knoxville and I've seen the impact of Freedom schools on our community in a state that in a state that ranks as close to the bottom in education as we do I find
146it hard to believe that there's even a consideration of pulling support for a program to focus on Elementary education at its core aside from the obvious benefits to the students I've seen the way employment at Freedom schools serves the college students and the young adults that staff these programs the leadership development and skill formation that happens for them while also serving kids in the community is invaluable all you have to do is attend one of the freedom school's training sessions for even just five minutes to see how energetic these programs are and what a phenomenal learning environment these folks are creating I've also been impressed with the curriculum for the program and how empowering it is for children of all backgrounds one of my mentees is a high school student at career magnet but he
147attended Freedom schools when he was younger and he wanted me to share this message with you all this evening he said that freedom schools was the first time he remembers being exposed to books written by folks that looked like him about stories that were familiar to him and featuring pictures of kids that looked like him the importance of that cannot be overstated the last thing I'll say is a bit selfish in nature but last summer I had the pleasure of being a guest reader at the program at saramore Green and I can honestly say that it was quite the rewarding experience to see these kids who had clearly fallen in love with reading and learning over the course of the program was such a gift and I know countless other professionals and community members were
148fortunate to have similar experiences I and other readers get to show all of these kids what's possible and hopefully Inspire them to go on to do incredible things and to pursue excellence in their academic Endeavors and Beyond I would implore anyone here to find a legitimate reason to stop supporting such a valuable program that has served our kids for years thanks thank you James Moore hello you set your name in county of residence please hello James Moore Knox County I'm speaking in favor of this approving this mou uh my wife and I have two children that have attended Freedom School my oldest son has been gone for the last six years and my youngest son's been going for the last two years I also have a daughter that graduates next week from graduate school and
149she did an internship at Freedom School we chose Freedom school because we were looking for ways for our kids to continue learning over the summer break Freedom School has exceeded our initial expectations and we are huge Advocates of this program we donate our time our money into this program we're also very careful of what we allow our kids to be exposed to we have never seen anything remotely concerning us in Freedom School in their curriculum or the program this program has done nothing but help our children become stronger readers and have taught the importance of voting and how their voice has power they're until there are a ton of improvements that need to be done in Knox County school system and I really do not understand why we're focusing on not promoting reading and helping
150this program to help our children and in closing I would like to encourage anyone on the board that is not volunteered at Freedom School to visit Freedom School do a re-loud I do it every year and it's one of the most rewarding things or rewarding ways that I spend one of my vacation days on every year thank you thank you sir Candace Halpert Candace hello good evening I'm Candace Halbert I live in Knox County this is my son Amir he is a Freedom School student and he is looking forward to attending Freedom School this summer I am going to read some letters from parents that could not attend tonight so this here's the first one I asked at KCs please vote Yes to the mou that will allow East Tennessee Freedom schools to have access
151to bus transportation for its Scholars it serves that it's already been provided at the KCs locations that ETA ETFs is held East Tennessee Freedom schools program helps a lot of the kids in our communities from a personal perspective this will be my child's third year attending East Tennessee Freedom schools and this program has made such an impact on his life regarding him finding a love for reading which he did not have before due to his struggles with reading it has also helped with self-confidence he even takes the things he has learned from East Tennessee Freedom schools and share with his classmates in regular school my child has said several times he would rather go to East Tennessee Freedom school instead of regular KCs and that says a lot to me as a parent I know
152that transportation to the program through the bus system of KCs will help a lot and I would not have to be late for work every day this service has already been provided to these schools and will not cost kcsa dime to add a few more kids to the bus route and in all honesty riding a bus to a summer program has nothing nothing to do with the curriculum that ETFs uses that some may not personally approve of sincerely Irish T Sawyers I know my daughter Amaya has attended Freedom School since she was in the seventh grade I learned about this program and wanted to give it a shot especially since it's focus on things like reading since my daughter was in special education and behind on things such as comprehension also she was very shy
153around others and I wanted her to be around other kids she didn't know to pull the shyness out of her after attending a program I saw results such as her wanting to read books after bringing home books from the program she was also more talkative and it showed at the program but also teachers recognize it at school I am so grateful for this program it is a success story for every child who has participated Kendra Anderson my son has been going to Freedom School for the last three years as a Knox County school student he goes to a predominantly white school as a mixed race student and has expressed feelings of being an outsider and unlike other students he has he finally has a great group of friends in his school but I am so
154grateful for Freedom schools for helping him along the way Freedom School brings a unique model that allows for diversity inclusivity and camaraderie that my son would not otherwise have known or learned from the morning from the morning welcome chance to Miss Denise passion and dedication to each and every student in this in the program that never cease to be impressed thank you thank you Dion Moten did I pronounce your name correctly Dion Moten did I pronounce that right what's that are there more people out in the other room maybe Dion okay no thank you so much okay no what okay okay thank you uh Keith Bailey and we will have to vote um on you as Speaker since you live out of County sir I will make a motion to approve this speaker I will
155second that motion all right so we have a motion in a second all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries please excuse my casual dress I hope to make it to a soccer game but that's not going to happen I'm Dr Keith Bailey the professional community development director at Harmony Family Center and I don't live in Knox County I've worked with children from Knoxville through the child welfare system and through other services for over 30 years I come from a unique perspective in that I and my colleagues have trained staff in Knox County Schools trained East Tennessee Freedom School staff and trained about 1400 of the national Freedom schools leadership and volunteers on creating safe and Trauma responsive educational settings I was troubled by the debate that ensued on Monday night over a
156simple and seemingly positive mou between the freedom schools and KCs I was troubled by disparaging comments and arguments made against Freedom schools that Merit some pushback there was a vague argument mounted against this mou that disparaged freedom schools by stating that it had a strong alternative agenda without explicitly stating what that agenda was and what it was an alternative to and the incendiary word indoctrination was used there was also a more sensitive concern expressed that hearing different perspectives on History could cause confusion among students to address the latter of these two items the irony is that looking at things and considering them from different perspectives and experience is actually the antidote to indoctrination indoctrination demands looking at things from only one perspective and doing so without question looking at different perspectives including those of history
157and lived experiences creates what is called in the field of pedagogy and Therapeutics cognitive dissonance which is actually a good thing because it causes us to look at the difference between two experiences and start to be curious about them to analyze them to see the merits and shortcomings of both and to make an educated choice on what to do with the differing information it leads to a higher order thinking and emotional growth and when children and youth have this experience of considering multiple perspectives that is Guided by parents caregivers communities reputable programs and leas it is the best case scenario for both social and formal education and what troubled me most in this debate was wanting to question the Integrity of an agency without looking at what they're doing right let me give you a
158short list that follows Maslow's hierarchy they feed kids they allow them to move and play they give them a safe place to be they provide children with positive nurturing community of peers mentors Community leaders of all colors and backgrounds they teach them to read and they teach appropriate Civic engagement on a procedural issue if you find that your personal morality and the ethics of your role on this board conflict the ethical thing to do is to abstain from boating rather than push your morality by way of vote thank you thank you hence minolts hint welcome thank you thank you good evening board members um I'm Kent Monroe I live at 311 West Glenwood Avenue in Knoxville and I'm addressing you tonight on behalf of the local Sierra Club group here the Harvey Broome group we're
159the local branch of a National Organization with a strong interest in racial and social justice which we believe to be essential components of environmental sustainability we have 2 000 members and supporters in the county and we're asking you to vote for the mou and the data sharing with freedom schools now participants in Freedom schools program are roughly 80 percent black and overwhelmingly low income no no I'm a professional public school teacher and I've taught literacy here's the thing folks in economic distress need all the help they can to get to progress economically in language skills are at the top of the list of necessary tools my Decades of experience as a public school teacher taught me that every academic discipline including math relies on language skills for the transmission of learning making sure these skills
160are learned at an early age is key to helping low-income populations move into prosperity now please reject claims that curriculum materials have some political agenda the program really has no other agenda than giving participants a leg up in the learning process since the program is free to participating families and is supported by donations and grants the district occurs no financial burden but gains a huge benefit in educational outcomes even the cost of the bus rides the program facilities only two weeks of that does this District pay for beyond what it would normally pay for their own students the huge advantage of this program comes from the wide support it enjoys in its own communities much of it comes from a group of pastors the best way to keep students reading is to give them books
161they want to read please support parent choice student enthusiasm and kids hitting the books vote Yes for the IMU omou thank you for your attention thank you Constance Everly Constance state your name and County of residence please my name is Constance every Knox County I live on the east side let me say the elephant in the room because first off this council is lacking comprehension 38 percent of the United States don't a population is illiterate and when I talk about literacy I ain't talking about your ability to read a sentence I'm talking about your ability to read the sentence plus comprehension you lack it more importantly let's say the real elf in the room this is not about Freedom schools this is about what Tennessee's struggle has always been culturally racism and white supremacy because
162when we talk about doing something for the black kids the same black kids we say stop shooting yourself the same black kids that live in a 47 poverty rate the same black kids that Anthony Thompson Jr was murdered in the black high school because he lived in the black neighborhood where several other of his classmates had already been murdered due to the gun violence in our community and now we're talking about youth enrichment which these same black kids lack because if you want to go to jump jam you got to go west you want to go bowling you gotta go west you want to do Main Event you got to go west and this is something actually directly involved in our community that is strictly nothing more than youth enrichment and you will have used
163racism white supremacy and the state legislator the same state legislator that kicked black men out for standing up for children who are scared of being murdered by mass murderers in our school the same state legislator that we have Cameron Sexton who doesn't live in his district has wrongfully taken his seat in the first place in office the same camera sexting who has used taxpayers dollars through per diem for his intro uh extra fair maritals and misappropriation of tax dollars is who you'll bring you here as a moral standard code of recommendation on what we should be doing in curriculum are y'all being serious right now in Knoxville I have to Echo Jennifer Owens it is stupid absolutely stupid and it has no purpose other than you all finding ways to deflect and find reasons to
164continue to deny our communities and our children the necessary resources for Success this is why Knoxville College is important it is a essential piece of our community that is missing and I feel like if we had that we would have other avenues and other resources let me wrap it up because I only got 60 seconds left I'ma say this black people in this room leverage your relationships because they're going to say no to this so this is where we call Randy Boyd now say Randy we need some money for these School buses we need some resource to help us out so you're taking our back land and build up your infrastructure we're gonna need some assistance right now y'all like taking pictures for Andy Cannon all these other folks y'all need to call India because
165let's not forget the city has City schools and a memo a memorandum agreement too and wigs transfer money back and forth here so taxpayers you're actually already paying for before literally what you are asking for but more importantly Knoxville this is why I am running for office because I was married right now of Knoxville we wouldn't be going through this you could have came and asked me I yield my time thank you Jessica Holmen Jessica hello just state your name in county of residence please okay my name is Jessica Holman and I live in Knox County I'm one of your principals in the district I'm the principal of green magnet steam Academy which is in region five the best region and I am also the principal of the first and only stem designated State stem
166designated School in our County so I'm here today of course speaking in favor of this mou and I heard the word choice a lot and I have by choice as a principal agreed to host Freedom schools in my school Freedom schools is a parent choice program so simply if parents disagree with it they don't have to send their children there has never been any parent concerns or the way the program runs in fact the community and the parents love it and get a lot out of it Freedom schools in my opinion from what I have seen and experienced personally is good for all kids but in particular underserved students in the community who are in need of a safe structured summer program that's focused on reading to not continue this contract would completely ignore the
167needs and desires of my school community as an instructional leader I know from best practice research that reading really is rocket science students who are reluctant to read or read below grade level begin to grow and perform better in Reading when they can connect their own experiences to the material in a meaningful and authentic way this is a high quality Academic Program intentionally designed to do just that I've seen it myself and I only want the best for my kids at Green and I would not have them in my school if I did not think they were the best so lastly please help the children in my community Meet The District's ambitious literacy goals do the right thing for them vote Yes on the mou with freedom schools thank you thank you Becky hoffseth Becky
168is Becky here oh sorry welcome hello um I am the mother of seven grandmother two ten uh educator for 26 years and I actually had a written script before I came I've listened and I've learned a lot and I just really want to affirm the whole Endeavor should make children literate and I commend it but I have concerns about this particular program and I would actually love to have some conversations with I think it was Misty maybe we could talk afterwards because I mean it's just been a beautiful thing to hear how much he says help children and yet there's an element of it that if I actually went to the website that should wear raise red flags I think for any of us who actually can are concerned about the direction that we're heading
169where children are being subject to lies meaning that they could actually be a boy when they were born a girl and so I'm a little confused and I'd like to understand why is it that on the website it actually references books like um if I mean it's like if it's not in the curriculum then why do they reference it on their website so there is a book called Melissa it's for young readers it says when people look at Melissa they think they see a boy named George but she knows she's not a boy she knows she's a girl on that book list from the book I am Jazz from the time she was two years old Jazz knew that she had a girl's brain and a boy's body she looked pink and dressing up as
170a mermaid and didn't feel like herself and boy's clothing this confused her family until they took her to a doctor who said that jazz was transgender and that she was born that way so I don't know if in in the room we all actually align with this I hope not so those of us who are speaking up and do have concerns and are pushing back I like to think of the cell as Defenders of Youth as well as upholders of the Sacred role of parents to choose whether and when their child would be exposed to what is in truth a violation of humanity a violation of science and certainly a violation of the word and the will of God almighty so if we move forward on this can we really truly address the elephant in
171the room do we want our children learning this give them all sorts of great books there's so many out there but get that out of it thank you David Lee David hello good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is David Lee I live in Knox County I have two grandchildren in Knox County Schools one at mine and one at Beaumont and I'm the current president of town hall East which is a neighborhood organization in East Knoxville and I'm speaking on behalf of myself and our board of directors at the beginning of the discussion I thought I would have to scrap these few remarks because we were getting into technicalities but I think we've gotten back to the nub of the discussion um we think it's cruel beyond our understanding to sacrifice the well-being of our
172children for what amounts to an almost meaningless ideological squabble among adults the children are in need of the services the educational support and the material benefits that are provided by the East Tennessee Freedom schools the program has proved itself over the years and it deserves your support um worried about our organization we are celebrating our 52nd year as a chartered Community organization we have African-American board members and um officers and members but we are not a predominantly black organization we are however East knoxvillians and we are delighted and proud to have such a program in East Knoxville and we would urge you to support it it sounds like you're in rather Uncharted Territory to some degree legally and what better way to explore those uncharted waters than with this type of a very strong proven
173program thank you thank you sir Sherry Garrett my name is Sherry Garrett and I live in Knox County hi first off the biggest concern East Tennessee Freedom schools as Miss Dean stated on Monday is a franchise of children's defense fund and when you look at the Children's defense fund website you see a lot of concern there's a lot of activism on that particular website a lot of concerns books and videos one of the videos that I watched as a matter of fact earlier today was it was a freedom schools it was in another state however it was a child who was doing a presentation on climate change and the presentation ended with if we do all of this the apocalypse won't happen and we won't die that was what they're teaching these children we've been
174talking about the the formal agreement the mou and the law that's in place right now any formal agreement right now any formal agreement May jeopardize State funding because of their teaching of these prohibited Concepts that's on the children's defense fund website as I said East Tennessee Freedom schools and all Freedom schools across the country are franchises of this organization they're um it is because of their teaching of these prohibited Concepts which is why it may be jeopardized their book lists and online videos prove that they do teach these Concepts Knox County Schools has no control over the curriculum but any formal agreement can harm Knox County Schools teaching prohibitive Concepts as we know violates state law and after speaking with state legislators chairman John Reagan who authored the state law is Stan is standing ready
175right now to take action if you choose to pass this memorandum of understanding any formal agreement with this organization implies endorsement from Knox County Schools thank you Kevin Hill Knox County well I may be about to burn a bridge or two but I agree with the previous lady who said mentioned that she's coming she's learned and she's seen some beautiful things and uh I believe in Divine appointments when I walked in tonight the pastor who had the one of the largest income influences on my life and growing in Christ and seeking intimacy with God was standing in the back of the room and we chatted and caught up for a little while and then we both had to exit to the Overflow room where we encountered other people from the group here that are supportive
176of Freedom schools that uh he had relationship with and was interacting with and so I had the chance to communicate with some of those parties and get some of the questions that we've collectively had uh answered and one of the conclusions I've come to is I may you know it's one of those things fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me this may be one of those instances where I have to adopt that perspective but everything I've heard and seen tonight about the local expression and I'm being very clear and I agree with the concerns about the franchise relationship but the local expression says these are good and righteous people who are doing good and righteous thing with children and I mean I just sat a four hour test on con
177law and I had to write about Brown and I'm telling you I'm not going to be the white guy that tells a black kid they don't have access to education I'm not going to be that guy now next year when I stand at this Podium and all the laundry lists approved I'm gonna hold people's feet to the fire for lying to me but I'm sure as heck not going to be the guy that stands up and says and it's not fear out of some great historical fear that some racist memory you know where this fear we're encountering right now is so we've got to give each other a lot of Grace it's called PTSD we just went through three years of crap and we're all hurting real bad we're all real upset and everybody's Raw
178and that's what the people who are concerned about it's not because they don't want a black kid to have access to something it's because we collectively as a community are suffering PTSD and we gotta love each other through recovery from that trauma and so if me from my political perspective can be part of Reaching Across The Island shaking a hand to make that recovery happen by saying take a risk you already fought one lawsuit over frivolous crap fight another one and that is not what I plan to say when I came here tonight thank you [Applause] forum for this agenda item thank you Miss Henderson well we have a motion on the floor so we can't okay that's right we'll take a break after this discussion okay sorry um Mr Watson thank you madam chair
179um I appreciate all the public forum speakers that came and shared and um thank you for taking the time and listening to us first I know normally we want to listen to you first so thank you for doing that I would like to offer a substitute motion that substitute motion would be for us to split the two issues apart uh for us to both vote on data sharing and then have a subsequent vote on Transportation I believe that the Law Department can help us navigate that in terms of splitting those apart so I would like to offer that we vote on each issue separately thank you so you so you are officially making a motion right I'm making an emotion to split the two issues data sharing and transportation and have them voted on separately
180all right do we have a would we then be able to take a break and come back and vote that's a great question I like that question mystery Depot that would be a question for you there's already a motion on the floor and now you're asking for a substitute Motion in addition to that so so if it if the substitute motion passed that would do away with the original motion and we would come back to vote on two new motions right if it passes yeah okay yeah substitute motion passes then it does away with the original that's correct second all right Reverend Butler would you like to to speak to that or just take that vote and come back okay so we have a substitute motion on the floor to split the mou into two
181separate um items one be the data sharing and the other one be the transportation let me provide clarification should they both passed I don't want to force the district to have two separate mou's I just want to vote on the two elements separately so you're voting on keeping those items in the mou or I guess if it one passes itself in terms of its final form in the final form it would be one of them you I'm voting on the issue I want us to vote on the issue separately right that makes sense to me Mr dupler you can help navigate that soon okay all right all right so Mr McMillan um thank you madam chair uh just a a point of uh order or process are we going to uh vote on one and
182then come right back and and immediately we're not going to take a week's dance or something well what we were going to do I think the the what they're suggesting is if the substitute motion passes then the original motion is no longer there and then we could take a break and come back and discuss the two separately oh yeah but they asked do they not want to vote um is that what they want right after the substitute motion to split s but I don't know we're going to take a break in between yes I don't know that you can do that Mr dupler that's why I asked about it so so so as I understand it Mr McMillan uh so there's a motion to approve the mou and now there's a substitute motion to to
183basically do away with with that first motion and break uh break it into two votes on the two concepts so that's what you've got right now um you know if you want if somebody wants to make an an amendment or well you can't make another substitute so you know uh I mean we can we can go on but but that's what's that's what's on the floor right now and the question is if the substitute passes of course if it doesn't pass then then you're right back to the to the original motion but if it passes then then then now you're left with okay now you need to make motions to to approve the two concepts so but you're going to take a break between I'm not sure I think that's been proposed yes yeah I
184I just I'm not gonna vote for that because I don't think it's it's uh uh right process Wise It's not that I you know opposed what they're trying to do or something but although I'm not going to support the original one but yeah that that that is is the way it should be done thinking about chair I'm not in my motion I'm not asking for a recess I'm simply asking for it to be split I think I think you have the recess well why don't you just withdraw the original motion and then and then let him make a motion I'm trying to clarify my motion right I never asked for a recess I think that's up to you to decide if we're gonna have a recess yeah we have several board members all I'm asking
185questions yeah and I'm I mean to me that's not right that's not a part of the motion the recess is not a part of the motion the motion is simply to split the two items clarification for those board members desperately needing a a short break yeah yeah it might be staff members as well I don't know so we're going with the substitute motion so we have a substitute motion and a second to split the two votes Miss company Dr pettler is Owen Mr Watson yes Miss bike Miss Horn Miss Henderson Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Ms Christy yes that's six yes votes two no votes and one pass Dr Butler did you want to change your pass vote you don't want to change it or you want to vote no that's six yes votes and three
186no votes okay so the motion to split the Two Carries all right so Mr duper currently there's no motion on the floor correct or in your legal up in your legal opinion if board members needed a short break would it be inappropriate to take one right now just let me talk about that just a minute because I believe Mr McMillan's concern is that there might be some discussion during a short break and and I would advise all members of this board to not discuss anything about what's uh currently before this board during the short break but if it's but but well from what I'm other than that there's no motion from what I'm hearing discussion is not what they're thinking about right now so thank you so we will take a 10 minute short break
187because people are desperately needing that and we will come back that I'm just I'm just gonna keep doing it all right so we are back Mr Watson your light is on uh thank you madam chair I'd like to make a motion to approve the data sharing element of the mou um with freedom schools second so we have a motion to approve the data sharing mou in a second is there any discussion on that Miss Owen thank you madam chair um Mr dupler sorry caught you at a bad minute um I'm looking at the mou on page five number 23 and I just like some clarification here where it says relationship of parties the relationship contemplated herein is that of independent contractor nothing herein shall in any way be construed or intended to create a partnership
188or joint venture between the parties here too so that would apply to our our data sharing and if we look at the best part that would apply to both right so uh so when you're looking at the the alternative mou that was provided this evening correct yes so so that all that only applies to the data sharing um there's no there's no fund expenditure with the data sharing so we can say that on that one uh the original mou does not have that language Mr Watson um thank you madam chair um and I appreciate that we're speaking specifically about the data sharing agreement but I do want to understand the language of it as well so uh just to be clear Mr dupler the reason that type of language was not in the original mou
189is because that type of language can't be used when there's some in-kind transaction that's correct uh this district has data sharing agreements with various third parties and there is no relationship other than an independent contractor thank you Mr triplet quick question for Dr Isaac do we share data with other I mean is this if this data sharing should pass is that a I mean do other we'd have mous with other like Emerald or thrived in those other organizations that are not School related yes Triplett I will I I just know because I talked to Steve Rudder today I know I could I could go to you Corey but so we did ask that question just to kind of say and there is confirmation that there are other ones that exist with some other uh non-profits
190of the community and this is sort of on the subject but awful this also opened the door for Transportation should that pass as well I mean does that create a situation where that becomes a an open door that would be a challenge I don't know if that's also for you I think I'll take them so um maybe I'll answer the question this way I'll try to I'm not doing a very good job of answering questions tonight just so make sure I don't forget them so I would say this we did talk with um Mr Dillingham to ask if there are other existing transportation agreements with other organizations and the answer to that is no there are ones in in Dr Adams correct me if I'm wrong there are ones where they pay for the contracted
191you know the the buses um but there aren't any that and some that there are agreements through like a community school and or Knox Ed Foundation or something like that who pays for those but we there's not one that Knox County school pays for so if you're asking that there I would compare the two questions you just asked me to say the data sharing yes we do have existing other mousse but as far as Transportation being provided at Knox County's cost uh we're not aware of these and talking to Mr Dillingham foreign I had the same questions as Mr triplet about our other organizations do we have the Moes with them because I think all of these organizations do great work Thrive we've got Emerald youth we've got Boys and Girls Club um I just
192think my other concerns too are just the lack of the KCs oversight breaking the state law I have a real concern about that and I'm just also concerned about some of the national groups behind this organization and I just think that they should probably go through the normal facility use process just like any of our other groups may go through that some of us agree with some of us don't agree with so that's why I'll be voting no on this tonight foreign just a point of clarification we are we are just talking about the data sharing right now right yes all right so we have an emotion on the floor to approve the data sharing Mr dupor are we approving this mou you handed out tonight for the data sharing so the motion is to
193uh more generic to approve the data sharing I mean certainly I would recommend that if this board only adopt the data sharing that you use uh the uh the alternative uh agreement which has been handed out so yes thank you madam chair the reason I made it generic is because should the transportation also be approved if both of them should be approved then they should be in the form of one mou so I didn't want to get the cart before the horse and approve the means before we approved the intent so um obviously if one if the data sharing gets approved and the transportation does not it needs to live in an mou Mr dupler's already wrote an mou so I would think that would be where it would land but I didn't want to
194hold us to an mou on on the on data sharing that's separate from Transportation should Transportation also be approved and I say that as if I know it is I'm just saying in the event of it gets approved right a question on or maybe just a clarification I just want to make sure I'm reading this correctly on the first page on number three it says request for student data and this would be um so basically the parent would have to sign off prior to any data being shared with the organization is that correct that's correct this one okay thank you River Butler I just want to make sure I'm understanding that if when we if we pass this data sharing um as a mou then the state law for the um the list of books
195or the curriculum would not apply correct that's my understanding Reverend Butler the best the best understanding that we have as far as the state law is concerned yes so uh that so that those materials is not an issue in terms of data shared all the data sharing does is allow the school to do it back to give them more information to do a better job of maintaining literacy over the summer so it's not in any way based on what we've discussed previously of promoting the program anything like that is simply helping them to do a better job with the students that they are receiving and it is parents have to have to approve it and it's a Parent's Choice parents choose to come to the school with that understanding thank you miss that one thank
196you madam chair um I would say that this data sharing agreement is much clearer than a lot of the data sharing agreements that we've had most of the software agreements that we have looked at all throughout the year most of those have a data sharing component um most of most of the contracts we have with any kind of vendor that has any kind of data like that student data most of those have some kind of data sharing component like Pearson aims with all those so that they can they can look at that data too so that's just my point there and Dr rezik if I could ask a question so when this whole discussion of this mou came up what was ask of us and through the discussion what did KCs offer thank you Missouri
197I was not in that conversation so I'm going to tell you what I think we've learned and I think Miss Dean kind of expressed some of that too today um my understanding was that the original conversation was around the data sharing the possibility of expanding the program and then the conversation about Transportation came up it was my understanding too and again miss Dean probably knows more about that than I do because she was in the conversation but my understanding that there was not an Ask of Freedom schools for the transportation but the staff had conversation at that point talking through that and that was that was offered and agreed to be put in the mou for consideration so basically our staff through the discussion of the data sharing our staff somewhere along the way seems
198to have said oh and hey we've got some buses I think I I think yes and again I'm missing he could probably answer that better not good but I think it came up as transfer you can't miss Dean please if you don't mind uh I think that the the conversation I don't think that was their eyes before that I think it came up as the discussing barriers on growing the program and the staff made that recommendation but so I don't want to speak for you no I mean we're having a general conversation about the relationship between Knox County Schools and freedom schools and how we benefit the students that you are deemed you know you're in charge of serving and we talked about all the things we talked about there's lots more children that we
199could serve and so we talked about expanding in terms of sites we talked about data sharing because we tried that a few years ago but at that point you were doing there was more of a focus on fluency versus comprehension so since we focus on comprehension it's just become available for us to do that comparison to see if in fact Freedom schools is having the impact we want to have when they return in the fall and as we were talking about some of the challenges Transportation came up that's a barrier for many families and they said well you know we're going to the same schools that's how it kind of evolved so it sounds like our we have almost made an offer that was a joint conversation I mean it happened in conversation I don't
200think they said hey you want to get on our buses right I don't think it was quite that um but we wanted to explore what was possible in terms of getting Transportation got it thank you Dr Watson uh thank you madam chair I have a little experience with the data sharing component with other organizations so the organization that I get to Steward in the restoration house partners and has an mou with Emerald foundation and emerald youth has had a data sharing agreement since at least 2015 which is when we started working with them and uh to Dr Reverend Butler's concern um I'm fairly confident that they have not been asked to qualify their curriculum since this state law has taken place so being that they do have a data sharing agreement and they have not
201been asked to do that nor do I think any other data sharing institution that we work with or relationship that we have has been asked that I do think it I think Mr dupler I'm not I know you know more about this than me but I'm also saying from a common sense perspective and seeing what's actually happening out in the community this doesn't seem to have tripped any issues for those organizations that have that are already using data sharing agreements with Knox County Schools I think to address the the question or the statement that was made that in mou we're not promoting them I think by definition an mou is a formal partnership in in writing the text it says that we're a partner right in the mou language and so I just think lots
202of these organizations do great work they again have a right to use our facilities but I also want to treat all of them equally this seems to be the one that we're focusing on but also using taxpayer resources well I've heard from people on both sides we're using taxpayer resources for a program that a lot of people are really concerned about and again back to the National Organization you know I've found something that that in 2019 they had a podcast saying that they one of their main priorities for Tennessee was to raise activists I don't know to me our job is to educate our kids not to raise activists so that's why I have a problem with this the fact that this is mou which is a partnership [Music] I'm just going to remind everyone
203again it's really difficult for us to hear when we have distractions in the audience Reverend Butler in the spirit of treating everybody equally what I'm hearing Dr Isaac is that we have memorandums of understanding with other organizations correct thank you Reverend Butler um that's correct we do um and I don't know if there's a lot if you would like to speak to that I'll let you speak to that we do have data sharing agreements with other partners and um to you the question that was asked previously as to whether or not that opens the door for transportation requests to my knowledge that has never happened so that is just a back and forth of whatever data has been requested and agreed upon it is true that we are currently in the process of looking at
204what it would mean to expand access to more data sharing agreements so as of right now we are taking those requests as they come and so if a partner has not made that request then we've not necessarily offered that request so when a request is made we look into what it would take to process that request and make it accordingly so they do have data agreements other partners do you have data sharing agreements with us and they are called partners whether or not we that we analyze their I probably should clarify that I have not read every single one of those mousse so I wouldn't want to speak to whether or not we formally refer to them as partners I did just refer to them as partners but I don't know contractually speaking what that
205language looks like yeah and I you know I think that if we want to treat everybody equally let's treat everybody equally uh I think what was what I'm looking at here is you have an organization that is that has been working with children in Knox County in East Knoxville uh in in district one and District 2 schools for several years have a wonderful track record both in terms of database success and parent uh satisfaction and then they're saying hey let's see if we can get data from Knox County Schools to make sure that we're doing what the measures we got are accurate and we can get we can do the best job we can so that's what I'm looking at here that East Tennessee Freedom schools that's what they've asked that's what they came asking
206for in the conversation Transportation came up but what they really was asking for is we want to do a better job in working and working with our kids during the summer so I think that's the data agreement here is not anything else that I see but that's that's just me tell him thank you madam chair we're just talking about the agreement right now not the mou right the data sharing agreement right so that it I mean it's this isn't the this isn't an mou it just says data sharing agreement and Mr Watson said he left it intentionally vague um correct Mr Watson is that what your motion was to that's true Madam chair I don't think we know what the final form will be my presumption is that it would look very similar to the
207agreement that's been provided um and in that agreement there is line 23 I do appreciate Ms longer speaking about she said partner but she's not speaking from a legal standpoint that point 23 in this should this be the final form does say that and it actually in fact does not create a partnership or a joint venture so I understand that we may feel like it's a partnership but legally speaking it would not be a partnership if if this form is used which I would presume that it would be it should it should have get approved I think Corey answered my question I just wanted to clarify that at mou in the data sharing agreement are two totally different things so we have data I mean whoever can answer that I'm not trying to put you
208on the spot Corey um so we have data sharing agreements with the other organizations not in mou is that correct well I would probably defer to Mr dupler I imagine we do have mousse that also include a data sharing component but we also have data data agreements that exist separate from mousse so it might be a both hand so most if not all of the data sharing agreements call for independent contractors they do not call that's a that is a legal term it's not a partner uh you know a partner has has legal connotation uh so there are various types of mousse and as as Ms Lautner said I mean some of them are um some of them do include data sharing some of them don't there's a lot of software as Miss Owens said
209and all those software ones I guarantee you say independent contractor so um again I mean Mr Watts has kind of made this motion a little bit vague but if this board does adopt the data sharing agreement then then it's clear that that you all still will be independent contractors so okay Miss Horn thank you madam chair I have another question for Mr dupler please Mr dupler so back to Mr Watson Watson's question should both of these issues pass would the document then would it be the original document that is attached to our agenda or would it be two separate documents all I can discuss right now is the motion that's on the floor I you know I don't know if if the second motion is going to ask for the mou uh you know because
210you know right now you're just asking for data sharing is my understanding all right call for the question for to prove the data sharing agreement is that what this company would set the motion yeah my my motion was to agree that data sharing elements of the mou not the final form of the mou itself and I know we I don't technically if we need to vote for their call for the question that's fine but I do have a technical question for Mr dupler the reason I was doing that was to try to save effort should both the pass um Mr dupler if if I am in my motion I don't know if I can if I can and it can be seconded and I'd ask for the agreement um is it an issue legally for
211them to have a separate data sharing agreement from an mou that involves Transportation I'm trying to not have it where it would have two documents if if they should both get approved it might it might be simpler just to do two documents yeah I think that I think the motion itself was has honestly created little confusion at this point uh so there I go trying to be helpful and now you've gotta and now you've got call call for the question so so so the board's gonna have to vote on that okay oh oh we don't okay all right so so we don't have a second on that right now so if you want to try to um I would like to amend my motion uh to approve the data sharing agreement that's been presented by
212Mr dupler in in that form and Miss Ellen you were a second so with that can we go to Mr McMillan's call for the question or do we oh we're waiting on that can I second it person okay I will second Mr McMillan's call for the question and we will vote on calling we are voting on calling for the question now it's company Dr Butler Miss Owen Mr Watson yes Miss bike Miss Horn Miss Henderson Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Miss Christie yes that's nine yes okay so motion carries so now the question being we are the motion to approve the data sharing agreement that was presented by Mr Watson and seconded by Miss Owen foreign the motion is to approve the data sharing agreement that was provided by Mr dupler this evening and it was
213seconded by Miss Owen so this is a roll call vote on that I'll make a comment please the question was called for in that past oh I'm sorry I missed all of you it's been a long night yeah yeah you can we'll read the motion again uh Reverend Butler so we are voting on approving the data sharing agreement that Mr dupler gave us prior to the meeting the motion was made by Mr Watson and seconded by Miss Owen correct all right we voted on that that was what we voted on that was the last vote was calling for the question I think discussion was done anyway though so I don't know that the the agreement the data sharing agreement so now we're I know it was so now we're voting on the data sharing agreement
214that we have here um okay Miss Owen Mr Watson yes Miss bike Miss Horn Mr C Miss Anderson Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Miss Christie yes that's six she has votes and three no votes so motion carries all right so Mr Watson thank you madam chair I'd like to make a motion uh to approve the transportation agreement or mou I guess that's the form it's in minus the data sharing component that's within it um with freedom schools all right so we have a motion for the transportation piece and I have a technical question about my motion I want to make because I feel like I got unintentionally played like this about two years ago related to something like this I want to make sure that by me stripping it and if it passes that I didn't
215also devoid what we just did so I'm not saying I intentionally got played but I want to make sure that that's real clear no I I I thank you madam chair and Mr Watson I as I understand your motion do you want to keep the mou intact except for the data sharing which is now a separate agreement correct right yeah that's fine for the mou with the transportation piece do we have a second we have a second for that all right so Reverend Butler so just um to make sure I understand um so this is the one that has the issue about the law and that we have to comply with the law I think it was Dr Susan is it Gronk grinky thank you that you talked about the Freedom School already has a
216curriculum examination process that is rigorous and consistent with what the state does is that correct is it is it appropriate for me to ask her to explain that again please you can ask her to come up will you come up and explain that and also talk about the relationship I think you stated that you all have with the freedom schools but but just that portion that you you brought up uh so um I was a curriculum writer Freedom gears and um I was asked to write curriculum that was rigorous I was asked to write curriculum that was standard standards based um and um age-appropriate um using Multicultural children's literature that is vetted every year by a committee of school media Specialists University professors members that sit on the credits Scott King book award committee which
217is an American Library Association book award committee the curriculum is structured around the theme of I can make a difference and so each book is vetted to ensure that it fits that theme and that it encourages young people to think about through the reading of Multicultural literature um it encourages them to think about how can I apply this to my life and think about how I can make a difference in my life in the life of my community my in the in my family and in the world um the curriculum so for each book when I would write that curriculum I would read the the books that were selected multiple times I would read the the state standards multiple times um I would keep this in mind about this theme of making a difference and
218each book has a week's worth of scripted lessons um that start with a pre-reading activity a Deering reading activity and a post reading activity these activities are aligned with state reading standards they focus on reading comprehension instructors are trained to ask questions about the key details of the text the main ideas of the text they're asked to um to ask discussion questions about about the characters in the text about the plot symbolism the settings the theme author craft tone all of these things are standards that I train our beginning English teachers at the University of Tennessee to be able to implement when they are out in the field which which they do a year-long field experience in in Knox County Schools we're very proud of that partnership we've been doing that for almost 20 years
219now and we have about a job hire rate um most of our students who graduate from our internship program get hired by Knox County Schools a lot of our students have become teachers and department heads literacy coaches and literacy leaders in Knox County Schools so um uh and as I said earlier I've had I've had to become very very familiar with the Tennessee law on prohibitive Concepts we have a similar law on higher education on divisive Concepts so we're talking about this as University faculty we are working with our legal counsel at the University level to make sure that we are within the language of the law in the curriculum that we use on campus and that translates to making sure we are in the language of the law when we are working with beginning
220teachers that we know are going to serve the state of Tennessee so yes I can vouch for from having written that curriculum that is within um the the the language of the law so does that answer your question sir yes uh but also do you have documentation of that process the process you just explained for Freedom schools yes yes and what Freedom schools be willing to share that process and and the the experts or the professionals the committee that that did the work and what the findings were I I can speak um for Mrs Dean I speak on behalf of Mrs Dean but I I would be happy to share that process and talk through that process absolutely Mr Dean would you be willing to do that okay and and so thank you so much
221uh and the reason why I asked those questions was because there is a concern and I have a concern that we follow the law that's one of the requirements that I have one of the things that I learned in the orientation that I first had with a chairperson and then also with the Tennessee State uh Stacy School Board Association was that one of our one of the things we have to do is follow the law follow federal and state law and follow federal and state regulations so it concerns me when we talk about something that we may not be following the law quite honest with Charter School that Title IX issue concerned me uh but you know we've passed it and and I said we I didn't say you I said we I was part
222of the board when it passed and so I'm part of the board any other time and I'm part of the board now I'm saying I have that concern but hearing that and hearing the professionals who are looking at that and I'm saying that is one way we can have assurance that it has been looked at now I do understand what you're saying about the National Organization we could debate that all night long and not necessarily agree but one thing I think we may be able to agree on is that what we just heard could be I didn't say is but it could be a way for us to show that we have been assured with not having a process in place we have a process in place so that is my understanding of that so
223I think we're voting on whether or not we're going to put kids on the bus right okay so so with that said I think that this is needed to help us exp help the Freedom School expand and help the students in in in the East Knoxville and one reason why I'm saying us is because uh is that a couple of district one schools region five schools uh we're talking about all this stuff we're going to do for region five and this is one of those things that really will be a shot in the hunt for region five so thank you Mr Watson thank you madam chair um in the two days that we've discussed this or two meetings that we've discussed it um I have heard a lot of folks on the board and I
224respect um your concerns related to the children's defense fund and things that you found on their website um I do think it's important to note that what they have on their website is um really not up for discussion even when it comes to state law and that what we're really talking about is the curriculum that's used within the East Tennessee Freedom schools and there's lots of national organizations that have lots of different thoughts about lots of different things um but that's not what we're debating tonight uh we're debating whether or not and I think some of us are debating whether or not we feel like in our minds that the very the the very particular curriculum that's being used by Miss Dean and others at Freedom schools whether or not it breaks the Tennessee law
225or not we've heard from at least one professional that feels like in her pin opinion as a doctor and somebody at the University of Tennessee who's written the curriculum and also been training teachers on how to interpret the Law relates their practice doesn't feel like it does so again I would I would urge those who are concerned about the uh full body of um work that the CDF has put out to not confuse that full body of work with what's being taught to kids within Freedom schools in Knoxville Tennessee I can't speak to that full body of work nor do I intend to try to because that's not my purview as a Knox County School Board member um what I'm being asked tonight is to consider whether or not a program that's asking for some
226additional resources and actually didn't even directly ask for it but it came up in a dialogue in a conversation out of wanting to mutually benefit children I would ask us to to limit um our decision making on what we believe about Freedom schools and we heard person after person after person who's been directly involved in it who have written curriculum from it whose kids who have experienced it who have served in it only speak good about it and yes we did have um there was a lot of people to count but I think we only had two people actually speak against it one I thought what was going to actually didn't which I'm going to give that man some love later uh so that was that was surprising that was I mean but I loved
227it I loved it but that's that's great I mean that's so good um and it's for me for him it's not just about this one decision it's just like man here's somebody who I know would have been challenged with this saying hey I want to listen right I mean to me that's like what we need more of um and so that's that's what was so good about it wasn't because of this one particular decision so um anyway we the community knew this was coming this was talked about a lot yes we did have some people who came and expressed legitimate concern they were by far in the minority um tonight anyway so again I would encourage us not to get confused about uh making an indictment against the National Organization about their full body of
228thought that they put out in the world but that we would honor an organization that's honored our kids for at least the last six years interject here because my Transportation concern was two-part so I'm gonna this is mostly me speaking to Reverend Butler here right now but so the other part was other organizations and provide and first let me let me start by saying I have no problem with 100 Kids writing in 100 bus seats to a school that the bus is already traveling to I have no issue with that um and you know if there are space space for other organizations to do the same on buses that are stopping in those neighborhoods and going to those schools I mean I would say the same thing um so my question is it seems that
229there is a transportation piece that for what you're not already running those buses in those neighborhoods and as a board member that raises the question of you know you want to be fair to everybody right so if another organization needs transportation for two weeks we want to be fair right so my question to Reverend Butler is and I've talked to Dr Adams about this a little bit I think you said Freedom schools start a week later or a week ma'am that is correct they start a week later so so we're talking those buses that would already be stopping in those neighborhoods with the empty seats and going to the schools that would be three weeks of the six week program that is correct they would when the slc's program when that is completed there will
230be three additional weeks that freedom schools will be open so what you're talking about the transportation for the three weeks that we have kids already in school or are we talking about I don't know are you all falling where I'm going with this I just okay so um I just wanted to throw that out there to kind of digest if that makes sense um you want me to respond well you can think about it for a minute and I will go to Miss Horn I just wanted you to digest that because that's kind of where I'm at I'm thinking about these other organizations and um but well let's Miss unless she's going to speak on the same thing I would prefer to go ahead and respond okay because I may not really right that's fine
231what I'm gonna say I'm sure miss horn won't mind if you go ahead no problem absolutely go ahead it's after nine o'clock so I'm at that point uh so so what I what my response is is that um if we were to pass it um I think that the Freedom School would take what they can get so if it's and when we first talked about this I'll be honest and say I thought we was talking about the same the same time frame and the comment I made was is that we're talking about putting kids on buses that are already running so if that was an accurate statement that would be three weeks okay so that's the statement that's what I meant then and that's what I mean now if we run the buses when the
232kids are not going to the school for the Knox County purpose Knox County Schools purpose then it wouldn't be buses already running so I made the comment I stand by it right I'm not sure how the how what the Mechanics Work Out is but that's the statement I made that's the statement I think I just I wanted to be clear on that because there were some kind of questions in what I think when we started talking to Dr Adams if it if there were six weeks or four weeks and I just wanted to be clear on that because like I said I don't have problems with kids riding on nmd best seats for any organization with my concern twofold was number one is when we talked about whether or not us but letting them ride
233on the bus would be promoting I didn't think it would really because they just riding on the bus already going you're not spending any extra money on them well the second Thanksgiving I'm sorry the second thing was though is that uh if it's not if they're not going if they're going if it is an issue then we have something in place to make sure that we are following the law right right I'm just thinking that whole funding piece of somebody I don't know if it's getting late if that even makes sense and Miss Horn I'm gonna go to email thank you madam chair um so you know I I obviously everybody knows I am very um much for parental rights and parents making decisions so that's why I voted well one reason why I voted
234for the data sharing agreement because parents give their approval for that and they're choosing to send their children to Freedom School so and also since it's consistent with practice otherwise I feel very comfortable with that I share the concerns that that Miss Henderson and Mr Triplett have raised about the National Organization and um and missing you know testified on Monday there spoke with us on Monday about the fact that you know that they definitely are part of that organization and so that's a concern for me to have an Mo to have an mou um obviously very impressive testimonies this evening no doubt and I have no doubt that um that kids love to go and that parents are passionate about it um and so parents have every right to utilize that I as as we
235also talked about the other night I think it's very different when you look at this organization asking for facility use which is what's been done in the past versus what we're looking at here which would commit resources because even even if it's not going to commit additional dollars it does commit additional resources and I also miss Christie have the concern about other organizations that meet in our schools that when they see or hear that this organization has bus privileges but other ones don't because a lot of our schools have Boys and Girls Club kids home YMCA all these different things and so um I'm not sure that we've fully recognized the gravity of the Ripple effects and unintended consequences and I also think that there's been a lot of questions frankly and so anytime you
236have this many questions that's a concern for me and I'm not sure that we've thought through all of the all of the issues so for that for those reasons I will not be supporting this foreign thank you madam chair um so is the motion looking at providing the buses for the full time or only for the time only for those three weeks when the time overlaps uh thank you Miss Owen thank you madam chair there's nothing explicit in the mou as I read it that actually speaks to the duration um what I was asking for was approval of the mou minus an effect a few bullet points related to the data sharing I would think if the mou were to get worked out what um in the way the spirit of the mou is if
237the resources are available to me if buses aren't running then the resources aren't available and so miss Dean and the organization for years have figured out other Transportation opportunities into Reverend Butler's point I can't speak for Miss Dean but I would assume she would take what she can get and if that's three weeks she doesn't have to find transportation versus the other three weeks that she might my assumption is with her in this robust Community they'll figure that out and again the mou is not explicit it does not commit the district to any period of time whether it's six weeks four weeks three weeks whatever seems like the spirit of the mou is if and when the resources are provided even down to the specific seat if the seat isn't available then they would not
238be able to use it so it's it's nuanced in terms of resource of availability but it doesn't speak to duration Mr dupler is that the way you hear it also page two of the proposed mou uh states that uh transportation is available to the Freedom School if they are operating at sites where KCs is running a summer learning Camp it goes on to say if already running buses and running at the same times within the school zone and have open capacity so it would be limited to open seats It also says if funding to provide transportation is available so if so if transportation is not available at that particular school it would not be provided so that's already in the mou um so I so I my reading of the mou agrees with what uh
239Reverend Butler is talking about okay thank you all right Dr Adams I have a question for you sorry I know it's been like so speaking in terms of some of these organizations I mean I'm I would love to get to a place where we could work some of this out or work out a compromise is this do you see this being um I mean I know we have a lot of organizations in our schools right and I guess it's really hard to predict you know how many are going to see the outcome of this and say Hey I want to ride um on those buses and then if there's a bus going to school and there's two or three organizations having a summer program in that school suddenly it might be that there's room on
240the bus for some of the programs and and I know that this is all hypothetical but I can I can see us getting in I don't know can you speak a little to that or if you would have I guess concerns about that because I want to be clear it's not that I have issues with it's not that at all I'm just trying to think ahead because I don't want to be in a position where we have two or three organizations at the same school needing transportation and suddenly there's seats for half the kids and not the other half and then what do you do not give transportation to any or are we in a position where we have to add another bus and you know transportation is a really big expense as we all
241know um I don't know if you can shed some light on that you probably can't but thank you madam chair members of the board uh it is not problematic for the simple fact that this is a unique situation where we have slc's going to a school site it's not we have a policy where we have to pick up a student at a certain address and take them to I'll just say Chuck E cheese right so we are staying within the realm of what the policy states and so it it's certainly not problematic and and I'll take it a step further to say if they were able to adjust their schedule to a four-week time frame we could align much easier but and I do want to apologize to miss bike the question that you were
242asking me I I was referring to the program the overall program as far as the SLC mixed in with freedom Schools transportation so there is no cost of course if we're already running buses but when you get outside of that window we could get an exact amount if they if they chose to work with a contractor so what I'm hearing you say is that it would not be problematic for transportation that is correct and we are currently working with um girls and boys boys club and having conversations now we can be better Partners uh but you know once again that's that's those are routes that are currently happening and we're having those discussions um so you know we will not in my opinion and I've had several conversations with Ryan about that he's not concerned
243about it either and I assume if it were to become problematic you would bring it back to the board and yes ma'am that is correct okay all right thank you Dr Adam so we have a motion on the floor Mr Watson I believe it was to approve the transportation piece for the buses when they're already running to the school right yes ma'am Sharon specifically to approve the mou before us minus the data sharing component all right and we had a second by Miss Spike all right Miss company Dr Butler Miss Owen yes Mr Watson yes yes Miss bike Miss Horn Miss Henderson Mr Triplett Mr McMillan it's Christy yes that's five yes votes and four no votes motion carries [Applause] all right we will continue on Miss um Miss coatney Adam TNA approved contract with
244IC System Incorporated for provision of collection services for unpaid student Mill accounts for the term of June 1 2023 to May 31st 2024 which may be extended for four additional years a motion by Ms horn is second by Mr triplet discussion all in favor say aye aye any that's okay you need a post so we have one no one pass okay we'll do wrong Dr Butler we're doing a we're going to do a roll call vote on this item since there's a couple of yeah the motion is just to approve the contract with IC System is item 10A yes yes Miss Owen Mr Watson you're from you're from Miss Miss bike Miss Horn Mr heat Miss Anderson Mr triplet Mr McMillan Miss Christie yes that's five yes votes two no votes um Mr Watson did
245you want to change your pass vote Miss bike did you want to change your pass vote okay five yes votes two no votes in two four motion carries item 10B approved contract with Kingdom Sewer Septic Drain Cleaning Service Incorporated for pumping grease traps for kitchens at an approximate cost of 265 thousand dollars annually for the term of May 1 2023 to April 30th 2024 which may be extended for four additional years motion by Mr Watson a second by Miss Owen discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries TNC approved design contract with Goodwin meals K wood LLC for improvements at Bearden High School in the amount of 225 thousand dollars motion by Mr Watson a second by Mrs horn any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries tnd approved contract
246with King construction for renovations at Lincoln Park Center for the newcomer Academy at a cost of 4 million 478 590 using Esther 3.0 funds I want a second by Mr Watson discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries T and E approve addendum to statement of work to contract with tra School software Solutions tra Incorporated at an estimated cost of 499 812 dollars by Mr Watson a second by Miss Horn discussion all in favor say aye any opposed Russian carries 11a approved 2024 Board of Education annual calendar motion by Miss Henderson a second by Miss Horn discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries 11b approved fiscal year 2023 general purpose budget line item transfers in the amount of 690 584 for January 1 2023 through March 31 motion by Miss
247Horn is taken by Mr Watson discussion all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries all right so we will move into public foreign Miss Henderson Madam chair uh first up we have Donna Dillon please come up state your name County of residence and you have three minutes good evening my name is Donna Dillon I'm a Knox County resident and um I just wanted to speak about hva Hormel Academy is Harding right now we're hurting because our principal friends supporter comforter and leader has been taken from us for reasons unbeknownst to us the overwhelming message is that Dr spies is the scapegoat for the district's shortcomings and poor security policy and lack of communication it seems that today's world lockdowns incidences and threats occur daily in Knox County and surrounding County Schools not one other
248principle has been suspended as you can see the copy of the petition I have provided for you we have 670 plus parents teachers Protege and students who hold doctors fees in high regard please allow me to quote some of the seniors that Dr spies has been with the whole four years as they graduate this year Dr spies has been amazing has been amazing all throughout my high school experience from interacting with students at sporting events through the hallways where he always puts the students first he is an excellent leader who always does what's best for the students I really wish I would be able to shake his hand at my graduation thank you principal Hardin Valley Academy is a better place with Dr Spees as its leader that's Luca Moore a senior football captain at
249harm Valley Academy it would be great to have speeds at our graduation he's been our principal for all four years he is always in a good mood with a smile on his face and encouraging word I feel like he has helped me a lot in school and graduation won't be the same without him that's Todd Denton Senior captain of the baseball team voted most athletic superlative and a few quotes from the teachers who are afraid to voice their concerns due to repercussions Dr spies has always encouraged me challenged me and taught me how I can best put kids in my classroom first another one is I'm heartbroken it's like a death has occurred another one during hard times Dr spies has always reminded us that is our our role to support and love our kids
250we're next one is we're struggling as teachers and staff there's so many things left in the balance and we are weeks and weeks behind where we need to be we haven't even been told why he has suspended nevertheless we are heartbroken and hurting we would ask that you please see the importance and the respect that Rob speeds holds at harm Valley Academy and in the Hardin Valley Community and reinstate him as soon as possible thank you thank you next up Courtney Piper is Courtney still here oh there you are good evening Courtney Piper I live in Knox County I want to reiterate my appreciation for the board's discussion and it's made work session about ABA therapy in the classroom and a policy to allow it and other outside therapy providers the discussion was encouraging it
251was especially encouraging to the more than 140 parents that have gathered together in support of this issue since February ABA therapy is the only therapy approved to treat autism spectrum disorder and it was good to hear the board's discussion centered around the medical necessity of this therapy and questions about its application in the classroom I want to encourage KCs and the Board of Education to maintain forward progress with this new comprehensive policy for outside service providers and in short specifically allows for students with autism to have their applied behavior analyst or ABA therapists join them in the classroom I hope the draft policy specific to Aba that I presented last month and the citations used to draft it proved helpful and I look forward to reviewing this new comprehensive policy at the May 19th a
252policy agenda Review Committee there are three key or three key areas I want to make sure are addressed in this comprehensive policy first it's critical that any policy redirects the current mindset at KCs which treats ABA therapy as if it were elective and provides a clear process for autism spectrum disorder students to receive medically necessary treatment at school second currently KCs central office staff can supersede orders from a medical doctor and licensed board certified medical professionals when recommending interventions in an IEP in short the question of whom deems what to be medically necessary is an item of high importance third I want to make it perfectly clear we want our insurance provided APA therapists in the classroom we are not asking KCs to incur the costs of providing ABA therapy I believe addressing these items
253will ensure no other parent has to experience what my husband and I went through as we waited five months for an answer to the question can my son's therapist join him in the classroom the answer to that question was eventually no so I voiced my concern at a February IEP meeting that the only therapy approved to treat autism spectrum disorder was not being recommended we then decided to remove my son from school every Thursday so he could attend therapy he's approved for 30 hours a week this is a medically excused absence but unfortunately now this increases his school's chronic absenteeism rate and it doesn't have to be this way finally I want to express my appreciation for being selected for the special education task force and hope that my contributions will affect positive change thank
254you thank you Jennifer Galloway welcome hi I'm Jennifer Galloway I live in Knox County I've been a teacher and a coach at Hardin Valley Academy from the first day we opened in 2008. I've watched my three kids grow up in the hva gym and I have matured as a teacher and a coach through the leadership of both Hardin Valley Academy's Administrations our school has always been led by a person who challenges the teachers and who has the kids best interest at the front of every decision made all while making sure we are aligned with the district's Vision HBA like our district is striving to help our students become 860 865 ready 865 ready is a new initiative in Knox County Schools but many don't know that Dr spies has already started that movement in his
255first four years as principal at Hardin Valley we are headed in the right direction to prepare our kids to be 865 ready and for them to make an impact in the Knoxville Community and Beyond this is largely because of Rob's fees and despite some of the most challenging years with kovid and its aftermath we are moving forward and we are moving forward fast we have changed our building layout and our schedule so that our kids have the space and time to experience all that the 865 academies program has to offer Rob is the leader of this movement he is the driving force behind the Innovative things we are doing at hva but our momentum has been halted over the last month we are in a holding pattern as we wait for answers while our leader
256is being investigated and we watch his name getting dragged through the mud hva and Rob spies have been represented misrepresented in the news and on social media so now we wait for answers hoping that we get our leader back and not just another setback what do I mean by setback some teachers at HBA are under the impression that even if Dr spies is exonerated by the investigation he still may not be back at hva next year I can't imagine why this would even be considered with as much support as he has from our staff and Community but it's still a concern no one seems to be willing to say that if Dr Spees did nothing wrong then of course he would be reinstated at hva but if you don't do this then I believe our
257865 ready efforts will be set so far behind where they are now it might take us years to recover not only that but you will have a group of disappointed teachers don't misunderstand what I'm saying today the teachers at Hardin Valley are still getting the job done we're doing what's best for kids while we continue to hear vague or false information about our school and our leader regardless we have kept our kids alive and we have continued to teach and prepare them to be lifelong Learners throughout this whole process this includes the day of the gas leak Hardin Valley Academy is such an awesome place we are doing great things and we'll find a way to be better than ever and all we do academically athletically and artistically and Rob Spees he will land on
258his feet wherever that may be but Rob is a hawk his own kids are hawks his place in this community is our community so when this investigation shows he did the right thing please make sure the place he lands is back at Hardin Valley Academy thank you Galloway I'm Keith Galloway Knox County resident I'm also a resident of Hardin Valley Community actually I do a lot more than just live there I'm heavily involved in several aspects of the community I'm the commissioner of the Hardin Valley Youth Sports I'm a member of the Hardin Valley community business Alliance and I am I sit on the board of the Hardin Valley Foundation I've been here in in Hardin Valley since the academy first opened in 2008 working here for 10 years as a math teacher and eight
259years as the head boys basketball coach my wife Jennifer who just spoke has been there even longer she has been a teacher in the head girls basketball coach since since the school opened and now she is serving as the Freshman Academy Dean all three of our children are in harm Valley Schools as well which is one of the reasons we commit so much time to the success of the school in the community I challenge you to find anyone who knows us and our family who doesn't say we are High character Staples in the Harvard Hardin Valley Community we are dedicated to making it the best it can be not just for our own family's sake but for every family's sake in Hardin Valley I don't say this to be boastful don't miss don't misunderstand what
260I'm doing I'm conveying that her voice has Merit and should be heard and in that regard we are incredibly disheartened by the way this whole situation is playing out with the gas leak incident on March 30th in the subsequent investigation the day this all went down it seemed like the situation where an unstable individual unsuccessfully attempted an act of violence and it turned into a situation where an absolutely false narrative spread like wildfire on social media causing people to believe something happened that in fact did not happen at all but I won't go down that road I won't sell you my conviction on what happened that day because I wasn't there but I also caution you not to listen to the outraged keyboard Warriors on social media who took limited information likely from their children
261or from somebody else on social media and made false assumptions that eventually led to an untrue story being told of what actually happened please don't listen to them about that story and please don't listen to them when it comes to how our community feels about Rob's bees they are of the loud minority and they do not represent what our community thinks about him which brings me to how I feel about Rob's fees I've gotten to know him in multiple capacities these last few years and there is no one I would rather have more as a principal at hva than Rob he treats hva as though he's been there since day one he took the challenge seriously of continuing what Sally Reynolds has successfully started but in his own unique way he is engaged and invested
262in our community and he believes in the potential of hva just like I do he is a true Hawk and when this investigation exonerates him it would be an absolute travesty if he did not end up back at hva our community wants him there and the vast majority of the parents and students want him there and last but not least the teachers and staff one in there how do I know this because I'm engaged in the community I know what it takes to be a good member and good leader in our community and I can't imagine a leader more fit for this job as principal to HPA than Rob spies thank you thank you Jennifer rose [Applause] hi Jennifer rose Knox County I want to start with thanking you guys for again having the discussion
263on Monday during the work session in regards to the having our children's ABA therapist in school um as I stand here today for my son but also for the group of other children who have sought ABA therapy in schools and have been turned away the excuses we receive are many but they involve arbitrary barriers we've been told one Knox County Schools will not recognize ABA therapy in the school just like it does not recognize piano lessons in the school two that ABA therapy is simply not allowed in the schools in that three ABA practices but not ABA therapy is allowed accordingly this is our formal request to the board for Clear policy guidance to all Knox County Schools that ABA therapy in the schools must be considered ABA therapy is a necessary medical treatment for
264children with autism a reasonable accommodation under the Ada much like medicine or insulin and many other accommodations it will provide children with autism meaningful and equal opportunities here in Knox County excluding ABA therapy has become a chief means of excluding the child from school altogether we must constantly depart the school in order to receive the ABA therapy our children need in closing the current general non-discrimination policies obviously are not working when it comes to Aba therapy accordingly we are asking for Clear guidance to the schools removing all impedements so that our requests may be considered and as we go through and I look forward to the policy review on May 19th I hope that you guys really take into consideration that who gets to deem it medically necessary that is a huge factor in our
265children getting what they need at school to have that quality education that every child gets and I really appreciate your awesome and consideration thank you thank you madam chair that concludes public oh I'm so sorry yes you do thank you for reminding me I totally forgot it found about 45 seconds um so you know I'm Erica Knox County and really what I have to say um is directed to ladies behind me I want to say to you guys I appreciate that you took the time to listen to these moms that have been coming out month after month and sitting through these Marathon board meetings and that you guys have listened to their concerns and that you're putting a policy in place or considering it I Echo Miss Rose and Miss Piper that I hope that
266you do follow through with what you've told them and to those mothers I know that the people at home won't be able to hear me if I don't speak in the microphone I really want to look at them and tell them how proud I am of them and how impressed I am with them coming together to advocate for their children they have gotten such impressive numbers of moms together and you know while I wish that you guys would listen to all of the community members the way you've listened to these moms I I have to give you credit for what you've done in this case so thank you thank you and now Madam chair that concludes public forum all right meeting a turn