001welcome to the board of education's January 12 2023 regular session meeting please stand as we observe a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Miss Owen pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands foreign policy review meeting will be held on Friday January 20th at 9 00 a.m in this boardroom also a naming facilities committee meeting to consider the nomination of the name and mascot for a new Northwest sector elementary school will be held on Friday January 20th at 11 15. also in this boardroom I also want to remind everyone that Knox County Schools will be closed on Monday January 16th in honor of Martin Luther King Jr day um also note to everyone in attendance that the Board of
002education's Public meetings are our only opportunity that we have as a board to discuss items that come before us we are very glad you chose to attend tonight but please refrain from Applause cheers groans viewing and or conversations with others in the audience as this can be very distracting if you feel the need to have a discussion with someone sitting next to you please step outside to do so any Knox County resident can sign up to address the board during public forum so please be respectful of this um board members I wanted to note the updates to tonight's meeting agenda following our Monday work session and an updated revised version of board policy i-450 has been attached as version 2 to the item 7e items 9A and 10A were withdrawn and a draft of our
0032023 legislative priorities has been attached to item 10h are there any other requested changes to this agenda oh yeah it's a motion by my sworn a second by Miss Henderson all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries all right so we have some special recognitions tonight I believe that Miss Nixon are you doing this week and KCs staff and all others in attendance here tonight it's an honor to be here to recognize Knox County Schools First cohort of leading innovators of instructional technology also known as l i i t light taking the light into the world in 2022 the district began our first light cohort the process involved an application as well as recommendations a number of applicants applied and this team of Educators you see here tonight all in their gray were
004selected they represent a diversity of roles within our district included in this group is an administrator an instructional coach a library media specialist and teachers from across a variety of disciplines they committed to one engage in growth and Leadership that impacts Student Success and two to share and model best practices using technology to maximize teaching and learning at their schools and across the district this group spent the calendar year from January to December both learning and networking with each other as we have learned We Are Better Together the main goal of the light group is to gain a deeper understanding of Technology integration in our district and how this will ultimately impact our students in addition members of the light 22 cohort have been able to support our district by serving on our interactive display
005panel vendor review team offer feedback on the student access to technology section of our district Lea plan and various other opportunities in their classroom at the school and the district level when this cohort was asked to give advice to Future liked groups two members made statements that I would like to share tonight Katie Weimer from Carter High said change starts at a personal level technological and otherwise if our goal is to be leaders and agents of change that starts with us Rebecca Layton from cardin's middle said being a part of the light group is a great opportunity to connect and learn with other passionate Educators use the inspiration you gained from the meetings to grow and help others in your school at this time I would like to recognize the light 22 cohort we will
006start with our first representative from pong Gap Elementary Jessica C [Applause] yeah okay and then from Norwood Elementary School Kelly bowling [Applause] next Rebecca Layton from Carnes Middle School [Applause] from District eight Katie Weimer Carter High School [Applause] perfect from Gibbs High School Nikki Blaylock [Applause] foreign and we have one member Danielle English from host and middle who could not be with us this evening but we will make sure she gets the certificate thank you from Bonnie Cade Elementary Lauren feverier [Applause] Melody Wagstaff from our KCs virtual Middle School [Applause] oh my God Jessica Maynard from South Knox Elementary [Applause] from South Doyle High School Andrew fultz [Applause] and finally Sherry Ammons from South Doyle Middle [Applause] Sherry stay here we're going to call everybody back out to do one big group picture real quick
007he's gonna have to be the sorority spots on the front foreign and as we were finishing up I just want to say thank you for taking the time to recognize these Educators tonight we look forward to starting our next cohort of 2023 in a few weeks so if anybody wants to come join us let me know and we'll be continuing our journey of learning thank you thank you all right moving into our regular agenda items Miss coatney item six consent agenda motion by Mr Watson a second by Miss Horn all in favor or any discussion sorry all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries 7A approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy a120 School attendance areas as amended motion by Mr Owen and second by Reverend Butler any discussion all
008in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries 7B approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy b190 media relations as amended by myself in a second by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries 7c approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy b-240 School Board legislative involvement as amended by Mr Owen a second by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries 7D approved second reading of Knox County Board of Education policy C230 bus photograph video retention and viewing as amended mentioned by Reverend Butler second by Miss Owen any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries seven e approved first reading of Knox County Board of Education policy i-450 public charter schools as
009amended through the second version um okay so we have a motion submission by Mr Watson a second by Miss Owen Mr dupler thank you madam chair I wanted to explain the second version uh just just so everybody's on the same page I went back after Monday night and based upon Mr Watson's comments um basically took what is it this is yeah the second page where it lists the committee and basically restored that to the the same type of language that was in the original policy that was basically because well for two reasons one uh Mr Watson had a concern about that and frankly what I was doing in that in that area was just just stating what the what the law was if this board wants to go beyond the law that's fine if this
010board wants to do less than the law then that's that's where we have a problem so uh so that's why I went back and just tried to restore basically the the same language in there and then of course this board can go and with policy review and change this policy however it sees fit but my main goal here is to to to have the areas that are redlined in the second version past so that this board will have a entirely up-to-date and legal policy as we go into the charter review thank you Mr divorce Mr Watson thank you madam chair thank you Mr dupler so the reason I appreciate you making the changes to or um removing the requested changes to that particular section of the policy is in our meeting in December I think
011that's where the bulk of our conversation was I'm not necessarily thinking that the original language was the best language but that's the particular language that I would like to discuss in policy review and then there may be another other revisions later so thank you all right so the motion um just correct me if I'm wrong here Mr Watson was to approve version two on the first reading and the second was Spanish seven correct okay any other Miss Horn thank you madam chair um just I mean I'm I'm really fine either way but I'll just say that um I would prefer the language that says may because and I think the state says that you have to have five people on a Review Committee I think this is almost double that so it's it's just a
012lot of people to have to have on a committee for something that is quite a lot of work to go through applications that are so numerous and pay you know such a large application so um but I'm really whatever the will of the board is I'll just tell you that based on the conversation that I've had with Julie Thompson who has spent a lot of time in Charter review meetings and that kind of thing um that that is my concern based on the conversation that I had with her about the review process thank you madam chair um since the committee for this year has already been set and we've already voted on it can we save shell for a future look so you're saying vote on I'm saying vote on the version that we have
013on the second version yes and then discuss the May shall in policy review and May and possibly change it yeah that's fine because it I mean it doesn't matter for this like you said we already have the committee for right now I think if we discuss those other changes then that would okay and that way we won't do it three times yeah that's fair Mr dupler thank you madam chair and I was just going to say that's that was the intent on the second version was that the board can come back at policy review or even a later date and make whatever changes the board sees fit just trying to get get the board in compliance for this particular review yeah so we have a motion on to pre-version to on first reading by Mr
014Watson in a second by Miss Owen is there any other discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries item 8A approved fiscal year 2023 budget overviews for Tennessee Department of Education Esser 2.0 and Esser 3.0 Grant commission my Mr Watson a second by Miss Henderson any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries a to be approved Tennessee Department of Education Tennessee accelerating literacy and learning corpse Grant in the amount of 2 million seven hundred and fifty seven thousand three hundred dollars motioned by Miss Henderson is second by Mr Triplett any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries 8C approved Grant contract with the Tennessee higher education commission for the term of January 15 2023 through December 31 2024 for a supporting post-secondary access in
015rural communities Grant in the amount of ninety five thousand one hundred and fifty eight dollars mentioned by Mr triplet second by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries eight D approved Grant contract with the Tennessee Department of intellectual and developmental disabilities for the term of January 1 2023 through June 30th 2023 for grant funding in the amount of twenty five hundred dollars for West Hills Elementary School any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries eight e approved Grant agreement with the National Education Association foundation for the term of November 15 2022 through November 15 2023 for grant funding in the amount of Nineteen Hundred and forty one dollars for the Knox County Schools social studies Department so by Mr Owen a second by Mr
016Watson any discussion all in favor say aye I any opposed motion carries 8f approved Grant agreement with the National Education Association foundation for the term of November 15 2022 through November 15 2023 for grant funding in the amount of four thousand four hundred and twelve dollars for the Hardin Valley Academy come by Ms Henderson any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries 8G approved Walmart community Grant the amount of 500 for Cedar Bluff Elementary School motion by Mr Watson a second by Reverend Butler any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries eight H proof Tennessee foundation for agriculture in the classroom Grant in the amount of 500 for Farragut High School been by Miss Horn a second by Miss Owen any discussion all in favor say aye
017aye any opposed motion carries eight I approve keep Knoxville beautiful Community beautification Grant in the amount of thirty nine hundred dollars for Fulton High School by myself on a second by Reverend Butler any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed promotion carries eight Jay approved nishwanger Foundation AP access for all mini grants in the total amount of one thousand seven hundred and eighty dollars and 49 cents for Karns and West high schools by Miss Henderson a second by Miss Spike any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries 8K approved receipt of Knox County government grant the amount of ten thousand dollars with required matching funds in the amount of ten thousand dollars and contract with Tim's fencing for upgrade of Gibbs High School softball field fencing motion by Mr
018McMillan is second by Mr triplet any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries item 9A was withdrawn 9B approved contract with Duncan and Sons Building Maintenance LLC for janitorial services at 17 Knox County Schools for the term of February 1 2023 through June 30th 2023 at a cost of one million forty thousand dollars by Mr Watson a second and before we get into discussion on this after having a conversation with the Community member after Monday's meeting I would just like to take a moment to clarify for the public and for the record that um this board does oversee the budget right so and when we talk about salary schedules and pay you know and I do believe we've all committed and I do appreciate you bringing up the comment about the
019salary schedule at midnight Mr Watson that we're talking about ourselves I mean you know we did approve this budget and it was approved unanimously and I think there might be a little bit of confusion out there in the public about that so I just wanted to go on the record and just as a reminder that you know this is one of our duties as as a board so we're seeing the budget so let's see that being said Miss Owen I believe you are a first step thank you Miss Christie um in in thinking about this since Monday and how we're talking about it it occurs to me that what we're doing with this grant or with this contract is solving the wrong problem it's like when you have a word problem in math and you
020solve it and you do it correctly but it's not the problem that the question was asking the problem that we have is with attracting and retaining custodial staff the result of that problem is the cleanliness of schools but the problem that we have is attracting and retaining those employees and we are not currently doing anything to solve that problem so I think it's important that we look at at what this contract really does this is a very expensive Band-Aid for a very short amount of time that doesn't solve the real problem thank you Mr Watson thank you madam chair Ms Owen I agree I don't think it's solving the ultimate problem I think sometimes when you have problems there's short-term Band-Aid Solutions and I would call this that and then there's also the longer term
021so Solutions do y'all feel like the series just always listening to you I was speaking to miss human today and it's the same thing on our phone call Siri responded so anyway so I'm not okay so where was I at in that so but yes Band-Aids yes but then there's obviously the uh more systemic uh challenges that we have and I think that's ultimately what we're facing because the challenge that we're facing with our custodians is not something that is reflective even just this year I mean we've been at a deficit in this for a long time um and so Mr mcgarn would you speak a little bit to kind of the the current work that we're doing to try to help Rectify some of this but then also if you can speak to some
022of the things that you all are planning on doing and then ultimately what I would ask because I think this is a Band-Aid solution I think it would be important for this uh for central office for Dr roswick for you and the team to report back to the board maybe in the next three months or something and say hey here's how it's going with Duncan and Sons and here's the other things we're doing and here's the results we're seeing you know did we close the gap by 20 positions in the next three months I don't know maybe we will right but I think because of the nature of this it would be good to kind of get a report out but I would love to hear from Miss himmelgar in terms of kind of what
023we're currently doing and kind of what's on the top what's on the um what's on the at the table I mean you all know this is a problem right so yeah what's the plan absolutely Madam chair Mr Watson members of the board there are several things um that we're doing both work that um we have already been doing and will continue um a few things that have stemmed from the meeting on Monday night some things that were brought up at the meeting so one item that was noted was the 1008 starting salary for custodians specifically versus the 1089. that was an error on our municide and we've corrected that we had the team had already started reviewing the application process and will continue to do so we do have the same application currently for all
024staff members so we're viewing to see if there are if it makes sense to have different applications for different categories of of job postings to make that a little bit less burdensome we will continue to review and and bring proposals in the budget discussions there was a conversation on Monday about the salary study which would produce potential recommendations for fy25 that does not mean that we're not going to take any action or make any proposals with fy24 it means that we may not make sweeping changes to our salary schedule but it doesn't mean that we wouldn't propose percentage increases for next year or or other type of increases I will let Mr moseman Alex moseman our executive director of talent acquisition is here tonight too and I will let him share with you all um
025some things that the talent team is doing in addition thank you I'm chair member of the board um so I'll just I'll uh Echo what Miss hemogarn had already shared and acknowledged I think the challenge that we're all facing just in terms of recruiting and retaining Talent across the district I don't know that KCs is unique in the labor market in terms of our ability to recruit and retain talent in this present moment and what we know and I think several of you have rightly pointed out is one of the fundamental and sort of technical challenges that we are working through is how do we make it easier for folks to raise their hand and say I want to work for KCs and then how do we take that process and make sure that we're
026connecting folks to the right hiring manager and getting them into the right role and so we have a quick interest form that we've been using kind of piloting for a while now to make sure that folks can from a mobile device express interest that can go to a member of the Town acquisition team and then we can work to make sure that we get that person plugged into the right hiring manager that's something that's applicable across all roles because we know that recruiting custodians is fundamentally at the same time the same process as it would potentially be for recruiting teachers or other certified staff as well so that's one sort of technical fix that we're working through to try to make sure that we are again making it easier for folks to so I'm ready
027to work for KCs I'm ready to make a difference in Knox County Schools but additionally we've been internally working through the process of thinking about how we sell the district as a place that you can be a part of a community and grow and Thrive and so what does that look like from a messaging standpoint what are the technical pieces behind that how might you build some more of that digital infrastructure that allows us to tell that story to do so in a fiscally responsible way and also do so in a really targeted way so there's a lot of work kind of start to see slowly roll out from this month and on through June and then we'll have a chance to kind of take a step back see what worked make some tweaks and
028continue to iterate over time about how we want to make sure that again if you want to work for KCs if you're ready to make a difference in our schools that we make it simple and easy for you to get plugged in and then we have a process that supports folks in finding the right seat are you continuing okay Mr mosman in in particular with our custodial positions where are some of the places that we're getting the word out too like I know probably indeed right but like where are we trying to Source custodians from it's a great question I think right now what we're trying to figure out is is what is the are there issues with our process internally potentially what we are uh are there places where we can tweak those things
029to make sure that we are getting folks who might be somewhere in our system that are ready to be in a custodial position or potentially eligible for a custodian position and then getting them connected to the right place and so it's kind of working inside out um we haven't yet launched sort of a more full scale of here's how we're going to connect folks but do plan to launch some work in the coming months to make sure that we're embedded with more community-based organizations that would be targeted at classified recruitment which would include custodians thank you I feel like I should know the answer to this question but I don't think I do so our starting pay at Step Zero is 1089 for the for this particular position can somebody bring in experience from another
030employer and already be bumped up that scale right so so it's 1089 if you have no prior experience in the industry but not with KCs correct correct can bring in up to five years of verifying okay so if you have previous experience at another employer up to five years you could jump up that scale from the start correct thank you Mr Bozeman I just want to say I love these I think you gave them to every board member right and and I have scanned the QR code and is that the form you're you're talking about so right so I I do really like it Dr Ashley can I add one thing to that too because I think the thinking behind it we're always trying to talk about how do we make complex simple like that's
031the that's the role of of administration in leadership right and I think what the unique thing about these I think can you talk about what happens once they're sent in and how that process goes so it's not just a I think that's that's important too yeah so what we're trying to think about as we know all of us have networks within Knox County community how do we Empower folks to be a part of helping us recruit staff and make that as easy as possible so if someone scans that code and they submit that form there will be a form that pops up you'll I'll get an email clearance Ranger will get an email that information populates into kind of a tracking spreadsheet that we use the person also automatically then gets an email to schedule
032time to talk to to Mr surrender our district Talent acquisition specialist and then from there we're working to make sure that we stay in contact with those folks and find the right seat so that's that's sort of the technical way in which we we do that what's nice uh is that again this is really simple it's really easy for us to apply this same use case across lots of different places and so that form itself can be linked digital advertising as well then we've got a system on the back end that helps us both track and convert candidates but also analyze sort of what's happening so we've got a system to make sure that you know if you've submitted that interest you've gotten a certain number of touch points that we're continuing to convert folks
033can you look at the analytics in terms of where people are getting to this link from not yet and then here's just a comment I'm on the Forum right now to me it's I could be wrong but just in my own hiring practices race and ethnicity and gender seems premature on an interest form like I mean to me I like I know why we want that later to track demographics and all the things but in terms of like are you interested in working for KCs and are you white or Hispanic and female to for that to be upfront on the interest form to me seems a little premature can you talk I'm sure you gave thought to in terms of why you did that can you help us understand that part of it yeah we
034use it for exactly what you describe demographic Trends within that interest form to make sure that we don't see disparities between the way in which we as KCs are converting those leads is that something that historically because this is new right this interest form is where where was it tracked before was that within the application process yeah it's all it's also tracking the Apple sorry go ahead yes it's also attracting the application process so of a formal application that they see out there as well definitely don't think we need to be in day-to-day management but my thought is like if it's already tracked in the application I don't know that I would track it on the interest form it just seems too much too quick when you're just trying to say are you interested in
035working here you're already asking personal questions before they've even shared interest I don't know to me it just feel it felt a little a little off when I saw that just for whatever it's worth take it or leave it but I do love the approach and I appreciate the work on the interest form and would like to ask that we we if we especially if we pass this contract and even if we don't that Dr waswick that you give some kind of report out in a couple months in terms of how the progress is going so all right Miss Spike I believe you were next thank you um I would like to propose a substitute motion to instead of this contract with Duncan and Sons to give to a 200 monthly bonus to the current
036custodians and all future custodians for the time of February 1st to June 30th 2023. I have done the math on that and this that number would give us within this contract roughly in excess of up to nineteen thousand dollars of wiggle room I'm happy to explain my math would you like me to explain can you can you repeat it can you repeat your motion yes um to in lieu of this contract to give all current custodians that are currently employed with KCs 200 monthly bonus from February 1st to June 30th and then also all future custodians for that time period as an and they also would get the 200 bonus so essentially we have up to 383.7 full-time staff um that would give them 200 every month for five months and then working within the
037one million forty thousand budget that depending on what the hourly wage is of those extra hires that we are missing right now that would potentially give us um nineteen thousand dollars of wiggle room so we have a substitute motion by Miss bike and a second by Miss Owen um Reverend Butler I believe you were next did you wanna um I guess I have a point of order do I I was going to speak to the previous motion this is a substitute motion I'm going to speak to this now or or wait because you can speak to both sense I appreciate that well I was going to say I appreciate the point of order Reverend Butler at this point uh you could comment on the substitute motion uh and then if the substitute motion uh fails
038then you could also comment on the original motion okay so it's my choice um I'll go ahead and make my comments and question and then it may have an impact on this motion my question I think may have been maybe to Dr Adams if I remember how we talked about it Monday night but how many uh how many positions do we have vacant and how many do we have field custodians and so we have a total of 392 positions available out of those 392 positions we have 83 vacancies and so um the contract was proposed because currently with those 83 vacancies the district cannot meet the standard of uh cleaning for the schools as with the current vacancies that's the reason why I think you were proposing that the contract is being proposed is that
039correct and I do apologize Madam chair Dr Butler that is correct so um the question I have the question for me is I was going to ask earlier in fact what I was going to say was my first job in the military was a comeback minute and um Band-Aids were used after you get a shot but when you were in a critical condition and losing blood you used a tourniquet and I think we are in tourniquet condition so this is a tourniquet and not a Band-Aid and I'm not sure if the proposal of of and I do support what the proposal wants us to do but I think right now we have to stop the bleeding and so this contract I don't see it as Outsourcing I see it's at a stop Gap that we
040have to stop the bleeding I see what I understood from those who discussed on Monday night the schools that have the the worst uh shortages the concern is keeping the custodians you have if you could even if you give him more money they still are doing uh two jobs if you have three people and seven people supposed to be there then you got three people doing seven people's job and if you give them more two dollars an hour 200 a month they still are doing more work and they're not capable of doing that work so that's why I think that we have to have this contract because it is a stop Gap that's the way I look at it and I do think I do have one other question and I hope it's appropriate here
041is that in the contract that has been presented I see we're paying about two hundred thousand dollars a month how many positions do we expect have we contracted for them to feel have we contracted them to feel all 83 it was a what's the number no sir they have approximately 50 positions they have approximately 50 positions so we contract for 50 positions that they would feel if they do not feel these positions do we still pay them no they have to fulfill their obligations so we pay them for the positions that they feel they feel 25 we pay them for 25. correct me if I'm wrong uh Mr dupler but that would be a breach of contract if they did not fill the 50 positions yes yes essentially I mean I'd have to look at
042the remedy but I mean yes so certainly that was the part of the part of the the bargain yeah so is there a deadline of filling the positions from the start date all 50 positions started February 1st they're supposed to feel 50 positions and throughout the length of the contract they would keep those 50 positions field yes sir that is correct and that that's the way they get paid yes because that so so the feeling is is that even though that'll leave 33 vacancies we still would be able to meet the standards that are called for yes sir that is correct okay I think that's all my questions and comments at this time and Madam chair um but I I would be remiss if I don't say this uh Knox County Schools uh gave a
043bonus of a thousand dollars and and Lori can speak to that and we were not able to retain or um get additional applicants the applicants that we did get they took the 500 and they left um no one was able to get these out the thousand dollars so it attracted people um for the duration of uh the the bonus basically so this is not a new proposal that Knox County school has done this is something that that we've done in the past and and just to be quite Frank it failed miserably when you say this is not a new proposal you need a proposal to give more money yes sir that is the bonus that is correct Mr what or Mr duper did you want to I just wanted to to address uh Dr Adam's
044question Reverend button's question about rectifying any problems we did talk about about that a little bit on Monday night as well in the main contract it talks about any issues need to be resolved within 72 hours by communication and if not resolved then the contract could be terminated with uh 30 days notice thank you Mr duporch Mr Watson thank you madam chair so I think I agree with Mr Butler or Reverend Butler that this is a tourniquet situation I think that's much better language than what I use in terms of a Band-Aid and I appreciate uh Miss Mike what you're proposing and the intent of what you're proposing and what I heard a lot from the other night on Monday was that also the existing employees have been overworked and worn out and all the
045things so I'm wondering what the thoughts would be about actually doing both and thinking those people who have been doing the deal right all year with short staffed and my Math's a little bit different so um you're saying 200 a month for five months that's a thousand dollars per employee about 310 employees that's 310 000. so add that to this contract you're talking going you're going to 1.5 million basically roughly right so I'm I'm wondering about a friendly amendment to your substitute motion which is to do what you're suggesting and then also fulfilling this contract which to me would honor all the work that people have stepped up and done above and beyond maybe a little bit of incentive for new ones because you're because your proposal was people who get hired on between now
046and then they would also get that extra two hundred dollars right I think the only thing with that sorry to interrupt is that the new hires would be under the contract no so that would be we would still be hiring people directly at correct KCs okay then for them yeah yes so for KCs employees then yes we're not talking about bonusing Duncan and Sons right so the Duncan and Sons contract will stay as is and then as as a thank you for going above and beyond and with a short labor force and possibly as an incentive for new people because they would get that 200 for the months that they were here if they jumped on I I think I would like to offer a friendly a friendly Amendment uh to actually enact the contract
047and pay um every current custodian 200 a month in extra pay between now and the end of the five month period as well as any new hires for KCs during that five-month period which in my math that's rough it's less than 1.5 million for sure I would be in support of that Miss Owen thank you madam chair first I think it may be important to call that a bonus we need to check with the finance department on that um also I'm not finding in the service agreement or in the contract where it says that we are guaranteed that specific number there's a billing summary that has that specific number but in the services all it says is that contractor will provide professional and competent janitorial and related services to the client at the following location
048locations I don't see any guarantee of any number of persons can someone help me find that somewhere Dr Adams Madam chair Miss Owen we have a breakdown and Mr dupler can speak to the actual contract but we have a breakdown uh per School the Staffing um that doesn't sons has agreed to uh which comes up for the total of the 50 employees but as far as which we're in in the contract and the agreement that we have and the breakdown of the supports per school we do have that breakdown so Mr Duplo if you'd like to speak to the actual contract um yeah but my understanding is that is tied into the contract the number of people the breakdown of schools and the agreement we have with the Duncan and Sons well thank you yeah
049Dr Adams Miss Owen yes it's my understanding that the way the contract is is worded it's it's it's per school so and it talks about you know uh each School talks about you know for instance the one I'm looking at right now Bearden Middle School two full-time team members uh so so it does talk about those issues and frankly uh what the contract with Duncan and Sons purports to do is to provide the you know the high quality cleaning at these certain schools for this certain price for this certain square footage so if there's any dissatisfaction with that uh Dr Adams and his staff can can uh you know Express that dissatisfaction have some Communications in writing email and then get it rectified and if not then we could take take action so looking at
050the billing summary where it says prices reflected are estimated and will change based on actual start date that I get but seeing no guarantee of these numbers and just that it says they will provide professional and competent janitorial and related services at those locations it looks to me like for example at Northwest Middle where it says they will provide for if they only provide two and we don't we don't take any action to complain about that then they could continue to just provide two correct Madam chair Miss Owen uh the way that it's broken down is to your point yes it's broken down by person and the dollars are tied to the people and keep in mind that we will have an on-site head custodian who would report directly to their direct supervisor which is
051Miss Hall if an employee does is not present uh and and that once again would be I would consider a breach of contracts which would have to be rectified immediately thank you I have a point of order yes was the friendly Amendment uh yeah approved or accepted Spike accepted that I think who was someone was the second okay yes so so you you are accepting it as the second brightness so yes and Dr islet can we maybe I don't know if you or Mr McPherson just want to speak to that and and the language that you know would need to be used and the budget impact I I would think again miss himmelgar Mr McPherson comes to speak they probably have Mr McPherson come speak to that if it's okay Mr McPherson can speak in
052far more specifics than I but the the thousand dollars wouldn't the cost to the district wouldn't just be a thought it would be more than more than just a thousand dollars okay thank you madam chair yes so a thousand dollars you would have to take into account a couple you know FICA in retirement on top of that um and so again this is kind of a back of the envelope calculation but if you if you apply that to our existing employee Force you're probably looking at north of 350 000 that's that sister of estimate and then the question would be if if additional hires along the way you would be you know you'd be adding that to it thousand dollars that would be the thought that if it was a thousand dollar I would want
053to be careful not to call it a bonus I mean you know because of tax implications so it depends on how we believe we would categorize that but yeah that would be with a thousand dollars based on our existing employee Force which I guess you know roughly maybe 310 that's gonna vary of course um and um so that would that would you know that would that would be if what I think I hear the board saying that would be in addition to the uh proposed contract here so excuse me what we looked at is is the amount of savings at so far and when I say savings I'm talking about strictly employee turnovers so it's I'm just talking about strictly dollars right so the proposal was to take yeah the amount which was I had
054to go back and look but it was really close actually too somehow comparison to what this contract was so we were just going to re redirect those dollars that have that remained and spent into you know into this into this contract if the board approved it that would be our um mechanism or proposal for for funding the uh now an additional um additional amount that would go for bonuses and uh you know we would we would need to look at you know we would need to look in you know other places of the budget potentially could that run the the budget over with respect to the custodial line item and he could uh it's just hard to say there's still you know five more months to go into the year um you know if that
055would be the case and we would we would just need to go into another line item where potentially there are Savings in reality redirect those dollars into that okay thank you um I just you know just I would like to know I mean I'm not opposed to that I mean I definitely think they have been doing going above and beyond to to do the job in obviously or exhausted and struggling to keep up um I guess my only concern about doing it now I don't even know if I would call it a concern um but but it is something I'm sitting here thinking about so we have a lot of other employees in the same situation right I mean we've got ta's cafeteria workers you know I I guess I had it in my mind
056that we would be addressing this in the budget which we will start discussing soon like I said I'm not I'm not saying I'm necessarily against it I'm just trying to think of our other you know employees that might be in the same situation um because I had the same concern what kind of impact does that have on our other support staff like our Tas our food service workers who work really hard as well and I'm not opposed to giving bonuses but I would like to see it more well thought out in regards to those other staff I know that some some of the custodians work different hours and others would the bonus be the same for all of them depending on what hours they I just think there's a lot of questions that need to
057be answered and why I'm not opposed to it I think that during the budget cycle would be the time that I would be more comfortable to address this I'm trying to see who is next here think it's you Mr Watson thank you madam chair Mr McPherson sorry I actually had a question for you and I know you already jumped back in your seat uh so you were estimating that would roughly be 350 000 with the bonus and then any additional any taxes that might be associated with it add that to the one point the one million forty um you're a little less than 1.4 so what what I think I heard you saying is that when you all looked at the savings from unfilled positions that we've had up till now in this category that
058it was close to that one million forty that anything above that you feel pretty confident would need to come from another source well I want to ask you this way I I would literally have to go back and look and see what that number I remember when we looked at that keep in mind that was actually an estimate too because what we did is we looked at like you know the average custodial salary and the average vacancy uh rate at the end of each month right and then so we kind of so we would other than just going into every single employee that that you know that was there so that was an estimate as well so um I can't remember the exact dollar it was it was it was definitely enough through the turnover
059based on our estimated amount at that time to redirect those dollars we were comfortable in redirecting those dollars into this proposal any amount over and above that they're they're I'm not saying there was not wiggle room there should be um but but we would yes that the short answer is is if if that if if the proposed if the contract along with the person they all exceeded the custodial budget then we would obviously we would need to go back into the budget look at areas of savings in other areas too yeah so if this is budget neutral and we and then we approve this tonight there's no issue but if it's not budget and neutral um is it up to Central Administration to determine where it actually comes from if it gets approved that well
060it would basically bear recommendation so it would likely what would happen is if we saw that were to start to go over it would be included in the quarterly line items before the board and so the board we provide those to the board and we show the areas now we do it by account number we show the areas where that would come from and if the board had any question obviously what those account numbers you know related to we could definitely we would definitely answer that yeah it would be probably be in the form of a it would be within the other line item transfers that we submit yeah uh Mr Christie Mr Anderson I'd certainly understand your concerns I didn't come tonight thinking I was going to make a friendly Amendment like that um
061and I think I can be supportive of that a minute amendment I did offer it but I'm also supportive of the original just passing the contract I think my real concern is if we do if we take an action and do not install this contract I think what we're going to find is in three or four months we've got dirtier schools than we have now I just this is not a lack of faith in miss immigraine and miss mosman and all the things I just do not think this issue is going to solve itself with our current in our current mode this is it's just not and so we can either make the choice to try to do something to put a tourniquet or we can watch it bleed out and that's I think that's
062probably what I'm more opposed to than anything else so I would agree with that um Miss Horn you've not spoken yet thank you madam chair and I think I think Mr Watson that's why to me this is two different things we're talking about we've combined something but we're really talking about two different things because as has been said we have a problem that we need to solve we also have a lot of hard-working folks that I think we all appreciate and and as as Miss Christie and Miss Henderson have said I'm I feel the same way I am not opposed to to showing appreciation at all however I would be concerned with doing that while not considering the big picture and considering the other staff members who are at that same pay scale because we
063have a lot of people who are working um a lot of hours and and working really hard so so I I would agree I think these are two different things that need to be need to be looked at as two separate things despite um can someone off the like off the top of their head um tell me what the pay scale is for um a custodial supervisor is it different Madam chair Miss bike our custodial salary schedule we have three sections to the schedule so one would be custodian one is head the second two are head custodian depending on how many how big the team is that they supervise in the building so our I think you all have heard our custodial pay scale starts at 1089 and tops out at 1682 the B scale
064for head custodian for the smaller staff starts at 11 28 goes to 1749. um the C starts at 12 33 and goes to 1907 and then we have a dream team leader that goes up to 1984. thank you so much um and my comment to that would be is that I don't view these as two separate things because these other staff they're not looking at working with people who are potentially getting paid more per hour um while they've been doing the job and they absolutely need appreciation I I've worked um 15 years ago I worked at Starbucks and I made Seven dollars an hour and when I had to train my manager when I was making seven dollars an hour that was miserable for me and it didn't help me want to stay in that
065job and I can only imagine that some of these head custodians are going to feel the same and I think that if we are tourniqueting the situation we also need to Band-Aid the other situation at the same time miss that one thank you madam chair I don't perceive this as showing appreciation I perceived this as helping our folks who are here to stay here we need to not lose anymore um earlier this year we had 28 positions which were reorganized and those 28 saw raises that averaged ten thousand dollars each we can do what we want to do if we want to give our custodians appropriate pay we can it's a choice and we need to very carefully consider the choices that we're making Mr triplet I don't believe you've had a chance to oh
066yeah thank you ma'am chair I think that everybody loves would love to support custodians pay increase all that would be great um I think again I agree with Miss Horn these are separate issues I think that we vote on the contract and approve the contract then we can take a look at finances and see if there's a line item available for us to to make a transfer but if this is pretty close to budget neutral then you know that's that's all we've got and if we have other resources available then we take a look at that I think we've talked and talked and talked and talked I'd like to call for the vote if I can get it point of point of order I I've been waiting I had to light on before anybody else
067but because we had a Amendment and then we had a friendly Amendment I haven't had a chance to speak to the friendly Amendment I mean so according to Robert's rules at this point uh you know once once the vote's been called for and it's seconded then then the board would need to vote to call for the vote will be for calling for the vote on item 9B and Mr Butler I vote no Owen Mr Watson no no Miss bike Miss Horn Miss Henderson Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Miss Christie yes Miss Horn would you like to change your pass vote five yes votes in four no votes [Music] so that motion passes to call for the question so we will be voting on The Substitute motion so this is the substitute motion with the friendly Amendment
068and yes that was approved by Miss Mike and Miss Irwin right Dr Butler okay so we're voting on The Friendly Amendment uh this is the full substitute motion with the friendly Amendment the contract and do the bonuses is that correct Mr Watson was that and I do have it I mean I think it is important what we call it and I think we need to be advised on whether or not we call this a bonus I know Mr McPherson just said that could be challenging is there preferred language from central office in terms of what this is called the preferred language of bonus versus stipend or some other something similar thank you madam chair yeah so it really is about basically how it's taxed on the front end right it's no Vortex just taxed on
069the front end so I think in times past we've called it I don't know if necessarily recommending this but we've used words like incentive before um what's the most advantageous for the employee with respect to bonus versus well so so they're going to be taxed regardless right right on the by the federal government right it's just a matter of how much withholding on the front end right so advantageous it's probably now the beholder I just know that what keeps more money in their pocket initially not using the word bonus But ultimately it's so incentive I would my I would propose incentive for them so this so what we are voting a contract but also do an incentive of was it 200 a month for five months for five months for existing custodians as well as
070any new hires new hires to KCs is that correct just for clarification all right so that is the motion we are voting on right now miss coatney if you will do a roll call Dr battler yes Miss Owen Mr Watson yes Miss bike yes Miss Horn Miss Henderson Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Miss Christie no that's four yes votes and five no votes so motion fails so now we are back to our original motion is that correct Mr dupler to approve the contract with Duncan and Sons yes and would you like to add anything to that I was just going to say if there is additional discussion technically the call for the vote was for the other motion so we can still discuss this that's correct right okay someone got a river and Butler well thank
071you for giving me an opportunity to speak and quite honestly it's not humorous to me because my light was on before a number of people's light was on before we started discussing the substitute motion or the amendment friendly Amendment to the social motion so I think it was unfair for me not to be able to share but now I have an opportunity to speak on this I wanted to ask the question again just to make sure because I understand that we have the contract provider saying they're going to provide a certain amount of positions every month if those positions are not fulfilled then we will have an opportunity to bring attention to that they would have 72 hours to correct that and the second thing I want to say is is that the analogy of
072a tourniquet is that you can only leave a tourniquet on for so long and then it would no longer be effective and so this being a something that we're using as a stop Gap if we we are contracted through June so we have to do something so that we don't have to do this in July because if we're doing this in July it's no longer a tourniquet because whatever you put the tournament going to stop the bleeding that's never that's that's going to be not usable anymore so I think it's important that we continue all of our efforts and even look at look at even things that that may be out of the box so that we can make sure that we have custodial staff that we're not uh we're not using a contract to
073fulfill [Music] thank you Mr Watson thank you madam chair uh Dr Adams on Monday I had asked you the question about um do they have to hire these folks or do they already have them and you said they could start February 1st is um I um I don't I feel like I'm pretty detailed but miss Owen like kills me on that like she's just incredibly detailed I do think after her raising that point I I do have a little bit of a concern too in terms of the contract in them having to fulfill that obligation it when you answered that on Monday is that based on conversations that you've had with management there that they already have them on staff or because there's nothing in the contract that obviously that states that so yeah and
074I'll certainly and and I've met with Duncan and Sons and Lori has met with them and a great deal I have Laurie come up and speak uh but when we looked and assessed the schools and keep in mind they've walked several of these schools they said that they had those employees ready to start at those schools so I'll let Lori speak to that thank you she went to the planning portion the conversation that I've had with Duncan and Sons is that they currently have 300 plus or minus custodians on staff currently their plan is to pull from some of their seasoned custodians at other places and create teams combined with new hires I don't know what that ratio is going to be I don't know what they're looking to hire for Knox County Schools specifically
075but they have assured me that that they can have the 50 people February 1st okay thank you so from your understanding there's some level of hiring they have to do between now and then it sounds like whether it be just County Schools or or maybe feel something that they're pulling somebody off of right I'm sure yeah right and we and we don't need to be in that level of detail in their business I get that right yeah yeah thank you so we have a call for the question in a second yes Mr McMillan I don't believe you're lied on nor were you called on were you can can you just shout that I mean I don't know we'll rock and roll I'm on Star shell yeah okay so we all right thank you Miss Hall
076so we will do another roll call vote on calling for the question Miss Cody Dr Butler yes Miss Owen yes yes Mr Watson yes Miss bike Miss Horn Miss Henderson Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Miss Christie yes Miss bike would you like to change your row that's seven yes oh eight yes votes in one pass so motion carries so now we will be back to the original motion and with of approving the contract with the common sense and let's do a roll call though on this as well miss company you chair thank you Dr Butler yes Owen Mr Watson yes Miss bike Miss Horn Miss Henderson Triplett Mr McMillan Miss Christie yes Miss bike would you like to change your password that is seven yes votes one no vote and one pass submission carries item 9C
077approved contracts with Harmony Family Center and McNabb Center for student Telehealth Services up to 150 000 per year for the term of February 1 2023 through January 31st 2024 which may be renewed for one additional year motion by Mr Triplet a second by Ms horn any discussion all in favor of Reverend Butler your light is on I believe is it that's okay all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries 9d approved contract with International Institute for restorative practices for restorative practices professional development materials and support a up to four hundred and three thousand dollars for a two-year term so motion by Mr Watson a second by Reverend Butler any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries item 10A was withdrawn 10B approved schematic design of addition to Hardin Valley
078Academy by cope architecture motion by Miss Henderson a second by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries TNC approved schematic design of addition and renovations to sturkey elementary school by Lewis group architects motion by myself and second by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries tnd a pre-resolution of the Knox County Board of Education to Surplus and me Hill School motion by Mr triplet second by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed so we have eight yes one no motion carries T and E approved fund balance designation in the amount of 414 740 for educational instructional and other supplies and materials for the new Northwest sector Elementary School a motion by Miss Henderson is taken by
079Miss Owen any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries tnf approved preschool curriculum adoption committee appointments mentioned by Miss Henderson is taken by Miss Horn any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries TNG approved tenure for eligible teachers mentioned by Reverend Butler in a second by Miss Owen any discussion all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries TN age so before we go to 10h just want to ask board members a question I don't know not knowing how long this discussion will take so before we get the motion on the floor is anybody opposed to maybe a five minute break um is everybody good with that five to ten minutes and then we'll come back okay thank you well all right we are back for
080the last item on our agenda Miss coatney approved 2023 legislative priorities so move motion by Miss Owen is second by Reverend Butler Miss Owen thank you madam chair um based on our discussion from Monday um first I want to remind our board that the these are legislative priorities and they are not the same as a list of position statements so when we are putting our priorities together what we have discussed in the past is the importance of keeping them as concise as possible and I'll tell you the version you have in front of you that's three pages is the exact same thing that you had attached to the agenda the only reason it's three pages is due to a printer problem so I just bolded everything to make it clear enough that we could read
081it and when that happened of course it made it bigger and it kicked it to three pages so when I put that back into its normal font it'll all be back on two pages just like it is attached to the agenda so that said um what we've discussed in the past is that when we take these to our legislators we want to have it as concise as possible so that they're not flipping through trying to figure out what it is that Knox County Schools wants so in the past we have gone with a a front and back that they can very easily look at I would much rather have it all on one front page so that they could just see it all in one one look but there was some discussion about making the
082larger font and going a little larger so there are some other large counties who have multiple pages to the point of having a booklet of legislative priorities and um that seems very difficult for legislators to keep up with so keeping it as as small as possible I think is important the place where we have gone larger we've tried to put bullet points to make that as clear as possible um in this version here's what I have added from Monday if you go under academic and retention decisions in the very last paragraph we discussed including appropriate and I think we said databased which is difficult I change that to evidence-based and if anyone has a an objection to that I'm glad to go back to data but appropriate evidence-based teacher training and materials for reading and
083literacy instruction there was some discussion around whether to include the language science of reading and it was my understanding that we were not going to include that I'd like to go a little bit further with that discussion um because it kind of applies to everything that's a term that has it means different things to different people to some people when we hear that science of reading we think what we're talking about is evidence-based we think what we're talking about is um reading that is based in science however there are some groups who don't read it that way they read that as a formula that is very scripted that is very exact and that doesn't give teachers the ability to do what's necessary for students necessarily so if we have something like that that looks very
084clear-cut and obvious to two different groups of people as being two very different things I think we need to do what we can to avoid that confusion because it's not saying the same things to everyone I have also tried to remove anything that might be um a political hot button phrase we need to remember that when we carry these we are taking them to people of of all parties and so we don't want to have something that is going to get stuck somewhere and be offensive to our legislators when we're trying to get them to work together to work for schools so that is important also um the next thing I included here is the TANF language and it is the language from tsba I took out the reference to tsba and changed that to
085Knox County Board of Education under funding for public education we removed all the sub-bullet points and all references to BEP we also removed the um The Source information there about numbers and so the top bullet continued investments in School nurses counselors social workers and mental health professionals is what I came down to the next large change is at the bottom of that page under review and correct unnecessary requirements if you'll take a look at that that's also tsba's language and that first paragraph is what came from tsba with the change of Knox County Schools in place of tsba I left in the paragraph we had before about burden's burdens some processes and procedures um we may feel that that is that's too wordy there so I'd be glad to cut that down some more if
086anyone likes the next point on the third page which will actually bump back up and be on the second page is transparency the Knox County Board of Education supports the efforts of the general assembly to impair Empower parents through transparency by clarifying the rights of parents regarding their child's education I think transparency is something we have discussed repeatedly and I I don't know of any objection to that that anyone has brought up so you won't have any questions about any of those what oh it says 2022 well all right we'll fix that one thank you you see anything that needs to be removed in any of that Miss Henderson did you thank you madam chair there's a couple of things I would like to see added on um I did provide them as amendments we
087can just vote on them individually I did take off I will take off the transparency since it is included in the document but I would like to see a more robust um item on literacy instruction and I did Supply that along with the definition of Science of reading on there and I may ask Aaron Philip Dr Phillips to come up and speak on that a little bit what I did have um just so because not everyone has a document the Knox County Board of Education believes that phonics is fundamental for children to learn to read the Knox County Board of Education urges the state's legislative bodies to continue to support the science of reading through teacher trainings and materials for literacy instruction the science of reading is defined as a body of research that incorporates
088insights and research from disciplines that include developmental psychology educational educational psychology cognitive science and cognitive Neuroscience the science of reading has demonstrated the methods that best help children learn to read from the earliest steps in spoken language to being able to successfully decode unfamiliar words I think that we're at a turning point in literacy it is in the spotlight locally in the spotlight at the state level and nationally I think if a person can't read they don't have the freedom to take advantage of every opportunity that this country has to offer and I'm not pretending to be an expert in literacy but what I am required to do as a policy maker is be able to fight for Effective Teacher trainings and make sure that our kids have what they need to be able to
089read well so Aaron can you speak to a little bit about the science of reading if you don't mind and do you think that this is important sure so the science of reading is a convergence of research that talks about what the elements are that lead to effective literacy instruction and so one of the simplest ways to look at that is a simple equation which is referred to as a simple view of reading which is taking language comprehension multiplied by decoding and that equates to reading comprehension so if we associate that with Scarborough's rope which is something that's often referred to when we talk about the science of reading there are essentially two ends to that rope the bottom end of that rope is about word recognition and so when we teach students to recognize
090words that's when we're using explicit direct instruction around phonological awareness which is spoke about on Monday which is that big umbrella we break it down to the phoneme level which is the smallest unit of sound in the language we're also teaching students how to blend sounds together with explicit instruction um and how to build their fluency capacity and so we're also teaching sight word recognition as part of that word um word recognition part of the rope that bottom part of the Rope is what we hope and what we strive for in all of our explicit direct instruction for students to master those are what we've refer to as constrained skills so in order to effectively employ those skills you have to master them the top part of Scarborough's rope is referred to it from the
091language comprehension side of things that's when we look at things like vocabulary um building up our our knowledge of how do words um speak to the meaning part of language and so we're looking carefully at the elements of reading comprehension when we think about literacy as an all-encompassing thing you can also refer to the Tennessee academic standards to get a picture of what that looks like so our Tennessee academic standards call for literate students to have um foundational literacy instruction so we have the FL code in our standards that speaks to foundational literacy we have speaking and listening standards so we want to build literate students who are well spoken and have the ability to listen well and comprehend what they're listening to we also have reading standards so the ability to engage with complex
092text and make meaning from those texts and then we have writing standards so how do we convey meaning in how we have written communication thank you and I know that the the state passed the literacy A literacy package recently and so for me this supports what the state is doing it supports one of our superintendents main priorities um and so and I also look at the legislative priorities I look at this document as something that embodies what this board deems important but also the values of Knox County I think that this should always be a working document I think it should be a changing document I would love to see at the end of the year what did we accomplish on our legislative priorities what went well what didn't go well I would just love
093to see this document kind of grow from where it is and I I would like to bring this up as I'm going to make a motion to add this because I just think it's important to add literacy to this especially since the state is focusing on this and our superintendent is focusing on this and his priorities thank you Dr Phillips thank you Miss Ford thank you madam chair um Miss Owen I appreciate you adding under I'm looking at the section under funding public education and I appreciate you adding the point about their recent attention to funding the needs and um Etc however I after our conversation on Monday and just really kind of the way it hit me too and to continue to include this section on the legislative priorities I think that they've addressed
094this in such a big way last year I don't think they're going to come back and do anything this year so to miss Henderson's point about this being a living document it doesn't mean that we won't need to come back and add something next year but they're not going to add anything I don't think they're going to add anything this year they've added they've added one billion dollars to education an additional 54 to 50 52 to 54 million dollars for KCs I don't think that I'm not sure that including this at this point will add to our credibility with the legislature so that I would like to hear from some other board members but that's my feeling on it that's that was my gut feeling on Monday and I um and as I've thought about
095it this week I just that's that is kind of my position so I think if we need to create some space on this document I would be in favor of deleting that and um and I don't you know we can we can revisit it next year to to see if we need to add anything back in the reason I feel strongly about keeping it in is because they are still in rule making and Rule making is where um where much of the funding decisions will be made about where to put different pieces of those funding funding formulas so my concern is that the Department of Education during rule making could make adjustments there and we need to be sure that our legislature is keeping an eye on that I guess so that we continue with
096these expectations perhaps we need to adjust the language then to reflect that even even more I don't I don't I'm not sure but I see your point I'm just concerned that um that it's going to appear like we don't think they've hurt us in the past Okay so yeah I'm thinking about the the finance committee Finance Ways and Means and they had great reservations about moving forward with it however they talked a lot about being able to make adjustments during this session so I I really feel like we need to keep this in front of them to be sure that they are are making those considerations as they're making adjustments to the law just just to speak a little bit of what you are saying Miss foreign I do think that it can be problematic
097if what we send doesn't recognize what's already been done I guess and that might be what you're trying to say right it it I don't want it to give the appearance of well Knox County doesn't even know that we dedicated right could we take the last sentence in the top paragraph and move it to the top of the paragraph would that help if the appreciation for their recent attention to funding needs or maybe in that section or maybe even I mean the the headline is funding for public education I think we're I think we might ought to speak more about um t-step you know it's specific rule making around Tisa so perhaps something that is um more targeted to what your point is about where dollars are allocated my concern would be in getting that
098completed before we have our our lunch with legislators yeah I mean I guess I'd like to hear from some other board members about what about your thoughts about this section in general and I'll also add I mean I I don't feel all that strongly about adding another page if we need to I mean that's not a hard Line in the Sand for me I mean if it comes to that and we need to add another page I'm okay with that um Miss bike thank you madam chair um I think this sounds really great and I and the amendment two and I agree that this should be a living document I maybe would just like some more clarity on um like it seems like a lot of this is you know asking for things and asking
099for intention and I'm not really sure um exactly what this is asking for and then also um what Knox County might where the gaps for Knox County would be that this would help fill yeah in my mind the legislative priorities and I'm not going to speak to Steve's amendments but they kind of go along with the parental transparency to me the legislative priorities is a document we always ask ask ask but we also need to show hey this is what we value for our students this is what we value for Knox County and this is what we value in education and these are our priorities and so that's where I'm coming from with those these are statements of this is what's important to us um so so just more clarity on that um is there
100any sort so it's just a statement of these are where our values are there isn't um an Ask there of legislature or for anything for us or so the state passed a literacy package last year read 360. That's based that's phonics based and so it just supports their work that they're doing to make sure that our students are ready for world after graduation okay I think the purpose of this document is to ask ask that's that's it's that's what it's for it's to go to our legislators and say this is what we want this is what we need it's supposed to be an ask ask document it's supposed to let them know here is here are our needs I think if we want to if we want to express appreciation when they have created something
101that's something we might want to do through resolution because this is what we are these are our asks for this session or well for this half of the session so so is it legislative asks or legislative priorities I think it's a balance sometimes they're called legislative agendas sometimes they're called priorities but this these are our priorities for what we want for legislators to do reading or supporting the statement as efforts I just think there's a balance I think you're talking about a position statement instead of a a legislative it's a priority for Knox County and we can vote on it it either will pass or not pass that's why I'm just bringing it to the board and I'll do whatever you know obviously it's the board's will but I think it's about should be a
102balanced document a working document is there an Ask we can put with this I mean it seems like there are needs with reading I mean obviously we need to let's I think Mr Watson I believe you are next up here or you haven't spoken thank you madam chair um I want to again appreciate all the work that's gone into this and appreciate appreciate those that brought ideas and suggestions to the table um I think it's important that whenever we're communicating the desires for Knox County Schools that were also conscious of the changing landscape that Knox County Schools resides in and I think that speaks to them to what miss Warren is saying that I know since I came on the board there was something very similar around funding the whole time and then you know
103Tisa happened and some people love it some people hate it and probably nobody's completely happy right but then there's also I to me in some ways I uh misunderstand I understand what you're saying but I think the literacy instruction falls in the same category and that like you just said they passed literacy uh that 360 what's the full name yeah read 360 right so I I guess when I'm I know this is probably throwing a wrench in it and I'm not suggesting that we do this and take all this time but I do think it's important for us in the future as we're as we're drafting this is to is to maybe maximize the use of this where we are really trying to push the envelope on things that have not been addressed to me
104to to spend the time to reaffirm and legislative priorities or legislative agenda things that have already been done I'm not sure that's the best use of of this tool and this opportunity to be in the years of our legislators and I do think there's a lot of ways to to acknowledge them and I appreciate your comments around balance I mean I don't want our legislators to think that we don't appreciate them but I think as you said this is a living document and I think it should acknowledge the changing landscape and so to me if if any Year we're just putting things on there that have already been done and already been addressed and tackled I'm not sure that's I'm not sure that's really um honoring the intent of what a legislative priority list should
105be that it because the reality is we're never going to get completely what we feel like we need for Knox County Schools that's just not the nature of the Beast right um and so there's always something new to try to push for and to me I think that's probably where the best use of this tool is is to really dig in and say well what are those things that we need to be pushing for not that I don't want to thank people for things that they've done I just think there's probably other avenues to do that so in some ways I I kind of deal with funding for public education section the way it's worded I I completely understand Miss Horn's concerns about rules but I don't think it's worded to really make that statement
106I think it does more drift into what miss Warren was saying that it's it's kind of restating things that have been addressed and also the literacy instruction I think both those things kind of fall into those categories of things the legislature's tackled um and we probably should move on to it and figure out what are the next things that Knox County Schools needs Mr triplet I I agree the living breathing I think that you know maybe in in Amendment Three and Men Four are things they've tackled recently and and the following year you don't bring those up again but it's something they've tackled recently and something we support and you know I want them to know there's a group of people in East Tennessee that support those things so we vote to add them on
107and then next year we we take them off you know it doesn't it doesn't have to be the same set of things every year but we add them for now and say hey we support some of the decisions you made around literacy and some of these things and then uh you know maybe we change the wording related to funding for public education to lend to support to some decisions that they've made and then you know next year those things come off and maybe there's some specific asks around literacy around funding that we want and so I I I agree that you don't want to I don't want to be all asked and I certainly don't want it to be all thank you very much and applaud there are some things we need but I think
108when there are decisions that are made that we value I would like to see those included just for one year to to bring support to those things and then let them know kind of hey you know you made some right decisions and we appreciate that we support that we want you to continue in that direction and then the following year those can be those can be moved off you know when I look at years previous documents this just doesn't really change it's almost like a repeat in a lot of ways which I I understand some of it is there needs to be a repeat but I think this is a way to say hey we support some decisions you've made continue in that direction the next year those can kind of come off and we
109can move in in other directions as well thank you Miss Owen thank you madam chair um in the paragraph on page one under the academic retention decisions if we added language that said if we added from the Tennessee standards in the last line materials for reading and foundational literacy and comprehension skills with that cover adding that to the language we added before would that cover it so you're saying adding that in place of no in addition to evidence-based teacher training and materials for reading and foundational literacy instruction and skills I would like to see a more robust definition so I would rather see it as how I've written it Miss Horn thank you madam chair I have a suggestion um it sounds like maybe what what we need is perhaps we could have in the
110final section of this document whether it's on page two or a page three which it looks like it might be a page three that it has kind of a separate section that says Knox County Board of Education appreciates and supports and then lists these four amendments so it's acknowledging that they've already been they've already been addressed and we appreciate and support those so that's kind of what it sounds like to me that would be clearer because and and it does the title of this it does say priorities so it doesn't say agenda it says priorities so that demonstrates that this these would be priorities um so and and even then as a and as an Assad to that whether we list the funding piece with that and then can and then list it basically how
111it is or then I the other suggestion that I would have for the funding for public education is perhaps just change the title to Tisa funding or something of that nature delete the first sentence and say the Board of Education appreciates our Knox County Board of Education appreciates our legislators recent attention to funding needs and urges the general assembly to ensure Tisa includes and then have the list so that it is an acknowledgment of just basically a we understand where we are and here's what we'd like to see I like that idea and I like um the organization of it where it's kind of um separate a little bit where it's like here's what we're asking for here's what we'd like to see and here's what we appreciate and these are the values of you
112know our area in our County so I'm I like that idea are you saying to remove the transparency piece and put that in a separate section yes then we could delete that piece and have and use the language um whatever whatever Miss um let's see Amendment one parents are best equipped yes so and and that basically restates what the legislature has already done so yes I would say delete that transparency yeah and then put it in the new section where we're acknowledging what has been done and appreciate what the legislature has already done this day so did we have a did we have a motion we only to to discuss this document she said that she would to discuss it right that she would be asking for an amendment that has not asked for one
113thank you so okay well then I mean do I don't know who has the floor I'm wondering so in in the here's what I'm thinking I'm thinking that no no one in the public has seen these so they haven't had an opportunity to discuss them with us should we add them next month as an amendment to that so that we can discuss them further or should we keep going go ahead I mean I know my district these were the things that people are coming to me with every day so well in some of these I think we're probably in some of their campaign material does this that recently ran um Mr Watson uh thank you madam chair uh miss Warren I do like your suggestion of reorganizing the document and I think it I think
114it makes it more clear when the um and I I think it makes it more clear when legislators looking at it that they see okay here's their ask and here's the things they're grateful for and I think that has a better flow of it instead of mixing it in between um and I and I do think the it does help removing that first sentence from the funding for public education I'm fine recalling it Tisa funding but really highlighting that those are the things we want addressed in the rules um and that is an ask that is something that's still in process I think that's important to probably try to include so I appreciate your suggestion of of reorganizing thinking so miss horn or Mr triplet I'm sorry so then can we make a motion then
115yeah you got it go ahead okay I'm chair I'll make a motion to make the following um adjustments to this document change the title for funding for public education to Tisa funding and delete the first sentence in that section then delete the transparency section altogether add a new title to the last section called Knox County Board of Education appreciates and supports and then add amendment one Amendment two amendment 3 and Amendment four as presented by um Miss Henderson and Mr Triplett foreign so we have a substitute motion to change the um heading of funding for public education right to to tease the funding delete the first sex sentence delete the first sentence um and leave the rest and then delete the section on transparency but add the language and a new heading of Knox County
116Board of Education appreciates and supports okay unless the four amendments that board members have so discussion on that Miss Owen I'm good with all of that until we get down to adding these four without any input from the public or from our teachers I know there's a great deal of concern over the classroom libraries that are having to be gone through right now um it it seems hypocritical to me to talk about transparency and then add supporting these things without giving any opportunity for the public to comment on any of these things so that's that's the concern I would have with adding that additional page Mr Watson thank you madam chair um I have a challenge with voting on this with all four minute amendments automatically included um I I do think three and four
117are hot button issues and I do think there are large swaths of our community that certainly support what the legislature did with both of those issues but I also know that there's some I think unintentional messages that are being sent the reality is we do have students in our community who are transgender and depending on I I don't think it necessarily matters what we view about that personally that is the way they identify and when the legislature does certain things that it did whether or not it felt like it was in the right to do that it does send a message to our community in terms of their value in terms of amendment four um I actually don't like the way that they handled what they did I'm not I'm certainly not an advocate for
118explicit content or Elementary libraries but the reality is there was already ways to handle that they were established and I think both of those were um culture War issues that where problems were trying to be addressed that maybe weren't problems and so I would offer a friendly Amendment to the motion and that is that we vote on the Amendments themselves separately to be added so so vote for the document first and then we just vote for Amendment one Amendment two Amendment Three we had one at a time one at a time so we both so the motion your motion Mr Watson is to vote for the document first with removing transparency and with the removal of everything that suggested and then a vote for Amendment one Amendment two Amendment Three Amendment four separate and so
119one and four may make it in two or three whatever it is I'm content with that so Miss Henderson are okay with that friendly Amendment yes summer Spike oh that was from before sorry okay so we are going to vote on the original the only so the only issue is when you talk about the section I guess on transparency I mean if we make that Amendment and then that doesn't right then we it's deleted so about to put it back on it I guess yeah that's I think that's fair yeah okay all right so we will vote on the document itself first is this correct Mr duper are we the board the the will of the board here uh you know but I'm just trying to make sure we're on the right track uh is
120the board then okay with the with the other uh Corrections that Miss Horn suggested and you're just voting on the four Editions with her suggestions yes okay all right just making sure we're okay so we're voting on The so that so that when somebody looks at this you know on down the road right so we're voting on the document with the change to the funding that the change to teach offending and deleting the first sentence and adding a last section which may or may not have right deleting transparency and then adding that last section just to be clear I think we're good we're also we're correcting the 2022 and the first sentence of the talk are we adding foundational to literacy instruction for now well if it's in I think it's I'm saying okay here's
121my question if we updated that to what you said with the foundational literacy and skills and then we'll be voting on this so it would be added for something that the state has already done and we support this one is this one is to continue this one has two two pieces to it part of it is the academic and retention decisions and local control so the full the full paragraph says districts must continue to have flexibility to adopt instructional and supplemental materials in partnership with teachers and with families including appropriate evidence-based teacher training and materials for reading and foundational literacy instruction and skills so do you want to keep that foundational and skills yeah okay yeah and then vote on this just because I think those two things work together the retention and the foundational
122literacy and comprehension thank you okay um changing the funding for Public public education just to The Heading of Tissa should it say Tissa and funding since Tisa is a formula and so just Tisa and funding Tis the slash funding and take out the first sentence there and delete the transparency section and there were no other deletions correct okay yes correct all right Miss Cody Dr Butler yes Miss Owen yes Mr Watson yes Miss bike Miss Horn Miss Henderson yes Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Miss Christie yes that eight yes votes I apologize that's not an yes so motion carries so point of order Mr dupler would it be best I guess for someone to make a motion to add an amendment piece by piece or that's already okay so going on so we're just going to
123just go down the road okay so miss Courtney we are now on Amendment one hey Dr Butler you want me to read the amendment or do you have them do you have them foreign since these are shall we call them amendments or shall we just call them by their by their title I would say in the document by their title right right so should we vote on them that way too yeah we we should so the first thing we will be voting on is um adding parental transparency which um languages parents are best equipped and informed to know their children to make decisions regarding their needs and challenges the Knox County Board of Education supports the efforts of the state legislative bodies to clarify the rights and Empower parents in their child's education let's come
124Dr Butler yes Miss Owen Mr Watson yes Miss bike Miss Horn Miss Henderson yes Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Ms Christie yes Dr Butler would you like to change your pass vote no Miss bike would you like to change your password okay that is seven yes votes and two pass votes okay so motion carries the next topic would be literacy instruction and the language is the Knox County Board of Education believes that phonics is fundamental for children to learn to read the Knox County Board of Education urges the state legislative bodies to continue to support the science of reading through teacher trainings and materials for literacy instruction the science of reading is defined as a body of research that incorporates insights and research from disciplines that include developmental psychology educational psychology cognitive science and cognitive Neuroscience
125the science of reading has demonstrated the methods that best help children learn to read from the earliest steps in spoken language to being able to successfully decode unfamiliar words pass Miss Owen Mr Watson yes Miss bike Miss Horn Mr Miss Anderson yes Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Miss Christie yes Dr Butler would you like to change your pass vote no this bike that is six yes votes one no vote and two pass votes so motion carries the next section we do not have a heading for this it just says Amendment Three whatever you want to call it what what did you say support for women's sports and the wording in that is we support the legislature's efforts to protect women's sports ensuring that young women in Knox County have the opportunity to compete and succeed Dr
126Butler pass Miss Owen Mr Watson no Miss bike no no Miss Horn Miss Henderson yes Mr Triplett Mr McMillan Miss Christie yes Dr Butler would you like to change your pass vote no Miss Owen now that's five yes votes two no votes and two pass votes so motion carries so miss I'm sorry parental rights is you want to okay so the last one will um like curriculum or age-appropriate curriculum yeah yeah or age appropriate materials in classroom okay age-appropriate materials in classrooms so the last one will be age appropriate materials in classrooms and language on that is we support the legislature's effort to prohibit explicit content from elementary school libraries to protect young children and ensure parental rights Dr Butler pass Miss Owen Mr Watson Miss bike Miss Horn Miss Henderson yes Mr Triplett Mr
127McMillan Ms Christy yes Dr Butler would you like to change your pass vote no ma'am Miss Owen that's five yes votes two no votes and two pass votes all right so motion carries so moving on to public forum Miss Henderson Madam chair we have one public speaker signed up Mandy Hargis welcome you have three minutes please state your name and County of residence here are the requirements for students to make honor roll and based on my own child's experience and what I was hearing from other parents at this school I began advocating to have this policy changed I initially reached out to principal Corey Smith in May of 2022 regarding this policy and was denied the opportunity to address the group of staff at the school who make decisions concerning concerning such policies I was
128later informed that this group declined to make any change at that time in August of 2022 it was suggested that I reach out to my local representatives for further advice and assistance in an effort to save time I will say that at some point in my journey to advocate for change I have reached out to the following individuals for assistance Florence Nady Region 2 supervisor Nate laganos District Six board member Betsy Henderson superintendent John reiswick and then subsequently each and every board member in this room none of these interactions have been positive or resulted in any action to help create change for students at Hardin Valley Middle School furthermore I have been told that principal Smith has autonomy and that no one is willing to review or overrule his policy and advocate for the students
129at the school despite bringing to the attention of each and every one of you that Knox County School District's policy I 310 titled reporting student progress is woefully inadequate and that the county locks a policy regarding honor roll at both at all both of which directly affect the Hardin Valley policy no positive change has been made indeed the proposed changes to i-310 which were voted on last month merely condone and promote the unfair policy of Hardin Valley Middle School and completely ignore or the deficiencies in which I have previously brought to your attention finally I want to say that I am incredibly frustrated and disappointed not only with the fact that I have to contact so many people and jump through so many Hoops to advocate for my child and all of the students at
130hard belly middle school but also in the quality of the interactions I have had I have been passed from one person to another and not a single one of you has been willing to do anything about the policies I brought to your attention additionally the issues that other parents and I have with the honor roll policy should have been able to be addressed in a positive mutually agreeable outcome at the school level the fact that I have been forced to address you all tonight only shows me that this board is more interested in the politics and not in the best interest of our children you should all be a very ashamed of yourselves good night thank you madam chair that concludes public forum meeting is adjourned