001with seven out of nine board members present I will call this meeting to order miss Owen has the moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance thank you miss Hill and this horn are out of town so we have a couple of announcements the first on behalf of the board I want to extend best wishes to all of our students staff and families who are enjoying a well-deserved fall break this week we are happy to have that back in our North County calendar and we look forward to had everyone back at school next Monday second announcement several board members will be attending the Tennessee School Boards Association Leadership Conference and annual convention November 2nd through the 5th in Nashville and as board members we look forward to spending time and sharing information with other board
002members from across the state are there any elected officials here okay seeing none we'll move on to changes to the agenda first we'll look at is there any changes to the work session agenda at first okay then I do have a motion to approve motion by mr. Rowntree seconded by mr. norman all in favor say aye aye all opposed motion carries next will be any if there's any requested Corrections or changes to the regular session agenda for Wednesday night okay superintendent Thomas yes madam chair I would like to withdraw the item that regarding the 403 B plan okay miss company just informed us that that's item 12 d she believes so we have that that would like to be reduct withdrawn do I have a motion okay is there any discussion regarding this all in
003favor of the removing item 12 that was 12 for about the 403 B plan say aye aye all opposed motion carries that item will be voted on to be removed on Wednesday night okay I think that's back to you superintendent Thomas for your report oh I'm sorry I miss you do yes thank you madam chair members of the board yes have some brief updates for you this evening the coupon book campaign officially ended on September 27 and that means that the completion of the sale of books at schools books are still available for purchase from central office and can be purchased soon at some of our retail partners Knox County Schools has hosted two of four opiate abuse prevention community meetings one of those at Bearden high school the other at South Doyle high school
004both meetings had large crowds and feedback from those meetings has been incredibly positive we're seeing many requests to get information about the dangers of drug addiction into the hands of students as early as fifth grade and to talk more with our students about consequences of drug use there are still two more meetings that will be held the next meeting will be at Fulton high school Wednesday October 25th at six o'clock and the following night Thursday night October 26th at hall halls high school at six o'clock hype for schools is coming up on October 28th it's a three mile round trip hike that's open to all abilities it's from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on 3rd Creek Greenway registration is $10 and the ten dollars will get you a t-shirt and also $5 goes back to the
005school the event is untimed it's not a race and food trucks will be on site participating food trucks will donate ten percent of proceeds to Knox County Schools as well pre-registration is open until October 17th the dogwood elementary rezoning meeting is coming up on Tuesday October 17 at 6 p.m. and it will be in the gymnasium national school bus safety week is October 16 through 20 the theme is hashtag stop on red to promote stopping when the school bus stop sign is extended from the bus transportation is working with public affairs to distribute posters to all schools one for elementary and one for middle and high with appropriate bus safety tips principals will incorporate these safety tips into morning announcement announcements Prentis Elliott from kcs TVs making a PSA to be shown to students it
006will also hopefully air on local news sites in Casey STV we will also do the first school bus driver awards that week thank a teacher week is immediately following from October 23rd to 27 the week will kick off with the teacher supply depot opening on Saturday October 21st reach them to teach them will occur on Tuesday of that week at the Tennessee theatre and if viewing that mr. holland's opus will happen at Regal Cinemas on Saturday October 28th in our partnership with great schools we're entering into our fourth cohort of teacher pannier grants this year the idea behind the grant is for teachers to submit an idea for an innovative approach to instruction in the classroom all Knox County teachers will have the opportunity to submit proposals the deadline for application is October 18th our
007magnet Showcase is scheduled for Thursday October 26 this event will be at Market Square from 6 to 8 p.m. and finally congratulations to both Missy Massey and Shannon Jackson two of our central office administrators for the outstanding collaborator from the department of therapy and practice and teacher education at UT so Missy and Shannon congratulations and we're really proud of you so by the way neither of those two told me anything about it so that's how modest they are so so congratulations and madam chair that and members the board concludes my report thank you for this report item 12 B - the proof - through the freeze of current 403 B plan is was there was a motion made to remove that from the agenda that any member that early person that has signed up to
008speak to that item that would like to withdraw their name since that item will be voted on to be withdrawn on Wednesday can come up to at this time and remove their name if they want to if not then you'll be allowed to speak at the end but they have a very long meeting and we just wanted to make sure the if you wanted to you had an opportunity so if you'll just to come up here uh-huh see miss Roundtree Dallas Texas okay thank you we will move into the discussion of the October 11th regular session agenda and if you will or members if you will note that on that the first up the first item five and I'm sorry item five and six or special recognitions item 7 is approve appointment of the Board
009of Education Committee and rows for 2017 and 2018 so it's that time for committee selection but first I would just like to say thank you for each of you have done an outstanding job of serving on your committees your respective committees this year so unless someone desires to be reassigned or served in a different capacity the recommendation to be voted on will be to for the board committees to remain the same for the coming year however if you want to serve in a different capacity like this company now tomorrow so any discussion and I seen this someone has her line up I'd just like to make a suggestion we've had discussion back and forth about this in the past but I would like to suggest that we have an more official representative for the disparities
010in educational outcomes steering committee okay so that that person can can be there all the time and I think this death Ridge had expressed some interest in that so I'd be happy to pass that I do what miss Dandridge if you have some interest in that you look misko tenido tomorrow and so with the board's approval we could add that and vote on that but just if any of you in fact want to serve on that committee which is a very important but very difficult committee to work on then feel free to let miss company know and those so looked for a change to your agenda on Wednesday before the meeting I was just going to say I am happy to serve on the investment committee again this will be year number eight for me
011however since I am not seeking re-election if someone else is dying to have this so they can get warmed up I will not be a fit it will not hurt my feelings if somebody else wants to sit on the investment committee although I'm happy to do it again I just want people to not think it was mine forever and nobody could have it okay what perseverance eight years Wow okay and I don't see anybody jumping at the chance but they can let me know tomorrow okay into items and contracts and the first two under items and contracts item C 1 & 2 is there any discussion okay then items I'm sorry miss that one looking at the at the textbook compliance reports do I understand correctly that all of those are compliance is that what
012other courses Shannon thank you signing off from our school saying that we are in compliance in all of our buildings that's caddy thank you Miss Ellen you're like so on did you have an okay that's fine then item number three and four in it Michael you up about that or item three or four item - okay just a quick question is there a limit to the number of people that we can send to the governor's Academy for school leadership is that or is there is a nomination process and then they pick miss Jackson are you able to doc I'm sorry dr. Davis I did not see you there no there's not a limit typically we the superintendent typically nominates three to four assistant principals a year for that for that particular Academy okay thank you
013okay thank you Adams three and four and so on I have a question about the capacity of the two teaching assistants will they be teaching the classes under the supervision of a certified teacher that's the impression I got from the way it was worded or are they there to support one certified teacher thank you yes basically thank you madam chair we provide a full time teacher for general education and a part time special education teacher to meet students IEP goals so they will operate under the supervision of those folks does that mean they will be teaching the classes or they will be assisting those teachers teaching those classes so they will work in the capacity of assisting those teachers but they may run some small groups with some instructional materials that they would receive training
014on items three and four will move to I was five and item six and this is a lease agreement and a permanent easement miss Owen there's somewhere else that we could Park all of those vehicles that we actually own so we wouldn't have to pay this lease every year okay miss roads no ma'am not really that'll provide us the counter space we need we've we've had between 75 and a hundred trucks there regularly and then it's also used for parking for privately owned vehicles for our maintenance staff it's about three acres plus we're also getting a block storage building with that that's the point a thousand two thousand square feet miss Ellen I will tell you that I was over there a couple of weeks ago was meet with mr. French and it is a
015very needed piece of property for what we need it for so okay no other lights on for five and six we'll moved to seven and eight and both of these relate to Junior Achievement is there any discussion then we'll move to nine ten eleven which is two Scholastic Book Fairs and a Winter Formal miss Roundtree thank you madam chair I just know I know approving the Book Fairs is new and as the resident librarian I'm getting lots of questions about that process so is there anything that we're looking at to sort of streamline that I don't know who can answer that question Shanna Andres we are looking at doing a one-time contract that would be a blanket for our principals to sign but that's not in place at this time okay we're having to work
016with scholastic to get that done but we didn't want to hold up these books sure I understand Thank You Shannon thank you okay seeing no other lights we'll look at items 12 13 and 14 and these all relate to Carter middle school is there any discussion okay items 15 and 16 relating to Central High School any discussion items 17 18 and 19 I'll relate to Ellen in so any stem is there any discussion on those items items 20 and 21 relate to power high school any discussion items 22 through 25 relate to pal middle school any discussion on those okay items 21 22 35 no items 26 through 27 south or high school and Vine middle school can you discussion on those items okay well if not then we'll move into board policies policies a
017B and C under 9 a B and C any discussion policies d e and f any discussion on those three G H and I any discussion okay JK and L okay item M any discussion miss Ellen Terry emailed to you two pieces of paper that I'd like to look at as possibly an amendment what it does is takes the language that we have said that we believe is under six and just lay it out and define that so I think that's a sort of a compromise that allows people to see our intent while still changing the language the way we have looked at changing it so if we do that as an amendment Wednesday and that would allow us to vote differently on each one so if we voted for the amendments and then voted
018against changing the language then the amendment would just die with the motion or if we voted for the amendment and then voted for changing the language then the amendment would go on to the policy so that would just allow the definition to be there so that it would be clear what we're talking about thank you okay they say you get miss bounds I was just gonna ask if Miss Owen might read that language because people in the audience don't know what that is unless they've had a chance to thank you it is the definition of sex that says that sex includes anything related to sex gender sexual orientation or perception of such as interpreted by the EEOC and in quotation marks from the EEOC as the federal law enforcement agency charged with interpreting and enforcing
019Title 7 a EEOC has concluded that harassment their discrimination because of sexual orientation is prohibited sex discrimination okay miss you good thank you I just would like to ask a question of the law director does he have any problem with this because I understand the original recommendation to change the policy came from the law director's office so I'd like to know if this amendment would would meet with approval on Wednesday it's a law department's position that the way this is written is not a protected class under Title 7 nor is it protected under the Code of Federal Regulations which are promulgated to tell the EEOC what they need to do or can do the EEOC which policy can change at the whim of the administration of the government could well change tomorrow don't know but
020their policy must be guided by law by the statute and by the Code of Federal Regulations and clearly under the United States Code and under the CFR Code of Federal Regulations the definition given here is not a quote protected class so that is mine and in the and they are not the federal law enforcement agency charged with interpreting and enforcing Title 7 they are an agency that complaints can be taken to they then if they deem that there is a proper case turn it over to the Department of Justice who is the enforcement agency that carries out any lawsuits so I think it's not quite consistent with my understanding of the law I make no comment about policy this board can adopt whatever policy at once I'm not making any statement there other than that's
021my interpretation of the law so the only way we can guarantee that those students or faculty or whatever in the other policy are we can add to what we will not tolerate as harassment I mean I'm asking that I understand the legal definition but but my thought is if our legal if our policy just says we obey the law then do we even need a policy because of course we have to Beto Bey the law but you know I think our schools intent is that no one who enters a Knox County school feels subject to harassment or discrimination period whether you're the kid with braces whether you're the kid with freckles and or overweight or any of those kind of things so I cannot go to the policy review committees so I will ask now
022I can't I couldn't attend those meetings can we not have a policy that just says we don't tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind period understanding that we must follow the law I think so although I wasn't policy review the way I read the policy G 220 and it's which is harassment of employees and J 210 harassment of students it says any harassment any harassment now with regard to harassment of employees you would hold that your teachers most of whom have master's degrees or educated people are not going to be harassing other employees because of whatever position in life they have whether it's a sexual preference or whether as you should point out whether it's braces or overweight or some birth defect or something you're right that should not be tolerated under any circumstances but
023the way the policy is set out as I read it from the policy committee it says any harassment can lead to firing and disciplinary action against an employee there's another problem I see with this there's a doctrine in law that the Latin is expressio unius exclusio alterius and that is I think miss Fugate part of the problem with when you start itemizing those people that are protected for a particular reason that policy what I just gave you is a policy in law that says if you itemize certain items then all other items are excluded so what I'm saying is if you have a broad thing that the policy committee came out with that said no harassment period end of story no harassment of any kind to anybody you've covered the waterfront if you start itemizing
024then you've got people that may have had birth defects or braces or something else and you know as well as I do especially at the middle school level out on the playground it can be very very brutal and I know I went through it I understand that I did too so so that's my question if we I'm just but if we did does not tolerate harassment for any reason period why do we have to say including but not limited to harassment based on all the things that make up the legal definition you don't need all of that all you got to say is no harassment of any kind and I think you've covered it I think that in and of itself is something that subjects anybody to any harassment to disciplinary action by the superintendent
025and this board thank you then I will be doing a substitute motion on Wednesday I think next was mr. McMillan thank you madam chair I think the law director just answered my question but which was basically going to be is this not with the suggestions of miss Owens may decide the original offering from the law department was all-encompassing because it did not single out or enumerate different classes is that correct that's correct and although I wouldn't I have to say I was not at those meetings but the way I read it that is correct okay we dis not also applied to two to ten as well yes they pretty much mirror each other with regard to harass themselves if both of them would be covered as it would cover any individuals no matter as long
026as they were members of this they're ready to clear the human race it would cover the entire race as long as we didn't start singling out numerating different I do have a problem with that listing excluding by definition under law by excluding other people as miss Fugate said you know people are the braces or fat or C and I both be applied across the board to every student I agree I guess the only other question I would have is I guess based on what you said though I know you've said that you didn't necessarily recommend policy changes you know I feel like it's the position of the law department is still to go with your all's original recommendation of just making those the minor changes from standpoint of words again the law department doesn't want
027to enter into telling us more what to do on policy it can do what at once all we can do is recommend as we have suggestions and why under the law and what I've expressed here this policy that came out of the originally came out of the policy committee but I don't want anybody to understand that I'm telling this board what policy they can or should make I understand that but it but but I guess what I'm saying is the law department has no matter how much discussion we've had various meetings and committee meetings and whatnot the law department still stands by its original recommendation that's correct thank you miss Roundtree thank you madam chair I guess I just wanted to clarify a couple couple different things and Thank You Jennifer for trying to come
028up with an alternative to make everybody happy and you miss a few good as well this is just I guess it depends on what amendments folks make on Wednesday but I do think we just grammatically need to make sure we have consistency so if we're gonna either capital F for federal law or have that lowercase if we could just have that consistent and then I guess my other question was is I guess there would be is there procedure that was tied to this then we need to to change and I did want to just clarify mr. Hyuga you you mentioned on Wednesday that you plan to introduce an amendment that would just read does does not tolerate harassment for any reason here period okay doing the cluded yeah and then it would just pick back
029up where it says harassment by India yeah and it would pick back up there so and I think I hope everyone knows this but I feel strongly that I just need to go on the record that as a board member you know my intent is not for any student or employee to suffer harassment in any situation and I can't imagine that that would be the intent of any of my colleagues on this board so you know I appreciate that we have some different options that are being put out before us but I also want to add that this is only the first reading of the policy so depending on what happens on Wednesday it is gonna be coming back before us again the following month and you know I just hope that there are folks
030out there that know our heart is for doing what is right and supporting our kids and our staff and I just want that on the record thank you thank you miss Roundtree miss Evelyn I just want to clarify when we were talking about the original advice from the law department we have previously been advised that only using language that says we will not tolerate any harassment is inadequate and that we need to fully include all of the federally protected classes I think all of us have at some point said that we would prefer to just say that harassment is unacceptable and won't be tolerated at all so I think we need some clarification about whether we have whether we need that federal language or not because that's the point that that's the sticking point right
031there that has been a problem all along is that we have been told we need to have that federal language and I'd like to go on and say that a master's degree is not a valid measure of who may or may not be a harasser [Applause] one would hope school employees would not harassed each other is not enough and I say that as a harassment school employee and at that time our language was it was a long time ago and our language was too specific and it only covered sexual harassment and my harassment was not sexual harassment so I had no recourse at that time and our current policy I would be very covered and under the policy that Miss Fugate is talking about I would be very covered but I think it is very
032I think it is very limiting to assume that just because of one's station or one's degree or one's position that that would preclude them from being a harasser thank you it's Fugate thank you I would just follow up oh I will um mr. Beakman I call you in the morning and let's talk about something helping me draft something that would be legal certainly and thank you and if I might madam chairman I agree that the protected classes in there are covered under law anyway if you have a harassing work environment because of your sex you have an action under law anyway that was that was sort of my point about we have to follow the law can be we can say we won't tolerate any harass the read and that's all I'm not gonna give
033you my preference right thank you thank you I'll call you in the morning Thank You mr. Ridge thank you madam cheering I agree I'm glad you guys are gonna get together and figure out how to best work this because my issue or my concern is if we're going to discuss and let's protect the class then that's fine but when you pull as he stated when you start identifying one over the other then you need to do all which means then you have to identify what you mean by race national origin everything because now you got it word you've got my racial kids you've got those is called others you got kids identified different ways and they harassed too and then she said I've been there I've been arrests I've been discriminated against all that as
034a student so I understand what you're saying when you start identifying those that are more so than others then you get into a sticky situation so I'm gonna let you guys work it out and bring us something back yes mr. big as chairman would you get with a lot apartment in you after you meet with miss Fugate and kind of confirm amongst you all and come up with something miss you get and I'll get together whenever her convenience tomorrow morning and I've got all day to work with her and thank you for being here tonight okay thank you and I guess are you and mr. boot can discuss it it would it be possible for us to have it written as harassment for any reason and then a parenthesis about the federally identified protected area
035I don't know if that would be a way to sort of then cover all of those things I don't know I was just my point is we have to follow the law whether we say we're going to follow the law and policy doesn't it seems kind of redundant to me we don't need a policy if all we're gonna say is we're gonna follow the law that that was my only thought about that but I will he's got the law degree not me so we'll talk about it okay thank you I just got a little item item number in about the hearing officers are there any appointment of the hearing officers any discussion questions for mr. Buchan on OMP or policies listed as OMP is there any discussion item q any discussion madam chair I was
036just wondering all of the proposed amendments that we discussed on the earlier one of ever has meant of employees would those stay consistent across to the right amount of students okay item are SMT any discussion see no lights we'll move into UV and W any discussion on any of these three okay board policies listed under XY and Z any discussion okay moving into double letters now is there any discussion on a a BB or CC DD EE and FF g g h h @i and HH any discussion okay then we are on 10a under grants items a and B any discussion items C indeed any discussion items e F and G any discussion okay that finishes I believe all the grants so we're on 11 contracts is there any discussion on contracts under 8 or
037be seeing then we'll move into 12 regular agenda items item 8 any discussion miss Fugate I just have a follow-up I assume we found the money miss Fugate what we're recommending is that we do a designation from fund balance to cover the cost the there's still a couple outstanding things there were a couple of change orders and then also I know the contractors incurring some late charges because he's not been able to be paid yet so what we would request is for up to $450,000 but it all be designated to spend on this project and none would be spent in in in addition to what the cost is in other words we came in at 14 or 405 or whatever then that's what we would spend just to close out the project this will just
038be well take it out of fund balance what we don't spend we don't take out if it's 4 we won't we take out as much as it requires to pay the contractor and then hope that the end of this year we have some more back into fund balance right we would hope to replace what is designated out of fund balance through any excess revenue that might come in this year or expenditures that are under under other projected I guess that they would close in to fund balance thank you madam chair just a couple questions as I was stated previously I think we're we're obligated to pay this because the most work has been done and to not do it would would just make matters worse but I guess and we all got the information I
039think it was 47 pages there on Friday afternoon to be honest I didn't work with it come in that leg you know if we're gonna get information and you want the board to look at it it really should be made available a little bit sooner and not not just give us the weekend cuz olives you know have other things to do on the weekend or most of us have other things to do on the weekend but having said that I know there's an investigation continuing and everything but have you have you been able to identify at this point individuals that were responsible for why did not get to the board and I'm certainly not holding you responsible mr. Thomas because you inherited this matter superintendent Thomas do you want to answer there defer to the
040what you sent out I mean that's a very complex thing what the D or do you want to go ahead and uh yes ma'am I'll respond in yes we have a pretty good idea in terms of all well that we do know who all the individuals are that were involved and I appreciate you saying not holding me responsible but but I am responsible as well as the individuals that are because there was an opportunity to even though the project started in best we can determine February of 2016 goes back aways but you know well it's been stuff we were able to determine to that a decision could have been made in June before all this work had done been done to actually stop this and say time out pause where's the budget where's the board
041approval that sort of things so I I certainly take responsibility I've been around long enough to know at that point I should have asked those questions but yes there was some other folks who who at different points in this project could have could have said hey wait a minute time out again let's look at this so you know the the big thing I think that went wrong with it was obviously the CTE Department took responsibility for the management and construction that should have never happened I think that had been to a certain extent of practice I think there have been other projects probably not to the magnitude of this one where that that had happened but you know we went through a physical plant upgrade audit a few years ago I think maybe 2014 when
042we we part of the recommendation there was to develop a capital asset management policy which we did and that policy clearly states what what is capital and what needs to be approved by the board they were probably about six policies violated throughout this process and I think there were several missed opportunities where it could have been righted and you know it may be in one of those but no there were meetings that involving certain people from certain departments that maybe had we've done a better job training with the capital asset management policy and purchasing maybe that wouldn't have happened but that's no excuse for it happening so certainly there will be follow-up with with the individuals including myself involved in this project I mean how you say have a conversation with yourself again I I
043had the opportunity to stop it in early June but there were some things that that happened there that didn't get stopped and and but there were other points along the way up until that so I guess the simple answer to your question yes we we know know the individuals from their departments that that are represented here and obviously that's something we are going to correct we're not going to tolerate you know and I will be as we finish up another investigation it's kind of ongoing and it's what you got was a preliminary summary report so the expect there's to be more in terms of trying to really pinpoint some of the other things that happen but I know we knew the board was not going to approve the item unless there was an explanation as
044to where the funds would come from so we tried to work and I apologize for the late Friday evening email too so I don't know if you have a further question specific at this point but based on the information as you said it's it's still an ongoing investigation but there were multiple departments where things happened that really somebody could have had had the opportunity to step up so there were gaps in communication you know between the CTE Department the CNI Department in terms of innovation our finance department our facilities department in the superintendent's office so there were multiple opportunities for getting this right and it didn't happen and also there was some failure to provide adequate oversight and supervision to the individual that was that was managing this this project as well as some incomplete
045training and and I've been a parent a lack of understanding of fiscal processes so again having gone through this one time a couple of few years ago did not expect or anticipate having to go through this again but in the future and we've talked about this as a staff I mean there will not be capital projects that that this district will enter into without the facilities Department and the maintenance department managing those projects from start to finish and I think this is a good example of what can happen when when it doesn't happen like it's supposed to happen and well just based on what you're saying at some point some reasonable time in the future can the board expect to you to these individuals yes sir and and again I know the board I expect
046the board to hold me accountable that's that's my job when things turn so go away that's that's my fault and so I put myself in that category as well thank you thank you madam chair just piggyback you know Mike said I understand this there was a several opportunities according to what was in the paper I don't know what's going on except what I read and we have a tendency to continue giving people opportunities one after the other if things were what they were said in a paper he shouldn't have been able to do that long before now long before this into this situation so he is correct I think there's some oversight that needs to be tightened up and when people don't do what they're supposed to do and you call them on the carpet
047do something about it then because something like this could happen again if we don't take control of that situation I was gonna say my question was gonna be when we take this out the fund balance I know there's a certain percent that you have to maintain just below that Thank You mr. snowman they would not put us below the 3% amount we and I know Gary could speak to it a little bit in more detail than I can but I think we're anticipating a little over twenty five million dollars roughly to be in fine balance when the books close and this year the books have been closed but they're still being audited and we're looking at probably contributing 4.7 million this year to get it up to 25 million four point seven comes primarily from
048some very nice revenues that we saw in this past year and this designation will be against that 25 million and as as the superintendent said we will search for dollars we will search for pennies as we always do to try to look for savings to make up for this $450,000 designation so you say take us below it but it sounds like we're already below it know the 30 million is based on the MOU okay it's not the state calculation of three percent okay thank you okay thank you moving on item B will be removed upon board approval on Wednesday night so we'll move on to see any discussion on item C under the regular agenda item d item miss Roundtree thank you my chair I just didn't know if we had you know I know
049we passed the resolution regarding the kindergarten in pre-k portfolios and I didn't know if we has anyone heard anything I know John is out of town and not here from the Department of Ed on 12c and if we have heard nothing back from our resolution that we passed madam chair miss Rachel will did submit a request a waiver request we have not heard back yet from the commissioner thank you I didn't eat item F an item G I strap Miss Ellen I just want to make sure that I understand exactly where this parcel is it's only on the opposite side of the road for progression in an area that's not used for anything at all right now miss drugs it's it's on the if I can get my directions correct here the south side opposite
050side of the street from our campus I believe at one time was part of the campus and when that road was was put in many years ago it sort of left this little piece as an orphan over there there's some apartment buildings built behind it and they actually use it to access the part of the apartment buildings the potential to really use this for anything we have absolutely no use for it no ma'am thank you so mr. Oaks when we surplus this has anybody asked us to surplus this is there an intended use Ford and are we going to lose the green space or are we just surpassing it back to the county that then they'll either be responsible for it or sell it and I'll let mr. Dillingham correct me if I'm wrong here
051but we've we've requested or the the utterly the owners of those apartment buildings have requested some action on this so it'll go back to the county and then it'll be up to the county how they finally dispose of it if they're smart they'll sell it to the apartment complex thank you okay any further discussion that completes our regular agenda items for this evening miss Roundtree public forum is next thank you madam chair just for warning we have a long list of folks and also if you are an out of district resident her let me find the one policy per our policy the chair can recognize individuals who have not arranged to speak before handout that's not the right line is the line well while Terry's looking that up for you mr. Roundtree let me just
052say it's my understanding that Miss coutny here we go told everyone when they called and a majority of the board would have to vote to affirm four out of district I mean out of the North County people to be able to speak tonight so I'm taking into consideration the largest number of speakers that we have it isn't our policy I just wanted to Rena out into the record so it's V 180 as our public foreign policy and it states recognition of individuals who are not Knox County residents is to be determined by a majority vote of the board so I just wanted us to be aware of that I'm sure can we ask that that we do all Knox County residents first or do we have I mean mr. Vieau asked this board can do
053whatever it wants all right do we need a motion or two you want to make a motion in five votes carries today that we start with all Knox County residents first since they since they are our citizens I mean you're not okay motion made by Miss you get seconded by mr. Roundtree all in favor say aye aye all opposed motion carries to make my own job more challenging okay so please be patient we're gonna get to everybody we're just gonna the board voted for Knox County first to go first so that means our first speaker tonight is Barry Meyers barry myers president knox county council pta knox county thank you madam chair superintendent thomas and all members of this board for allowing me to speak this evening i stand here this evening as a representative
054of knox county council pta to submit a statement written and approved by the knox county council pta board of managers our position with the knox county council pta board of managers stand here to publicly oppose the proposed changes by Knox County Schools Board of Education to policy G 220 and policy J 210 which addressed harassment of employees and students we believe that the proposed change of replacing actual or perceived gender and sexual orientation by just the mere term sex in both policies limits both the legal and human rights of employees and even more importantly students our argument first many children and even adults have been taught that it is a sign of weakness to ask for help and frequently fail to tell anyone when they are being harassed for fear of appearing weak or even
055possibly losing their job harassment is a destructive issue that can create serious physical and mental harm in both children and adults by removing these terms the school board is creating an environment in which staff and students do not feel protected and for are fearful of being harassed all of our teachers and students deserve to be protected by the Knox County Schools Board of Education and its policies secondly we are currently living in a period when many individuals and groups believe that their human rights are in jeopardy many organizations and individuals view the term sex is only pertaining to male and female although the board may have the understanding that the term sex would also imply actual or perceived gender and sexual orientation this would not be the understanding to most individuals reviewing the policy we
056as a community and as school districts should be doing everything possible to ensure our employees and students that are willing to and students that we are willing to protect them at all cost the proposed change in the language of these policies does not ensure that our employees and students human rights are being protected thirdly over the last four to five years Knox County Schools has been working toward the goal of being the best schools in the south we have made many advancements and to achieving this goal but we cannot be considered the best schools in the south if we are not also creating the best social environment for employees and students the purpose of creating this goal is of a course to provide the best possible education system for the students and employees who currently
057reside who currently live in Knoxville area and attend Knox County Schools but another part of this goal is to be appealing to future employees and families considering a move to our district we can only achieve this goal if we are also creating the most appealing social environment why would we bow to the status quo of aligning our language with other organizations when we are striving to be the best schools in the south why wouldn't we want to be the example that other school districts would want to follow in closing the PTAs purpose is to advocate for the physical mental emotional spiritual and social well-being of all children we the Knox County Council PTA board of managers in alignment with the purpose of PTA cannot support removing language from the current Knox County Schools harassment policy
058G - 20 + J - 10 since this change would remove protections for employees and most importantly the students of Knox County thank you our next speaker is Gregory Greene Gregory Greene I don't think mr. Greene is here okay so moving on to the next person in line / Stephanie web my name is Persephone web and I'm a resident of Knox County I'm speaking tonight as a representative of the voices for trans youth campaign what values did we stand for as a community do we value a safe and supportive school environment for all students do we value a workplace environment free of discrimination and harassment for all employees do we value the life and worth of every community member Rd words like all and every have asterisks attached to them excluding those who are LGBTQ
059and do we as a community consider school safety to be a privilege reserved only for straight cisgender children do we find workplace discrimination against LGBT teachers to be acceptable do we believe that only straight cisgender people are worthy and deserving of respect and kindness our discrimination and harassment policies are a public statement of our community values some board members have asserted that removing gender and sexual orientation from Los County school harassment policies is not a moral issue this is very much a moral issue our state government does not provide explicit written protections for LGBT people and the federal government has recently taking the position that LGBT people are not protected by sex discrimination laws and this puts the LGBTQ population at risk it is true that this board is not legally required to provide protections
060beyond the state and federal minimums but our local policies are up to us to limit or are up to us as a community we choose what protections we provide based on what we value as a community removing existing written protections against discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender and sexual orientation signals that we as a community do not value the safety well-being and equal treatment of our LGBTQ for LGBTQ friends neighbors and children but here's the thing the Knox County the Knox County community does care about and value those among us who are LGBT the public response to these policy proposals proves that you have all been elected by this community and it is your duty to uphold the values of this community in our schools something we say often in Tennessee is all
061means all our motto as a school district is excellence for every child as a community we are committed to these credos voting to remove explicit written protections for LGBTQ students and teachers would put you at odds with the values of the Knox County community last month the voices for trans youth submitted policy proposals to this board that would strengthen kcs discrimination and harassment policies for LGBTQ students and employees rather than eliminate them however at the September policy review meeting when you address policies J to 10 and G to 20 you do not discuss our proposed amendments we have revised and resubmitted our proposals to you you should have each have a copy of those proposals in front of you right now we request that you send J 210 and G 220 back to committee and
062consider our proposals at the next policy meeting thank you speaker is Josh Schmeiser good evening my name is Josh Weiser and I am also a nice kinda resident today I'm speaking to you as a representative of the voices for trans youth campaign as a member of the Knox County Community and in addition I'm the co-chair of jobs of Justice of East Tennessee each of you should ask also have an addition to those proposed changes in front of you a copy of the Safe Schools for all petition this petition has garnered the signatures of over 450 Knox County teachers students parents community members and allies all of whom oppose the removal of gender and sexual orientation from kcs harassment policies so tonight we're asking that you take these printouts home with you and you read all
063the heartfelt personal messages our community has left for you and that you take these messages into consideration when deciding how you will vote on Wednesday so I'm not going to read a handful of the mini comments just so you have a taste of what folks are feeling quote at SAC ACS teacher I am concerned at this change in language bullying against LGBTQ community is already frequent enough within our schools we don't need to make the language that protects it more vague quote having lost three students to suicide last year the mental health and well-being of our students at Farragut high school and in Knox County stands at the forefront of our thoughts and concerns we must consider the detrimental effect that harassment and bullying can have on students mental and social health we must affirm
064protection of LGBTQ students and faculty against harassment in order to promote a safe and welcome learning space quote I come to school in order to get my education and become a productive member of society I've also experienced so much discrimination due to my sexual orientation I have been called things like queer and it all because I love differently than others quote by removing these predictions you are signaling that you do not care about the actual safety of students in your own schools as an LGBTQ resident of Knox County I am utterly disappointed that the safety dignity and worth of these children is even a topic for debate as a student I was on the receiving end of bullying because I was bisexual the proposed changes will only lead to more bullying harassment and discrimination for
065LGBT plus students teachers and staff those changes would allow for abusers to claim that their actions are not harassment because the victims are not listed in the policy for protection quote the message I'm hearing from the school board is that I and other LGBT employees are no longer valued enough to protect them from discrimination o LGBT students and I would know because I was one kill themselves because no one will lift a finger to help quote to remove these protections for gender and sexual orientation is to utterly portray Knox County students and teachers the Knox County Board of Education should not be gutting protections and exposing me of teachers and students to harm when they have more critical business to attend to there are school push out issues issues with nutrition and schools issues with
066school budgets being spent without board approval the teachers and students of Knox County deserve better protections not less quote by removing anti put anti harassment protections of the LGBTQ community this essentially tells students that is okay to treat one group of people as less than another it tells the LGBTQ community that their right to learn and to teach is not as valid quote I have a family member whose last two years of high school were a nightmare as a result of bullying in a Knox County school chance to the hallways and slurs and degrading graffiti about sexual orientation scroll down lockers and restroom walls were a daily occurrence please do not imagine that harassment and bullying about gender and sexual orientation is not a serious problem for our schools these students need and deserve our
067protection including a written policy explicitly prohibiting these behaviors I'm a clinical psychologist and I've seen a devastating and lasting effect this sort of harassment has on students falling and well into adulthood are they sure to keep these protections in place to protect our students quote no one should have to attend school in fear because they could potentially be harassed by someone just because they are different homophobia and transphobia are already issues faced by so many students removing gender and sexual orientation from the list to protect two classes would only make it so much easier for this to occur please as a human being do not allow the suffering of others so I'm going to appreciate that you all took the time to let me speak to you and I again we just urge you all
068to consider all the comments that the 450 these citizens of this county felt the need to share with you in this petition thank you our next speaker is Dean Rifkin thank you for giving me this opportunity to address the board my name is Dean Rifkin I am a resident of Knox County I'm a professor of law emeritus at the University of Tennessee College of Law where I've been a faculty member since 1976 one of my concentrations is in education law for decades I've represented families and their children in education matters many involving discrimination harassment and bullying I urge the board to leave the existing policy as is and my remarks address the policy that is on the table still but I think I first would like to address what I understand to be a well-intentioned
069suggestion to get rid of the protected categories that are included in this law and I would recommend strongly against that by doing it by doing that taking that approach this board would be defying the history of civil rights laws in this country and this law is in many ways an anti-discrimination civil rights law when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 they didn't say every person in the United States shall not be subject to discrimination they could have done that I guess but it would have been ineffectual it would have been a historical there are classes of vulnerable individuals in this country who need explicit protection simply saying everybody everybody is protected doesn't give the kind of focus the administrator the tension to the groups that that need it and I would recommend against
070going down that path I would recommend keeping this current law and I want to address the legal aspects of this the revocation that is proposed for actual or perceived gender and sexual orientation is not required by state or federal law and in my opinion will exacerbate the potential liability of the board for failing to protect students from harassment I think these changes would likely cause more problems for the board and more confusion than leaving this provision as is as it has been on the books since 2012 I have several reasons for this one is there are no provisions in state or federal law that require or compel this change it is not mandated this is not the case there is nothing in either state or federal law that undercuts this board's independent authority to make
071policy for this school system and indeed Tennessee state law in the tennessee teacher code of ethics specifically protect students from unfair treatment by teachers and the provision specifies sexual orientation as a protected category the current J 210 does substantially the same and prudently clarifies for administrators teachers students and parents that protection from harassment extends to vulnerable groups such as those mentioned in this law to remove these protections would also I believe compound the board's liability in discrimination cases and would not relieve it using sex for example as a purportedly all-inclusive category brings the board right into a complete disarray in federal discrimination right now the Attorney General of the United States last week revoked a long-standing policy that that this board seems to be relying on through the EEOC website to do that is short-sighted
072courts around the country are divided on this issue and in my opinion for the for this board to step into that at this moment would be more liable and finally the current policy explicitly protects more vulnerable students I'm sure the board saw today's News Sentinel talking about Knox County teen suicide data screaming for attention by removing these protections this problem will only be exacerbated I encourage you to leave the policy as is thank you our next speaker is Bailey burrows hi my name is Bailey burrows I am one of the presidents of Bearden high school's gay-straight Alliance and although I'm here to represent all of the LGBTQ kids and students in our school system I'm here specifically to read you a letter from the over 30 students and teachers who regularly attend our GSA meetings
073at school so a few of the things have the many many unfortunately things that we hear in our school system already is who cares of a trans kid gets shoved in the holes they're trying to man up anyways mister so-and-so is gay how did you even learn anything in that class and of course the unmeasurable amount of slurs I'm not even comfortable speaking in this room members of the board parents teachers here's the reality faced by the LGBT community we are addressed not by our names but by slurs because of how we were born we are met by many not by love and support by aggression when we are open about who we are we're lambasted by threats of physical and even sexual violence when we dare speak out and fight for our rights as
074much as you would like to pretend that this does not happen in our school system and it does it is deadly every day like a poisonous well-oiled machine there are many of us in this community but if you're doing simple things like going to the bathroom or expressing even the most mild completely school appropriate affection for their same-sex significant other because of fear of backlash and bigotry many of the students in our community live in homes that are not supportive of their identities and school is one of the few places that offer environments of safety love and support by removing the specific protections listed in the policies that are up for debate you are robbing us of one of the places that we should feel like we can be ourselves free of judgement removing the
075existing language and replacing it with the general and vague sex is a step back you say that it's to align policy with state law but so many other institutions fail to see that as an excuse to change their policies you the University of Tennessee the Tennessee Valley Authority in Alcoa among others have explicit protections that safeguard their employees from harassment on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation why are we not afforded the same respect mayor hero consulted with the law department and found that such explicit protections do not conflict with federal and state law why do we need to do away with something that doesn't need to change in the first place the language of the word sex may be enough for you but does not protect a large proportion of us those
076who don't identify as their biological sex are left about protections those who suffer harassment on the basis of sexual orientation will be left around of all vulnerable with the league without legal language to protect them the removal of words like actual or perceived gender or sexual orientation with immense loopholes that can be exploited and despite the promise given to us by the board that we will be protected regardless of the legal language we all want guarantee and peace of mind that those words would give us the world is watching the world is judging please make the right decision thank you for your time if you're in high school GSA as you can see keeping the protections and the anti harassment policy mean more to us than you could ever imagine changing the policy whether or
077not this is your intent and personally I truly believe that it is not makes it clear that the safety and the lives of LGBT students and staff are not seen as worth the amount of space that the few extra words would take up I know for me personally as well as for so many others in my GSA and across our County that LGBT kids and staff that you speak of in such a detached way are our closest friends our favorite teachers our siblings and our parents I'm lucky to have a supportive family that's here in this very room for me today but for many of us the only support system we have is at school and it's the closest thing to family that we will have for a very long while even with my supportive
078family at home I still see this GSA's high family too please keep my GSA family including the wonderful teachers and staff who do so much for a safe that's all we're asking for [Applause] Michael Davis Michael Davis thank you very much my name is Michael Davis I'm a resident of Knox County despite the fact that I'm a lawyer I'll try to be brief I'm gonna echo a lot of things that professor Rifkin just said and I respect the law directors position but I think this issue goes much farther you would hope you would hope the discrimination wouldn't happen so why not clearly define it for everyone whether you are a lawyer or not this can be written to accomplish this but leaving the harassment policy overly broad and too general puts more power in the
079hands of those who are already in power to interpret it and more out of the hands of those who are discriminated against under that stance why not discard every enumerated protection under the Civil Rights Act race religion creed national origin sex or age under current training federal court interpretations sex is an inclusive term that encompasses both sexual orientation and gender identity there a significant case law to show this the problem is the current Department of Justice's stance is that sex is only defined biologically and is threatening this now widely defined widely accepted definition so the current definition can change so the threat posed is very real it appears clear that dropping either sexual orientation or gender identity and only adding sex leaves a door open to the do jay's narrow definition so it's also clear
080that the most legally advisable thing to do would be to simply add the word sex and define it specifically including sexual orientation and gender identity thereby putting the issue to rest this covers all the legal bases if this is not done then the question very quickly becomes why not in addition to the concerns about following federal law I've been informed that one concern is that if you leave current language in then and then fire or discipline someone for harassing another on those grounds that a fired employee or disciplined student will sue kcs for wrongful termination or other claims because those grounds aren't currently recognized as sex-based harassment or alternatively be that those grounds won't be recognized in the future these are not well-founded concerns for at least five major number one federal law simply provides
081a florida protections not a ceiling kcs is free to adopt higher level protections and if an employee violates them kcs would be free to fire someone based on that standard the same is true for disciplining students number two the rest of the school board policy is well-written enough that if the board found enough evidence of harassment a court would only look at the reasonableness of that evidence and judgment not the type of harassment number three most federal courts which also create federal law already agreed that sex includes sexual orientation and gender identity thereby establishing this as grounds for termination or discipline for harassment based on sex also if the DOJ interpretations somehow becomes the rule in the future that's all the more reason to leave the language in number four these policies aren't there to
082protect the school board they're there to protect the students and the teachers when you open the door to the Denver assman by writing them out of your policy you also open the door to many more federal lawsuits costing taxpayers and legal fees settlements and funds number five regardless of the DOJ stance federal courts are going in a clearer direction of concreting these protections there is no changing this federal case law train and the Knox and Knox County will lose all of its lawsuits if the courts find that it is facilitating harassment by walking back its policy what's more if the policy has changed to only protect against harassment based on sex and some future definition of sex is intended to exclude certain classes of people then the policy itself could be ruled discriminatory or unconstitutional
083on its face opening the board up to even more alive building so if fear of wrongful termination suit is not real and it really an issue then why let it stand in the way if Knox County needs these protections why not clearly guarantee them if federal law already adopts the same language at issue today why then would you not clearly state and define this language in your policies if the only true increase in liability to kcs would only happen if the specific protections are stricken why then would kcs invite this kind of trouble if the language protection protecting both sexual orientation and gender identity is dropped I'm afraid I know what answers Knox County's teachers parents students and other voters will conclude thank you our next speaker is Keith Britt Keith Britt huh I don't
084have any kids but you you are my representative mister you game my wife and I are undergoing IVF treatment right now we plan to have a kid pretty soon we don't know if we're gonna have a son we don't know if we're gonna have a daughter we don't know if they're gonna want to dance ballet they're gonna want to play football we just don't know what we will know if you change this language is that you don't have their back that how they identify themselves isn't important enough to you that you want to exclude them I just started a company I'm about to finish my PhD I'm gonna start another company when I finish that PhD I'm gonna take all that tax revenue somewhere else if you change this language we suck we've seen this
085done before I came from Raleigh North Carolina that economy it literally started to implode around us because of something very similar to this I see that you have three options you have you can leave it the way it is now and to me that would signal courage to me that would say you looked at the issue you understood what it means to other people you understand the signal that it's tends to the national and state media if you get I think it is very well-intentioned we can go with yeah we can go we can go with that option and I would I don't know I don't know what that would make me think about you I think it may be maybe a bit of a cop-out that you are afraid to stand your ground I
086just said I'm not bringing it forward and I understand I understand that but there were other proposals that were supporting that I want other members of the board to understand that if you if you change this language as proposed yeah you're sticking to your guns but we know we know what you intend which you're signaling and it's it's it's gonna have a devastating effect on this community I firmly believe there's gonna be kids to kill themselves and it's gonna be directly linked to you so I asked two things don't change the language madam chair I spoke on the phone earlier with you today you you expressed to me you really don't know what the impetus was to change this language I would like to know what the impetus was to change this language mr. brach
087I believe you said it originated in your department I I would like to know what started this thank you is Christopher deal I am Christopher Dillon austell Tennessee where do we begin for those who have taught - in my role as an administrator I've seen many times that gays lesbians and bi and trans people tend to be the ones who take the hit but always find a way to cope on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week they will cope because this is who they are they may be suffering themselves and their on home life or struggling in the days of exhaustion to get through the day because they want to feel accepted so deep seated in this belief with this coping that they find themselves asking for the help whether in family
088systems or in the support put in place by you the professionals frequently they will attempt to survive it alone falling into a deeper darker depression as they feel more and more trapped in the life that they are living as the world closes in on them their self-esteem evaporates and a haze of loneliness and desperation they retreat further and further from those who could help them many gays lesbians and people who don't feel accepted turn to actions that will numb their pain because of forms of harassment such as name-calling a lesbian queer homo Dyke freak training yet it often goes unnoticed and instead they are rather perceived as having a nervous disposition the suffering behind their anxious eyes goes unseen and sadly for some the need to take their own life which seems to be the
089only way of ending their pain perhaps they didn't believe they didn't deserve the same support as others deserve from for those who tentatively find the courage to ask for help the pill for every ill is most often wasted they are treated to their own private Hill terrified to go out into the world to have them become a frightening world within the past week I met a student who questioned me about the sexual sexuality of an educator they asked me is that teacher gay my response does it matter and if they are does it change your feelings about them they are no better or no worse than you are I'm not here for myself I'm here for all the people who asked me to use my voice to let their voices be heard going through school
090is tough enough going through school war they're worrying whether or not you will be bullied or ridiculed because of your sexual orientation identity should not be at the forefront of once mentality but sadly it is one in six students from the age of 10 to 24 contemplate suicide the LGBT community youth are three times more locked likely to contemplate suicide further if they feel neglected by their surroundings they are eight times more likely to contemplate suicide each physical or verbal harassment victimization of an LGBT youth increased the likelihood of self-harming behavior by two and a half times on average if an LGBT student commits self-harm due to not feeling protected while they're in a Knox County school which is supposed to be a safe place your vote to change this policy and the consequences fall
091solely on your hands the University of Tennessee and Pellissippi Community College both for faculty and students have sexual orientation and sexual identity expression in their harassment policy so when you're at your next UT football game remember that those college football players and all those coaches and students in Neyland Stadium are protected against sexual orientation and sexual identity with expression but if you vote to take these words out of our harassment policy for Knox County employees and students the students and staff and students who are under the age of 18 will not have protection but those students out there on that college field would have protection to stand in front of you I want their voices to be heard is it normal to feel frustrated with life or feel angry and want to change a situation
092that is hurting to accept to put the term sex as an overlining category is not a healthy option by taking out these words in the policy you are encouraging encouraging these students who feel unwanted to live in the shadows of others and their mental health will surely follow but if you keep these terms in a policy maybe fewer people will find their lives as bleak taking away these words out of the policy and stating that it is to be aligned with state guidelines is a lie over half of the districts in the status Tennessee school boards have sexual orientation and sexual identity and their harassment policies how do I know this I looked up every single district in this state I hope your vote will enable you to understand the community and get the gay
093bi trans and lesbian students and staff back they're rightfully mentally and healthy school life experience thank you our next speaker is Carl Whipple Carl Whipple no I got you mr. Weil I think they were for the 403b okay let's moving on to the next person on the list Molly Shipman hello my name is Molly Shipman and I am a teacher at Carter High School and I come to you as a representative of the Equality Club as a teacher and advocate for LGBT students and a lifelong are sibian of Knox County public education the removal of gender and sexual orientation and the harassment policy would have extremely close and personal implications in my professional life I want to express to you that I love this school system for the way it has nurtured me protected me
094and educated me over the course of two decades however I believe that this changed at the harassment policy would greatly alter the incredibly inclusive environment of our school system in a very negative way I would like to speak to the current struggles facing the LGBT pop student population at Carter High School at the beginning of the school year one of my students asked me to sponsor in a called equality Club at the school the students vision for the club was that it would be a place for any student that felt marginalized in comparison to the rest of the student body or believe they did not fit in with the student population could come and meet with others who felt the same way the Equality Club was designed to provide a safe space for these students
095wherein they could discuss the issues they were having and discuss how to make the school a more inclusive environment for all while the club is open to all students the students have expressed the most interest have been members of the LGBT community two weeks ago one student brought a gay pride flag to school with the intention of bringing it to the meeting the slide was taken out before the school day began in front of a large population of individuals creating an uproar among several members of the student body while the issue of having the flag at school can be debated a different time in place the impact of this flight the impact that this flag had on the student population is cause for concern the presence of the flag started debate among this among the
096student body about the visibility of LGBT students in the school the backlash of hate speech physical harassment cyber bullying and isolation towards the LGBT students in the school was truly horrifying while the administration and staff worked as tirelessly as they could to respond to the harassment the number of reports of hate speech were unsettling despite the fact the majority of the student body expressed acceptance and tolerance toward LGBT students the shouts of the select few who did not share this tolerance seems a much louder than the quiet acceptance of the majority of students every student no matter what race says you cannot background gender or sexual orientation has the right to feel safe within their educational institution my students did not feel safe during this period of harassment and that in itself is a testament
097to the necessity of the gender and sexual orientation specific language in the county harassment policy while tensions have cooled and the harassment has subsided this prejudice and intolerance still remains deeply ingrained within specific members of the student body the struggle is not over for my students and I do not foresee it being over in the near future the week ended peacefully with no other signs of the former hate speech fuelled agenda and the Equality Club had a peaceful and successful meeting with no signs of disturbance or backlash however intolerance and hatred do nots appear overnight they're only silenced for a time the school staff calmly do so much to protect students and needs to be backed by strong County policy in order to keep students safe I urge the board members to take a step
098back and think about the events that transpired at Carter at this past week gender and sexual orientation harassment is very real and I've seen the direct effect of this harassment on my students please consider what the removal of this language will do to students like mine who already live in fear that their school is not always a safe place for them due to the prejudices held by other students I think about how these students must feel as they enter a building wherein they're supposed to obtain an education only to be bullied and intimidated by peers these students not only deserve the same opportunities as every other student in the building but they deserve to be protected under County policy that ensures they cannot be harassed due to sexual orientation or gender please join me and
099countless other Knox County teachers as we've worked to fight intolerance and hatred within our schools help us send a message that these students will not be pushed out or ignored finally please help my students feel safe when they come to school help them live their true selves help protect them thank you next speaker is Stacy Reese first of all thank you my dad was a school board member for 16 years and I know it's not easy and I know that the effort in the time that you all spend so thank you for that and thank you to Kinlin Koontz what a remarkable resource she is she's fantastic she came to west GSA to help us try to understand the policy changes that were going on and was a valuable source which prompted me to think
100there's a communication gap let me be clear I do not think that the board is harboring any kind of malicious intent whatsoever never once has that crossed my mind um through Kinley I understood that the Restatement is only to bring current policy in line with federal law I do have reservations about that it matters to me on two levels the first level is I'm an educator and I love every kid that comes through my room the second I'm an employee who identifies with the LGBTQ community for 20 years I worked in an environment where I had to hide Who I am believe I'm a good teacher but I don't think that would have mattered if my secret had been revealed and before I was a teacher with a secret I was a student with a
101secret a student who wasn't truly living I was just existing but now I'm at West High School and I am so thankful for Ashley Jesse and the supportive staff for their inclusive attitudes for both employees and students throughout the school and I tell you all this just because I wanted you to put a face to the group that this language protect last week US Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated that the prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses discrimination between men and women but does not encompass discrimination based on gender identity which includes transgender status so if the reason behind the wording change is because the word sex is all-encompassing it appears that this is not going to be the case going forward furthermore the United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos stated that the federal Department of
102Education is not going to be quote issuing decrees on civil rights and of course we should follow federal guidelines but as another person so eloquently stated federal guidelines give us floor level protections and that's it just the floor level protections 20 other states have specific inclusive language in their laws that protect LGBTQ students from harassment 23 other states have laws in place that prohibit workplace discrimination for LGBTQ employees our own mayor Madeline Rogero has protections in place for LGBTQ employees in the city of Knoxville as when I spent time at UT doing research for my doctorate I did a lot of which was on LGBTQ related issues used glisten school climate report quite a bit so there 2015 school climate report and it comes out every three years 90% of LGBTQ students in Tennessee heard
103anti LGBTQ remarks from teachers and students 90% 83% faced verbal harassment and only 3% of Tennessee students attended school with comprehensive inclusive anti-bullying in harassment policies and I understand the Equal Protection Clause which is amendment 14 is crucial to the protection of civil rights and this is indicated on the student anti-harassment policy but not the employee policy and if this is the intention then as you stated before let's just take it all out and say Equal Protection Clause you're all protected title 9 also isn't mentioned in the employee policy and furthermore the Tennessee Code Annotated the teacher code of ethics which is in title 49 chapter 5 section and treatment of students the word sexual orientation are in that policy so if the Tennessee Code Annotated has a language why can we not keep it
104in Knox County Schools and even miss bounds you're my rep and I know on your blog you stated that children should walk away from the first week of school thinking this is the best and safest place in their world I agree wholeheartedly with that and that's what I try to do in my classroom every day and to this I would add that teachers should know from the first day of school that they're supportive for the professionals they are regardless of who they love or what bathroom they use so let's keep in month the federal government will look different as early as next year when new members of Congress are elected and policies will change so let's keep Knox County forward-thinking and proactive and allow our kids to live honestly without fear of intimidation or harassment
105thank you our next speaker is Carl wheeler it really is you this time mr. wheeler thank you my name is Carl wheeler and I'm a resident of Knox County but before I speak I have some handouts I'd like to pass out to you all okay I'm here for the second time to speak to you all with regard to policy j2 ten we we made some recommendations and presented those to you at last month's meeting I have since pulled down off the web the revised copy of j2 10 and did some word shuffling to be quite honest with you the two main issues I have with that well actually there's three the first one has to do with line number seven which refers to unreasonable 'ti of actions that happen to children when they are harassed
106to be specific I'll read it it says harassment is defined as conduct advances gestures or words of a nature which unreasonably interferes with the students work and/or educational opportunities my question is it was last time was who's going to define unreasonably if a student is being harassed and brings that to the appropriate authorities who's going to make the decision this is no Johnny you're not being harassed that's okay Johnny doesn't see it that way if Johnny's being harassed whether they be physically touched gestures conduct words or whatever if that comes to Johnny Johnny's not looking for anything that's unreasonable he is already or she has already been hurt mentally and perhaps physically so that word unreasonably should be eliminated you have the statement that says harassment is defined as conduct advances gestures or words of
107a nature which interfere with the students work or educational opportunities we don't need that we're unreasonably in there to me that's a software they give somebody approach or somebody a position to say Johnny you're not hurt little Susie nobody's know what is harassing you little Johnny and those Susie are never going to feel that way if they have an issue it affects them physically sometimes and mentally a lot of time so I encourage you to delete that word on line seven unreasonably the second item is line 19 which is talking about title nine title six section 504 and a DA and it currently ends with a DA that goes on to say confidentiality shall be maintained I think and would like to see another sentence added immediately after a DA coordinator and that sentence would
108be like this teachers administrators and others who observe when when a harassment is taking place shall take immediate action of the appropriate immediate action and report the incident to the appropriate organizations I a titled nine tile six etc here again it's up to the children to come forth just what this implies anyway in my mind but I would venture to say that there are a number of teachers and administrators and staff people who physically see and hear harassment of students and these are thought people in authoritarian position and if they see that then they need to take action and report it and make sure the immediate action is taken and reported accordingly as described the the last thing that I was going to say was this this to tune excuse me J to ten that
109everybody knows is connected to g2 to zero okay all the individuals that came up here before and talked about this harassment and distain change and all you know this this and somebody said it quite nicely this is supposed to be excellent education for all that doesn't mean there's no Asha Cup there that says except it's an educational excellent educational for all and I encourage you all to move these two documents back into committee and take another shot at it thank you very much speaker is todd shelton next on our list is paul bowers high school before I speak I would like to ask the board if it would allow my friend and colleague Samantha Mikkel fresh time to speak before me she's not a Knox County resident but she does teach for Knox County Schools
110the word voted for to allow all the Knox County residents to speak before out of County residents so we'll vote for each when we get through all the Knox County folks we're gonna get to the out of County folks and it is the board's policy that you can't yield your time to another so you have your five minutes I'll be very brief I'm a teacher West High School I'm also a parent of a student attending Knox County Schools this is my fifth year teaching for Knox County in my time as a teacher I personally witnessed harassment and bullying in the classroom and always of our school every time this has happened I've tried to address the issue with fairness respect and responsibility while knowing I had the support and affirmation for my school district that
111bullying and harassment is not tolerated in any form or fashion including those that relate to gender and sexual orientation making the proposed revisions to the board policy sends a message to those who don't think it's a big deal to bully others on the basis of gender and sexual orientation because of the lack of specificity in these changes it allows an excuse to overlook these damaging behaviors and as a teacher who like every other teacher I know cognizant of the disruption this type of harassment can cause I'm disappointed that the board would allow this retraction of specific student support even though I'm confident you all share my empathy on this issue many before me and I'm sure after me articulate the specifics of why these concerns are important I merely wish to offer my voice of
112support as a supportive teacher a mindful parent and a concerned ally someone made a very important point earlier that itemizing classes for which harassment is not tolerated creates the perception that exclusion equals permission this is the primary principle that concerns me the message it sends to people who either passively or actively partake in this type of harassment I hope the board will keep the specificity of sexual orientation classes and not remove the words gender or sexual orientation thank you there is drew fresh our hi my name is drew fresh shower I am a senior at Hardin Valley Academy and I'm also here as one of the co-chairs of progressive Hawks hva first of all I'd like to say that I appreciate the board members discussion about how to best prevent harassment and I appreciate Ms
113Roundtree and other school board members emphasis on the fact that none of this is with the intent of encouraging harassment or discrimination I go into this understanding that you are ultimately trying to do what is best for Knox County students and staff my question with respect to the proposed amendments is why not maintain specific and direct language that protects LGBTQ Knox County students and employees why create a harassment policy that is unnecessarily vague and could potentially open legal loopholes that would benefit us if the word sex needs to be added to the harassment policy that does not necessitate the removal of the words actual or perceived gender or sexual orientation the wording as it stands now is in line with city and county harassment policies and the policies of school boards across the state as
114a school system what do we have to lose by keeping language that explicitly protects LGBTQ students and employees why create unnecessary ambiguity in our harassment policy when it is again unnecessary thank you all for speaking thank you to all the speakers who have come up previously and thank you to the school board for the opportunity to speak today our next speaker is Leticia Flores hi my name is Leticia Flores I'm a Knox County resident I'm also a licensed psychologist in the East Tennessee representative for the Tennessee Equality project so I am speaking on behalf of Esme Jones who was a former Knox County parent but has since moved away her name is Asma Jones less than a year ago three of her four sons attended Lake Pleasant Elementary though she now lives in another state
115she very much enjoyed her time here and still keeps in touch with many families who have children currently enrolled in Knox County Schools she wrote to share her experiences as both the suicide chatline counselor and as a master student in psychology at Harvard in an effort to convince you of the importance of continued and explicit protection for lesbian gay bisexual transgender and questioning children commonly referred to as LGBTQ in your student policies as a psychology student she has examined the particular vulnerabilities present and LGBTQ children and the serious detrimental effects that bullying can cause social pressures are part of the school experience of many students regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity but the experience can be exceedingly difficult for LGBTQ students who are very vulnerable while coming to terms with their identity and they
116frequently lack support from family and friends and encounter negative messaging about LGBTQ people at school and in their community and I think we've heard of many instances of bache tonight as a result of these factors LGBTQ students are more likely than heterosexual peers and cisgender peers to suffer abuse and bullying as mieze also trained volunteer counselor on an LGBTQ suicide prevention chat line she writes that children log on afraid upset and suicidal every single day and more often than not bullying at school is a major factor contributing to these ideations she's her account countless harrowing anecdotes of school bullying recently one twelve-year-old logged on and described how she was taunted at used and relentlessly degraded in the hallways of her school by having her private body parts grabbed pushed and being called weirdo and she
117would often hide in the bathroom crying and overwhelmed making her late to class on a regular basis she described how the harassment and dejection by her peers made her feel hopeless and worthless her school did very little to stop the harassment and told her to avoid the areas where the incidents often occurred lightly admonishing those involved after months of this she had logged on in desperation of plans to hang herself later that evening incidents like these are not unusual it has recently been shown that for every episode of LGBT victimization such as physical or verbal harassment or abuse this increases the likelihood of self harming behavior by two and a half times also LGBT youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth and experienced bullying and much higher
118rates she and I as a psychologist have listened to these youth and we have seen firsthand the serious emotional and mental ramifications bullying can cause these children are particularly vulnerable to bullying and deserve the extra protection given to them in school policies and some of their lives actually depend on it thankfully the research has also consistently shown that schools with strong policies for LGBTQ protection create safer learning environments lower rates of victimization create a greater sense of school belonging and decrease depression suicidal feelings substance abuse and unexcused school absences among LGBT students the research is clear and the statistics are alarming these children are particularly vulnerable these children are increasingly victimized and these children deserve explicit and specific anti-bullying protection SB and I thank you for your time [Applause] those are all of our Knox
119County folks now we're gonna get to our out of County folks and the first person on that list is Brad hope okay so not here okay so our next person is Samantha McHale fresh I move we let her speak okay we have a motion by mr. you get that we let her speak is there a second second by mr. Norman all in favor say aye aye all opposed motion carries thank you miss Fugate and thank you madam chair for letting me speak I'm Samantha McHale fresh and I'm a resident of Blount County and I have a statement to read on behalf of the West High School GSA where I'm a teacher so last week our group met to discuss the proposed changes to the harassment policy and we were fortunate to be joined by the
120board student representative who is also a student at West she explained the board's reasoning for the change she listened to our request for an amendment that would include a footnote in numerating which groups are protected under the umbrella term of sex and she's taken that a minute request back to the board where it's my understanding that it will be voted on and we sincerely appreciate the student representatives attention to this issue thank you we understand the board's intention is not malicious it is to protect those potentially harassed because of sexual orientation or gender identity under this umbrella term of sex however if the board intends to keep the list enumerated things like race religion disability sex etc in the language of the policy then we urge them to also approve this amendment that would clarify
121who is protected under the term sex like the legal adviser stated earlier if you start to itemize then those things that are not itemized are implied as being excluded so if your intention with the policy is to change you know to a blanket statement about not tolerating harassment and that doesn't include any sort of list of any kind then that's a different problem I think however if the language of the policy would still include groups like religion or race by name then we would urge you to at the very least accept the amendment that would explain who is protected under the term sex in the language of the policy I think not to do so would be to exclude those face harassment due to sexual orientation or gender presentation I'm not itemizing and therefore not
122humanizing us ultimately we hope the board does not change the policy at all from its original state if you do though then we would petition for you to also accept this amendment that makes it clear in the language what's intended I think that would be a positive thing we know that this policies already gone back to committee multiple times but if the goal is to truly protect everyone from harassment and to ensure excellent for every excellence for every child then it should return to committee as many times as needed until it truly leaves no room for discrimination I really identify what's up my coworker dr. Stacy Reese said about being a a student with a secret fortunately I have not had to feel like an employee with a secret working at West High School I
123have co-workers and administrators who are very supportive of Who I am and it's actually the first place where I felt comfortable being like openly this is who I am and I'm so grateful for that I think it's ironic that I can obtain health insurance benefits for my same-sex partner but here we are discussing what sort of language should be included in the harassment policy who can and can't be harassed and I just don't want any employee and especially any student to have to worry about being that person with a secret and will the language of a policy protect me from harassment or not so thank you [Applause] our next speaker is Steven Clements vote I'm from Josephine County motion seconded by mr. Norman all in favor say aye aye all opposed motion carries thank you
124I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to you I'll be brief I know it's been a long day I want to commend everybody has spoken so far thinking they've given you a real taste of what the sentiment of the community is I serve on the Jefferson County Democratic Party Executive Committee just in many we dealt with this same issue our current our policy at that time was the standard anti-discrimination policy of race sex and religion we we examined what we considered the correct policy and threw believe me very vigorous discussion on how how to define our anti-discrimination policy we in fact included gender and sexual orientation in our anti-discrimination policy I think that you all have the best interest in students and faculty in your hearts you have to know that the gay lesbian transgender
125community in in your schools are probably the most vulnerable to harassment and discrimination and by changing this policy and I think that you have to understand that just by changing to the policy to just sex which most people understand is being definition of male and female then you would in fact be feeding the fires of discrimination yourselves thank you very much for this opportunity madam chair that concludes public forum high school for the opportunity to speak to the GSA hopefully we will continue to work through this issue but I just want every it to be clear that this board truly does have the best interests of the students in mind and I trust that whatever that decision they make we will work towards enforcing equal protection of everyone regardless of what it says I know
126that all of my teachers at West and hopefully across the county will work towards protecting everyone especially in enforcement regardless of the language we understand that it's unacceptable but I appreciate opportunity to speak to everyone and thank you so much thank you mr. rich yes thank you I just first want to say that congratulations to Austin East robotics who came in second place at the fair they've been working on for four years and the robotics and they finally got over secondly I want to say that the diabetes awareness video that was done with them at vine the kids had the opportunity to play flag football goes to UT football players and that was very interesting exciting and we had a great time so look forward to that video will be played at the Peach Bowl
127so it would be a part of something that we can be proud of and the vine students beat you t by one point mr. Norman thank you madam chair I just want to give the board a quick update about the strategic planning process because we talked about that in August and didn't want you to think I'd forgotten about it since I volunteered to help work with that talk to dr. Davis just as a quick update to the community the board felt at its august retreat that the world is moving so fast that a five-year strategic plan is too long most businesses and organizations are going to a three-year strategic plan so this year you're four into our five-year strategic plan we will begin a strategic planning process probably with a shorter timeframe to make it
128a three year strategic plan so dr. Davis and I are talking about who to who to gather in terms of planning Susan Horne also expressed interest in helping us with that and we will look to do something quickly we don't want this to be a big laborious process and also fully heard the board that I do think we will need at least two different kinds of strategic plan a very detailed plan for the staff and a very short executive summary that the community can understand what our strategic objectives are so hopefully we'll have some information to you next month as we move forward with some dates and and focus groups mr. McMillan okay and I just need to say a shout out to the house high school boys golf team who took the state championship
129last week so congratulations on that state championship do I hear a motion to adjourn miss Roundtree seconded by mr. Norman all in favor you