WCS Board Work Session 2025-03-06

001e e e e e e okay we will call to order the March 6 2025 Williamson County School Board work session welcome everyone so first on our agenda um is the consent agenda which consists of five board policies for second reading these were discussed at length um at a couple of policy committee meetings and at at one board meeting already so I don't know that we need to spend time on these U they're on the consent agenda um does anyone have a desire to pull any of these off the consent agenda for Monday night's well week for Monday night's board meeting all right hearing no comments there we'll move on we'll be also voting as part of that consent agenda for the recommendation for field trip fee requests all right superintendent report Mr golden thank

002you Mr chair the last couple of months actually three or four maybe even five months um most of my superintendent report presentations have centered around either our science textbook adoption process or our budget we have presentations on both those items tonight so I have not prepared you a third PowerPoint uh for the superintendent's report uh certainly open to any questions you may have but just just knowing that the probably the bulk of uh our our time is is at least on the presentation side will be related to budget uh and the science textbook adoption process uh I I didn't feel like it was appropriate to uh to give you all any any long superintendent's report certainly open to any questions you all may have uh but a couple just short items uh um I know

003on the operation side um Brian King is going to give you some information uh related related to to to current current structural processes on the budget side the County Commission I know Rachel's going to mention this but I just wanted you to be aware uh we have our first meeting with County Commission budget committee on March 24th which if I'm not mistaken Rachel is going to be a week or so after our scheduled vote um so with that if you guys have any questions about um any details about the about where we are on the on the school year the three4 ends tomorrow uh C which is amazing uh certainly opening any questions you may have so when we talk we talked a little bit about the climate survey among the teachers um where is

004that in completion and will we be getting that and um just an update on that please sure we actually do two uh research uh based surveys of of our teachers one is the uh uh the Gallup uh Employee Engagement survey we gave that information the other one is the University of Memphis has what we call the crep survey the center for research and education I forgot this I forgot the P programming or something like that um and Dr Webb I know that that that the that the that the window of time was closing for in the last couple of days for teachers to get that do you know off the top of your head about when we received that from the University of Memphis yes thank you for the question the window for that survey

005completed that ended last Friday and we anticipate the results from that in the next two weeks okay so yes ma'am we'll get that to you any educational policy I apologize Mr chair Center for research and educational policy any other questions or comments for Mr Golden no sir all right I do not have a board chair report so we can skip that um move into new business we have two well yeah two Schoolboard budget amendments to go over and then we move into the actual budget discussion itself so miss farmer thank you sir um we do have two donations tonight the first being a donation from MTSU for $7,500 it essentially um will provide money to to be able to pay some teachers to Mentor other teachers that will teach dual enrollment courses and so again

006that was $7,500 if no questions on that one the second is a donation from Atmos Energy uh $6,500 to be able to purchase um a reader a safety reader for gas um outputs and we were it purchase two one will be used by the maintenance department and then one by our fire and safety director questions any questions on those okay let's move on to Item B which is our discussion of the overall 2025 26 proposed budget um I know this is for Miss armor predominantly but do you have any introductory comments Mr Golden uh thank you Mr chair uh um Rachel is going to be giving you a a PowerPoint presentation um couple of couple of key items that I actually sent you an email on for for changes since last month uh number one

007the the projected Gap uh has has decreased to about 15.1 million I do do want to call your attention to that also uh after some detailed discussions we had with respect to the Chromebook purchase uh we determined through the operations uh department and with Dr oer with Elementary that uh we we are we are not going to recommend purchasing uh new devices for kindergarten first grade or second grade we expanded that to second grade uh we do have some responsibilities under the Tennessee standards right now uh to give to to give uh to to give students some education I may I mentioned to you last week uh last month that um on average the data we have indicates that that those grades spend somewhere between 25 and 30 minutes a day uh um on those

008devices so so there's a reduction related to that also on the operation side Rachel I know I'm prefacing some of what you're talking about uh other than those Chromebooks our operations numbers have um have dropped approximately a million dollars compared to last year and our staffing has dropped all as well uh compared to last year I might pitch in with 's PowerPoint here and there give you give you all some specifics uh maybe maybe a couple of interruptions as Rachel presents uh related to that I'm just going to make one com comment before you start and that's to say thank you because I I don't know how many months now it's been that we've had some kind of presentation related to this budget but it's been several and that's by design that was done at

009the request of this board and you have been graciously kind enough to um walk us through this give us prepare us for what's coming give us the framework uh and get us to this point so I just want to say thank you on behalf of the board for doing that thank you for that um I just said to somebody we've been doing this since October so it seems like it's a long time and it's been really good for me because again um I've said this to a couple of you we make assumptions in our mind we know what we're talking about but we assume you know what we're talking about as well and so to slow down and actually go piece by piece and really explain it um I think hopefully has been has been

010helpful for all and along the lines of saying thank you um this whole group worked really hard on on a budget for months um and she's going to kill me but Vicky Robbins is our assistant CFO and she's here and has been instrumental in this document and in HR um that PCR all the work that Sonia lindsy Quirk and HR works hard and there tons of people so I hate calling two people out but those particularly you don't see their faces all the time but they are definitely behind the scenes doing a lot so I just wanted to start by saying thank you there um we have talked about a lot of this um several times and so things I'm going to kind of go over a little bit quicker just because we've already discussed

011them so let's get going enrollment no changes from last month um we've the projected for K12 for next year is 4,924 um slightly down from where we are this year more specifically 0.44% is our projection reduction I should have said to um I think we put it in the email but what you had before you because there were anything that was changed which was basically the memo and then the general purpose section of the budget you should have those documents laying in front of you I went ahead and printed out the PowerPoint as well so you can make notes as you go if you need to and you didn't have to worry about trying to jot any of that down so hopefully you've got that at your your seats as well moving on to Personnel

012um this is just a summary of where we are in total these were the things that positions additions and then the pos position reductions the net effect was 34.6 positions reduced and so a lot of that is dealing is related to the Staffing standards um and student enrollment drives those Staffing standards those two go hand in hand again on that PCR you're going to see several places where we have reclassed employees that doesn't mean there was a change in money it's just that we were trying to really put people into the right categories where they may have been hired as one thing and their job description has changed a little bit 20 years later and so we're putting it in so this year we had a little bit more movement just because of that one

013of the um things to note is again we did have an overall reduction and so when I we that PCR that total number is important to us because that is how we pay our insurance um is based on the number of FD full-time FD full-time equivalents that's on that PCR and so going down um in that number means that we will be paying a little bit less but still as it's mentioned in the memo our um medical benefits cost about $70 million um in our total budget so Rachel if I may I do want to interrupt here um that that one new position that's listed as specialist for the Innovation Hub um that position is to do all the work to get the in Innovation Hub ready to be up and running with curriculum in

014in the 2026 school year uh so technically the position is a specialist That's the same level as the Director of the EIC our entrepreneurship Center it will be a parallel job uh I I believe that that that the content areas deserve to be spoken to out loud I'm really excited about where we're going with our with our uh Innovation Center Dr web's been deeply involved I know Dr Allen and his team uh we've had deep deep discussions with Dr Jeremy quals who is our who was our College in Career Technical education uh executive director we have five programs that we're that we're working on um this coming year to have them all ready to to be up and running in follow 25 um and I'm going to mention a partnership with EV uh uh with

015with some entity on every one of these Aviation uh we're working in partnership with MTSU uh to to get that Aviation program uh up and running and also a private uh trainer uh company that actually does Flight Training Franklin Special is also part of this for for vertical alignment where they actually have their middle school students working on flight simulators already they received grant money from the state they actually have purchased their flight simulators already we're using all that grant money for this Innovation Hub uh I've made a commitment that we're not going to ask the County commission for $1 more for the actual physical facility we're going we're going to use the the the state grant money that we actually was committed two years ago in govern Le's budget for that um the second

016uh program that we have planned is heavy machine technology and electric power generation in partnership with teat uh which is the uh Tennessee um now I'm going to have a mental block on an acronym myself College of Applied technology thank you yeah Tennessee College of Applied technology and Thompson Caterpillar the company that's actually going to provide us with some equipment and some technical assistance in putting that um uh curriculum together for our students third hospitality and tourism uh in culinary arts uh in conjunction with Columbia State Community College fourth cyber security and artificial intelligence in conjunction with Columbia State Tennessee Tech and the Vanderbilt National Security Institute and then finally uh fire science and EMT in conjunction with Columbia State and the city of Franklin so our hope with that particular program is that we're

017going to create a feeder for jobs uh for firefighters into the city of Franklin to get all that work done it's going to take a lot of work this coming year so that we can get all that curriculum put together all the recruiting for students Etc so um we do know from a County Commission standpoint they will likely ask us questions about well you know you're you're reducing just a little bit why you have any new positions and I'm going to give them that explanation uh they already know we're working on that program so sorry Rachel too much detail interrupting but thought felt like that was important for you guys to hear that detail yeah that's great um one suggestion that was made uh as far as this presentation goes and what you might need

018um to hear from us as maybe better explanations or deeper discussion was on different positions and what they actually do and so the suggestion was to um we're going to ask Dr Allen to actually speak to what the differences are between curriculum specialist and interventionist um what those different roles look like and and how they um relate to our students and our staff and so I'm going to actually turn it over to him for just a few minutes and let him address that Rachel before you do that sure when can you just remind us what what changed in the standards that we would reduce 32 teachers our enrollment drives that so we and the teaching positions again we may have had them from last year and they were not filled because it had gone down

019so it's not that we were produce necessarily 32 from just this one year looking at two but it's a combination of two years from last year and then what we're projecting for this year as well but our enrollment from this year compared to our budget where did where did that where did that fall it was a little bit less and so we did not fill those positions from last year so like how much if if you look if you look at our actual from two years ago to next year is it because it's 181 day 181 decrease from this year to last I'll look that up and I'll answer that in just a minute sounds good but to that point uh you you make a good point Mr galberth that we budgeted last year for

020some teacher positions we ended up not needing and so we actually did not hire uh so the PCR is dropping and the money that would have been marked for those positions was never spent and it'll be it'll end up in fund balance this year that's correct okay thank you Miss farmer uh good evening members of the board uh appreciate the question actually Dr Johnson had a question at the last board meeting uh specifically about what data can we track analytically as it relates to our curriculum Specialists and our coaches I think it's a really good question um anytime that we move outside of the direct classroom instruction we should be able to talk specifically about the impact that that those positions are having on the um on the impact of our student outcome so I'm

021happy to take us a few minutes today to to talk about that a little bit I do encourage any of you if you have additional questions um we literally could talk hours about the job description and the work that they do with specific examples so anytime uh any of you would be willing or able to meet outside of work sessions or actual board meetings we're happy uh to go through in Greater detail but just to give you a couple of examples first of all starting with our curriculum Specialists we do consider them to be critical to to our mission um that we have with our students and um to to understand why they're critical ter Miss I think we need to speak specifically to understanding the work that they do to determine how we would

022evaluate the effectiveness of them because after Dr Johnson's question last week I ped through a lot of documentation a lot of data to try to pinpoint specific impact through analytical data um but as you'll see through some of the examples I give you of the work that they do it's hard to put a it's hard to put an analytical number number on the data to to prove their effectiveness and I want to start with a recent example of the work that our curriculum specialist do um Dr Reeves is our representative that's been with us through the the textbook adoption committee work um and you're going to hear a little bit about that through Miss Lopez tonight and and Dr Rees came in yesterday and spent um probably close to two and a half hours with

023us in digging deeper into the work that's been going on with with our textbook adoption um and what Dr Reeves would attest to and what she heard yesterday was really that the textbook adoption process began back in 2023 for our teachers and so our science curriculum specialist we have two science curriculum specialist we have a K5 science curriculum specialist we have a 612 science curriculum specialist so back in 2023 those science Specialists were meeting with State and District leadership and really to to be our Point person on learning the shifts in Science Education and the adjustments that were being made to State Standards related to science education and so they were the person they were the people that were at all of the state meetings learning in our firsthand Approach at what is Science Education

024how is it changing what are the teacher moves that we have to make to adjust to that and what are the students going to be responsible for Learning and what are the how are those standards adjusted that's all the way back in 2023 that helps us in part to begin that selection of our highquality instructional materials um and then how we would go about training our teachers and modeling the lessons that our teachers would be that our teachers would be implementing so and then fast forward to 2024 those curriculum specialist modeled lessons and led districtwide professional development for all of our science teachers through our district PD later in 2024 they LED science teachers in setting a vision for what instruction would look like through Science Education that Vision that they set with all of

025our science teachers is critical to an adoption process because it creates commitment to the change and so as we're learning about instructional shifts in Science Education and as we're learning about adjust ments in the state standards we can say that all we want to our teachers but until we establish a vision and a mission with those science teachers we would lose the commitment to making those adjustments that commitment from those science teachers is critical in Equitable education for our students in Science Education across their District you're going to hear me speak to that because our curriculum Specialists are critical to making sure that the students that are receiving Science Education in the northern part of the county are receiving the same Science Education that our students are receiving in the southern part of the county

026and the same that our students are receiving in Fairview and the same that our students are receiving in Nolanville so having them establish that Vision having them be a part of developing that and leading that work is critical to that Equity of education and making sure that we Implement those materials so that's going back to 2023 they're really our lead in in setting that setting that tone after you approve the adoption of the materials and select the materials then their work really begins in level setting what that adoption and how to utilize those materials and that training will go on for several years so just as a recent example they are really the content experts that work through the coaches into the classrooms and so just one more example as it relates to the curriculum

027specialist and then I want to move into that alignment with the coaches if I can just for a second and then I'll take some questions um but if you think about um math education for example and so we have two math curriculum Specialists we have a K5 math curriculum specialist we have a 612 math curriculum specialist they operate in a very similar manner that our science Specialists operate Laura Hall is our secondary math curriculum specialist and a couple of years ago Laura Hall was digging into our Algebra 1 data and a lot of you have heard us talk about our Algebra 1 data as being an area of focus for us that really comes from Laura Hall digging into the data to see what was going on with our algebra one scores because on the

028surface what you would hear us say at times is that we are top three in the state of Tennessee in our student outcomes and algebra one but the reality is when Laura started digging into that data what she found found that with 49% of our students meeting or exceeding expectations in Algebra 1 that's not good enough for us so we had to figure out what's going on she's leading that work so she established a committee and for 12 to 18 months that committee which was a mixture of uh coaches teachers administrators we started digging into what our own data looked like we started uh leading res Arch to see what are best practices in Algebra 1 what's leading up because it's something as the kids are going into Algebra 1 that is not quite preparing

029them for algebra once we had to do a lot of digging and a lot of research and as a part of that 12 to 18 month work Laura and that committee established 14 action steps and 12 recommended best practices so this was work that started two years ago that this this year is where the work and the action steps are really taking place so let me give you a couple examples of the action steps and again the content expert Laura Hall the out the the math 612 curriculum specialist being the point person in all this work so one of their action items is to update our Algebra 1 scope and sequence to include the amount of each standard uh or how each standard has historically been assessed on the Algebra 1 EOC that's critically important

030because what that identifies is what the state is identifying as the most critical and most highly assessed components of Algebra 1 we needed to make sure she and her team needed to make sure that we're spending more time in backfilling skills that may be deficits for our kids but then more instructional time during Algebra 1 classes on those items that the state has deemed most critical now it helps us with our student outcomes but I'll be honest with you if we have the processes in place our outcomes will come we don't teach to ATT test but we certainly want to be teaching and making sure that our students are fully prepared with the most important high school math class that they'll take and so we have to make sure that we're providing highquality instruction on

031those standards that are deemed most critical so we had to adjust our scope and sequence that's what this committee found um we had to uh uh we had to add items to our already existing um assessment Bank to make sure that we were fully assessing all of the standards so that we knew that we had accurate data on how our students were performing on those assessments um we had to revisit our Algebra 1 Readiness assessment about a third of our students accelerate Through Math and get to Algebra 1 faster than other students but we wanted to make sure that those students were appropriately placed we wanted to make sure that the students that need needed to beel accelerated were accelerated but we also wanted to make sure that kids that were in The Accelerated classes

032really belonged there because we wanted it's not that students still couldn't reach College Calculus if they weren't accelerated so we wanted to make sure that we were appropriately placing kids so we had to go back and revisit what that Algebra 1 Readiness assessment looked like just a couple more they realized that we had to develop a getting ready for algebra plan for our sixth and seventh grade teachers and our eighth grade teachers so if they're a gened sixth grade seventh or eighth grade teacher there are critical skills that students need to be able that students need to develop to make sure that they're ready for Algebra 1 so we took our sixth grade curriculum and our state standards in seventh and eth but added items to make sure that we were reinforcing the importance of

033those Algebra 1 Readiness standards we also fast this last one I don't want to bore you with all this but this is it was fascinating what we found was that our students were not doing well um in utilizing their graphing calculators and the resources that they're encouraged to use uh in Algebra 1 um and they weren't really prepared and what we found was that our teachers lacked an understanding of not only how to utilize the graphing calculator but how to then teach students to use the graphing calculator so we put together uh tutorials provided additional training for our teachers so that our teachers were equipped with the materials that they needed um and the instructional practices that they needed to make sure that our students understood how to use the graphing calculator we would not

034have known that had Laura Hall not first of all established that we had an algebra one problem uh even though our um ranking in the state of Tennessee was high but then also bringing that committee together and really spending the time to dig deep uh to find out what what those issues actually were um to speak just specifically about our coaches just for a second again we believe critical to our mission especially as it relates to Equitable education across their County those coaches meet on a regular basis with our curriculum special and the coaches are the people who actually carry out the work and the vision set by the district so that work that I'm telling you that's been established through that committee for example with in math our math coaches are the ones that

035are going to training with the curriculum Specialists to carry that out on the classroom they support all of that work that I just described they also lead building level PD team PD and they work work with individual teachers I want to give you an example of of a scenario that is a bit extreme but I think it'll make the point because these kinds of things happen I want to give you an extreme example to to to share with you what it can look like across our County okay so I'm going to pick on Mr Brown for a second so let's say that Mr Brown has a rising fifth grader he doesn't but we're just we're just playing out a scenario let's say that he has a rising fifth grader and that fifth grader is at

036clover cof Elementary and uh Mr Brown has been doing his research and he's found that one of the teachers at Clover crof Elementary last year had a 96% pass rate on uh the fifth grade portion of the math teap that's an accurate stat that teacher's name is Chad Vern at Clover cof Elementary I've been in his classroom unbelievable teacher um and just for the record we have chat verners all over the County we really do we have some unbelievable outstanding teachers I'm just picking on one right now and so when Mr Brown digs a little deeper he finds that Chad Mr verer not only had a 96% pass rate last year two years ago had a 98% pass rate that's literally unbelievable to have every one of the students meeting or exceeding expectations as Mr

037Brown digs a little deeper into trying to determine whose class that his his child is going to be in he realizes that they have to have two fifth grade math teachers because the number of students there the other fifth grade teacher this is where it gets a little little hypothetical because I'm gonna throw a name out there the other fifth grade teacher is Emily Allen maybe it's my daughter she's 23 years old she's right out of UT she's never taught a classroom by herself a day in her life but she is eager and she's excited and the kids are going to love her and she's going to be an awesome teacher someday who does Mr Brown want want his child whose class does he want his child in he wants his child in Chad verner's

038class Dave Allen being the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning I don't care whose class that child goes into because here's what I know systems across Williamson County and Equitable education are really important to us and we spend a lot of time making sure that we have systems in place so that we have Equitable education so speaking specifically about this scenario here's what Emily Allen would have access to so you've heard us talk about professional learning communities a couple of times through those professional learning communities Emmy will be meeting with Chad and they will establish a pacing guide for the year and they will be Mr Brown will know that his child if he's in Emily's Allen's class will be on the same Pace that Mr verer is on they'll also create their assessments together

039through those professional learning communities so Mr Mr Brown will know and see the data on exactly how his child is progressing on grade level standards just like the students in M ver Mr verner's classroom they will also look at that data after they give their assessments and determine what interventions they're going to provide to their students so that is so I as the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning I can guarantee that there's going to be equital access to Education Without that professional Learning Community process I couldn't guarantee you that that but what I can't guarantee you with just the PLC process alone is I can't guarantee you what it's going to look like when Emy Allen closes the door and begins instruction with the students that's where our coaches come into play and it's

040only one thing of what they do but that's where they come into play that coach with that first year teacher will be working on planning with that teacher we'll be working on instructional strategies we'll be modeling in that class with those students so that that so that Emmy can watch an expert teacher deliver a lesson and they'll meet afterward and they'll talk about it and they'll go through what we call Deep Cycle coaching Cycles um and that is coaching work that not only happens with a first year teacher like Emmy Allen it happens with every teacher in our County because we believe that every teacher in our county has something to learn and in and an opportunity to get better and so not only are we guaranteeing Equitable education as a work in progress we're

041not perfect right but we're striving for Equitable education we're also striving to to improve our instruction across the county through the work of those coaches that we quite we just absolutely would not be able to do without the coaches the other thing this is the last thing that I'll leave you with and you can tell I get excited about it because I do believe in the systems that we have in place I really do um the other thing that I think that that coach can do is I think that that coach gives Emmy a fighting chance to want to come back because if you think about the retention of our teachers and you think about the data that you hear Miss Hall talking about all all the time and and the National Data about teachers

042leaving after the first year or within the first three years that teacher efficacy and Emmy Allen believing that she can do it through the partnership with that coach will will keep that teacher in the classroom While others will leave so that retention that's being provided by those coaches we think is critical to our mission as well so when you think about it you think about our TLA Department we have our curriculum specialist they are working hand inand with our coaches our coaches are working hand inand with our teachers doing these and many many other things to make sure that we have that Equitable high level education across our County we think they're critical to to the work that we're doing and I appreciate the question because we have have to be able to explain in

043detail why we have our best teachers in some cases outstanding teachers that they're not delivering direct instruction it's it's what it's because we believe they can have a greater impact by working with more teachers so that more students have access to that great education Dr orer and Dr Webb also see firsthand in the work that they do with the principles and their teachers so if if if I've left anything out or anything that you guys want to add I'd welcome to to hear from you all as well I'll just add one thing and I'll I'll play off of that Laura Hall example because it's Laura Hall is a secondary coach and so you think about what is the connection to the principal so one of the things that Laura Hall does and all of our

044curriculum Specialists do is they work with my team and Julie's team on uh professional development for our principles so last month as an example Laura Hall worked with me and we pushed in and we delivered professional development to our principles on how to recognize when you're in a classroom if the math teacher is teaching the standard to the depth and complexity that it is going to be assessed and that it's written so as an English teacher I was an English teacher I feel pretty awesome when it comes to assessing and evaluating an English Standard but when I go into a math classroom as a as a secondary principal I need coaching too right so it's not just that our teachers need coaching our leaders need coaching so what we did is that we worked together

045on that professional development with our principles and we gave them Hands-On techniques we practiced with them how to identify a lesson that is teaching the depth and complexity of of the standard because it would be easy to walk in and and just read the standard and see what the teacher supposed to be teaching it's different to understand the depth and complexity of the standard and be able to assess as the evaluator am I teaching that to the level of rigor that is necessary for that student to master it uh at the next level so not only do we teach that PD then we followed up and Laura and I went out into the buildings with principes and the instructional coaches and we did walks together and we practiced that PD we walked in math classrooms

046together and we went in two or three classrooms and then we would come out we would go into a conference room and we'd spent an hour and a half looking at the state standards and talking about and unpacking the standard together and what kind of feedback with each of us with Laura as the expert what type of feedback would we give that math teacher and how can we determine if the student students are engaged are they understanding the material and is the teacher presenting the material at the depth and complexity that the standard should be taught at so it goes on it goes on not only to the classroom teacher and the coaches it goes to the leaders as well and we really do embody that mindset of that we're all Learners and in education

047and we have to continue to evolve and push each other to evolve I would just add one thing kind of continuing in the other example that Dr Allen gave about Emmy what we I've listened to a some of you may have come to the um career fair that we had this weekend um I've been thinking a lot about several of the people that we interviewed or talked to and boy are they excited about coming I have this one young woman in my head who I mean she if she could have just jumped in front of every principal and said I'm your best candidate I mean she she might have actually done that for a few she was so fired up about teaching and one of the things that she said struck me in as Dr

048Alan was talking about his Emmy she said my identity is wrapped up in being a teacher my identity is wrapped up in being a teacher and all she's done so far is a little student teaching outside of of her University of Georgia program already she sees herself deeply as a teacher she doesn't know the complexity yet she doesn't know the intensity yet she doesn't know exactly what it means to be responsible for those 30 kids 25 kids when there's not a mentor teacher standing behind she also added the nerves that she has these principles like oh I'm not nervous talking to them but gosh really honest young lady one of the things that I thought about as Dr Allen was talking is no matter what our leaders do our principles and our assistant principles they

049evaluate our teachers somebody in this district is going to evaluate that young woman next year year when I think about the power of the retention that comes along from the example that Dave gave it's that someone else comes alongside that that young woman and gives her all the motivation gives her all the critiques in a way that isn't related to her evaluation and sets her up for that game that she's going to play right they get evaluated our teachers get evaluated with different numbers with our coaches they're able to come in and give that feedback in the quarter one quarter two of the game quarter three of the game and then that principle comes in and no matter how compassionate they are our principles are coaches too we like to say everybody coaches and everybody

050gets coached they're still responsible for that evaluation that that young woman has attached her identity to and so when I think about the national statistics that we talk about 3 to five years that's how long we have and for some we don't even have that but when I see the work that our coaches do do as the content experts it's completely different work than our principles can do and when I think about that young woman and I think about the support that she was clear she needs what she's hoping she gets because she knew that too she she had a long list of things that she was looking for in in a district and in a school she's going to get those things through that team that's going to surround her she's going to get

051honest critical supportive growth-based strength-based feedback from everyone but she's going to get it before before she has an evaluation and That's mighty powerful when we think about growing the future of our profession thank you thank you all for the comments you made and hopefully that helped um maybe explain a few things Rachel yes sir we got one question before you move on sure so obviously there's a lot of time you've invested explaining to us the value of these positions what they what they do what they bring um you know like force for the trees how it benefits Young Learners um and sets them up for future success which is a very real thing um so what does the ask so from from thank you for the question from a budgeting perspective to bring you back

052on track to to Rachel's presentation that was a reference to our Staffing standards uh in and and our our team was was talking largely about our our coaches we have in our staffing standards two coaches at the elementary level and on up and in the elementary example it's a it's a literacy coach and a math coach and our curriculum specialist you all may recall I'm going to approximate a month ago in response to a question we let you know the specific locations where our Specialists were our ask isn't anything more than than honor the Strategic plan that we put together the long-term plan to make sure we have those coaches in the building uh so we don't have a specific ask uh Rachel was walking through the through the uh through the budget and and

053turned it over to Dr Allen and he shared with you I think a combination of passion and professionalism in the in in explaining um why we have these positions I will mention one thing that isn't directly responsive to your question that you all will be talking about next month uh the governor um mentioned in the legislature approved a $2,000 bonus uh for teachers this year we have gotten a little bit of information related to that uh Rachel you may want to share some detail but the short version of it is that they will include in next fiscal year $22,000 for those teachers who were spending the majority of their time in direct instruction the state is actually pulling the coaches out of that uh because the coaches are spending more of their time uh in

054in direct assistance to to uh to our teachers um so even the state recognizes that that the coaching position is different and they're actually creating a different category for it let me let me share with you what I what I heard from that what I think maybe the ask is and put it in maybe a little more blunt terms than I think you're would or are able to with with your position but my take away from it was a subtle message to the board that these things are really important and when we get to the point we're fighting for dollars we need to dig in a bit maybe spend some political capital on these things if we are truly here for the reasons that we say we are for the kids that these are important

055positions and so maybe it's not something that we just roll over on and it's worth pushing back a bit that's not your words those are mine but that's what I heard well from it thank you for that uh right Rachel's going to give you the bottom line numbers uh and that the $5.1 million gap is where we are right now I'm Rachel I'm going speak for you a little bit just give you some broad information and Rachel will'll go back into the drill down um as you all know from our discussion last month uh mayor Anderson mentioned that he was looking for uh funding 4% of payroll to to to cover a payroll to cover an increase I told the County Commission two things based on our discussions uh and um especially one of the

056annual goals that you all gave me number one we would not do a 4% raise across the board because we need to be thinking more strategically about needs and specifically uh supplements uh and and do a market analysis of where our particular need is and we gave you guys some some some information about where we believe we're headed when the time comes in a few months for actual uh payroll discussions second and most important important from a commission perspective just as you mentioned Mr Welch we knew we weren't going to have the money to do that without County help uh so we were very strict with our budget uh with our staffing Mr Brown uh U asked as asked that question earlier about our about our numbers we we're we're reducing our staffing because we

057went through every particular line uh and addressed our long-term Staffing standards we're not asking for any new positions other than that Innovation Hub which we we knew was coming I had just a quick question on some of the history of these positions um I um how long have we had these these coaching the teaching teaching coaches and the curriculum Specialists and had they grown and then um and did we begin to get the interventionist with the eser money uh thank you for that so number one uh the interventionist started when the state adopted RTI response to intervention so you can tie in that RTI intervention with interventionist uh and that was that's based on the screeners that the state requires of us where student students are evaluated for a Mastery of skills that are necessary

058to receive the grade level instruction we started um um EV evaluating the research that we've seen in education uh that dates back about 30 years adding some coaching to those interventionists work uh those tier three intervention times at each School varies a little bit uh based on how many students were needed and so those moments where an interventionist might not have had scheduled time we would ask them to coach uh what we found in researching that and in seeing the practical application of that research was there's a huge difference between the skill set of an interventionist who's doing one-on-one or one on- three direct instruction to a student who has a who has a who has a deficit and a coach someone who's actually teaching teachers uh and so um over time we slowly grew

059that uh and Dr Allen um and Vicky Hall and J Julie any of you guys you you you may remember the exact dates because I don't where we took a a a tiered uh increase in getting uh instructional coaches in the building we did start with one coach and then we at some point I can't remember which year we were able to do a a math coach and a and a literacy coach uh for those supports it it was thank you for the question it was really it really started to take off in 2021 as a result of the learning loss that we were starting to see we actually started the the opposite way we were hiring interventionist because what was happening we had coaches already in the building but the coaches were they had

060to do the intervention for our students that were in tier3 so they were hired to coach but the reality was we didn't have anybody to work in small group with our RTI which is required by the state which we would be doing it anyway so our coaches were actually intervening with students and so what we were able to do was hired you heard me speak a little bit about this at the last board meeting but we have hired just enough enough co uh interventionist excuse me erroring erroring on the Lower Side um to meet the need of that tiered intervention for students and what I mean by Aaron on the Lotus Lower Side is if there's an extra group or two that needs to meet the coach will fill that Gap instead of triggering another

061interventionist position so whenever we air on the side so we are running it as absolutely lean as we can but they really came about in 21 and we don't have an interest we don't need to expand that we have enough interventionist to meet the instructional needs of our tier three students now and we have enough instructional coaches at the elementary and middle school honestly we're a little light at the high school we have one instructional coach to serve all of the teachers there so we're making that work um but that's 20 2020 2021 was when we really had the opportunity to focus and train on a coaching model um uh and so that our so that we're now hiring U uh individuals with skill sets that have strengths to work with adults as coaches and

062those who have strengths in working with students to be interventionist okay Dr Webb was about to add something I think the only thing I was going to add is I I don't recall the exact date but I remember presenting as a principal to this board in approximately 20 uh 2014 uh for justification for coaches at the high school level given some examples of how we were trying to implement coaching at Centennial at the time and I do know at that time there were coaches at the elementary level I believe for several years but to um Dr Allen's Point those coaches many of which were doing half you know on paper half their time coaching half their time intervention I guess how many interventionists are there I miss all we have 48 in elementary 20 in

063Middle is that right and then probably 10 more in high school those numbers are driven by ratio requirements so we are mandated to in the in in the recommendation is is research-based but the groups need to be three students to one interventionist and those interventionist schedules start at the very beginning of the day and they're meeting with groups the entire day and we actually move those interventionist positions based on the results of uh of our screeners you may hear hear us talk occasionally about Ames web that's the status approved screener uh for for those for those skills tests Jay did you have a question I did so Dr alen so I hear you oh um so I have a have a first year teacher um as well and can can attest to the value of

064the coaching and the coaching model not only from the coach but from from the uh the mentor teachers um and that's been that's been excellent so but I want to think about the so as we as we try to create consistency across the across the board um and that's driving the the coaching and um and the all the things that we do to try to keep same pace and all that kind of thing so what do we do to encourage and recognize the exceptional teachers um who within what little margin they have to be exceptional and because they're driven to do the same thing as everybody else like how do we how do we encourage that how do we recognize it and how do we um I I hear you say that they're probably the

065mentors that are trying to teach that in other people I think the biggest complaint that I have heard um is that with all this consistency um I don't have much margin to to do what I was taught to do and that is to um to differentiate myself and be creative um I'm I'm just kind of doing what I'm not reading from the book but just playing from the Playbook and I just don't have time to to do what I what I really would love Dr Allen I'm going to let you give some detail but I want to I want to start with this preface what we try to teach is to these to these teachers we all need to teach the same content how you teach it can vary uh that's the that's the theme

066but with that Dr Allan share some detail thank it's a great question and I'm glad you ask it Dr re asked the same question yesterday in her 2 and a half hour meeting so she's going to hear it again I think it's an important message because I think there's a misconception uh that's out there just a little bit so there are some things that we are tight on some of the things that we're tight on include we want you as a team to give assessments from a bank of items that fully assess the standard that's when they're creating what we call our common formative assessments we're tight on we we want you as a team to determine that pacing we're tight on we want you after you give a common formative assessment to sit down

067as a team and disaggregate that data together and build intervention plans together because we think collaboration and teamwork are the best here's where we're loose and Mr Golden nailed it the delivery of instruction is based on the strengths of that individual teacher and they are free to implement that curriculum now here's how we implement curriculum though in a classroom we start with the standard so that those teachers have broken that standard apart together so that they fully understand the standard we then tell the teachers go back and stay within your board adopted curriculum materials as long as you can but s supplement based on your teaching expertise based on your strengths based on the needs of your students and based on if the curriculum that's provided to you doesn't meet the depth and complexity of

068the classroom so there's a lot of freedom there now what we don't tell them to do is you know the standard go teach it however you want and so we gave Dr Reeves some examples yesterday we don't want elementary teachers teaching reading in a nonresearch based approach you wouldn't want your child to be in a classroom that they're not teaching from a research-based approach however they have lots of Freedom as long as they can say I've I was in the I've I've I've I've looked at the curriculum I've utilized parts of the curriculum here's why I'm not doing it word for word here's why I'm not following a script which we would never ask a teacher to do um so they they're free to implement as they as they as they see fit based on

069their experiences and their expertise but we and this there's state law that requires this too they have to start by looking in that curriculum and staying in that curriculum as long as they can does that answer your question Mr because I I've heard I've heard said to us I just have to follow the script of the book or I just follow the chapters that's absolutely not true hear me say it right here this is what we tell our teachers exactly what I just told you right there now where there is some tightness and Miss Lopez mentioned this yesterday in the meeting um uh that we had or Miss Miss s mentioned this yesterday in the meeting that we had U with Dr re we much more tight in our phonics implementation in K through2 it's

070called foundational skills so we have a systematic foundational skills phonics program and the reason for that is there's a set way that you have to teach phonics instruction and so there pretty much is a script when you talk about phonics instruction which our students are spending about an hour a day hour to an hour and a half a day learning in grades K1 and two but outside of that it's the model that I just described with you start with the standard stay go to your board adopted materials stay within that curriculum as long as it's meeting your needs as a teacher but supplement as you see fit um because quite frankly we do not want to create robots curriculums our teachers are better than the curriculums that they're that are provided to them we'll never

071replace that human expertise and experience of that classroom teacher in their uh uh teaching that curriculum so so I I I understand that I guess the the part of my question well I guess I think I've I've heard I guess I I hear it differently with respect to like wit and wisdom where we can't get through the whole curriculum and the and it's it's really there's a lot and so I never make it to anything that I can that I can make my own it's it's more it's it is more reading from The Playbook if you will not not necessarily the script but but my but with regards to how do we how do we recognize and and encourage those those exceptional teachers and and how like how do you how can you tell that

072somebody's doing a great job outside the test scores so we we do have what we call instructional practice guides they call them ipgs where our teams walk around in visit classrooms and see curriculum being implemented in a variety ways and Mr Cal to be really clear the example that you gave with wit and wisdom again not as tight as the foundational skills but but tighter than all the other content area because the research will show that we have to implement a reading program and a bad reading program being implemented is better than no reading program at all so the the the examples that you're giving are good examples where there is probably less Freedom as it relates to how much a teacher can accomplish there um but we do take teachers we through that ipg

073walkth through and and Dr orer is much more involved in that process with our elementary teacher so she could speak to this as well um but we do take teachers with us um in those in those teams that are walking around doing those instructional practice guide visits and after those walkthroughs those teachers those coaches the curriculum specialists um they they they talk about what they've seen in that classroom they talk about um the exceptionality that they may see and how something is delivered um and then those teachers are recognized through that way um I don't know Dr or would you add anything to I would I I would add that one one thing that we're really proud of at the elementary level this year and maybe a bit last year is that we're also doing

074everything that he just stated across schools so we have teams that are stronger for any number of reasons I'll I'll take like an Edmonson and a lip scum I may have a really strong team over at lip scum and I say in my principal colleague group I'm struggling with this same grade level team and so those two leaders say I'm going to send two teachers over to watch that teacher teach or I'm going to watch that team teach to see the seamlessness to see not the robotic but to see that same standard being unpacked differently taught differently engaged with differently by students and so th th those people are happening through the ipg which has been incredibly powerful we also have added our student support service teachers to that and some in some buildings our

075ESL teachers so that's again kind of looking at all different types of teachers in terms of their ability to differentiate for specialized populations or the typical students in their class and sharing that those practices Beyond just their classroom or Beyond just their team evaluation I just want to emphasize too one one thing that that Dave said because when wit and wisdom you were here when we implemented it for the first time and it it was rough because we were shifting a paradigm as well as changing a curriculum and that got what you shared got said a lot I could just read like you could come in and do this yourself right you just stand there and read the script it's the teachers who are able to personalize that Playbook I love that language that you

076used to the kids in their classroom and make it specific to the kids in their classroom that can't be done just by reading the script and that's where the magic is right that's that's where the teacher becomes the most important person in the class because they know what those 20 students in front of them need and can take that that Playbook and make it meaningful and practical and accessible to all 20 of those kids and if you all could help us with the terminology we don't use the words we don't use the word Fidelity Fidelity to us means we're following the script we use the word integrity so we Implement curriculum with Integrity we try to hold to the core principles of the curriculum we St with it as long as we uh as long

077as it's meeting the needs of the teacher and the students but we Implement with integrity and if I may I want to give a couple of examples that I've seen about how Exemplar teachers are recognized uh often uh one of those teachers will share in some professional development time some of their techniques I've seen I've seen that at at schools where principales asked in to share what you've done uh in a particular in a particular setting sometimes I've seen te teams do that as well and Dr roer mentioned that a team might go to a different location to share and I've seen the opposite happen where a teacher who's might say I've I've struggled on a particular on how to teach a particular standard might go visit um a team or a teacher that's done

078that really well uh on the other side of that Spectrum I've seen praise and uh thanks on the Fly for things like in an ipg uh uh uh someone who's observing notices that that particular teacher uh got a question from a student and recognize what this how the student might have might have aired and can IM and immediately makes a change and gets that student back on track how how how a teacher differentiates in the moment um while students are working on something just physically moving to a different student location how a teacher make sure that that a student uh is engaged in in that moment when when they might when it might look in in that in that moment that they might be drifting off praise related to just those things that happen on

079the on a daily basis so I see that spectrum of formal uh opportunities for teachers to help each other um all the way to just those those quick thank yous um I have a question I have two questions the first is I was wondering if you can provide an example of how the coaching works in light of the fact the literacy coaching for elementary Works in light of the fact that we just talked about there has to be a pretty tightly controlled way that Wht and wisdom is taught and all that so if you could speak to that the first thing that comes to mind and it it goes back to kind of the beginning of Whit and wisdom but for our newer teachers who are using wh wisdom for the first time it continues

080to be a piece but I'll speak to the ipg and how it was helpful at the district level as well as at the school team level as well as at the individual teacher level so we began the ipgs with wit and wisdom um and we noticed immediately across with the 30 elementary schools we were able to notice immediately across schools in the in the south in the West in the north that we were having challenges with pacing it was the it was the number one thing that our teachers were feeling and and Jay kind of referenced it that you know they can't it's it's deep it's a lot um and so that immediately from the district level because an ipg team includes District Personnel it may be a curriculum specialist it may be an executive

081director from our lead the elementary leadership team it then is the principal or assistant principal literacy coach in this case sometimes teachers sometimes other Personnel from schools so in the very beginning we were able to across our schools using a a structured tool look and say we have a pacing problem we're never going to be able to get through all of this because of the time that we're spending in ways that we didn't really need to do it that turned into curriculum Specialists sharing that in Mass with our 30 literacy coaches so their professional development turned into we have a pacing problem how do we strategize around that what do we need to do differently at the district level so all 30 of them we were able to troubleshoot that immediately instead of kind of

082randomly hearing which might have happened without our coaches without our curriculum specialist we wouldn't have known that was happening and we certainly wouldn't have been able to in Mass provide PD around it then at the team level one of two things would happen we may see a teacher team and Dr Allen isn't struggling with pacing at all but Dr web and I will take third grade we're struggling with the pacing we're taking too long we're losing our kids what whatever those factors would be so at the team level we were able to say to that principal or that assistant principal all right these two either need to go watch Dr Allen teach or they need to talk about that in their PLC time and and communicate what are the strategies that he's using that's getting

083them through it what's getting us stuck let the coach sit because they've been able to sit and watch that and share those strategies and facilitate those conversations right again not something that would typically happen because we're not going around for 15 minutes and getting that snapshot and then as that individual teacher I would get that feedback if the ipg team came into my classroom and I was struggling with that pacing my principal and that instructional coach have a decision to make is my pacing just a little off and so that's just going to take a hey Julie you you got stuck on the questions or you got stuck on that behavior here are some tips to move on or is it on the other end of that Continuum and I need a deep cycle coaching

084conversation deep cying deep cycle coaching conversation and cycle with my coach that instructional decision is going to be able to be made in real time without that ipg without the ability for a team to be in that space we wouldn't have necessarily known that with the rapid in the rapid way that we were able to know it the other piece of that with the curriculum Specialists if I'm on that other side of the Continuum where I'm really struggling and I might just not understand what why the pacing is important why that research-based curriculum is important we may be able to pull in a district curriculum specialist our two Ela curriculum Specialists are geniuses to me absolute Geniuses they would be able to coach that third grade ELA teacher completely differently than I could as a

085principal completely differently it'd be good I'm capable of doing that but them coming in and doing it or modeling it those curriculum Specialists have been into that third grade classroom and taught for two weeks to demonstr rate that alongside a coach for example so that's a really long-winded answer to what that would look like but that's that's a perfect example that in the beginning that whole team came alongside and supported that third grade teaching team okay and so then it's ongoing because we always have new teachers coming in and okay you answered my other question already so thank you thank you Mr chair Mr chair uh this has been a really good discussion Rachel we uh I don't know that we intend to go this this this deep into instructional issues but I I I

086i' I I think these kinds of conversations are valuable for us to continue um we're on page three of the budget document I know it's going to be a long night I did have one kind of one area and I can make this fast but I think I would I would like to see because I think the most important thing is the classroom teacher and I I know I've heard from other teachers there's situations where there might be down a teacher in science where there's two science teachers and there's three English teachers three Math teachers and they have a higher class load and and and it's hard because at that point it's like should we because I from what I understand these instructional coaches are Master Teachers and at that point what's more important that

087we have you know someone teaching a third more students and this is just rhetorical we don't have to because we're it's a long it's going to be a long night but I think the classroom teacher is the most important part and that's where I want to see us us be Equitable like having you know so we don't have some teachers that are carrying more work than um when we could have we could you know take advantage of those Master Teachers because that's I mean that is gold right there and and and as a as a teacher myself I I remember being a first year teacher and being paired with a mentor teacher and that was the most important thing um so but we can move on thank you for that Miss Clemens I and I

088actually want to mention in the context of the budget document starts on page 14 we have a school by school Staffing standard um and that that example that you gave where we might have three ELA teachers and two science teachers we we give each principal blank number of teachers based on their enrollment and sometimes at the middle and high school level the programming might drive the number of teachers in a particular subject matter so uh to your point there could be a situation where uh based on the grade level the flexibility of the of the State numbers for the per pupil in each class allows for either three or two uh and and it's possible a principal might say I'm going to have three in both these subjects or a principal might say I I

089have a maybe a CTE or CCT program so I need to put a 1.0 there and so I'm going to have two at another location a lot of that has to do with the principles and assistant principles putting together the schedule um and uh Dr Webb I know you work through this and you've done this in your professional life at at at points is there any any any information you can give that can answer Miss Clemens question or concern I think you hit it and the other thing that I would add is that it's not uncommon for us to have a vac position and maybe we can't find someone to fill that role and um many of our coaches at the secondary level may come out of that coach and role temporarily to fill a

090vacant position until one can be filled um that happens quite a bit I think that's really important because I think that's the number one such important ratio in education is your classroom size not not when you factor in RTI and all the little groups but just the basic classroom size and you know when you look at middle school when you get in seventh eighth grade we have 35 kids in a class by state standards and that's not good you know we need something smaller okay can I can I just hate to do this but because we've spent so much time on this instructional coaches issue and sort of the explanation and rationale for it it's out of sequence I know but can you just take us in the PCR to that line of where about

091instructional coaches how many positions we have what what are we requesting year-over-year if you go into sure page 12 of the summary portion of the PCR they're um at the top under instructional support which is Major category 72210 um for for the General Ed instruction uh you'll see them listed down closer to the bottom of that section um there's 101.5 listed again we're not adding they were there were some that were up in as teachers and got moved down four and a half so that's why you see an increase there but that's where the instructional coaches are and then the Specialists are in the line below that where it says other salaries and wages um 12 12 in the PCR so 97 actual in the current year proposed a 101.5 but it's the the four

092and a half increase is moving and mov in a category correct yeah so no net increase in that POS in that class in that position and just I will say the feedback I had when this question came up was it's easy we know well I say it's easy we think we know what a teacher is we think we know what a principal is a librarian is but not necessarily what these other other roles are doing and so that's where it was asked is because we get a little bit more information okay into what those supports look like all right well thank thanks for that so we we'll let you get back on we're ready to move track and the good thing is we've talked about the budget for the last several months so it's um

093I feel like we've kind of touched a lot of this information already so we are going to move on to the general purpose School fund again when you get when it's time to vote there will be four separate votes you have one for the general purpose School fund one for the central cafeteria fund a separate vote for the um extended school program and then for the annual Capital so the first vote you would have would be on the general purpose School fund and so going to hit briefly on Revenue not a lot changed um from the last time we talked again totals are up there but um this follows the same Trend where we're getting about a third of our funding from the state and then twoth thirds coming from the county or local um

094funding and so again sales tax we've are projecting a 3% increase property tax at this point is 1% end of March the county should have some information available on what the property tax will be revealing that information then and so also should have said we bring this budget to you we ask you to approve um and then it goes on to the County Commission education and budget committees there are going to be changes in between now and then last year I think we brought back two amendments to our board to have to go back and make adjustments because again we are going to continue to get um updated information so we could come back to you it could stay exactly the same whatever changes whatever vote you make it could stay that way or there

095could be tweaks if we were to get additional information that could move it one way or the other so I should have mentioned that as well um so the only really Revenue I wanted to just kind of mention again is that we did get our first Tissa letter which was at the end of February we'll get another one each end of the week last week at the end of each month going forward um the base did increase from SE to 7,295 um but what I wanted to show you when we did our can I interrupt right there can you go back one slide absolutely um board members if I'm not mistaken tsba gives you this document or and I don't of course the dates vary from time to time because we get updates on this

096one thing I want to point out is that very top line and it's it's tight font right now but some of you actually may have have this document at home um Rachel mentioned uh the uh the the amount of 7,295 that is the base amount that the state starts with this year it was 7,75 last year was about 6800 um The Proposal in the state budget is to increase by what I think of is a cola increase cost of living um close to 3% uh to that base 7295 and then that number to the right of that is 298 million in change we do not receive that from the state that is the base the top line does not inform of on what we actually get that's where they say this this is shared between

097the locals and the state and then all the applications of of how they how they cut us to what we actually are responsible for and more accurately what the state actually gives us comes on the second page sorry go ahead perfect perfect explanation of that I had moved on to the second page where the breakdown occurs between the 7030 split between um counties and the state and then also we have a small split between us and FSD and with the the calculations that they provided to us I have circled in red on the left they are using our current U fiscal capacity the kind of sh lightly shaded blue box shows you what the physical capacity has been the last two years so when I did my calculation which is what the right side is

098I did a 0.1 increase in fiscal capacity because that's the the trend um that could go up higher based on what those property tax reassessments look like but for now I went ahead and did increase it so what's in the budget is then to the right of those blue boxes where the orange where it's highlighted in Orange and you can see my calculation was is 2 million less but it's based on that fiscal capacity that's what that .1% fiscal capacity changed in this calculation funding is that 2.1 so Rachel if I'm not mistaken uh tdoe has a responsibility to get us this next year's fiscal Capac fiscal capacity by the end of May May um they have told us they're going to do their best to get it to us quicker because they recognize from

099a budgeting perspective that's that's you know it's it's difficult for us um but Rachel is is projecting an estimate that that our that our Gap compared to the rest of the state will increase and that's what our data shows so that's why her projection is 2 million less just a just to underscore this and I think I me everybody can read it for themselves but I just need to say say it the base would tell us that the state should fund us at 298 million and change what we're actually going to get from the state is 176 million and change and that Bas is before the 7030 split so you could take this the 298 and multiply it by 70% and that would be um yes but yes what you're saying is correct I went

100ahead remember how I kind of talked to y'all about I think maybe last year um if we extrapolated it out or maybe Even in our discussions and ran it as if what that would look like about how much we are getting per student as opposed to the 70 um $200 7295 what that would look like and it's actually running about 4350 4350 a student which is just a little bit less than what it was for this year for 24 25 so Mr chair to to answer that was some approximate numbers the state base on that first page uh tells the whole state the state will fund 70% of that number um then the fiscal capacity is applied to it down the road so Rachel projects that we are going to get Rachel what 176 million

101from the state correct just approximately uh 70% uh of the of the total Statewide base would leave us with about 208 209 million so the fiscal capacity would change our receipts by somewhere around 38 million right at million Rachel uh real quick so where did the 184 come from on this or is it just a typo or for state revenue next slide oh point is also included in TSA with 176 there's a few other things um outcomes is added to that but then we also do get a little bit of other state revenue as well not just coming through Tissa so that's the total amount that would be for the state thank you for mentioning that Dr Dr Johnson so the total state revenue includes some outcomes and some unique learning needs uh that we

102get straight from the state if I'm not mistaken Rachel there's actually four main categories from the state one is base one is outcomes one is unique learning needs and direct direct thank you and the direct yeah the weights um part is youri unique learning needs but when you're when talk about it space and then the outcomes and and just to be clear on that bar graph that you're referring to there that red number or that blue number 184 is the Blue Line the red line is less and if you look on the slide that she just had up that's the 182 at the bottom the net number at the bottom after the outcomes are added to the to the state portion it's the 182 so that's the decline in state revenue that she's referring to

103year-over-year that's correct now with that being said maybe something will happen at the state level that will change this um during the legislative process uh you all do know that in our meeting with Senator Johnson he talked about trying to find something to mitigate uh the fiscal capacity um that is not built into this budget but if we receive that that will help us close that Gap I'm sorry was that what that was yeah that was my question I I guess I was going to ask Rachel has that have has there been any anything further on that my understanding was that they were going to create a grant mechanism for high- performing school districts I've I've heard that as well that would provide up to what two an additional 2 million I think is what

104that that fund was in the bill that was passed in the special session and it was like a $20 million fund and I remember the senator saying that he thought maybe four million of that would come to us that's the number I remember him mentioning um we haven't heard anything yet from tdoe about that uh and just as a reminder uh what what Senator Johnson spoke to was a projection that they would put a fund in for any school system who had a majority of their schools receive an a under the letter grade system uh and we do qualify for that this year we would qualify for that this year so in theory that would swing that number from a $2 million loss year-over-year to a$2 million gain yes sir yeah and again if we

105get any of that information that would be one of those things we would imediately bring back to you and and let you know what that change looked like and that's all I have to say about Revenue so if you have any other questions about it let me know if not we'll move right on into our expenses again you had the same um report in the prior month where it's just reconciliation from prior year to where we are current year there were a few changes that we did go back and make um from last time and um um one of those just so you know if you go through the documents and and compare the rough draft to the draft or the yeah the rough draft to the draft you have now um mileage we are

106increasing that across the board because the state and federal rates both went up to 70 cents and we were at 59 cents so we would be pulling that up so each one of the mileage accounts you would see in a little bit of an adjustment um again went back through uh each line and I will tell you on the I'm I'm going to do a confession I I made a mistake um on the payroll reduction line last month it was um about $2 million more than that but we've figured out we had a line that I actually did not put money into that needed to and it was for our rbts and bcbas they would be super sad if we didn't have money for them so um there is um that adjustment so that's why

107that went down a little bit that payroll reduction for the bottom part and I want to I want to mention a couple things related to that one of the uh one of the comments Rachel just mentioned was rbts and bcbas registered behavioral therapists board certified Behavioral Analyst um and those are some of the special education uh positions um but I also want to mention to you that Rachel has included uh a number of um pay items with the aggregate on the right uh as I mentioned to you we do not make a request of you for our pay charts until we see that we've got a a better chance of actually receiving the fund so we Ty Al bring those to you in May or June I do anticipate there's some potential changes to those

108uh because we are right now in those discussions with the wcea uh leadership uh via the Pekka process Rachel I may have uh may have G may have stolen some of what you're about to say it's great go for it um the only other thing I would say big adjustment wise there's little tweaks because we did run out payroll um as far as we could just in estimating trying to see um how close we can make sure that we've got the most accurate numbers with the current staff that we have and so you'll see little tweaks all the way through um related to that the other bigger item that's changed would be our um Chromebook expense the decision was made to go ahead and pull um the second grade Chromebooks as well but then adding

109carts uh to be able to charge Chromebooks are going to be left at school um was added and so now the request is 5.2 it was 6.4 so it was a $1.2 million reduction and I just want to point out that um within operations themselves if without those Chromebooks we really would have been down um about a million dollars from where we were last year in operations but again we need to get the Chromebooks in the GP budget because last year we had to come back and pull it from fund balance and it really should be on a schedule for replacement it's just part of an annual cost um so that those are the big differences that you would see from the drift draft to the the draft you have before you and Rachel I

110want to mention Chromebooks briefly I know we've had some discussions about it um probably going to give you three key key items number one I gave you some data on some snapshots that uh Dave's team took about actual usage during school uh what we found in K through2 generally speaking the student usage uh is maybe if I'm not mistaken somewhere around 40 to 50% of our students on daily basis are logging in for somewhere between 25 and 35 minutes total for the school day uh and and so um Brian King and jul Dr Julie orer went through the process of evaluating on the on the hardware side those old devices that were purchased if I'm not mistaken six years ago they were purchased six years ago how many of those could we take and and

111just use the best ones just for that short window of time that we know that those youngest grade levels are using the devices we determined that we could do it uh for K2 and Rachel mentioned Chargers our plan is to keep those at the school and and charge those uh so grades three through five we have seen that their usage um bumps up a little bit largely because the Tennessee state standards for computer science puts a more demands at those at those higher grade levels so that's why we have that request for you now with all that being said when I look at the Tennessee St standards um one one comment jumped out at me at the in the K K2 level uh these standards were published by the state in 2022 and it mentions

112that children uh age three to five based on a 2015 study are spending somewhere between two and a half and three hours a day on devices before they even get to us um we know that now that's 2015 right I don't even I don't know what what we're looking at 10 years later but that's the that's the data that the state included in their computer science standards we've had some in-depth discussions um U among many of you and in our team uh as I mentioned uh we are creating u a committee led by Dr Allen to evaluate student screen time really on two key components one Dev one computers and two personal devices uh and so we believe that long term we need to make a change uh on on supporting families with their devices

113there's a window of time that we have control and then there's a window of time that parents have control in decision- making um uh so we're making a short-term adjustment an immediate adjustment to those youngest grades because the data makes it clear to us uh and then longterm we we were working on developing some strategic thought about where is the optimal and what is the optimal approach uh for serving our students in the next decade uh when it comes to screen time Dr Allen is there any detail you want to give about about um us getting that committee put together thank you uh Miss Lopez is leading that committee so I want to let her give you an update on where we are because we've uh we're putting out information to that committee right now

114so do you mind updating us where we are with that work sure um we have already sent out the invites and so we're having um multiple stakeholders as part of that committee including um two board members um parents from elementary middle and high school teachers also representing elementary middle and high school um instructional coaches um and administrators also so it's a committee that's really representative of all of the different um stakeholders that would really have that we really want feedback for El and input on the usage what we're looking at and basically what I what I emailed out was um the details of our meetings we plan to meet three times and there's going to be homework attached to each of those because what we want to do is we want to share some of

115the research within the small groups um created by great bands and then um have those different group members um read some of the research behind usage and when I say usage I'm talking talking about screen time the appropriate use of screen time but also technology use at school like passive versus active use of technology and so there's lots of research to read lots of conversations each group will have time to then come back and have conversations about what they learned in that research um share out with with the full group with with the whole large committee and then come back one more time and begin to draft some um some guidelines for for schools Again by grade Vin because it's really important to distinguish the difference between the needs and Elementary like in a K2

116band versus um a 35 band a 68 and then a high school right because the needs are so different but some of the things we want to tackle are are very lofty we have some really big goals and uh and so this might be the beginning of of of some of the work we have to do but but we plan to um to get some guidelines in place as far as at least screen time and Technology usage at school like what are we using it for and how do we Define passive versus active and then how we help our teachers with those guidelines and then we will take it from there as far as like we also want to address some guidelines for for parents just to inform our community on what that that that

117same active versus passive means at home when you're in your technology so um invite sent out will begin meeting March 26 and we'll wrap up our meetings by May the three meetings that we're going to have with some touchbase points along the way um I have a question about how the people were selected were they handpicked or was it talked about and people could apply um to be as part of this committee because I have several constituents who've reached out to me who would love to be part of that but I didn't know anything about it and like can we make sure people can know about it before it all gets started but it sounds like you've already picked everyone and the invitations are going out so invites have gone out we asked um principles

118to send us names of parents who were interested at the school level um we asked our board members in fact um I had a recommendation from a board member for a parent um who would be interested I am happy to take more names we're actually having a hard time getting people to commit this time of year is hard there are a lot of sports after school activi so this is a really tough time a crunch time for a lot of our parents Community teachers all alike so if if you have parents that would be interested I actually would love to have some especially parent names um secondary parents we're struggling more with so Middle School and High School parents um I was on the phone today trying to um to recruit a little bit so

119if you want to email me those names we would be H I'm happy to reach out to them my phone number is helpful because at this point because it's coming right up I do want to start making phone calls um but so I and so there's still time for for recruitment I I just had to get that out um the the timeline has been has been kind of tight we want to get this at least the work started and have something to go by in May and so it creates a super tight timeline for us um once it gets into summer just from my experience with committees over the summer they're very difficult people go on vacation schools are closed it's just really hard to get a committee so but yeah I'm I'm happy to

120to take some of your recommendations for members and and you might consider Maybe in focus and seeing if we get any more participants that way thank you good suggestion so I um apologize if this question had been asked at the last work session but um her really really struggle with the one:1 ratio for computers to students in elementary at all grade levels K through 5 so when we're talking about reusing old Chromebooks for K through 2 which which you know thank you for finding that solution but I I have to ask do we need a one:1 ratio especially at K through2 and even for third through fifth graders if we're buying new computers you know are they going to be hauling them home every day and is there an opportunity there to have shared computers

121that stay in the classroom I'd like Dr Royer to speak to that we understand the concerns for sure we our teachers spent time looking and analyzing the work that's being done in the classroom and the usage um and feel that yes in 3 five there is a need for it to be one to one um we can certainly explore them remaining at school but I think when we do that when we begin to do that we're limiting what teachers are able to assign in their own kind of autonomy back to back to our conversation earlier um and being able to guide that learning that's happening at home in a in a helpful way that readies them for Middle School we aren't doing oneto one um at K And1 and two we will still have oneto

122one but we may find that because of the older technology we're not able to do that oneto one we do want them to stay at school K through two um and be used for instructional if there's something that's happening at the second grade level that they can take them home um we certainly haven't discussed that fully of what that would mean but we want to keep our teachers having the discretion to be able to at at grade two to be able to prepare them for grade three one of the primary concerns that was shared with us when we did this committee work was any any strategies any troubleshooting any skills that we're using in two specifically in grade two specifically if we don't do it in grade two it will land in grade three and

123there was concern from our third grade Educators who have quite a bit on their plate right now um and moving forward that they they need them to come with some computer literacy um and the same thing is true there was concern that as TCAP assessment starts in sixth grade on the computer device we want to ensure that any assessment that's being done and we we do our benchmark assessments we do some of our um common formative assessments on the computer as well as their their aim web which we've talked about a little bit tonight we want to ensure that all of those assessments are really giving us the appropriate information about the skills that the students have and the standards that the students have mastered and not just their computer literacy so we again km1

124it will not be one: one grade two the intent with the older computers is where it's still to be one to one um but um we may find ourselves in a position that it can't be one to one because they're just older and their life their lifelines are going to be a little different so we may find ourselves there so at the 3 to five level that you asked about um speak to that in the discussion you've had um with teachers and principles about students having those devices and carry them carrying them home absolutely so I apologize if I wasn't thorough enough there we they believe that it's necessary um they're using assignments that are based in schooly which is our LMS where teachers are putting information that can be used during the school day

125as well as when they take them home um they're using our epic app which is reading there several pieces of our math curriculum that are going through that that can be differentiated our teachers felt like in 35 there was a continued academic need they certainly I they take them home with the intention of them being used specifically we know from Andy from Mrs Davis's data that there are things that are happening at home that are not necessarily assigned by our teach teers um but those academic needs continue to be something that they feel and again those those computer SC and everything that I've mentioned so far is really specific to ELA and math but we also have those computer science standards and the the kind of what I think of as our computer soft skills

126like keyboarding troubleshooting those pieces that are a part of those computer science standards that we do and are embedded just in the Everyday Use whether it's independent or it's in group usage or it's in like our RTI time when students are getting instruction but they're doing it in a self-paced differentiated way that's done by the computer programs that they have access to in the classroom all right I definitely can appreciate all of that I have had so the one: one ratio came after covid right 20 2020 uh yes ma'am it did we had in our we had in our strategic plan to do it but it ex very much accelerated our strategic plan so I I understand that I'm an N of one but I've had a fourth grader a fifth grader and a third

127grader and my kids have never done after school work on the computer when they brought it home all they did was watch YouTube videos on it so I really I know I'm an in of one but I really really want us to evaluate this one toone need we never had it prior to 2020 and and we can teach without excessive computer needs in elementary school for sure I mean there's a reason why the top Tech Executives in the world in Silicon Valley send their kids to a play based school that has zero Tech thank you for that so I have a couple of things um you know I've tutored elementary students and the Chromebook was to do an app I I forgot what he was doing freckles or something like that I think it's called

128um no yeah so um I have two asks I'd like to see the district Tech plan and utilization reports for applications that the district uses okay and I'm just going to say I um agree exactly with what Claire says um I'm not a proponent of uh Chromebooks at all in Elementary School uh at the most fifth grade to start learning coding and um you know typing skills and things like that but that's about it thank you and some of you guys already know that thank you so to to stay on the technology um Topic in a little different way so we also started in Co when we went one to one preparing for remote and we we went we we got into school and we had Skyward I believe before um before that but I

129asked Rachel a question she provided the the cost that we spent on those but Jason can you can you speak to your efforts to um to evaluate all those things it's a it's a decent Siz cost I mean I I was actually shocked that it was as small as it was I mean just at at a a few hundred th000 which across 40,000 students was it was actually smaller than I thought but um but I just want to make sure that that we're being thoughtful about getting not getting a system that we we rushed into place but now we're we're four years out of that um it's trying to find the the best thing for our students and our teachers thank you for that uh so U you mentioned two systems one Skyward and and

130the other schooi uh and Amy MAF Dr MAF is is behind you actually and and and she leads some of our efforts related to this uh the student information system um and and I may I may mess up the acronyms Amy uh the the Skyward is is a is a product of the state requiring us to have an online system to get data to them uh and schooly is an online is is an online system for grades parents can can look at grades students can see their assignments Etc uh the state actually notified schools that they were reg going back through the RFP process for what we now have as Skyward uh they let us know that in January two months ago they were going to release an RFP uh they expected to get um

131results of that RFP in April basically next month uh they have not yet done the uh RFP uh the expectation is that the state is going to give school systems a different new choices uh for for that system um Dr MAF and I'm calling you Dr MAF I know you have you just finished your uh yeah yeah she she she she received her doctorate I think within the last year so she deserves that that doctor uh um Dr Ma Ma has already started vetting what she anticipates as may be potential products because when the state gets this to us the window of time for us to select to comply with the state requirements may be short because already they're two months behind what they had told us for for their RFP part of what we're

132we're going to be looking at related to that is integration between but I you know the schoolagy and the Skyward or some similar products and I know you and I've had the discussion colleges use this quite often um I think uh canvas was uh it was was one one one brand example there's many Brands out there uh to integrate another issue that we know uh we've had some some questions about is the extent to which teachers uh um will will post grades in there and we know that there's some variation there uh and and it reminds me of no matter what the tool the human nature is going to be the same that you know even before these tools were there where a parent can quickly look up a grade uh there's been variation in

133in timing of teachers entering ENT entering their grades in the grade book so that we haven't explored that in depth but we know that they that that teachers have some discretion within that um Dr Royer and I know uh uh Dr web also have set some expectations through their principles for how often teachers enter enter those enter those grades so that's a that's a multiple topic answer to your question uh just kind of gives you a little hint of the complexity of the process um but um Dr MAF I I'm going to ask you if you would is there any other detail about the state process I know the timeline that I didn't mention uh is actually 2026 for implementation that is our timeline based on what the state contract uh timeline is so the

134state contract is due to end summer of 2026 so Andy sorry Andy Davis and I are both working on this evaluation process as it is an integration between instructional technology and the Cy Department to get that learning management system and the cyst to work together so we are working together on that but to your question the state timeline is that their contract with the vendors will be up and renewing summer of 2026 so we're trying to stay ahead of things and be ready for that same timeline there are five vendors they approved for the last contract and it very well may be the same five vendors moving forward uh but that's what we're waiting to find out for sure so Dr MAF is that those five vendors are that's the Skyward part of the equation

135yes the Skyward is our CIS uh Skyward company is one of the five that the state would allow schools to choose from and are we are we also evaluating the learning management system at the same time and do any of those five also are are they also a learning management system no the CIS is different from the learning management system in that it holds assignments for students to do sis is more about the student data and getting it to the state and and accurate um we're not evaluating the learning management system at this time but we are certainly seeing and and checking with those vendors to show us how they can integrate they've all said that they can and they can all work together so I don't see barriers as far as being able to

136pick one and and I see Dr Johnson smiling because I had that same smile they say they can is that what you smiling about and I said we're asking them to show us so I'm I'm we're we're pushing them to show us I hope you have a technology person it techn Information Technology person as part of that um I know you may not have the answer but some states have statewide sis has Tennessee talked anything about potentially purchasing it for everybody sure the so the state CIO I actually talked to at a conference in the fall and I know that has been whispered as a possibility um I have not heard it with any anything behind it yeah so I guess so thank you for that on the timing I guess I thought the I

137thought the learning management system was part of that review I guess so the well it it it it is in the context of we're looking to see if there's a way to integrate what we have with that gotcha well I think just the the problem um that that we've experienced from you know personally and and just in dealing with the schools for the last several years is the the Reliance of Technology as a solution um for processes that aren't um standard across the board and what you um and what I I've heard multiple multiple times that Schoo is a Class by class system um and so it's it's it's moduled by by class and not by student it's not a student centered system and so the teachers it's it's made for teachers to look at

138classes of students each and each and every one um but it it does okay to look at a student as a as the consumer um but it it's it's ineffective um and so teachers are using this and we're we're telling to use this as a tool to get information to their students um but when multiple teachers give things in a different way and some teachers give a zero for assignment some teacher Mark Market is missing you tell a student to go find all of his missing work he gets three assignments that is that is missing um but he's got four zeros and he doesn't see those in Skyward he only sees them in in he he he sees the zeros in Skyward doesn't see the assignments in schoolo and and so but and then and

139if you're on your Chromebook and you want to get from Skyward to schooly you have to log out and type in your password every time you go back and forth like so take a add student and how how quickly are they going to be um how how quickly are they are we making them apathetic to say I'm not doing that I was like I'm I'm not like I and I know this like I know how I know how quickly um and it's frustrating and the the file holders for even for the special ed kids they can't follow it all they can't point me to a place um I get a message that says um hey we're great we're we're all caught up we don't have any missing assignments and three days later there's six zeros

140in the Gradebook yeah and it's just frustrating yeah um and and I and we're like I said we're using we're relying on the technology to be the solution and the technology is not the solution when it's not used effectively and consistently so regardless of of what we choose whether it's schooly or another program that that has the same flaws um we've got to work on I mean we're we we work on consistency across our you know across our curriculum but this is the student experience that they're getting and it's um it's not great thank you for that feedback that is something we'll need to work on and I know I see a couple of nods from um from our instructional well I think the key is we the Reliance I Mr galbert that's a great

141point I mean it it we can't rely on it to be uh the solution uh we can't replace the human interaction that needs to take place and helping the student organize that you're absolutely right I couldn't say any better than the way you started it and ended the conversation and I don't have much to add but I do want to add this I know Melissa was there we uh listened to a student-led panel and I specifically asked the high schoolers about about their instructional day and they said basically they get two instructions in every class open your Chromebook and log into schoy and that's they watch videos and do questions and get ready for the tests so they were not real excited about that experience either thanks for sharing that Rachel Rachel okay I want

142to go back and address one question that Mr galberth had which was the number of students enrollment reduced and it so 686 and so that $4.7 million is related to the 686 students again that's a two-year it was projections and then actuals for the two years this is just a good summation if we did nothing um but what is required those would be the first two lines underneath the 548 million from last year which are those EXP experience roles um again that experience means on the the pay chart teachers each year get a an increase um and then classified it's every 5 years and so if we did nothing else it would be a $3.9 million increase um but with the payal reductions of 4.7 the two netted together we would actually be a little

143bit below where we were last year but again um based off of the goals you set forth for Mr Golden of addressing pay increases and the supplements and looking at some of the lower paid including those 12 uh 10 and 11 month employees getting two extra days pay at during the Spring Break um the total proposed budget then is m397 797 a visual just again this kind of goes along with what we've seen in the past is that 86% % of our budget is related to personnel and then the other 14% is tied up in in our operations and I'm kind of jumping because then the meat of where we um get to for the actual GP budget starts on page 33 in your packet and this is that summary sheet um where revenue and

144expenses are are projected in total and then to the right we have the calculation of what it would what how much money we would need in order to be able to to um fund this budget and so again revenues um our estimated fund balance is the 64 million giving us total resources of 566 million the expense is coming out we are required to keep a 3% fund balance just as a reminder of what that total budgeted expense would be um and so currently as we sit right now today that Gap is that1 5,149 378 last year when we brought the budget and it was approved in March of last year that Gap was at 25 million just as a point of ref point of reference a little over 25 million so um I think we're

145missing a line item in the in this chart from the revised budget so that it that about $567 million expense includes the 15 million of capital that we put in there for the revised budget right the revised budget here the big jumping in was The Innovation um School Hub Grant which is a $15 million Grant so capital is not necess is not included in this but the capital what you're seeing that big increase from the original budget to the revised budget is is the Innovation Hub so that's just the Innovation Hub correct okay so um I was wondering how we how we're going from 548 to 54 or you know to the 564 if you look the experience role is rough L right at 4 million it's that 3.3 and 568 th000 then we're looking

146or requesting to do a 2% raise on all the charts both classified and the teacher chart again teacher chart has a 2% increase from year to year in addition so that's the 10.9 million um the supplements that we talked about last month the changes to those charts would cost 1.1 million no I yeah I mean you just told that I I just couldn't I was trying the the fact that that 15 million had a funding source and our revenue is so so basically our revenue is going going up just slightly just just slightly and again that may change if we get additional um information from property tax and from Tisa but currently correct it's just a little there the main difference of what you're seeing in the increase from five from where we the original

147budget last year now are going to be is that $16.3 million in payroll items which is the the aggregation of the number that the mayor has said he's looking for for County government and US sure and so is there a um yeah sorry the the source of that 15 million is make changes my mind but I mean we're we're we've cut we've cut about $6 million out of the budget from payroll and operating um the the 5 million for Chrome books how much did we how much did we do Chromebooks last year um Brian do you remember I do not off the top of my head 6.4 okay Rachel REM and it was all and and that was all operating or was that Capital that had to come through Capital because we had put it

148into the budget last year ended up pulling it back out and then came back that was part that was part of the process we went through with County government to get that six so so we so we might very well put that 5.2 I that might be an adjustment through capital I mean we're just moving Dollars around that are going to be spent but and that would that would ultimately be a County government decision if they if they offered that to us so we're down to we're we're down to our increas as less than if you if you if you pull out the Chromebooks and and you treat them the same as we did last year our increase is less than our raise about about $5 million that's right so I mean I don't know

149how we I don't know how we give a budget more lean and and so we're just going to have to wait to the to the see what the revenue does to to bridge the gap and just as a um just as a comment on the revenue side I think you all know this but just to make sure this is a reappraisal year for the county with property taxes um and maybe four months ago now uh there was a presentation at the County Commission on uh on some projections Rachel do you have a projected date on when the actual number is going to be shared with County Government I don't other than in the conversation I had with um their Finance director was that it would be at the end of March okay was that that

150was what was the assumption is it would be at the end of March so just to make I want to build on what J Jay was saying because I I want this to be clear for for myself and for all of us the actual is is it am I saying this correctly that the actual proposed operating budget for next year is lower than the operating budget the current year that we're in on the operation side yes and then we're actually requesting 34 fewer positions in the upcoming budget than we have currently yes so what's really the only thing that's driving maybe not the only but the the biggest thing that's driving the the Gap is the pay raise yes I had a quick question I I don't know if you're done um were you doing

151okay um and I appreciate Miss farmer met with me this week and really helpful I I really appreciate all you do because this is not my wheelhouse but you do such a good job teaching it so um but I had a question because we talked about the insurance plan and the possibility if if we go from what the county does and going to a state and how much money we would save there and then I also talked to you about the um that one of our commissioners mentioned to me about about the um I can't think far the farm uh pharmaceutical yeah that that that pharmaceutical plan and how there would be a a huge savings in that too so have we looked at those um have we I don't know who wants to go

152first but the insurance is always a sticky I'll speak to it generally uh um we are on the County government plan uh and uh you saw that the line item at $70 million um I will probably misstate this because I'm not an insurance professional but we are we are in essence in a self-funded plan with County government uh so claims are paid out of out of County government on average um Rachel help me with the actual number per FTE or full-time equivalent that we pay that Aggregates to that 70 or so million I was already on it's 1200 12,500 for medical 500 for dental and 52 for life so 13 $3,052 so that's how much we send to count County government per um full-time equivalent uh uh for for them to manage that again we

153are in with County government employees as well uh right now County government is going through an RFP process for insurance uh we had actually had a conversation with some of the County Administration about the state plan um it's my understanding that uh the state insurance plan has given that their information to County government I don't know that it's a it's a full proposal because I think they just it's just the state plan um but that information has been shared with County government um Rachel beyond that I don't know any details about how they're going through their process you mentioned the possibility of a pharmacy for some savings I have not heard if if the extent to which that's been discussed with the County government staff that's evaluating that proposal that's good to hear uh I

154know that over the years we've been involved in some discussions you know there you may remember 10 15 years ago um you know some some uh businesses and even some governments would have u u hubs uh for for uh health care that might save some uh I know County government's explored those kinds of Innovations over the years um we can find out on the on the pharmacy side uh the prescription side if they if if they're looking at something but you're sharing that with me from the commissioner I've had discussions with that commission over the the years as well because that's part of his profession um so I'll make sure we follow up with that based on the conversation you and I had yesterday we have not been given a timeline on that other than

155that they were working on it the um purchasing and insurance committee did not meet this month for them um and so we're assuming it will be coming in the next month or two because the r fee has been put out um and so I know Mrs Hall has talked with the benefits department and I've talked with the finance department um and we are requesting that same information so that we can report back we get those same kind of questions of what it would look like from our different staff members and I mean I think it's a good thing to just know um and so we don't know which would be more financially beneficial or not at this point but when we do we would we'll gladly share that as well but am I right Jason

156from a from an insurance standpoint do we know what the state cost like per we have a basic idea um Vicky uh Miss do you do I'll answer we we do have kind of a basic idea however we have to make decisions on how much we require the employees to pay in and so because we actually um are paying off of our FTS and not actual enrollment we don't have that information to know what it would really cost we do have retirees that are currently in the plan who are not paying in anymore but we don't we don't keep those numbers benefits has those numbers and so I can't we feel like potentially but again that's just a guess an educated guess but a guess and we don't know without the state actually saying this

157is what it would it would cost that there could be could potentially be a benefit but again there may not be well I mean let's just say there's a benefit and we save $1,000 a a person or whatever um which would be a lot of money but at the end of the day it we're on our self-insured we're the county as a whole is paying for all of our all of our our losses if you will all of our healthare related expenses um net of what employees put in and so if we if we go off and we're helping the the county plan Bridge the the cost per employee um down because the county has a higher insurance cost per employee than we do then then the when we leave the county cost per employee

158goes up and so they don't we our our employees get a better deal but their employees they they've got to cover our cost and it's a net it's not a net net win for for the county so the County's Insurance costs go up while ours go down and they're left holding the bag so I don't know that that I don't know that that helps I mean it's it's hard to you can't just look at it in terms of what's best for for us we're part of since they kind of fund the budget so risk of that we're funding our part though of what their cost are no we're funding we're funding our the as a county we're all funding our part um we might be we might be more than covering our part of the

159of the county if our and it might be it might be the other way around we might be the expensive part and they're to I don't I don't know the answer but if the if the answer is we're they're subsidizing if the county subsidizing us then going to the count going to the state would be great um I think it's the other way around well there's more people people in the pool that that are coming from WCS than are coming from County government by two to one margin there are can I I just wanted to point out Mr galberth to the county has that option as well to go on the state we we could all go it's not just not just the school I I did not know that so I thought it was

160one additional I'm sorry go ahead go ahead yeah we we have we have nearly twice as many people we WCS have nearly twice as many people in the insurance in the county Insurance Pool and it does County Government does well sorry I was I was not aware that that they had the option to go too so if that's the case then getting another TPA is not going to do anything but evaluating moving to the state plan would could absolutely save us all all money theoretically they'll be able to do the math compared to how they're paying claims versus being in that larger pool right I mean TPA is we're talking about a a penny on a percent of how much they're going to charge us to administer our own claims like that that is not

161the that that's not that's not going to get us to to any kind of savings but the state plan I mean and I don't know if it's cheaper or not and I don't know that either there is one additional variable um that I know the county government's aware of and is is a factor U up through for employees who were employed as of if I'm not mistaken July 1st of 2009 uh those retirees are able to maintain membership in the insurance program the state plan and that was that benefit was eliminated for new hires after 09 the state plan has a similar structure and that benefited ended for for employees hired after if I'm not mistaken July 1 of 2014 I may be wrong on the the July but it's 2009 versus 2014 so there

162there's a liability for retirees because those claims were being paid as well uh both from WCS for for those who've retired since um the retire is actually predate 09 um so for any change into that new plan uh if we went to a different plan there'd have to be a way to address those retirees who were still entitled to that coverage um so that would be an offset of course the numbers I I I don't have any idea but I do know from a complexity standpoint that's part of what County government would have to evaluate too it's my understanding on that Pharmacy issue that you're asking about that the the biders were asked to include that the ones who wanted to were asked to include that in their bid is what if we bought off

163that specialized pharmacy program and that's the only way the county gets to benefit from that is through the county is through Williamson Medical Center through the hospital it's a federal law that allows County government employees to buy off a Hospital Pharmacy plan which it gets a discount so that's really the genis of that um at the tsba in legal Institute we went to you know there was a bill about the state potentially paying 60% of the teacher Insurance do we have any idea the status of that I I've seen that uh that as a as a portion of a bill there were there were maybe six or seven different elements to that bill which included which included U um shifting from a a day measure measurement of school days to hours included some changes to

164the teacher um evaluation structure and some testing it's my understanding that that that that particular bill was an education committee and deferred and rescheduled to another date maybe next week if I'm not mistaken I don't have the exact date so that's still pending uh as part of a larger bill yeah one other final comment related to insurance and then I'll turn it back over to R Rachel uh our our employees do not pay um now I'm going to mess up the terminology um they have an our employees have an option for a zero monthly premium zero monthly premium for for in for single coverage for just single coverage with a particular uh plan so when somebody gets their salary if if they're single there's a extra benefit that many other employers don't offer sorry Rachel

165go ahead this is kind of a stopping point for me for you all to ask any questions you have related to GP I wanted to remind you um that the summary sheet again has all the major categories listed as you go behind that then you get into the detail for each of those major categories if an account starts with 5'1 that's a payroll account if it's 5'2 those are the benefits and then anything above a 5'2 is an operational expense as you go through I put notes out for um a good many of them that had a jump um and and try to just kind of give you an indicator of where those changes were again each department has gone through um their lines and and have presented almost anything that had a license with

166it a technology license like the financial software um most of those have a 3% um increase buil in so you may see some lines that will have that and it's not that we're getting a new software or doing something different but it would just be that it's the attrition for the not the attrition but the natural increase um from year to year so it's open for questions for anybody that had anything that you saw within the detail Rachel of the $5.1 million gap how much of that is the propos aggregate raise for the for employees so the raise itself um is about 12 well the raise and the the changes for like the additional days and the supplements is about $12 million in total um and so the $15 million gap would include the 12

167million there and then also those Chromebooks um the technology line is is added into that so one of the questions I did want to say to or wanted had had is how did we get to the 15 million we were at 30 million last month um and am I going to be able to find another 15 million well I don't find it but and no and the answer is no I love when people come in and say can you find money and my joke is yeah let me open the bottom drawer and see what we've got left there um again as time goes on we were able to do so much more and be able to project out so much more so a lot of closing that Gap comes with closing out POS that have

168been sitting there since September that have residual amounts on them like you opened a PO and and the expenses were less but the PO has remained open so it looks like we're spending that money um one thing that was pretty significant too is when we're going back in through and evaluating with grant money when you have it come in a lot of it is reimbursements and so we have to spend the money before we get the money and so the expenses were there but we didn't actually have the revenue yet coming in and got some of that bigger bigger amounts in in February and it was like we've got to really project all of these things out and so that was part of it but I will tell you this is the fifth year working

169on the budget for me um and have worked Harder by far this year and truly trying to get down to what we think is the absolute best um estimate of what we're going to how we're going to end and so this 15.1 million gap um is not something that we will it will adjust we'll have some ups and we'll have some hopefully have some be able to bring that down but to say that are am I going to be able to close a $15 million gap between now and June um the answer to that would be no without the help of of the commission so I'm going to jump in because I know that the instructional coaches and curriculum Specialists all that explanation was for me uh we have 10 1.5 instructional coaches in the

170budget um my objective is to get the money as close to the classroom as possible cuz we know that classroom teachers are the ones who do the magic and and affect the children the most um I would propose to look at maybe potentially other ways to do a coaching model you know there's different coaching models out there where like maybe your Librarians are there you could do stiens for lead teachers um the other reason why I want to advocate for us to look at that is uh tsba provided us with salary um compare they listed the salaries of all the positions throughout the state Williamson County teachers were ranked 27th in terms of salary on that scale and I was very disappointed so if we could even save some money anywhere in this budget to

171to up that teacher salary and all these coaches are Master Teachers so they would even be getting Sal uh salary increases as well whereas all of our admin were in the top three in the state um and I just that doesn't sit well with me so I want us to see how we can find some other money to increase the teacher pay cuz I want to be number one in the state thank you for that um there are somewhere around 147 school districts in the state our per pupil expenditure as of the last state report card was $12 below average and yet we're 27th and third we do put our money in towards our instruction um our supports compared to so many of our neighbors if you look at those numbers it sure suggests that

172that we're putting that money in we do believe our teachers need more money uh all all the time um they also need the support what we hear from our teachers is that support differentiates us from our neighbors uh so we need and we need to hit both we need to hit both uh pay uh and support um I I think your your comment about um looking at other ways to look at a coaching model is is is is well said uh we have been thoughtful and strategic about our process um I don't want to react and have make a quick change um but we certainly want to honor your suggestion that we think about it and um and and research it uh what we have found is that that uh that we've been growing our

173students we've got a lot of work to do I think especially um when it comes to to uh some of our unique learning needs we especially need to grow we know that compared to the state uh the rest of the state our our numbers are great but the truth is we have a lot we have a lot of work to do uh in in some of those so my suggestion is that we study that and look and and do some research to see is there a more efficient way uh to grow and support our teachers uh with that being said um uh I I I will also um forward to you all some data related to what we've done with our with our teacher salaries we do put a premium on leadership uh we found

174that leadership is a especially to building level is a huge differen maker uh and so we have thoughtfully tried to make those salaries salaries that will open the door for our principles to be able to live in our community um and so in a in a community that has the highest cost of living we're in the top three or four usually for for leaders so I think all your comments Dr um Dr Johnson are well made uh we want to honor that and U and continue to put that effort in so another question I have is around psychologists we have 59.5 and 52 schools thank you for that I know Dr Allen um psychologist are under our student Support Services uh oh yeah Maria Greg Grio is here um and if I'm not mistaken uh

175Miss Grio you asked for some more and I turned you down we what you asked for some more positions I turned you down we did okay speak to that if you would yeah happy to so we do have our school psychologists assigned to each school um but we also have some schools that have a a lot larger population uh than others so that's one piece the second piece is we are responsible for evaluating students when they come to our school district at the age of three and so we evaluate probably 400 students a year 500 students a year depending on uh the given year it varies um and so we do have a team of Early Childhood school psychologists that are assigned to Cluster ERS where we have our early childhood classes so that is

176why you see more psychologists than just per each school um additionally we are responsible for evaluating students with disabilities that attend private and homeschool to determine whether they are in fact a student with a disability so we also have to account for all of the several hundred evaluations we do each year for those students which is why you see more psychologists than schools and Marie if I may um when people when when when I when I hear the word psychologist I always ask this question in my mind as superintendent are we talking about clinical psychologist or school psychologist different licensure different structure can you speak to that sure thank you for the question um School psychologists certainly have a special training as it relates to the education of students um so they are a part

177of the response to intervention process in our schools so they are helping teams identify learning challenges ID identify specific targets they are analyzing our data along with our data teams and school leaders um in addition to that they are the ones who evaluate um for every disability area that Tennessee has except for speech and language impaired so they are the primary evaluators on all other eligibility areas and so they are responsible for every single initial evaluation except for speech and language only um in addition to the the trianal evaluations that occur for students with disabilities every 3 years so um they they have a large part in that and they also um help with our uh Behavior Support plans and uh helping teams um with how to respond to challenging behaviors so am I correct

178that they are not clinical psychologists they are not clinical psychologist just want to make sure we're clear on that can I can I ask a question Margie on your point about the coaches um in your analysis or thinking about that striking that balance between the teachers and the coaches have you come across any sort of ratio of what that number ought to be if it's 101.5 in the budget proposal what what should the number be I think we got a $7 million line item tied to that expense is that right that's about right yes sir yeah I mean it just depends on how you set up up your coaching model and like I said some schools don't actually have full-time coaches they will have like a Lead Teacher and pay them a extra stien or

179you know they talked about teachers going from one place another school and paying the subs and and doing just creative things like that because you know what I'm hearing is like science and social studies teachers they don't have a coach so they don't get anything um and if we could put1 1.5 teachers back toward the classroom when I look at these Max numbers for I would love to have the classroom sizes smaller because many people go to private schools for that very reason maybe we could keep some more people and get some more Tissa funding too um because our our our classes are growing and yeah so it would just be a matter of finding a coaching model and setting up guidelines and and like I said I'm a data person so to have a

180coaching program with you can create logic models and infig Innovation configuration that that's all education speak but there are ways that you can measure impact of professional learning um rather than just antidotes so is that is that something that's I mean part of what I hear you say is that line could go to zero under one scenario but probably not realistic to do that you know right away so so from as a budget impact for this coming school year it's probably not going to be something that's going to be meaningful but it is something that's maybe for further discussion down the road it's less of a current budget issue more of a strategic Direction kind of question well that and then I mean I've been looking at positions we have SSS coaches we have interventionists

181you know curriculum Specialists we have Mentor Co teach teachers like I'm just I'm not and I know we heard what some of those positions are doing but I'm not sure what everyone else is doing just think and I don't know if we have service logs or any data to show what they're doing I'm asking because in 10 days we're going to be asked to vote on a budget so if we're going to make changes to it or if someone's going to propose changes we there obviously would need to be some rationale for that and versus just a um you know it's a recognition that maybe there's some work to do there but I just wonder is it something we can meaningfully deal with in this current budget or not without it being a pretty close

182to a guess just thr that out for consideration Rachel did you have anything else on the general purpose not for GP I do not any other questions on the G GP budget so we've got the other three budgets which will go much more quickly but is it the will of the board to take a break before those or finish out budget all together and then break all right break now okay 10-minute break e e e all right we'll resume the meeting and if you're ready Miss farmer we can go to the central cafeteria fund I think they're pulling back pulling it back up on the screen just a reminder while that is going on um I've said it but I'll say it again Central cafeteria and the extended school programs are both self-funded meaning they

183generate their own Revenue um and then pay their expenses and so the tax dollars that that we do receive are not used for either one of those funds I'm trying to move ahead you may have to um okay so here's the summary sheet um and I believe that's on page 52 in your entire budget document but again the revenues are posted along with the expenses um currently for the central cafeteria they do not have a gap of any kind they have enough uh fund balance it's sufficient enough to be able to cover any uh shortfall between revenue and expenses so if you have any questions there please fill fre did have they I thought we had a we had a pretty big fund balance at some point then they were going to do some Capital

184expenses did they spend that money or and and and and is part of that is that in your just expense line item or is there a capital so yes they have and it is part of their expenditures um and they we were anticipating we will probably re bringing next month to a resolution where they had um excess fund balance again for last year and so um he'll present what he wants to do with those funds but yes there have been several big projects I know Heritage Middle was one oh and I can't remember right now Fairview High School where there were some significant um changes improvements made to those cafeterias as a result of that so if I may to put a little bit of detail on that for the benefit of everyone um the

185way the federal law is structured related to the cafeteria fund uh at the end of the fiscal year if the remaining funds are in excess of three months uh operating expenses the food service departments across the country are obligated to create a plan to spend that excess uh in other words they can't maintain more than a three-month fund balance at the end of every year so it's the opposite of what you typically think of uh with with fund balance issues so what James ridy does if he goes over he usually he has a strategic plan process for improvements to the cafeteria uh and he has a prioritization um based on based on our 50 schools and the state notifies them um normally around November December this year of of what if they do have an

186excess fund balance to that they would be required to spend and so he's been trying to work out his plan of how he wants to spend that money and how it would be best be used so I guess in in light of you know a couple of emails that we've gotten about the about the food service um I mean I can we can we look at some software um the point of service software that would that might help um get us more information um to alleviate those um those issues um I I I'm just I'm really concerned that that we're that are that the people checking checking out don't have don't have enough information we're not able to make the restrictions that we that we can not only on the kind of the voluntary when

187when can my kid get ice cream but you know does do the does my kid have an allergy and and flagging because we're ringing up something that that has that hourig and I just don't know that that it's my understanding that our system doesn't it'll it'll put a note up there but it doesn't restrict you from from doing that whether it's a update to our system or or potentially a new system we've got the money so I just want to make sure that we can let's get that issue off the table as as in term I I consider those never events when somebody has a allergic reaction based on something that they're buying from our cafeteria it's different something that somebody brings like that's a whole different issue but we this is one that we

188can we can actually help well thank you for that I'm I'm going to ask Brian to speak to this on on two fronts one on the allergy front and two the question you asked about about the point of sale system um and I'm going to give a little bit and then Brian if you would give some detail on the allergen structure we have evaluated and re-evaluated how we address allergens and we have a very personalized approach that does an excellent job but to your point one is is is too much one example of that is we don't we don't buy tree nuts at all uh and so james' staff is very careful to read labels uh to double check uh um each and every purchase and very clear with our vendors related to that but

189there are other allergens as well uh and so they do personalize plans uh for every student now your your question about the point of sale system uh is is is is a little bit more complex in that a parent might say I don't want my child to get a allart item more than once a week or I only want them to get it on Friday Etc so there's some potential complexity to to how a point a sales system would address that you're right that a note pops up um but we also know that you're you know you might have 300 students flashing through the you know typing in their number within a 10-minute window so Brian if you would speak to that and the work you and have been doing related to the point of

190sale system sure I'll check on that I my understanding and and I've seen it it's been a a minute that the allergen does pop up I think does I think the there was a couple of issues of the email that you were talking about that that may have been a little bit different I think that was one one issue and then I think there was the issue of what pops up ol cart how detailed that piece is whether it's the specific item or it just says treat or snack or something and I do think there may be some limitations there part of the limitations are you know we always refer to covid things have changed since Co where uh the Food Service staff doesn't get the can't order the stuff as scheduled as they used

191to so they may have been ordering this but next week they may have to order something different and so trying to keep up with that and changing that I think that was the big issue that we looked at um as far as with James when we talk it makes that really really tough to put in details because it changes so much now that was that was one I guess but but if there's a I mean if you're if you got a penut out allergy or a dairy allergy and and the and it pops up yes sir I mean you're you're talking about 300 people coming through the line and the person at the at the register has to know is to look on their look on their it just says Hey they've got a dairy

192allergy well I've got to look on my on on their plate and see if there's anything Dairy and and are are they actually trained to know know that I I I appreciate the tree nut thing like you can say say nothing that we serve has tree nuts but but for those like there's there there should be something systematic that says this item has Dairy and if I'm ringing it up and I've got a dairy allergy then that's the flag it's not a it's not a just a a note to say you know hey you might want to look at this it's a flag to say you can't check this kid out because they're allergic to something on their plate yeah so I mean that the the note doesn't seem very effective to me for allergy

193for for a treat maybe like I know it's Friday and I see I was like okay they get ice cream on Fridays go like that one's less important it's it's convenient for sure um but it's me yeah I'll look at that I I I see what you're saying I'm not sure but I will look at that and see if that's even a possibility which goes back to the point that Mr Golden said earlier uh james' staff does a really good job of now there's food allergies and then there's the severe that um where you have to have the epip pin and so those are kind of separated anyway but the ones that require that um you know of course the nurse knows about it and then James they do meet with the families and they

194kind of go over everything kind of what they serve what are some options and and it is personalized that has James's approach along with what pops up on the screen and yes that has work very well that approach but not to say that we won't look at what you're asking because that is something I think most of those people honestly probably just don't go through the lunch line I mean and they they want to control what they what they do but that's that's likely true for if they if they don't I we I mean I still think we need to if it if it's possible to do something better than we're doing um I mean that would be a good use of capital funds from my perspective thank you for that suggestion we'll with that

195I have a question on that um so I know in Fairview when some of us we went Ed um the high school and the middle school and the elementary but I think in the high school and middle school in particular when we talk to the principles when it comes to their um kind of school lunch and they get that shortfall um every year that's pretty significant for them like um especially compared to other schools cuz they were telling me some oh well it's like $200 or something and theirs is like in the5 $6,000 a year thing is there a way to use any of that fund balance to pay that because they pull that right out of their own their own funds you know that they could use like I know the middle school for

196like desks or things or you know for the teachers or equipment and stuff they have to use that for that yeah Rachel they technically cannot they actually the USDA does not allow the cafeteria themselves to turn around and pay back and so last year um I'm so sorry the um when there are outstanding balances someone does have to pay them and so last year in particular there were um free reduced if it was a student that was on the free and reduced list we covered as a district we covered those um accounts that were not fully paid and then students that um did not qualify as free or reduced if they have open balances we do ask that the schools um try to collect that money um and so we've had these conversations about how

197best to deal um with that as as the cafeteria um goes through the year they are reporting that information back to the schools so that they can kind of try to stay on top of it um we have some families that'll just they will end up just saying oh yeah I'll wait till the end of the year and write that check and and cut it but um we do understand that there is um a significant needs at some schools versus others but to the point of your question was no they actually legally cannot the cafeteria cannot just write those balances so if I may I want to put a little bit of detail for everyone else because You' you you've seen that from some folks who've shared that with you I make sure want to

198make sure everybody has a grasp of this as well um anyone on a free lunch structure will not have a deficit for for their lunch however it's possible they might have gotten an all card item um the major the other the other big piece of that is uh even for students who who are not on the free and reduced lunch program um our practice is if a student doesn't have money in their account we're not going to deny them lunch uh and so there are times where someone who who you know at least on paper according the USDA you know is is responsible for paying their own might develop a deficit uh and so um all our schools will will regularly remind parents some of it's absent-mindedness you know you got to put money in

199my account some of it may be a budgeting issue for them maybe you know that a certain window of time before their paycheck there's every variable is out there at the end of the year the Food Service budget USDA requirements are that that Gap is covered uh and so that's just I want to make sure all you all were aware that that's what he's talking about that every school will often have some variation of a gap that that either they cover with site based funds um sometimes pto's will help we have VAR scripts PTO a lot of times will be the ones that cover we also actually do have some um benefactors that will give money to the school specifically for that for that specific need they will say it's restricted donation if you have

200those accounts and so it varies from school to school yeah and and one item too and I I don't know if for those who might be watching this we see this often someone might get laid off in the middle of a year and we don't know about it and they don't think oh I might qualify for pre in roduce now even though in you know a month ago I didn't or in two months I I'm not I'm not going to uh we do encourage folks if if you have those windows of time apply uh and and that can help you um get through those even those job transition times thank you yeah appreciate that I was I we're looking at Community things too to kind of help with that and I think we'll have Solutions

201there but I just I wondered if maybe that could be an option so appreciate it thank you Jason you touched on it and and you know Tony it's a good question but I think it's One symptom of the the larger issue that you know we have some halves and half Nots among our schools and you know even with the community and you touched on a bit know this a little bit of a tangent from here because we're talking about the budget sorry but can you talk about um the distribution just very briefly of the site based funds because I think that that would be kind of good for for everyone I know that's one of the questions I had because same thing my community I've got you know more you know a one of the

202half notot schools as well thank you for that so we um and Rachel's going to give the specifics in just a moment but we have a base amount per student site base that we include in our budget for individual schools and then we have a multiplier for the um based on free and reduced numbers uh economically disadvantaged and actually Rachel there's a slight difference in the way the state measures econom ically disadvantaged for instructional purposes and free and reduced we actually base our additional site based fund on the free and reduced structure uh so Rachel can you give the detail of that formula we use a 7525 split and so your enrollment is is 75% of that allocation and then you get an additional 25% based on the numbers of free and reduced um and

203so for this year uh roughly and it's rough because I'm going off memory my computer froze up right there and I couldn't it's a about $140 a student um that they're allocated um for the base and then you get again another 25% on top of that for the free and reduced any other questions on the cafeteria fund okay I think we can go to extended school extended school again is our student age child care which occurs before and and after the school day and then as well as during the summertime um revenues and expenses are are listed and they too have a fund balance that would support um with no Gap the one change that they've are are requesting for this year as far as their fee structure goes was um in years past they

204had a drop in program and due to Staffing and not being a not necessarily having full staff to to handle that l load had had removed that option and they're wanting to put that back in they're pretty well staffed at this point and know that parents have requested to have that um availability when it can occur and so that is the one change on their fee structure I didn't say that on the cafeteria structure the prices haven't changed since 1819 and there was no um need to increase and so the one change then for the uh sack structure would be that drop in so the 20% increase in Reven Vue from this year to to next is is partly we would be due to that drop in if it's allowed because they think that's that's

205that much part of it is not all of it but they also know um because they are able to staff and the better staff they are then the more students they can offer I just wondering if it if it's a function of more are we to a staffing level that we're actually being able to increase our total they were able to move through there's we're we're waiting lists and and we're able to to accommodate as many of those I think most to those Dr orer that they were able to actually accommodate once um the year started and they did get fully staffed so they're feeling much better about that now and so again that revenue is being able to fully staff and have more students and so most so it's not majority of the majority

206of it is just increased in the number of people were able to start not the drop in I was just trying but then there is a little bit of up good we're finally I mean I I still think there's unmet need out there um and it's a balance for them for sure to make sure that they don't overcommit um and and have students there and then not have enough supervision but um definitely feeling better and Mr gab Dr roer um she leads this program actually has a sack director um Dr roer can you speak to the waiting list question that Mr galberth mentioned it's my understanding and um we haven't had that conversation probably in about a month or so but that we we have cleared those waiting lists now is it possible that in

207the last few years it's interesting we've referenced Co more tonight than we have in a long time but um it is possible that families that heard will put you on the wait list will put you on the weight list for a long time have stopped asking so if they there continue to be families that feel like they need to reach out and have those conversations with sack please encourage them to do so we do feel great about the drop in option um it was it felt like a loss when they had to make that decision and to be able to bring it back felt it was a pretty good confidence boost for the program and to be able to clear the um weight lists and communities that we often have been challenged to do that

208also felt great but again if there are people in the community who experienced us saying no due to Staffing and that need is still there please reach back out now the drop in takes some planning because the state ratios for child care are very strict and they're daily you can't have a violation so um uh if you hear from a Community member asking about it um my recommendation is have them give the principal a call is that the appropriate start nope you're shaking your head no the principal will give them the direct contact but the best person to reach out to is Leslie Weaver who is the director of that program who has much greater oversight for all of the programs and I will say too in talking with Miss Weaver part of the drop

209in process is that there there would be caps so that it's not like you have one day where 30 people show up and they're not um prepared for it they will establish the Caps based on location and Staffing of what it would look like at each additional questions on that okay let's move to Capital last section is our annual Capital um and there have been no changes since last time again not to confuse the summary sheet I just put up last year's information so you have a point of reference um again why we have columns split so the yellow highlighted is is are the numbers that you would be of voting on for this year the difference between General and Rural again goes back to the fact that we have SS FSD in our district

210who was a K8 system and so we have to split our funding up between General and Rural General is going to be high school and Rural is the um K8 and you have all the detail behind you of the locations and the items that are being proposed um just as an FYI for you all this is one section of the budget that I often get many questions from the County Commission um and one of the one of the key points we try to help them understand is we have 51 campus schools uh and something has to be replaced every year for that uh even we can't even do one roof a year uh and because that would be every 51 years a a roof gets replaced uh so maintaining these buildings um is expensive um

211so we try to do the minimum that we can um and and and stretch those stretch those dollars as much as we can another piece that I often get asked and Rachel and Brian you can confirm this is we'll have individual Commissioners asked specifically in my district what are you working on because they might have heard some specific question so that's a common question we get as well if this budget gets cut by the County Commission or better yet when that gets got where do you think the uh what what would you what are you going to prioritize or what do you think you will prioritize um I uh I don't know off the top of my head um uh usually what we do is we go back and have a meeting with our maintenance

212director our facilities director um and and actually our our our grade band assistant superintendent and um and kind of have that discussion about needs and we make sure we hear from our principles with what they're experiencing as well um so right now we don't have a answer to that question any questions on Capital I think we're done with budget just one more um slide for you to think about again um Mr Golden already spoke to it but March 24th is going to be the first joint meeting between the budget and education committees to review the budget so you all will vote on March 17th hopefully on the budget so that we will have it ready a week in advance before them um and but your dates are there anybody is welcome to um attend for

213sure um and hear how hear how the process goes thank you thank you thank you all for um your participation in your in your questions and um thank you very much Rachel thank you I'm I'm saying I'm done right but we know we're not done so there no Dr Johnson I'm done um so again um y'all y'all know where I am reach out and and if you as you keep going through and you're going to have constituents that are going to ask you questions ask them and we're we'll gladly help thank you thank you very much okay board policies for first reading u in the interest of time I'm going to make a suggestion but obviously if anyone disagrees then speak up but these both were discussed um their first reading for starters but they

214were both discussed at length um three nights ago at policy um if anyone wants further discussion tonight on these we can certainly do it but if we think we don't need that we can move on to the other items knowing that this these are going to come back to um to policy next month so but again if someone wants to speak to one or ask questions about one we certainly can back they'll come back for second reading yeah so we will be voting at the board meeting to advance these in the current draft form that we saw three nights ago for purposes of continuing the conversation or I mean certainly decision motions can be made to strike things if we want to as well but we will be voting the first time first pass um

215on the 177th I I got a little bit of an issue with that in the sense that not all of us are on the policy committee and I know we certainly can attend to it but I mean I think part of the design is it to have a fresh reading of it so to to say it was discussed in policy is um I don't know that we need to go deep into just brush through it but mean I'm just going to say what was covered in policy then you're start saying Well everybody's got to attend policy again at which point why do we have it let's just do it in the work session well I I'm I'm not singling you out when I say this by the way but there were 11 out of 12

216board members there and and I think that's that's an issue frankly we probably shouldn't have 11 out of 12 on there but that's that's a separate discussion well they're not all on the policy committee but I know but it's always been open talked about before where you've got the red team Green Team where it gives fresh eyes a chance to see it without having you know sometimes in those discussions you kind of go off on on a tangent you go down one road and then you see it the first time you go well why why didn't we go left instead of right U that way both of these I've looked at I don't have big challenges or something if there's any changes I would say if there's any changes that were pulled up in policy

217we just hit those real quick I think we're talk we we're spending more time just talking about the process than just want to go to real quick but yeah so Dana's not here but Bobby and Jason if if there if there were any changes that we made not made that we made note of Monday night and that I think there might have been at least one do we want to flag that so all that if I may so the home bound instruction there were no changes um page three of five of the library policy includes the red line that Dana includes included as a change you may recall that we're structuring it with different colors based on each each each uh process um and uh and that included moving the uh First Amendment principles language

218uh in um to after the state discussion uh and um if I'm not mistaken and then well there was a there was another typo typo change that's in red as well just changed it from become to became and then we we did discuss but Don I want you to speak to this because it was your change or your request we did discuss I think there was consensus but correct me if I'm wrong Mr chairman um to take out the language about Williamson County resident being able to file the complaint um thank you for that but correct me if that if I miss that thank you for that and I missed that actually in the glance because it was a line out um so um so you are correct and there was a discussion too about

219adding an limiter but we just decided to wait and I mean but def I I think we all kind of agreed to remove the resident um but then because RF for County D was going to look that up so she was going to do the analysis of the Rutherford County language about Five Five Books five book maximum yeah okay so if if I made so I mean there the big the biggest change to the to the policy and I don't think we I if I'm not mistaken I don't I don't think we've it we seem like it's not a change because you've looked at it but I don't think this has been discussed outside of policy right the changes for as far as the mature reading list and the the changes that we made is

220that thank you for that um I think you're right so uh the proposal uh from um uh from the policy committee is to include a requirement for a mature readers list with some criteria which it which would include language um sexual content mature themes um imagery and violence that does not reach the level of the state law the idea and the concept is that there would be a list from librarians uh part of that um would would also include uh that parents would give permission um one way or the other not an optin or opt out but just as part of the registration process do I want my child to have access to that list or not uh so that's the that's the essence of the proposal and I guess and the and the other

221side is is the revamping of the of the decision Tree in in favor of a of kind of a rubric that the decision tree went Federal First Amendment first we went through all the things and then it went to the to the more restrictive like probably in MO in most cases the state law in this case it follows kind of how practically the the thing goes and so you go and if it fails the state law then you just never get to to any of the other questions so that's the first the first test if you will that's right um and the board evaluated five books a few months ago based on that rubric and the feedback that Dana and uh and Bobby I'm speaking for you a little bit here uh and Lisa Carson

222who's uh the attorney in Bobby's office and was helping us with this was that uh it would be more practical to flip the state and federal uh so that's that incl that's included here now the same process would be done it would be just done in a different order so if I heard one of the changes then was um not an opt in or opt out but as part of the registration that's right okay interesting okay thank you and and there will be wording included to make it clear that it's not um you know uh All or Nothing so parents will be encouraged to have conversations with Librarians if their child is interested in Reading particular things so there will be Nuance that's right thank you I do have one question can you speak to

223the communication that was sent to parents after the December meeting about the books that were restricted and what kind of feedback Librarians got in action from parents after that sure uh part of the policy includes us notifying parents anytime the board makes a decision related to any book so we sent that out uh to all parents um we uh we we've had a we had a small number of parents asked to see the form uh we have not since the board voted had anyone asked for a further the restriction on library books uh on those five books we did have two requests prior to the board vote one was of course from the from the uh from the parent who made the request uh in the first place and we had one additional parent Mak

224request related to one of the middle school books that one was speak uh and that book was actually removed from the uh Middle School libraries okay so I'm understanding so information went out to all of our Middle School and High School parents and no body has opted to restrict that's correct okay thank you did it go to all or only the schools where the books were actually hous in the libraries oh I'm sorry it's where it's it's those it's those schools where the books were so thank you and the not every Library had those books but every every school where they where the library held those books receiv received that notice sorry for that failure to give that give you that clarification I guess I don't I don't understand so you're so you're asking so

225some some restrictions were made um on on a couple of the books and you're asking if anybody from the grades who weren't restricted asked to as to for further restriction I'm just wanting to know the um you know that we've given the parents the opportunity I'm just seeing how the parents are responding yeah I got you thank you yep but help I'm not following that either because the decision was to take them out of middle school or High School entirely MH it wasn't to limit them one book two books Li right two were limited limited to certain grades yeah that's right I think the the intent of the policy when we made it was was actually to if books weren't removed if books were up for review and they weren't removed then then then there

226would be a notice that we that we reviewed them and we didn't take them out and that would I think that would more fit your your what your question your point is the ones those flag no one Then followed up and said take I don't want my kid to see that blog correct yeah I got it okay yeah so for example speak was restricted access to high school students and we notified the high schools that had that in there that the decision was made not to remove it from high schools quick and not to get stuck up on this but so don't do do we have it do I understand it correctly that kids can check out books from other schools don't we have that so so should we be S I mean I thought

227Dr web Dr Allen can you speak to that I don't think so I've I've not heard that request um do we have we do have kids check from high schools checking out books so I'm seeing Angela Frederick said yes indeed that that does happen that's the first I've heard of it that's what I thought but yes we do have we should send it to the whole gry band whether it's in their library or not thank you for that that's sorry that that's not in policy but we'll have a discussion about that thank you for that suggestion any any other questions about the policy either of them right so those will be back those will be before us at the board meeting and then back to policy for a second time all right approval of High

228School courses and special course applications Mr golden thank you Mr chair uh annually if we have a new uh High School course that we're recommending we'll take this to you and then we in turn take this to the State Department of Education uh for the request you see an a memorandum from Dr Allen requesting board approval for a special course leadership and action Dr Allen's here to give you any uh information you might have about this particular course and if I may just to add just a little bit to that what you see in front of you also is every course that we would uh teach for High School Credit in Williamson County so the vast majority of those are state approved courses with a state approved course code uh we do have the option

229we allow schools to submit proposals to teach special courses so when you see on that form that's up on the screen right now if it's indicated as a special course there's an application that has to go to the state it has to align to state standards we have an internal um vetting process of those courses um we do that in November in December once we get to a list that we're ready to submit then that comes to you for approval and it also has to be approved through the state but what you have in front of you is every course that would be offered for credit at the high school for the 25 26 school year and to Mr Golden's point the only course that was not on the 2425 list was a leaders ship

230course that was proposed uh by Ravenwood high school we think it's a good course um we have the um scope and sequence and the standards that we vetted back in December but once a a school brings a course forward for consideration then any school in the county would be able to offer that course happy to take any questions you may have and it and it may be self-explanatory but just just to make sure I say it not every course especially the electives is uh you know is is offered at every school it's it's driven by student uh student interest student enrollment our biggest example of that is our College and Career Technical education programs we actually uh allow students to attend out of Zone uh for College and Career Technical education programs uh if they

231want that to be a concentrator for them is there any overlap with the junior Roc all their leadership courses is it you you for this particular new leadership in action versus the leadership in the RC program Dr Allen Dr web I can speak to that so the leadership aspects are embedded into the the standards of the course of jrc so leadership is embedded into those courses of level one two3 and four so so if to to put put a little practicality on that a student who is in the JC program could take this course as well that's correct yeah and so what exactly is this course like what's being covered so let me go to my notes so um and we can provide you with the application as well let me I'll just do that

232we'll just make sure that you get the entire application that way you can pull it out and if you have any questions let us know Dave this is a this this class exists already right for that question they are actually adding a leadership course this is going to be more focused on the ninth and 10th graders so the younger students that'll build into um and better prepare them for the the senior level leadership course that you're referring to this won't this won't be a focus there there W there won't be third a third class that's correct okay yeah many of our high schools do have a leadership course generally it's going to be seniors with a few juniors in it I've actually sat in on a couple of those um classes um just speaking generally

233you all uh they study historical leadership examples that's very general in did you have another question no you're good okay anything else on that all right approval of science textbook adoption committee recommendation thank you Mr here um I'm going to call on Dr Allen uh to get us started we do have another PowerPoint for you lucky you all another PowerPoint so miss Lopez is actually going to uh give us our final update on the work of our textbook adoption committee and their recommendation to you but as she is getting prepared for that I just want to issue out a couple of thank yous uh first of all Jen S who couldn't be here tonight that's the familiar face that you've seen just about at every meeting giving you the updates I want to thank cve

234for leading a great process this year um not only for leading the process but really uh Bor I want you to know she's made herself available really 247 for our teachers for our community and so she's done a a bang-up job uh in leading this process I want to thank Miss Lopez who's going to do this last presentation here tonight uh but miss Lopez as you probably know used to lead the process before she moved into the role that she's in now so she mentored and trained Miss Sour how to how to uh navigate the state requirements and the additional local components that we put on it we uh provide a lot of transparency and we provide um get a lot of feedback from our teachers that's well beyond uh what the state regs require

235from us so uh Miss Lopez has done a great job in preparing this sour to do that I also want to thank our textbook adoption committee it's made up of teachers and parents and all the time and effort that they put into it um our science teachers every science teacher that we have in the district that'll utilize these materials uh have had extensive time in looking at it and the professionalism that they take and um uh preparing for and and and and choosing the instructional materials that they feel is best fit for them want to thank our community members want to thank you as a board too for really kind of pushing our community and and asking for additional time and the things that you've done to get as much Community feedback as as we

236possibly can but really want to thank those community members that have provided us feedback feedback that are that are textbook adoption committee takes seriously and they look at and read every single piece from our community Fe members um and then want to thank Dr Reeves as well as I mentioned earlier she was our board representative that's been a part of this um I want to thank her for coming in spending two and a half hours with us yesterday with some really good questions that led honestly to some changes in the presentation that you're going to see tonight being a good voice for you all and knowing some of the questions that you may have and anticipating some of those questions so we've changed part of the presentation to to better answer what we anticipate some

237of your questions may be so I want to thank her for that time to tonight so miss Lopez sure well thank you for for having me here to do this presentation I have good news and bad news bad news Jennifer sau's not here but I'm going to try to make her really proud because she's done a great job so I'm going to finish it off for her but I'm sure she would be much better at this than I am because she has been so invested in this process so I hope I I can make her proud um good news is Dr Allen spoke to you about a lot of the things that I'm going to like that are on the slide deck so a lot of these um Concepts and and and points have already

238been made tonight so I'm going to go over them lightly but of course I will take any questions you have so okay okay so Dr Allen talked tonight about implementing with Integrity so before we talk about what um our teachers and um and our and our community and our on the on the committee selected I want to talk about what it means to implement with Integrity I'm going to go over this very quickly because Dr Allen did a really good job of talking about um the expectation of teachers to use the materials that we adopt um with Integrity which means that we really start with a standard so we're really teaching to the to the state standards we refer to the instructional focused documents also provided by the state standards and actually now we have

239focused documents for science which we've never had before we have them for ELA and math those focused documents really break the standard down so that they're um understood in depth by teacher teams so um so first we start with the standard then we go to the instructional Focus document for deeper understanding then we go to the adopted resource because now I know the depth and breadth of the standard and what it takes to really meet the needs of that standard to be taught so I go to the adopted resource and I stay within that Resource as long as possible that's Integrity so I am respecting that this is a highquality instructional material and by staying as aligned to it as I possibly can I'm ensuring high quality results and materials for all students and that's

240where where that Equity comes in um now sometimes when you really understand a standard and you open those instructional materials you'll notice that there are gaps in the materials that happens um it doesn't happen often but it happens sometimes that's when you supplement so you're going to bring in some other resources that are going to meet the gaps that are created by not having um the standard fully um taught within that material sometimes you bring in supplements because you need to teach it another way or you need a second day and you've exhausted your resource so that's when we supplement sometimes there's too much and we alluded to that tonight when we talked about some of the resources we have there is so much that it's too much well then we become really great um

241at looking at that at that particular standard what the resource offers what that high quality instructional materials offers and then making decisions right about what do I really need I'm going to save the rest I'm not going to use the rest maybe I use some of it for enrichment or for students that just need a little more work on the standard so that's that's the expectation with all high quality materials that we adopt is that we use them with integrity and that's what integrity means it doesn't mean fidelity Fidelity would mean you open the book and you go Page by page lesson by lesson but that's not really focused on standard that's more focused on curriculum okay so I want to talk a little bit about how we got here so as Dr Allen also

242spoke about tonight this work really started the spring of 2023 um so that was two years ago we started talking um this our Specialists started meeting uh with district with a with state level and District level um leadership to learn about the new shifts in instruction for Science and to start thinking about how our highquality instructional materials that we currently have may or may not uh meet the needs of the new um of the new standards or their revision of Standards so um after that in the in the winter um of 2023 we do some District PD around January um science teachers engaged in lessons and vision setting so we started talking to science teachers about setting a vision um in response to the shift in Science Education and science standards which is really phenomenon

243based we start with phenomenon and then we go from there and we do activities that lead to the learning so we start with the phenomenon and we end with that and that and that that's a that's a shift in Science Education and so we talked to teachers about that we asked them um to to start thinking about the vision and about how that looks differently in the classroom what that student experience is and how we achieve those those measures um and then we continued in the fall of 2024 that was this the beginning of this school year all science teachers looked at the new standards they did some Vision setting like thinking through um giving feedback to the to the committee members from their school about what science instruction should look like and some of

244the questions we asked them are what are the teacher moves that support the learning and the standards and what features of highquality instructional material support those teacher moves so what is a student doing what is a teacher doing that that kind of thinking in October the science committee met for the first time and the and the work was it was a full Workshop day about casting a vision for um for what students are doing for what teachers are doing and what features of highquality instructional material support that Vision so then they did a gap analysis right so where do our current instructional materials fall short and what would we want to see in revised or new instructional materials so from that work of the committee they created a checklist and this is what that checklist

245looks like h okay so this is this is a partial checklist so this is in the entire checklist but if you notice out of the work from the committee they said okay these are the things that these are the points um of instructional Focus that we're going to be looking for when we look when we review materials um that are approved by the Tennessee Department of Education so the materials have to be approved first and then when we get those materials we had these lists ready to go so these are all the things we were looking for actually not all the things this is a partial list so it's some of the things that that the that the committee felt was most important to look for this list was created by our adoption committee um

246in conjunction and collaboration with teachers at their building so they talk to teachers they talked to lots of folks to be able to come up with hey when we look at materials this is what were're looking for so there was a huge investment of time about 2 years worth of investment of time leading up to this selection of materials okay so public as soon as we got the list from todoe um we ordered those materials so that we could have them here in fact they're as you see all over this room we had public reviews right here at the PD Center all the dates are listed on the right so we provided about 20 29 hours um of public review we have some um public comments based on that of course this process as you

247know included teachers teachers had a full day job embeded day to be able to review those materials and provide feedback they also had um we had schools throughout the district six different schools that had the materials that they could also um review um before school or after school if if you were fortunate to have the materials in your school you could do it during your planning period or you know any time that that you had but so we had a couple of months for teachers and then all those dates for the community to be looking at those materials of course teachers looked at it with that mindset of that that checklist that I showed you so adoption work is now completed by the committee so teachers made a recommendation um that recommendation um was the

248the result of the recommendation was provided to the committee memb so basically teachers made a selection we we took that data or Jennifer SAU took that data and within 24 hours made a bunch of charts one for every school so that when the committee members came back we gave them um a folder with all the information related to their school so you know in your school what the teachers preferred what they selected and then the Committee Member has um the opportunity to cast a selection a recommendation that's going to be in front of you this evening so the textbook adoption um members were provided that that school specific data parents on the committee are provided St um districtwide data because they're representing the district not one particular school so we tell them like in sixth

249grade this is what teachers selected in seventh grade so we give them that data for for the grade band that they're representing I think you have a question yeah real quick Jenny the um the aggregated school data and the aggregated system data yes did you see any variances in that or were they fairly consistent across the board it was fairly consistent I I'm going to show you by by grade band what we saw in some in some cases it was like they were like spot split right down the middle and in some cases they they they most people wanted the same product it was really interesting but it was really by grade band where that happened so then the textbook adoption members that same evening right here we met right here they um then take

250a sheet and they cast a recommendation we we keep those on record and then we come to you at this point so this evening we're coming to you to show you their final vote um and to ask for your approval for those materials so here are the results K2 and and remember like we formally adopt materials for K5 because of the coherence from grade to grade but Jennifer told you way back uh when she first came to talk to you about this adoption that we were going to do this a little differently for science because the needs in K2 science are very different than the needs in 35 science because of the depth and complexity of the standards because of the limited amount of time that we have to teach science there there are many

251reasons why the needs are so different so we split it up into a K2 selection a 35 selection but it turned out the SE that they selected the same product uh which is savis which is a Tennessee Elevate science so it's a it's a book written specifically for Tennessee which some of the reviews that that we have from the community are that they like that that Tennessee is actually included in the text like they talk about Tennessee specific um content within the textbook so if you see there the teacher selection um is on that first um column is on that second to last column and then the committee vote is on the right um so basically the teacher selection was 42% and then on the right hand side the committee the total committee vote was

25251% for um for savis 35 if you noticed so it was tight in the middle yes do you mind for sure um what was the what was the other was there another one that got a large number or was it distributed between the a bunch of different most of it was McGraw Hill the McGraw Hill product got there were there were some for um that the other two there were four that teachers were really looking at um the second greatest number of votes was from McGraw Hill and then there was a third that was Studies Weekly correct and then accelerate learning was really not not it was there were very few votes for that one but if you notice it was really kind of tight in K2 um very different in 35 in 35 82%

253of teachers um selected savath and then 80% of the committee selected savath and so was the the committee kind of going against the the that's a teacher selection is was it was was one of the factors in there wanting to have a a the same the cons no okay yeah that's a really good question actually no that's that's really not what's what's difficult here when you look at this is that the 42% was really actually the highest percent and then you're really voting by school so even though 42% seems to not be the majority when you're looking at 42% being the highest percent then most schools really selected savis at a higher percentage than all the other ones so I'm really looking at just my school and so by school the vote turns out a

254little bit differently so but 42% was by far the highest because they had another three um textbooks that they were looking at so that the rest of that was you know that that 58% was split between three so it was no near as high as 42% did do you do it by like um a uh Choice like a First Choice second choice third choice type thing or is it just a vote on one you mean when when the committee votes um or teachers like could they suggest like this would be our first choice this would be the second choice this would be the third choice no no no sir we just do we just do like which one would you prefer correct correct which one would you prefer is the question yeah if you were

255to have to you know use one of these to teach tomorrow which one would it be that's kind of the question that that teachers are faced with at that moment yes and then McGraw Hill was the selection for 68 McGraw Hill was a dead tie it was 51 well not de not quite dead but because it was 51 and 49% but that's that's as close as we've ever had they only so J I'm being a little silly Jenny I'm being a little silly it was dead if there was actually an odd number total people correct so it couldn't be exactly even well what happened was that that schools were 5050 right so 50% so there are 12 middle schools six teachers six of the committee members selected mcgrawhill and six of the committee members selected

256savis and then we had three parents that broke that tie basically but our our schools as far as school vote we had six for one and for the other we had four different um high quality instructional materials like four different textbooks for 68 no one voted for the other two every single teacher vote was either for mcgrawhill or savis normally if if we had teachers say we had a few teachers that voted for the other two resources we could have like said hey those resources are not going to be selected go back and just look at McGraw Hill and savis and that would help us get a better feel this so I had never seen this happen there was really no teacher who voted for the other two they only voted for McGraw Hill and

257Savage so then it was it was six and six and again the the parents broke the tie the parent committee members broke the tie and so they selected mcgrawhill any questions on k through eight before I move on so when we um we're reflecting our our curriculum before one of the things we did was uh chose because it it the grade levels built upon each other the learnings when we were doing the the ELA uh was there any concern about that here in that you know you got the savis savis the mcra hill and that is it stacking or is it just different course material and the way it's taught sure thank you for that question um there is not that concern is not present right now because both of these um curriculums really do

258a great job of being phenomena based curriculum so basically the the structure the framework is the same in mcra Hillen and savis so basically you begin each unit with a phenomenon the students get to like observe some sort of phenomenon and so all the lessons within that unit investigate that phenomenon and then they go back at the end and they assess their understanding through all those activities and Explorations what that phenomena is so both of those savis and mcgrawhill have the same framework laid out of course there are differences because they are two different Publishers but as far as the framework for how it's presented and how they get from the beginning to the end the understanding of what happens and the exploration is the same in both curriculums so we really are not we're

259not too concerned about that we actually in Math teachers were actually given that same choice to go K5 with one and then 68 with a different one it just so happened they picked the same one just like here K2 and 35 had a choice to go with different curriculum and it just so happened that coincidentally they they landed on the same one but so sometimes they do sometimes they don't but we normally give a different Choice K5 than we do 68 in fact in elementary um Ela we have wh wisdom 68 has my perspectiv by savath so they have actually they don't have that cohesion from K5 to 68 thank you sure okay now high school there are a lot of science courses in high school I'm sorry this clicker okay there are a lot

260of science courses in high school if you look we have the same kind of layout here so biology um you had 14 out of 32 um total for 44% now again I know that doesn't seem like majority but it was the highest percentage for any one textbook uh by far because they had I think biology had five choices so the vote was you know kind of broken up the rest of that of that percentage that what um 56% was really broken up by different um Publishers so they ended up with 44% being significantly higher than what any other textbook got and then the committee voted at at at 50% to go with that particular textbook savis that's called experience biology um for chemistry um the majority Jenny can I interrupt you sure just for context

261when you say s 44 was 44% was the highest but out of curiosity what was the next highest good question actually you know what hang on cuz before we changed the presentation I had some um graphs and I have the old one here so hang on and while she's pulling that we have all of that data by school by committee we'll make sure that you get all that we just weren't going to go Slide by slide here but we'll make sure that you have that tomorrow so that you can have it for I think it was M Hill okay so I found it okay so 62% was this is for biology I'm sorry I'm looking at chemistry sorry I apologize okay biology so it looks like four kidum and um Nat Geo and I can't

262remember the last one umal GE oh and accelerate um yeah the accelerate stem scope I think the numbers on this particular slide are inaccurate because what I'm seeing here is 50% for one and I'm going to have to I'm going to have to look back yeah I'm going to have to look back and find yes but when I what I have here is oh that's a you're right that's the committee vote so what I have here the committee vote so the second largest was mcra Hill at what percentage uh was like 30 something or so Jenny you're probably you're probably looking at the slide with a committee vote jum jump two slides ahead I thought go earlier in that in that deck that you was it here my recollection from all of these is that

263Savas had the most McGrath Hill had the second most and then it was reduced from there but what I'm just I'm just wondering if is it in the 30s is it in the 20s is it in the teens it was probably in the 30s so close I mean relatively speaking close okay yeah so Dr Alan I apologize I don't I don't have those numbers with me but it was relatively close it was Dr Allen I know I've seen those um I I'll make sure we get those uh to you guys in the morning yeah like I said we had those in and then in the meeting uh yesterday it was really important that we went through the beginning pieces of the history going back to 2023 so all of that is available we'll make sure

264you have every single one of those tomorrow I had asked for them to be included as a handout so they'll get to us okay so the I apologize for that so the percentage is aside the um I think everything is either savis from McCraw Hill uh on these I mean you know yes quantitatively from just quantitatively yes it feels like there were two good programs that really stood out and you know in some cases one over the other but it wasn't you know too good program we just like this one better as as the committee and then the other two really didn't probably not as nearly as strong I think what the I think that what the committee and the teachers found compelling about the two programs is that um again they go back to

265that framework of beginning with phenomenon and then they do a good job of going through different Explorations and activities for students to come back and tie it all up and I think they just appreciate the framework being so clear for students and it really aligns to the shifts that have been made over time in science instruction right which is where we're trying to get to like start with like oh what you know get get Peak students interest in whatever that is and then take them through all that exploration and I think they just really like that and I think that they think that's the best framework to get students hooked onto um science plus they have some really great resources for students lots of assessment pieces that are really important to our teachers and so

266I think that they really yeah I think that there was a lot of compelling evidence that they that those two programs had a lot of what they needed that's correct now for um for the rest of high school if you notice um it got a little bit closer like physics there was 100% agreement from teachers and from the committee so some of them just really physical science only had one um resource that passed State vetting so obviously L that's the one and so did anatomy and physiology so in some cases like physical science and anatomy and physiology there was really nothing to vet except one and so but and so we still take a vote and and have the teachers look at it okay so for AP um courses this is where you're going to

267start to see sage and BFW these are Publishers that really specialize in college um textbooks and college material and so because the AP um courses are really college courses that's where you start to see more of these other Publishers come in like Sage is your n National Geographic uh publisher and then BFW is is is a publisher that's very commonly used um at the at the University level so that's where you're going to see a change there and that was the selection if you notice those are those are really I mean the teachers really had um um a high regard for what they chose and they were more closely aligned from one teacher to another across the district I had one question yes um for for I know some of these um are going to

268be higher level um but for example AP Psychology I know we have some of our younger high school students taking that course what what age and this may be for Dr isan what age do you what were your youngest AP course takers what what did you find AP biology ology I mean not biology psychology sophomores are the youngest students that would take a I thinking okay thanks and while I have the mic Mr Brown 34% I wanted to make sure I got that number that was bothering me it was 34% going back to biology they chose um compared to as as compared to 44 yes and that was what publisher that was mcra Hill S Gage it was Sage yeah okay so I was saying Gage not my girl Hill yes sir yeah I have

269a question it it says there um the only resource that passed State vetting is that that curriculum there so this is so these are are nonscience selections so AP Psychology completely changed their CED which is their course and exam description and so what we had for our teachers for our students compl was completely unaligned so instead of waiting for social studies which is when we we look at the adoption of AP Psychology we went ahead and move that up so that we could get the correct resource in front of our teachers and students um and so we moved up the adoption so this really doesn't go with science but again it's it's it's out of the it's out of sequence but Dan you're right and there that was actually true for two science textbooks as

270well um physical science and anatomy and physiology the state textbook commission only approved one textbook book for those two courses as well and Mr Cass if I could just add during the math adoption they had nothing for that course so we were this is the first time they've had a a reference or a instructional material for that course yes math reasoning for decision- making is actually a Tennessee only course so it was written several years ago but no publisher wrote a book for it um I'm surprised they did this time honestly because they can really only sell it to Tennessee well in in math reasoning for decision- making is a relatively rare course fewer students take it can you go back one slide I want two slides actually I want to make sure I give

271a good clear answer to Mr Cash's question you see physical science and anatomy and physiology both say only resources Past St State vetting this kind of thing is consistent with the conversations I've had with members of the Tennessee textbook uh commission starting with the math adoption two years ago they made it very clear to these Publishers we will not approve a textbook unless it covers every Tennessee standard to some degree or another and then in essence it's left to the school districts to evaluate okay within those that do cover it what's the depth of that coverage um which do we prefer within that it's pretty clear to me that in those two examples physical science and anatomy and phys physiology only one publisher met that standard that's accurate that's right okay so okay so our

272next steps so now we now it's like we we we got to run to the finish line so here's what happens a lot of districts in Tennessee are going to choose the same resources we chose so we we need if we're going to get these resources in students hands and teachers hands if we're going to get Publishers to come and do the professional development we need we need to be first in line because these are not in many instances these aren't even printed yet so once Publishers know who is in line to buy these they start the printing process so it's a matter of like who gets there first and orders it so this is kind of like our next steps right to to to ensure that by summer PD teachers have at least the

273teacher addition in their hand and that we can provide the professional development because that's the other thing a lot of the Publishers struggle to be able to provide professional development for all of Tennessee over the summer so we've been lucky that we we kind of we kind of run and we hustle and we get first in line and we get dibs on on those dates that that our teachers really need for summer PD and in the printing of the materials so in March the textbook adoption committee members make that recommendation to the school board by April um our our superintendent records the list of textbooks once they're approved by the committee um and we send that off and that begins the motion of um of getting the the publisher um of ordering the materials and

274getting the Publishers to give us some training dates for implementation and so that work really begins as soon as as this board approves those materials and then we get the the wheels in motion teachers will be trained all through the summer so like we'll offer some sessions in May and in June possibly in July I know we did for math because there are so many teachers that need training we kind of like scheduled it all over all through the summer and then come um the first districtwide PD day in July end of July we go back and we do a second day of training because really one day of training is not enough so we offer one in the summer and a lot of teachers like to take that te home over the summer they

275have the training and they can start kind of thinking about it when they come back we give them like a like a a a 2.0 session where they're a little more familiar and then we start really digging into the materials and doing some of those lesson internalization and unit inter internalization sessions for them Jason can you remind us this the the science money for the science curriculum is in this current Year's budget because of this timing but that's correct what's next year um next year I don't I think it's going to be some relatively small courses um then the year after that is social studies as I understand it so this coming year um I'm not aware it may be a couple of special courses Dr Allen it's very small CTE CTE thank you thank

276CTE there I guess Rachel can you um I guess that would net that that would be some of the operating um that would help Net to the operating difference and so like it might so the true operating difference might be might be less than to your point it does spike in Wayne yeah because it was we we had net of net of those Chromebooks we had saved a million dollars yeah but if what is this 7 million what's the what's the science it's somewhere around there for some reason I'm thinking 6.8 but I may be wrong we started out that way and then took a little bit out of the budget last year so it ended up right about 5.7 um and I want to think that it's about a three two and a half

277two2 and a half to$ three million difference okay let's just let's just highlight that in that in that slide just to show the the difference because that's a that's pretty big difference to purchase textbooks one year and not purchase the next so or not have a big adjustment so the last slide is just a summary of um of of the selections made by the committee that are that are in front of you for for approval any questions I have lots of data in front of me it's just hard to look it all up at the same time but I have lots of of I have all kinds of like information from the adoption committee so uh what their selections were by school what the selections were for each parent on the committee there there's lots

278of information here I'm happy to share any and all of it whatever you like we can share um but we really break down the data so that it is super transparent we want to be transparent to our community to our teachers to you the board to our parents so there's lots of data so that we can provide that level of transparency Jenny if I may I have a couple of broad questions um you gave you gave uh the board the that checklist that was developed as the priorities um in the conversations that the teachers and the parents had uh and and jumping back to everything you've seen was there any particular part of that that really jumped out at them uh or was it really just kind of that a balance I'm trying to get

279an idea of that slide with a checklist was there anything that was really a driver that chose that sent one over the top compared to the others I think I think for a lot of our teachers especially our our high school teachers they want the students to have an experience I'll start with high school they want the students to have an experience where like they have good integration uh with with the with the LMS so they want to be able to to know that the textbook is going to work within our learning management system so that so that students can can take their assessments that way and they can get immediate feedback what we have for math right now provides students immediate feedback like if I input a wrong answer it's going to tell me

280this is wrong try this here's an example that's important for our our high schools um more so than it is for for middle school and Elementary I think for middle school and Elementary can I interrupt you first yes ma'am then did all of the curriculum options provide that or was it that McGraw Hill and the ones that scored the highest were the best at that or all of them provide some they all provide some sort of online functionality for students not all of them integrate beautifully so our edtech department actually digs really hard and they actually meet with each and every publisher which we didn't thank Andy's department they really they do so much work they work for at least six months with each and every publisher and they actually sometimes go in and they

281test their product within our environment is it safe does it work well within our LMS does it and so a um Andy's Department actually does a whole rating system after they talk to them um is it compliant in every way that we need for our students and and they and so teachers are able to see what kind of compatibility it has with our with our and I think High School teachers especially do take that into account I mean I guess I'm surprised that that would be one of the first examples because I'm not sure how that speaks to actually learning the material learning the science sure and and and it is and it is not the most important I'm just speaking broadly about what what's important to one group is not necessarily really important to

282another group like rk8 they probably don't look at that much but that's a consideration for for our high school um first they look at all of these real like is does it have real world connections are there lab opportunities uh are there phenomenon and explanations I think for our teachers right now with science instruction phenomena based instruction is the most important piece like does it does it start with phenomenon and then does it go from there because if it doesn't it really doesn't align well with our new standards so can you explain exactly what that means like what versus non- phenomenon based just so I understand sure what it means is that that instead of instead of providing instruction to students and having them do um do work that is maybe disconnected to them they

283try to connect it to one piece so they try to start with something that students like are curious about and then they break it down to that students are learning in small pieces and then making the connection back to something that they were curious about that is much bigger that is not a one lesson thing but can I connect a series of science Explorations Labs lessons to one thing that I didn't understand I was curious about and now I understand how it happened because of those Explorations and labs and Hands-On opportunities I think for our um for elementary having handson like having activities and Labs that they can do Hands-On that is the most important thing to them like how can we make this real for students tangible I think they they really focus on

284that um and and for our middle school as as well I mean we have incredible labs and experiences Hands-On experiences for students um you know from from kindergarten all the way through high school so I think those are some of the but but then I I think I do think that there are different um grade bands that really focus on particular pieces I think the Spiral Review is something that that that teachers look at the assessments there are lots of different pieces but really I think that aligning to the to to that to that like strategy of finding curiosity and something and then working through there is what matter most most to teachers in this adoption hey Jenny and this is probably for you Dave as well in the last two curriculum adop options that

285there have been some people who've raised concerns about the presence of social cultural editorial comments or or things that might be viewed as not relevant to the to the curriculum or the material has that been did was that raised in this process as well relative to the science the various options that were on the table has that been brought up has that been dealt with in any way yeah yes so um less in science um we did have some specific parent feedback related to climate change and how it was being addressed in some of the instructional materials they actually were materials that were not selected the ones that a few parents had had issues with um so there was and I asked that specific question to Miss Sour there wasn't really negative feedback about any

286of the materials that surfaced from the teacher perspective as being the best instruction materials so there were bits of it but there were materials that we that are that that are not being recommended to you tonight into the ex I'm sorry I have a question is climate change one of the Tennessee standards climate change I do not believe is directly a Tennessee standard but I cannot fully answer that question I would really have to ask Jen about that um so it was addressed in some of our books my my guess would be from looking at public comment that there is something in the Tennessee standards related to to change in our environment for sure because it seems like it's addressed in most textbooks I have all the public comments here I was going to add

287I I looked up the Tennessee State Standards before I I did one review and then I came back in in between I thought you know I'm going to look up the state standards and find where interesting things are so sixth grade they do talk about what do they what it how is it phrase climate and our human interaction with it and so that's where I kind of looked and I I I did find um if y'all don't mind me jumping in um I found especially in mgra Hill it talked about how humans impact the Earth human population explosion has already had effect um and it just goes on and on about the population explosion population inre our impact on water usage and that's true actually the the birth rate is dropping and they don't talk

288about that at all the growth of human population has had an impact on the earth no matter well I agree with that but what I'm let me finish please and so what I was going to say is I looked at the world economic Forum today and which is a very respected source and they talk about how we're going to be in trouble in 2100 because the birth rates have dropped so much um especially in Europe um this is very searchable fact but then it talks about and I I taught sixth grade they're very impressionable and I love teaching sixth grade for years but it talks about even if a small amount of estrogen which is um gets into the waterways um and it talks about how estrogen and urine just we can't stop doing that

289for women um it pollutes the water and causes fish to not reproduce correctly um and so it goes on and I just think this is riddling our youth I I I have a problem with the McGraw Hill um so I actually have I apologize Jen did give me Jen sour did give me that information kindergarten Earth and human activity there's a standard it's Earth and human activity I don't think any of them phrase it as necessarily climate change but there's there are definitely topics that go into the environment so in kindergarten there are um there's one standard that has three different components and and it's labeled Earth and human activity in third grade there's nothing in first and second third grade earth and human activity is is a standard um in fourth grade and that

290is the title The broader title like I you know the the standard goes into some detail fourth grade has a standard again it's under Earth and human activity it actually has two different components there so for example one is engage in an argument using evidence from research that human activity and in parenthesis farming mining building can affect the land and ocean in a positive and negative way and if I may just add something I think this is a really important conversation to have in relation to the conversation we were having earlier about how we Implement curriculum um there will be pieces in instructional materials and I mean if you you think it's interesting right now buckle up in two years when we start talking about social studies there you go we we follow the state

291St standards and we teach the curriculum with Integrity as or use the curriculum with Integrity as we said earlier so um the state standards are really important if we object to pieces of the state standards we should raise our hand and we should we should talk about that with the state because we will and we are obligated to follow and and Implement those State Standards if there are materials in the book um and they're not related to helping the students understand the full depth and complexity of the state standards we won't use them now is it possible that students will see that material in there yes we don't have a lot of kids that are reading the textbooks just outright but I can assure you that that to us is what teaching using the curriculum

292with Integrity is so you may see some things in there if they don't align directly to the state standards then our instruction to our teacher is that we don't use them um we have public comment on and I looked at every single public comment by publisher to make sure that I was I was trying to pick up for any one thread of commonality in in in comments it seems like things like climate change kind of came up in every single one of them because I have like notes here from accelerate learning mcgrawhill savis kidum and they all every one of them had one comment at least about um that that the public felt um was inappropriate in terms of how we teach students that topic um looking through it there are there are some that

293have more examples than others it wasn't it wasn't the majority of the comments the majority of the comments were related to um the the material being being presented in in a way that's appropriate some comments had to do with um the text being too heavy like while this is a lot of reading for a kindergartener where some were like this is an appropriate like in another you know textbook it would be like well this is easy to read this is fun the text is heavy it's engaging um I like the words that help them develop understanding really there was probably one comment in every publisher about the the discussion of like the human impact um on the Earth but other than that most of the comments are really related to the heaviness of the text

294like this is kind of hard to read this is colorful this is engaging this might be not engaging enough for a kindergartener because it it lacks you know color and fun and and so really the majority was about that was about just like how are students receiving this text um so there weren't a lot of comments but there are some comments about the topic like some say like heavy reading um most visibly pleasing too busy but it seemed like but it seemed like one person like we had one comment that would say this is this is too heavy and the next comment would be this is great for kindergarten so the comments didn't really um align in terms of like we didn't get one same piece of feedback for any one curriculum if if if

295that makes sense but I really looked at every we looked at every single public comment we provide those to our teachers and to the parents in that committee to make sure they understand the public concern Dennis yeah I got in on the last day and I looked at the high school biology and chemistry because that's my background and I looked for a bunch of stuff and if you had any controversial topics they tended to be under climate change energy environment biomes ecosystems Evolution natural selection learning human development and one of them by singage actually had the social emotional learning connections talking about people in high up on the food chain down on the food chain that kind so it but I didn't find a lot it's mostly just facts chemistry and biology you know um

296so I wondered how much of this is objective you have your checklist when the people looked at the book did they go down that checklist and they said I found this I found this I found this there's 15 of them there and then they come in and say this book has 12 of the 15 standards for Tennessee then did you give them a chance to have a subjective evaluation I think it's too heavy it's too easy or something I would like to see a little computer data number crunching so I think that speaks to the heart of why I went in and Dave and Jens sour graciously spent two and a half hours with me because the presentation of the percentages of what teachers like the best and what the you know um parents like

297the best is is great that's good data but as I've going through this and I'm new to this obviously but I wanted to know you know based on this checklist teachers have been using a resource they feel there are certain gaps in that resource and they were evaluating these textbooks to see how they fill those gaps and that's really the date that's the meat of what I am interested in and it kind of is what you your question was alluding to and so I don't know at this particular time that I'm comfortable taking a vote on this fight yet because I really want to understand why you know certain materials were preferred over others based on my own review um speaking to public comment and what you said and what you said I just want

298to remind everybody science is a secular business and it's not settled and no textbook is going to be perfect no textbook is going to meet 100% of our needs you know I can point to I mean one of I'll just be honest one of the reasons I didn't love saasa McGraw Hill for high school biology is they spent a lot of time on um the Miller Ur experiment which has now been there's data to show that that experiment is that's the whole primordial soup hypothesis that the conditions probably for that experiment aren't accurate and scientists now since 2021 are saying that data is probably not good but yet those science those books teach it as if it's settled science so if if teachers are integrating some of that stuff we've talked about Fidelity versus integrity

299and giving teachers some leeway I think we do have to trust our teachers you know and know that they're going to be um teaching according to you know the community's values for the most part but still I would like just a little bit more time we're running into a similar issue that we did with math and I and I was that's the only one I was on for I came after Ela but and that is that you know you've got this set of options that are maybe none of them are perfect none of them may may even be great um but you have to choose among you know some options that you the best of the worst if you want to call it that that's I don't know if that's fair or not but um

300we're kind of in the same situation to your point every one of these is going to have some flaw every one of these is going to deal with some theory that someone's going to object to um that's kind of the nature of the Beast unfortunately you a public schools a set of Public School curriculum you you're not going to get the thing that some people would want and some of us may want um so I think that's the challenge and I guess I guess it begs the question Jason talk about talk us through the consequences of delaying we've seen the chart we've seen the flowchart of the schedule of our vote purchase of the material training all the things that have to have to follow on with our decision just walk through the consequences of

301if we delay and how and how long we would delay and what where that puts us in terms of um potentially being behind the eight ball schedule wise thank thank you for that with the caveat well let me start it this way we don't really know the consequences of the delay because it's going to be dependent on the date that we might ultimately make a decision in relationship to uh how many other school systems choose these books and then the publishing schedule how long it takes them to print the books right so we don't really know um so the the schedule and Dr Allen fill in if I if I miss anything uh related to this the schedule we have is is to purchase the textbooks in April order them we should have an idea

302based on my experience with these textbook companies within a week or two of their schedule to get them to us typically that's what I've seen they don't let you know immediately we'll get you to them by blank date usually they'll let you know in a little while um so the longer we wait the higher risk there is that we won't have the textbooks when we start our training um we intend for our professional development to start in Earnest the week of Memorial Day in other words graduations Memorial Day Monday we're doing PD for science teachers that week that short week after Memorial Day um so maybe we can go back and check with some of these Publishers what's their window of time my experience with this is I equate this uh uh to uh to

303our to how we purchase buses we get in line because buses aren't sitting there on the lot because of the cost of making them when you order them they start making them and if somebody's ahead of you in line then whoever's ahead of you gets the order in first and then they then they get yours done um so a delay because of that is probably going to have a varied impact depending on how long the the the delay is I will tell you that as I sit here I'm not prepared to recommend a delay but I will tell you that if we delay till the April board meeting I can't imagine that we won't have a problem so if if if you all do choose to delay I would recommend number one help us get

304a firm grasp of the detail that you're looking for and have a special called meeting as quick as we can get that information again with a caveat that I don't recommend a delay uh but but you know that's that's that's my best answer to that question so let me throw this out for the board because April 21st is our next board meeting that's a full 35 days after we would vote on this in March so March 17 April 21 so think about that period of time um if you back up from that of scheduled meetings of the board we have the April 17th work session and then we have the April 7th is that right policy meeting meeting on the 7th that be April 7th so I'm just saying that for the purposes of meetings

305that are already scheduled that are already on calendars versus creating another meeting that isn't on our calendars that might make it harder for attendance by board members so just thinking about opportunities to meet if we chose to delay it so I just have a question about I mean what additional I mean Jason asked like what additional information could we could we could we use I mean I've thought about this a lot after you know all the criticism of of Whitten and Wilco and how could you you know approve that curriculum and at the end at the end of the day when when when I'm sitting here and and our teachers I mean I get I get the ones that are 5050 right I mean there you could you kind of go either way um but

306I mean I haven't reviewed the books I I mean I I haven't um but I don't know what I could possibly look at and in Rie these I did review the math books um but I just I didn't I just didn't have I didn't have time to to review these these science books but I don't know what I would look at as a board member that could inform me enough about a about one of these curriculum to to go against the recommendation of the teachers I mean maybe if I mean I'm not saying that somebody couldn't give me information that would that might sway me me but I don't I just I don't have today I don't have enough information in April I'm not going to have enough information like I can't I mean but

307unless unless somebody could tell me what information you're waiting on to that that in three weeks from now or six weeks from now that you'll that you would have that information it' be enough I I I'm interested to hear what people would say I think you bring a valid point I I instead of coming forward with a I'd like to come forward with a solution and it's hard when the state is this is what they provide and I've looked through some others and see seen some that I like a little bit better um I also talked with some people at the state and there are options to um even though the textbooks there to say we don't want you to teach on this and provide some supplemental information so those are some options but again

308I think having a little more time would be helpful um it's hard now because the materials are away now we can't look more closely at the ones that have been chosen but they're here oh oh but but are we allowed to look at them sure oh okay well I've I've spent several sessions or two sessions a lot of time so I mean the option is always for us to have little more time to look back at them so but what would that time I mean what what are you you spent time looking at it what would what would what what is what's unknown in your mind that could be clarified in in another with another two weeks or well speaking for me personally I had reached out to some teachers and I hadn't been able

309to have a conversation with them yet I really wanted to be able to speak to some teachers to understand you know to show me what about the resources they preferred or what gaps they thought the resources would would help ameliorate if you will um I also you know Dave in our meeting talked about like K through it's it's kind of hard for me to wrap my head around adopting salice for K through2 in particular when they don't spend hardly any time what how much instructional time 20 25 minutes how much is it they we split science and social studies uh and they get about 30 minutes per day in science and social studies 30 minutes per day for both for both so they usually do every other day right and so they had already asked

310you know well could we you can me it could we get a waiver to use our the O what we've been using and the answer was no that's correct so K2 K through2 standards are limited so before we even began as prodct we kind of went into the process thinking that we could continue to use supplemental resources in K through2 and and literally kind of just save money and the teachers were happy using the resources we were told we were not allowed to do that and it's stated clearly in state law that we have to we requ required to adopt um uh and and stay within that resource for as long as possible so we've limited what we're going to do we focus heavily on Hands-On projects in K through2 all the teachers will have

311a teachers addition that they'll use as a reference guide so we will follow the letter of the law but we're limiting it to but to Dr Reed's Point our first attempt was to to not to not adopt in K through2 so there's been what's the waiver process what how does that work so basically and and do you want to take it Jen yeah yes so the waiver process basically what you do is you have to submit what you would use in place of you have to provide evidence that you have 100% alignment in whatever resource you're using alignment to the standard alignment to State Standards thank you yes you have to have 100% alignment to every single so in other words the same uh requirements that Publishers have when they come and they um have

312their books vetted for for approval we have to we have those same requirements we would have to have a resource we would have to prove that we are in complete alignment to Tennessee state standards and then they would review that and then provide us the ability to you know to they would they could approve that waiver the problem with that waiver process is that we would submit that now for example and you wouldn't know until like maybe right up against um school starting so you and you have no ability to really know whether you have a resource that's 100% align like could they could come back and say this is not 100% aligned or you know you have all of these deficits so there's no there's no guarantee that you're going to have that and

313we just we we didn't feel comfortable putting something forth when really again our standards are so thin and we have such little time and in K2 for science that we feel like buying the teachers a teacher addition so they have some ideas on how to run it's mostly Hands-On like okay here's this little phenomenon I can play the little whatever clip on it and then here's the Hands-On instruction we feel like we can really do some great things in K2 science by just providing teachers um the the teacher addition and then all the materials to do the labs as for me I would we're going to get all this data right yes sir tomorrow yeah I want all the data and I want to know if the comments made by reviewers will also be made

314available to us possibly redact their names okay and the third thing I want to know where the gaps are we said we're going to get textbooks that we know they have gaps in them and how are we going going to fill those gaps if we adopt those books so if I may speak specifically to that so to be approved by the state of Tennessee the instructional resources have to be 100% aligned to State Standards so in terms of teaching the standards there will be no gaps however their idea of fully teaching the standard and our idea of fully teaching the standard are different sometimes the instruction materials do a really good job of that sometimes they don't they just touch on the topic but they say because it touched on the top on the standard

315that it actually teaches the standard fully so those are over time developed from our curriculum Specialists our coaches and our teachers they identify because you have to think about it a textbook maybe three 400 Pages they've not gone through every single page it's impossible to do that but as they start to use the instructional materials they'll start to see where there's some gaps and then we start to provide supplemental materials for all our teachers across so it' be a little impossible for us to identify all those gaps it will have 100% alignment but we will supplement when we start to see where it's falling short if that makes I'm hearing is Williamson County Schools is going to take on the state of Tennessee no we're not going to take on the state of Tennessee we

316we just feel yeah we just feel that disagree with the state of Tennessee when they say that the a particular book meets their requirements that's not what he said what he's saying is and what we've said before and this is consistent in how we've always did it is the state of Tennessee has minimum state standards that must be met so that's the floor we're Williamson County Schools we're better than that so we don't teach on the floor we teach on the ceiling so we're going to teach at a higher level we're going to hit everything that's there on the floor that the state says but we're going to go higher with our kids and we're going to teach them up here instead of just down here where it needs to be now in some of

317the cases the textbooks I'm going to use the roof analogy there may not be a shingle to cover every Square bit of that roof and those textbooks so in those cases we're going to find supplemental material that are those shingles for that roof because we want our kids to do better than the average kid in the state of Tennessee Dave is that yeah yeah the the textbooks will be 100% aligned we just um and it's it's every content area every time we adopt there are always opportunities where we believe that we can find supplemental materials for some of our standards some of the state standards that we could teach deeper or that will better prepare them for the next grade level and the next content that they will they will see down the road so

318we I don't want to take on the state of Tennessee we're happy with the resources that are being provided to us we just don't follow it with Fidelity and we want to make sure that we're teaching to the full depth and complexity I'm going to pull an example just out of States the the sixth grade States one of the sixth grade state standard is is evaluate and communicate the impact of environmental variables on population size maybe a book H hits three or four environmental variables but there might be some more that that that ought to be included and they might have gotten a checkbox from the commission okay you address environmental variables but there may be some more depth to what actually gets tested that's the kind of thing that uh that might need to

319be that down into as a teacher's going through that and then they could supplement that that's that's that's that difference in yeah the standards being touched versus is there depth is there that all the depth that might actually be needed for a student to grasp I just pulled that one just because it was on my screen so okay go ahead sorry So currently we're using the online resources open the OE open open and so does the state of Tennessee provide us the 78 million needed to purchase these textbooks good good point because I see that as a point because of course we know the reality is the state doesn't fully fund us well the reason why I asked is you know I pulled up the standards I used to be a middle school science teacher

320these standards are basically what I taught in the late 90s you know the standard the way you instruct changes but the standards are the standards that have been the standards yeah so just something to consider if we want to spend the money for more resources yeah uh Dave we uh we got a waiver on that why can't we get another waiver yeah good question I'm glad and I'm glad the Oar came up because we didn't speak to that so going back to 20 actually 2022 before we began the work well actually in in alignment in 2023 when the teachers began the work of what do we want the instructional materials to look like remember now the the resources from the state weren't provided yet we didn't know what the list was so the checklist that

321Dr uh ree is referring to is basically our teachers looking to say what do we need available to US based on the science instructional shifts for us to be successful so as part of that what we asked them to evaluate at that time was was devel veloping an oar 2.0 and so the reason we needed a 2.0 was because we were hearing lots of feedback that was the science oar was our first attempt at an oar and we were getting lots of feedback from our teachers that it really wasn't meeting their needs that what we had created was a collection of uh assignments and activities but it was lacking in a lot of the areas that they're now seeing in some of the resources one of them for example would be really good assessments so

322in some of the instructional materials that our teachers had a chance to vet now they see daily checks they see weekly quizzes they see really good sumita of Assessments so there's there's more to what's in the instructional materials now than was available to them when we decided to develop an oar they overwhelmingly said in seeing what we believe to be the new instructional materials coming out it's so much better than what we have in an oer and they were unanimously in favor of moving away from the open educational resources back to traditional materials in addition to that to your question Dan there's much more scrutiny around waivers now at the state level than there was back in two and I wasn't part of that process but my understanding is there's much more scrutiny around the

323waiver process now going back to what Miss Lopez says about us providing something that has 100% alignment and those sorts of things so we don't know for sure but we were concerned that even if our teacher said hey yeah let's go Oar 2.0 that it would have been difficult for us to get that approved through the state waiver process well from what we're seeing is the the state commission rejected several of these books that's correct that's correct so we're going to go against their wishes now why do we have all these Comm committees if if we're going to go through all this stuff all the time yeah I'm not sure I understand your question can you ask me to well I'm just saying we we've they've rejected some they they can't vet them because of

324not enough standards right correct and and in order for us to have keep like the O we've got to hit every standards correct so what I guess what I'm saying what's good for the goods good for the gander yes sir but that doesn't work right that doesn't work work that's correct yes okay so they did provide us a list now you'll notice in some there was only one text when you get into higher level courses they did provide us a list of materials um that we could choose from it was a limited list um but they we do have to work just by law we have to work within what's provided on that list but to your point yeah a lot of what was submitted by Publishers was not approved by the state of Tennessee

325in order to change in order to change public the books got to be rejected and the books shouldn't be used but we're not given that opportunity correct yeah so so then where do we go again what yeah what opportunities do we have if we don't go with these that's what I want to know yeah just one more point on the Oar um our Oar right now because of the shift in standards would not be 100% on line next year because standards do move like there there was was a shift in standards that is applicable beginning in the 25 26 school year so our oar is built for the standards that we that are that are in place right now but because we're shifting we're going to be out of alignment um in the Oar and

326we we haven't updated the Oar um in part because our teachers really gave us feedback that they wanted a comprehensive cohesive curriculum um that cohesion is something that's re that's been really missing in the Oar it just it lacks cohesion because it was created by by a group of teachers and and and it doesn't necessarily have that framework that's tight in a curriculum in a publisher curriculum so our teachers really wanted that the other thing would be for us to create that we pull teachers out of the classroom and we had teachers do that for over an entire school year that's not something that can be done that can be turned around on a dime it takes a long time to do that and so we also didn't feel like you know with with the

327teacher feedback being that they really didn't want to continue with the Oar we we didn't pursue that but it would have required us to remove teachers from the classroom to build that Oar like we did many years ago like eight years ago when we did it and what we've heard from the state and it's been verbal conversations we're expecting textbooks right and then of course Dana shared Dana shared with you that we we we are required to adopt now the deadline is the end of June to actually adopt um then then it then it becomes a practical question of can we actually get the books I have a question um I can tell it's been a very thorough process sorry Jenny and Dave Dave sorry to call you out um I can tell it's been

328a very thorough process I'm curious in all of those meetings and conversations with the teachers and the feedback did you sense any hesit from them like what do you think they would say if they heard this convers like what will they say whenever they hear this conversation tonight I'm curious about that so I'm I'll speak first and I'll let Jenny speak I'm two steps away from the process so I'm not in directly with those teachers so I'm hearing through uh JY sour um and everything that I have heard is that they're super excited about having traditional instructional resources um the science there was a significant SC shift in the science standards in 2014 or so and um the textbooks at that time were not adjusted so it was a really good opportunity for us to

329create an oar that really tailored to those standards at that time the instructional materials have now caught up and everything that I've heard is that they're really really excited about them um it provides them a lot more and Dr reev said this actually in the meeting yesterday in some cases it provides too much like there's a lot in there and teachers have to make Choice um what to use and what not to use um so my my take on it is that they're that they're really excited about what they've seen so one thing I just want to clarify is a textbook is not the curriculum the standards are the curriculum textbook is an instructional resource um can we just purchase like classroom sets of textbooks cuz I know when I was in the classroom that's

330all I ever use most kids lose them don't take them home they don't read them they backpacks weigh 50 lbs so is that something that we can do that's a possibility and actually Dr Allen spoke to the K2 Jenny go ahead well K2 is would only be a te yeah like a teacher edition and then we would provide them the the materials for the Hands-On instruction our plan is to not buy textbooks for all the students in K2 right in K2 the students would not have textbooks not digital not not handheld nothing the only teachers would have the textbook and they would use those the the the Hands-On instruction three through five and six and eight so really um three through eight are workbooks they don't it's not a hardback it's a workbook um so

331um so that that's the way that's the way that those Publishers um are providing the resources my kids use their textbooks it's using the pages of the of the workbook right I'm just saying it's been my experience that all three of my children would bring that workbook home at the end of the year and we would throw it away they were they used the work I mean they they they actually they actually used the workbook like that's the that's their I mean what do you think that what what else are they going to do the expectation at the end of the year with the work I think that I'm just sharing what my experience was with my three sons throwing it away at the end of the year is not is different from using it

332during the year that's they didn't they didn't even use it during the school year for math right now right it's a it's an Expendable book and to your point it comes home and it looks you know there's unused pages but again I think that speaks more to the depth of the you know the option and what the teachers choose to teach out of it versus it not being used well but but Jason for like with us not purchasing all the classroom sets is that how we reduced our what we thought we were going to spend did we know that that 5.7 million that we thought we were going to spend or or do we think we actually spend less than that we had actually projected um when when we started at the six what we

333talked about was there's a real possibility especially at the youngest grades because of the standards we might just do a smaller purchase so short answer to your question is yes um what what we talked about at that time of year ago was well if we estimated too low we'll have to come back for a budget amendment right but we did anticipate that possibility but I mean so or the alternative is we could just purchase full classroom copies for or full individual copies of all the textbooks for everybody which would be more expensive than what we're doing now so we're we're saving a considerable amount of money like I um I don't think I mean if if all we got was Tech if all we got was workbooks and that was useful um I mean it

334seems like that's a lot cheaper than buying I mean even though even though they're they're disposable but they're disposable for seven years it's still going to be cheaper than buying the textbook um and and a lot of the things come with textbooks and workbooks and so that's the most expensive option which we probably do in some cases for for math curriculum or something like that that's that's pretty accurate yes I think the bigger question is is it a cost issue or is it a Content issue I think that's what we got we've got to get to ultimately for me it's it's a why are we talking about hurting kids issue we have this decision that was made by our science teachers they made this call do we not trust our science teachers to make these

335calls if not then we should probably fire them and hire new ones it was a transparent process we have been told for months what this would be we approved the process we had parental involvement the books are here right now literally there they are there are the books we've had the reviews it's been open open to everyone else the decision was made we saw the numbers in some case it was closed because there were two good options and now we're talking about well let's delay it what are the implications of that the implication is we won't have the material in time for our teachers to be trained for them to properly instruct our students and I'm trying not to get upset over this and and outrageous but I'm internalizing it because I have an engineer

336as a student and I'm trying to picture that him as a current student and not getting the resources and the knowledge that he needs to go on and become what he is because someone randomly said climate in the book and shut up Tony you're right I'm sorry you're right I'm sorry I apologize that was over the top but I'm quiet when you talk please be quiet when I talk okay let's just let one person speak at a time and let's let's refrain from derogatory comments thank you and you're right and I apologize to the board but we're going to not provide materials to these students or we going to delay it or what delay to learn what I still haven't learned what it was Jays the question what what are we waiting for still because

337the books aren't perfect I know all right I'm still waiting to see all the data I've been promised tomorrow so I think that for a lot of us this is the first time we're going through this and it's adopting a curriculum for eight years that's a big commitment and all I am asking for is a little insight from teachers on what from the checklist that they developed which were the criteria that that were most important to them that led to to them selecting their Top Choice that's what I want to hear and I think that's a fair ask that's all I want to understand I think that all of the options were great and all had pros and cons so it's not a a big as to delay to the April what did you guys

338say what was April 7th would be the soonest scheduled meeting of the board April 7th policy meeting I don't think that delay I'm not when no one's saying wait until the very last minute till June no one is saying that just a little more time to maybe talk to some teachers maybe Dave can gather a little more data if if there's a flaw in this process I think I might have alluded to this in conversation with you today if it's that the best intentions which we saw the chronology of this we started hearing about this in September we had people giving us presentations going back to many of your very first board meetings or second board meeting we were getting monthly presentations about this which is very much appreciated but if there's a flaw in

339it it's that the content the bulk of the content and the the meat comes at the very very end right and when we we get it at the same time that we're asked to vote on it and that's sort of the nature of it because the state doesn't give us the the criteria or the books that we can choose from or the programs we can choose from until January right so by definition we're going to have three months or less because of the state's role in this so it's just a it's a little bit of a flaw in the process that it's backloaded as many presentations as we can get are helpful but it we're still forced into this situation of it's in front of us for a couple of weeks all the the data

340that we're and we need we still need to get more data but all of this the criteria the readouts from the teachers the scoring all of that's coming to us kind of all at once so I I get the frustration about that um I mean is there a consensus I mean what's got to happen is procedurally tell me if I'm wrong it's on the agenda now for us to vote on this on March 17th what would change that is if the executive committee pulled it from the agenda that the executive committee being Jason and me pulled it from the agenda for March 17th and then we made a decision to take this up and vote on it at another meeting later so that's procedurally what would have to happen I just need to know I

341need to get feedback from everybody what's the consensus of what we should do so I would ask that that the there might be a that there could potentially be a a third option and that is if there are specific um age bands that are of concern then pull those off for a for a future time but if there but if there's 90% of them andan I I'm I'm honestly not in favor of delaying all of them I'm just giving a another option that we could vote on the consensus I mean why the heck wouldn't we vote on the one that doesn't have any other options like I mean come on so so there's some that are going to be like there's got to be some that we can agree that okay so why don't we

342why don't we start with all of them and we vote on all of them and if anybody wants to to pull one or two or three or however however many off then then we do that so is there any reason per state rules or per whatever requirement we're under to adopt this curriculum is there any reason we can't do it peace meal no there's no reason we can't do that we we can do that um let me add if I may Mr chair we have two working days in a spring break in between the voting meeting um we're going to try to gather what data we can tomorrow and Monday uh to to help those of you who've asked um Dr ree thank you for being specific about what you're asking for insight I would

343I would invite all of you to do the same if any of you are concerned about a vote next Monday because you don't have blank amount blank information please let me know what information that is um tomorrow morning if you can know so that so that we can do what we can to get that to you I have a question as a board member serving on the committee do you during the meetings were was there an opportunity to interact with the teachers or were there separate meetings I'm sorry is is painful no um this was the first time a board member was sitting in on all those committees and I received one email about it in September and I didn't receive any reminders so I only got to participate in one meeting out of the

344okay the four I just like that'd be helpful for all of us and all of y'all as we're working together you know like what at what level is is feedback helpful so that's what I just wanted to understand because then like you're saying these interactions with the teachers could have happened earlier in a casual way at that meeting okay at a meeting thank you I just wanted to understand that can we pull back up on the slide um the the ones that I think it's a good suggestion Jay as far as breaking this down not doing it all at once but which ones do could we say are the the grade bands where there was only one choice or where there was 100% agreement for example physical science ecology I know for sure are in

345that list so I guess we would have to start with like veryy go decide on those because we could get those actually math reason we don't have to worry about that purchase we have that's a Ral purchase because we purchased that L deer since since Tennessee didn't adopt anything we had the ability to buy something for one year so we bought that for one year while we waited and they ended up like approving this one so AP Psychology for example so so I'm sorry Josh is it is it possible to take to go the other way and say okay does anybody have like is there are there any of these that people have problems with because we could if we start with this we're going to be building all the way up but if I

346mean are there any people just are really struggling with this is going to be a thick I want to go back to biology and chemistry I want to see the numbers and I want to see the comments okay that's problem we got biology and chemistry so what about all the AP we have all the AP material we well then that's not an answer to J's question Jay's asking on the other on the flip side of that on the flip side so this way okay Mike I would just mention and it kind of goes along to Jay's point and somewhere where I we actually agree Eric so um but I there are things that I don't like in all of them and there are things that are fine in all of them and we could pick

347apart it from an ideological standpoint on some of these things like climate change some people might not think that's a big deal but it is a big deal to some people population control macro Evolution theory is you know fact and all the lessons and stuff from that just all these different things but the end of the day to Jay's point I don't what's our alternative we don't have an alternative and we don't have a choice we just don't the the board is completely castrated in this process for that because these are the options this is what's chosen so it's like you know I'm kind of like we could delay it sure to get the teacher feedback and stuff and I'm fine with doing that but does it change anything I don't I don't see where

348we have anything that we could change even if we wanted to so you know that's kind of where I'm at with it well it it does raise a an important question which is do we re do we re reasonably think that in three more weeks or four that we're going to have information that would put us in a materially different position than we're in now not for me unless it was entirely different choice anyone else have a have any feedback on that question because that is important if we if we're doing this because we think we're going to get informed to a greater degree than we are now that's one thing if if it's and and there's that's in and of itself is not a bad thing is it going to change anything is maybe

349another question it or it may not be the right question to ask but it it is a question well I can answer that in part um and and uh Tony alluded to this we have limited choices from the state uh we can make sure we give you all that data that shows the the the teacher selection in all that detail that might inform some we're going to do what we can to get wise that that U that Claire asked for um that might inform you some um but ultimately Mr bosik is Right you've got to you've got to choose among the these State choices Mr Golden and uh if I could just add one thing because I'm listening intently to the conversation and and I'm I want to make you aware of two things first

350I think your point um Mr Brown about the timing of when we get the materials that's an issue with us too we we don't like that I think this conversation gives us more leverage to go back and talk to the state about potentially what they can do to move that up so we can get those materials earlier for future adoption so we'll take that on ourselves to communicate and reach out to the state and see if that can if we can help in any that's going to not for this adoption but moving forward the other piece that I will say too is with every adoption we have made adjustments to the curriculum materials that that we have purchased so if I'll go back to the statement about the standards if if you all can really

351dig into the standards um whenever we get whatever we get um if you can dig into the standards and then look specifically at how the resource teaches that standard and you have feedback we're going to be super open to that feedback and how we train our teachers um to utilize the instructional resources to teach the standards and also what parts of the resource to stay away from um so those are those are options that we have implemented in the past and we will continue to implement and would would welcome conversations with you about what those standards would be and what those topics would be to add just on the psychology one just kind of I I looked through those that was my undergraduate degree and um Myers was my least favorite so there's something I

352yeah I so I I went through and picked my favorite and I would probably vote no because I I think there's a better option so little things like that and I don't know as chair how you want to was there another option on psychology besides four there were four okay yeah but it's just that everybody chose that one on the N of nine of nine on the committee CH the committee I mean I guess I'd like to um I mean can we not let's keep them on the agenda if anybody let's let's make it available for for if anybody wants to pull one of these out of the group and and vote to defer it then let's vote to defer it let's just use Robert's Rules like we you yall don't have to make this

353decision on your own as an executive committee let's just make a decision well let me let me do this who's if you're comfortable saying it right now where you're leaning as far as delay versus no delay voice that because that's going to help I think both of us think through what to do as far as delay or not so can we just go around and if you're comfortable voicing it if you're not that's fine too I think you've already said what you believe I I mean I could I could understand reasons for delaying some of it but also you know it's just frustrating to me like I I agree with Donna on the Meer psychology it just can't imagine that that's cool and for the record this is not a formal vote any other any

354other opinions just keep going down the line I think there's some can you do your microphone we're all tired I think um I think there's some Merit to delaying because I think sometimes in haste you can make some there's some things that are on the table or things that could be on the table that could change some things but I I I don't I would be up for delaying if if that's the will of the board but um yeah I agree with what some other people have said it's just really frustrating that the state talks about local control but yet the constraints are not local control uh so I mean I'll vote if it if it's on the agenda yeah I don't have a strong opinion but yeah I don't think uh honestly you're you're

355never going to find a book that's perfect no matter what we do unless we write it ourselves and it will only be perfect to us so but um I you know I've been through this process before uh there's a lot of things I don't like about it and uh I I voice those in the past and you know but it is what it is I I do have one question since the leadership of the central Offices here is I'd like to know why a board member was invited to one meeting and never called again I'd like I'd like an explanation on that Dr Allen so I think there's just some miscommunication so the invites went out and and Dr re and and was just getting on the board and I think she may have just

356missed it and I think we when she didn't come we should have gone back and reinvites so I think it was just a combination of the two there was no intent in not having someone how you forget a board member especially a new one no I I mean look I've had these conversations privately and I I received one email right when I after I was sworn in that had all the dates and I couldn't make it to the first meeting due to a work commitment I did think I was going to get reminders notifications about all the others and I didn't so that's on me for not putting it in my calendar but now we take responsibility for that well I I I'll I'll say it it was it was a you've got to just

357acknowledge that it was a dropped it probably could have could have communicated better um and so that's yeah it it it could have been done better with some follow-ups I supported delay until then with the chair maybe the policy if I get the data tomorrow or in the next day or two I can't do a data crunch before Monday night and I oh got a week from oh well then I can do that 10 10 days from now is when we meet we vote and I still want to add I want to know where the gaps are where does Williamson County Schools think that we have gaps to fill because those gaps are of our making and I want to know how we're going to fill them so if the other meeting is um a

358week from Monday that's fine assum I get everything by this weekend to be clear the the current voting meeting March 17th when this is on the calendar on the agenda is March 17 10 days from now so we would we would have 10 days in which to get some additional data that we've been told we'll get for the currently scheduled vote the question is do we go beyond that if I can get it by this coming Monday I can have a decision for you you by the following Monday fair enough but I need a week to do the data um I would like to see Claire's questions answered I if she can if they can get that done before the Schoolboard meeting that would be great otherwise I'm put push it off to the policy

359meeting um I think um Donna maybe has some bigger concerns I have no idea what in Meers and all that stuff but if she has a bigger concern I think that should be addressed um and but we can address that at the board meeting by taking it out correct and doing that so I think that's where I stand yeah I I just think we'd have it on the have it on the meeting and vote if anybody wants to defer any of the individual items so I'm happy to vote at the March meeting if I can get the data that I requested and I will follow up tonight or tomorrow morning with an email specifically with what those are I will not vote to defer I'd like to get our teachers the resources and train them

360and get them ready for the kids so I don't want to defer okay thanks for all that feedback I will Jason and I will confer on this and goal will be by end of the day tomorrow to give you guys a we're keeping it on the agenda or we're not just so we can all be preparing for that and just as a double check Mr chair um Bobby would you make sure you're I know you always are but just make sure you're prepared for for how the vote may be structured it may be that we might not have every item on the agenda that might need to be voted on depending on what happens okay believe it or not we have one more agenda item uh approval how can you not be excited about this

361and it's up to you us how long this goes uh approval of 25 26 school fees thank thank you Mr chair we have in on your agenda uh a a memo that I'd like Tim if you would pull up for us um and there's actually two memos one from Dr oer and one from me uh on the secondary curriculum fees uh my request of you is to not approve a fee in the context that the state has fees for classes for curriculum um to to give you a short description we we we are asking that you honor the philosophical principle that that it's not it's not a fee because it's not required our plan is for curriculum fees which are no longer going to be called fees uh that that we include in the uh

362in the same physical structure of asking the old asking for fees notifying families that we asking for a donation and this is what we're going to use the donations for uh in other words just honor honor that uh um we we we intend to make the request of parents uh and we're going to we're going to treat it administratively as a fundraiser officially uh with a caveat that we're taking a shot at this uh and and we may come back to you uh with a budget amendment if there's still a need at the schools because we don't know we don't know what will result from it my memo gives that description probably in more clear language than my uh verbal description at 11:10 at night um on the other items extra curric uh extracurricular fees

363uh the uh the uh the request at the elementary level for for uh for classroom supplies U we we don't have any recommended change based on the feedback we got last last uh last month any questions I'd just uh like to say you know I mean it's a good idea but you know I got a bunch of kids in the schools elementary and whatnot and I'll tell you there's a lot of lot of donations out there there's a lot of asking PTO are doing a fantastic job but it's it's every other day you know something's going on the fundraiser or raising money for this or you know now school supplies I'm just wondering how well that's going to work well at the elementary level it's no different from what we've done for years at the

364high school level and Middle School level you're right we don't know either what will the coordination look like with the pto's just because they're asking at the beginning of the school year as well so are you having those conversations or we'll make sure the pto's know what we're doing but the coordination won't be any different logistically from how we've asked for the fees okay um it's going to be the same electronic structure as as the ask um we're just going to have different language with more detail of it and is there a suggested amount um it it's we haven't decided that yet okay we're going to have some more discussions with our principles about what exactly they are using that for it isn't the main one of the main principles of this is at the

365high school level in particular instead of asking for five different fee class fees it the school would ask for one fee to cover all yes and high schools have varied in what they've asked for over over the years we've given we've given them discretion yeah one of the one of the keys is though to in calling it a donation we're not itemizing that that this is anything for you individually we're we're kind of taking an average and if we do I mean I think it's probably wise to to give a a a suggested it's always great to give a suggested amount is it $5 is it $200 just to give them a you know but what we what we found was we're only getting about half the fees that we asked for today so it's

366not like um not like we're we're getting all of them um we're probably getting fewer over time because we've made it we've made it clear that it's that it's not required um and so um so we're already we're weaning off a little bit and and they and so some of the schools are are either choose and and I've asked Jason to to just look at over over this year as we as we kind of ease into this um let's look at how the different how the different schools are spending the money in the classroom or is it really are schools really spending less than other schools or are they just asking for less money because they don't want to ask for more um because there's it's obvious that schools are getting way different amounts from

367from parents but but because the money is not spent directly by the district it's it's kind of embedded in in the in the school in all the school funds um I mean Rachel doesn't have a a really she's never tracked it before I mean it's all the data is there in in all the reports that they give us but they've just never never looked at it before um because it's all been discretionary at the school level so um I think I've asked them to to go look at this over the course of the I mean know it's really over the course of the of the first semester really the first quarter um and just see how much people are spit is the spending varied by school by by school by class type or or is

368it more the function of of the revenue is really different because we're either not asking or you know we're not getting it so we have the data readily available in the aggregate but at the school level they have it the drill they have it drilled down right so I'm I mean I'll I appreciate the the gesture let's see I mean no it's it's hard to it's hard to give up a guaranteed cash flow um and but I think Jason when you when you talk to the principles um I mean everybody seemed in favor of the fact that that you know ultimately this is a this is still an expense that the district should be paying had we not started charging parents for it and asking for this these fees during the recession of um then

369we wouldn't be getting them now and they would it would just been one budget cycle and then we would have never asked for another fee again but since we it's just hard to it's hard to weed yourself off and in a cycle of and I've never been able to convince anybody that to to kind of take a chance and and do it so I really I really appreciate it I think everybody understands that I think we're all in agreement that we should be paying these things and we shouldn't be asking for the money it is all lousy ask for a donation for what it's worth um and so hopefully we can kind of wean ourselves off we didn't pull the principles but we I saw some non-verbal acknowledgement of the philosophical issue if that makes

370sense it's very diplomatic anything else for the good of the order I think given the time I think there's probably going to be a vote to put Dan back in the chair seat all right we're adjourn