8-14-25 Work Session

001You would join me by standing and giving a moment of silence. [Music] >> Thank you. So this pledge Aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] Hope it's good to see everyone here tonight. Welcome. First item we have is approval of the meetings from 7:24. Is there a motion to approve? >> I move to approve. >> Second. Motion and second. Is there discussion? >> Can we do that in the work session >> or did they just need to look at them? >> Yeah, man. >> Okay, gotcha. [Music] >> On page 53, exhibit 13, line one, delete to number to where I say, okay, 16 second readings of these policy. I don't think I

002said 16, but maybe that's what came out. If we take 16, I think everything else is correct. >> Mr. Chairman, um I think we had this discussion last month, but can we vote on something in a work session or is it something that we have to do in a regular scheduled meeting? I think >> we can wait or we can do it because it's just minutes. >> Okay. [Music] >> Are y'all telling me you don't want to vote? I I I was just saying that that we haven't been able to vote on anything else in a work session. So I I don't know why we would vote on that. But if procedurally it's okay minutes >> because it's the minutes, >> we will do it again in a regular meeting. >> Okay. I I thought

003it was on the work session to discuss if there were any changes or or spelling issues or anything like that. Not okay. >> Not necessarily to vote on. >> Do we agree that we can put them on the regular agenda? >> Yeah, I think if we're I mean there's no sense in doing it twice, one or the other. You know, do it here, do it then, whichever. If we're going to do it as a regular meeting, uh I guess it still needs to be on the work session agenda though to go over, don't it? >> It does. Okay, >> we'll go on to the roll call. Miss Stole >> here. >> Mr. Van Winkle >> here. >> Miss Nichols >> here. >> Miss Hail >> here. >> Mr. Davis. >> Mr. Matthews >> here. >>

004Mr. Cole >> here. >> Miss Stout. >> Mr. King >> here. Let the record show Stout and Davis are absent from the meeting. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Next item up, we have a presentation from Mr. Mike Elson. Final forums. Good afternoon and uh thank you for >> How about now? >> Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to u be able to present a little bit about final forms. Uh before I begin, I want to uh thank Mr. King and Dr. Farley for all of the communication that we've had thus far and you know for come county. We've been talking about final forms for a little over two years now. And so I'll go through and do a quick uh PowerPoint overview and then we'll get into the platform. And I appreciate

005y'all looking at this because I know you have about a $79 million budget. And I'm a retired athletic director of 33 years. And so I know what stewardship of funding is all about. So I have great respect for every penny that you're responsible to spend on behalf of the stakeholders in this school community. Uh final forms was uh founded in 2012 by a couple of coaches who work for tech companies, Clay Bernett and Mlin Chaffy. The foundation rate per student athlete was $5 and that has not changed in 13 years. And so um you know as we go through final forms about team technology and service and they've hired individuals like me to be on the front lines to represent the company and then behind the scenes they've hired uh technical engineers uh data protection

006experts to make sure that this company is growing properly and that all of the data is protected. So you know why are we here? We're here about athletic registration and one of my biggest headaches when I was an athletic director was trying to collect physical forms and or any kind of form that's expected, code of conduct, uh emergency action plan, whatever it might be for student athletes and coaches. And so, you know, I love final forms. It's the best in the business because it really partners well with the school community. And the ease of use is the greatest reputation of final forms for parents, coaches, athletic trainers, school nurses, every individual that's tied to it. And in maximizing compliance, so when I started 1987, I was able to say, you know, if Dan said, "Hey,

007I'll get my physical in a couple of weeks. I might let them practice." And now because of 14 legal duties of a coach and an athletic director, you can't even begin to think that way. So you want to make sure you're crossing every te's dot in every eye uh or all the eyes as far as your legal duties of your coaches are concerned and final forms helps maximize that compliance on your tabletops are two little packets. Uh one is everything tied to final forms and then a little bit later I will get into or as I finish uh brought a little bit about the TIAA uh Tennessee State Athletic Director Association. So again, student data collection, uh documentation, and then a critical aspect for coaches, especially for your coaches that are coaching, you know, girls

008flag football or golf, uh soccer, softball, baseball, any outside sport, uh being able to access emergency contact information on behalf of your student athletes if something happens is critical. And so, you know, I've got plenty of stories from my friends across the state of Tennessee that have called, even talked to Terry Crane today, athletic director, um, in Sparta, Tennessee of White County. And he said, "Mike, I was able to get on my phone at the hospital because I couldn't get a hold of the parents and pull up student athletes information so that they can be treated, whether it's, you know, an allergy or whatever medical ailment they might have. You want your coaches at their fingertips to have that information. So final form started out with 12 customers or 12 schools and 200 customers and

009now you can see the number of customers which is school systems um student athletes staff uh the physicals that are verified almost 5 million and then one thing that drew me to the company as I prayed about okay Lord I'm leaving Christ Presbyterian Academy what what what can I do how can it's kind of a prayer of JBZ to enlarge my territory how can I go give back to our profession how can I make a difference? And Final Forms um was that company. And the thing I love about it, it ties into the NFHS, which is the bottom right corner of your screen and the NITAA. The NFHS writes all of our rules for athletics in the nation that we all abide by through the TWSAA. And then the NITAA uh started and found out

010about the NIA in ' 03 and it had 5,000 members and it's now up over 16,000. and we have over 400 athletic administrators as members of TIAA and NITAA. So, wanted you to see some data and the impact that final forms is making, the positive impact um on all of these uh school programs. So, what does final forms do? It's about registration, um quick communication. I've mentioned compliance, uh coaches being able to manage their rosters. I can show you in a little bit the U TWSA eligibility report that syncs to a roster. It is the data backbone of athletic programs around the country. So what's happening here? We're collecting, verifying, distributing because we want to be compliant and safe to stay out of those ugly red words at the bottom of controversy, risk, and then

011legal issues. And again, the last thing you want to be concerned with is um your school system being sued because of not having a form in or not being compliant. And so athletic directors are the unsung heroes of our athletic programs as well as the athletic trainers and nurses. It's uh uh think about 1 Corinthians 4:18 all the time. It's it's the the scene is temporary and the unseen's eternal. Well, the work of the athletic director goes so much in the unseen. You just can't imagine the amount of responsibility that goes into all of this responsibility uh for an athletic director. And so uh the one of the things that drew me to Final Forms is the protection of data. It's furpa protected, HIPPA protected, um edtech global, you name it, Amazon Web Services. Final

012forms has done um extensive research and has found the best uh protection that they can for the data that is collected. across the United States. I was impressed by this as well when I joined. Uh 99% customer retention rate and what happens with final forms. Um and the thing I liked about it as an ad, I didn't want to be signing a 5-year agreement. So final forms is an annual agreement with an automatic renewal. You try it for a year, you don't like it, you can walk away. I think that's really important when you're thinking about long-term or strategic planning. But what has what final forms has found out is people are loving it. They love the customer service uh the tech support tech support the growth mindset. What can we do? How can we

013serve schools better? And that's why the retention rate is so high. If you have multiple languages in your school for example, you see down on the bottom middle of the page the Google translate. So, whatever Google Translate um can translate into a school language or into a language in your school system, Final Forms does that as well. And then the great thing about Final Forms, I mentioned earlier, Terry Crane of White County pulling up on his phone all of this information. And there's different modes that you can operate. You can see here eligibility roster. There's a medical mode. You can take attendance with final forms. Uh, we take attendance in history, science, English, and math. Well, how about practice? How about ball games? How about I at a CDL for 25 years? How about getting

014on the bus and making sure that you're not just counting heads when you get on the bus, but that you accurately know who the student athletes are going on the bus and then the return trip home after a ball game. So, those are important things if you're trying to think, okay, we want to go next level in our strategic thinking. Well, final forms can help you do that. And then the ABCs of final forms. And I've got a plat working platform that I want to share with you here in a second, but I did want you to see a little bit about, you know, especially number four about the double-checking of all the information. So, if and when you go with final forms, you'll meet with an onboarding specialist. You'll have a super administrators, a

015team of leaders here in Cumberland County. You'll figure out which forms you want or expect of your student athletes and your coaches. You'll work with that onboarding specialist, build the platform. Everything will be double checked. And one other thing I like about final forms. Let's say you do this and you get your platform built here in August or September and you come back in November and you're like, we need to add three more forms. Well, final forms will do that and there's no additional charge. So again, as a former AD, I like that as well. So wanted to see if anybody had any questions uh so far before I move into this inner working platform. >> Please ask questions. So >> yeah, real quick. I just noticed from one of your slides, 84.3% customer satisfaction.

016Why is that number not higher? A lot of what what I've been told in Tennessee from my ads is the first year is a bumpy ride. So, um sending out the link for parents to fill out the information um if people don't have you know a laptop, iPad or a phone uh for ease of use that has that has created issues. That's my understanding is what drives that number 84% not 98 or 99 like I wish it did. So, thank you. It's a good question. That makes sense. >> What do you do for those parents that don't have the technology? Can you do a paper thing? >> You could. What happens in those situations is the families or the student athletes bring in the forms and either the athletic director, administrative assistant, nurse or athletic

017trainer goes to that individual's platform and takes a picture of the forms and uploads them onto their site, onto their specific page. Another good question. All right, so I want to show you the dashboard real quick and I'll just go go through this. Um, green is good, red is not. And the athletic director's job is manage the health of the athletic program from a forms collection perspective. So, what's awesome about final forms, all of this is, you know, innerworking. So, if I want to email the families or text the families, I just hit this button and we're in a world of negativity. So, let's be positive. So, we're going to click on the green and we're going to say, "Hey, thank you for getting your forms in and everybody's BCC. your CC, the coach, or

018whoever's sending the form set subject line, thank you, and then type in, "Thank you for getting your forms in. We're ready for a great school year." On the bottom right corner of every page of final forms is a get help button. If a parent, coach, administrator, even a student athlete trying to upload a form, if they're having trouble, they hit that get help button. a note goes to the support team of what the issue is and then the support team goal is within two hours to get back to that um individual saying hey here's your problem we've resolved the issue so again that's on every page of final forms and again red is not good so this is what if I were an ad today in 2025 this is what I'd be checking 15 minutes

019on my Google calendar every morning so we've got forms physicals any kind of custom clearance It could be discipline. It could be uh medical. Uh you want to know as an AD how many 1, two, three sport athletes do we have? So love this student participation data. I can see my medical reports which I'll show you. And then final forms uses a company called Pay Factory to help collect fees. So if you have like a player pack fee, you're you're purchasing anything through your team, Final Forms can do that for you as well. And it's all part of the quote uh that I gave that I've sent to Dr. Farley that I first sent to Dr. Maddox. So the student line of information and one thing I failed to tell you is you know from

020Dr. Farley's seat she's able she can click on all of your schools in Cumberland County middle and high schools would be listed here. So if she's looking for Cumberland County High School or Stone Memorial she can go down click and she can see how everything's going with the collection of the forms. And again, green is good, red is not. So, there's a status bar of information, double-headed icons, p uh parent signatures, single student athletes. If they've paid the fee, you can see that if they haven't paid it, it's in red. And then one of my another favorite features, the TWSAA physical countdown clock. So, we all know that we get up to TWS dead period, last week of June, first week of July. Well, 60 30 155 down to one. Final forms notifies the families

021that their physical is about to expire once they're in the system. Not um you're not having to do that as an AD or a coach. So, that's a really nice feature and it's part of being a great teammate uh from Final Form's perspective. Next is medical mode. So, if I go here to these modes, I can see athletic mode, which I just showed you. Well, now we're in medical mode. So, as a coach, and I've coached multiple sports for multiple years, I can tell if it's an A, asthma, D, diabetes, stinging allergies. Does the student athlete have an EpiPen? If they have an inhaler, do they have, you know, if they have asthma, do they have an inhaler? Well, we like to go to Chick-fil-A for, you know, our team meal, well, they cook everything

022of peanut oil, right? So if I have student athletes, our daughter who's graduated now, but she has an epipin. I would not want her tennis team going, you know, to Chick-fil-A. So it's little things like that with the ability to see around corners for the coaches that I'm so passionate about. And then again, the physical countdown clock. And then if you do baseline concussion testing, that can also be recorded in here on the final forms platform. Here's the emergency card. So, if I'm looking at my student athlete information, I click on the E ecard on my phone, desktop, you know, iPad. This is what I get. So, I see this example, and again, it's just a mythical person. I can click on any of these numbers. I see the insurance information, any medical ailments at

023the bottom, and then it's highlighted in red that they've got asthma and a stinging allergy. And so, I'm able to see that as a coach. to me I did not have that luxury uh during my coaching days but I think it's critical that they have that real time instant information. So here's an example of the forms and you all would build out whatever forms you want and so the families would receive a letter a parent playbook with a link and it would be Cumberland County link and then whatever specific school and then they would go in and they would start with contact information. All of this would be red and then it turns to green as soon as it's filled out. So, you know, do I allow my child as a junior to ride in

024the car with so and so to the golf match or the tennis match or whatever it might be? Code of conduct. If you have a code of conduct policy, put that in here. Have the student athletes sign off on it. And then the TWSAA physical form. So they're able to, you know, sync this form that comes from Bradley Lambert at the TWSAA state office. They're able to click this link, they'll get their physical, get the doc or nurse practitioner to sign it, take a picture, upload it, and it's onto their platform. If they struggle, going back to that 84% customer satisfaction, that's where they go to the school leadership and say, "Hey, I need some help here with this." So the next piece is medical mode. So your nurses can have access to this, your

025athletic directors, your athletic trainers. And you know, as an AD, I would have loved to have known, okay, who are my student athletes? What sport are they playing? What's their injury? We can do a medical report, which is timestamped and dated information, which is really important out of the athletic trainers room. So, okay, in August, whatever, you know, type in the notes if you're a trainer, even going down to what kind of treatment and then if there's a concussion scenario or brain injury, final forms goes into depth there uh to help the athletic trainer and nurse. And then when we finish filling out the report, we can check the box of who we want it to go to so that as a coach or a school system, we're being transparent with the parents. Hey, we're

026teammates here loving your child. We want to give them the best experience we can, you know, plan for um one of the Cumberland County schools and then again submit the report. And like I told you earlier, this bottom right corner get help button. So, this is what an athletic director is going to see or a coach. They're going to see their team page and they're going to be able to manipulate this page into jersey number, student athlete, class, height, weight, if they've won any awards, any kind of surveys that are needed, they can take attendance from here. Then, I want you to see the data that they can export. They want to do a handwritten note. Uh, and this is the TWWSA eligibility report that I share with you. Once that roster is filled out,

027this can be submitted from a coach to an athletic director and TWWSA approved this and then that, you know, they're able to print the document or export it and send it off to the athletic director. So, this was a request from several of our ads the last two years and this was added last year. So, the next piece is attendance. So, here I am. I'm out of practice. Um, you know, Johnny's supposed to be here. Coach doesn't know where they're at. parent thinks they're at practice. Well, to protect the coach and protect the family, let's take attendance. Green is good, but let's say they're absent. So, the coach can go in on their phone, mark excused, or if it's unexcused, it automatically notifies the parents that, hey, we don't know where your child is, and

028it's instant notification. And that can help prevent any kind of tragedies or whatever if the student athletes are out or not telling the truth to parents or the student athlete or to um the coaches. So to me that's a critical feature. A lot of schools in Tennessee, a lot of my AD friends across the state, they are um telling me that this is something they more or less implement year two. I'm begging everybody to implement it year one. So attendance and then inventory. So, we talked about a $79 million budget earlier and being good stewards and being accountable for every stitch of clothing, a uniform, knee pad, shin guards for soccer, helmets, shoulder pads, whatever it might be. Um, we want to chart all of that. And so your coaches have this tool to where

029if they're an athletic director for either Blake or or Nathan at Stone Memorial, then they're able to go in, they're going to fill out this report, they can even send an email to the family saying, "We're handing out equipment on this day and getting it back or we're going to return it after the season." And then I can export that report and uh download it and send it to my athletic director. Love this feature as a coach. And again, it holds accountable the responsibility for stewardship of the funds we've been blessed to use for athletics. Another thing that's very important is the coach form set. So, this is an example of mythical Dy Henson volleyball coach. Well, we want the coach's information just like we do the student athletes because what happens if a coach

030goes down? Well, we need to know their information. We might have their cell, but what if what if we can't get a hold? What if they're the ones that are down? Well, what about their spouse or parent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, whatever it might be? Well, this information is critical. And then I always like showing this 14 legal duties I mentioned earlier. And I've done multiple workshops around the state on this topic. And so when you're leading a a pre-season coaches meeting, you want to make sure the coaches, it's not going in one ear and out the other. So, you create a form set of the key things that you want to make sure resonate with the coaches. And I'm guessing y'all have a lot of non-faculty coaches here because that's rampant across the United

031States. I think it's especially important for the non-faculty coaches that you have this information. So, we go down through and we got duty to plan, duty to supervise. I'm not going to read all of these to you, but this is so so critical um for the hedge of protection of our school communities to um again keep us from being sued. So, we know that coach Donnie Henson has read the 14 legal duties. It was covered in a coaches meeting. It's signed and then the form is submitted. Again, all of this is read until it goes green. So, I wanted to share that with you on every staff member. So, final forms does all these things, but they don't leave you hanging. They have playbooks. They have a parent playbook. They have a medical playbook, which

032frankly, an athletic trainer is expected to be in eight places at once, and they they are only one person. So, your coaches have to know how to manage these medical emergencies or they better know how to tape an ankle or get a bag of ice or whatever it might be. And so, the medical playbook is for everybody. And then there's a coach's playbook. And one of the first things Final Forms will do is help the coaches upload the icon onto their phone. And because of data protection, they do not have an app. Um, it's all web- based. So, there'll be a logo that will act like an app, but it when you click on that final forms red check, it goes to the web and then you're able to manage your system from there. So,

033those are the playbooks. And then a couple more things to tell you. Uh there are ongoing webinars throughout the years and I went ahead and pulled or throughout the year went ahead and pulled these up. The athletic administrators, administrative assistants should attend these sessions. Coaches can attend these sessions. Athletic trainers, uh so on and so forth. And then there are short video snippets that, okay, I want to manage my roster. Well, how do I do it? I'm going to watch this three minute video. on any of these scenarios um that you see. And then wanted to share with you from Coffee County an example of the parent playbook letter that is sent out once you all sign on with final forms, the Cumberland County link. You see in the blue, I can't click on it

034cuz it's coffee counties, but then that playbook helps the parent understand how to fill out that information or guardian, grandparent, whoever it might be. So that is a lot of information. I know in a short amount of time. Um what questions do you need me to go back over? Anything. >> I see everybody's still awake. So that's a that's a good thing. >> Just a more efficient way to fill out the paper paperwork. Correct. >> Yes. Instead of you know I've got Dan Dan here with me, my mentor and dear dear friend. And that's what we all used to carry around is uh you know those physicals. And what coach wants to be doing that when we've all got our phone on our hip and I can click on all this information and have it

035instantaneously. That's why I'm so passionate about it. And then what if it's not in alphabetical order or the you know the you can't find the form it got lost. And how many of us have coached where they'll run up, they used to run up to me like, "Coach Ellison, here's my physical and I'm out on the soccer field and then I put it down on the bleacher and it never makes it back to the office." I hate to admit that happened in the early '90s, but it did. So, we're trying to prevent that and protect our coaches and protect our student athletes. >> Have you seen the system struggle with getting this up and running 100% all the athletes in and it >> it's it's about accountability. So, I'm going to give you an example.

036Webb Williams is at Hampshire High School in Murray County. Webb called me last year and he's like, "Mike, guess what? We're at 100% health compliance." He said, "But here's what I had to do. I I was at 98% and I had to bring a doctor into school and get physicals for the last two students." So, it's all about leadership. And we debate all the time that the Tennessee athletic directors and the national athletic directors, which I'm privileged to be a part of both of those. Is an athletic director a leader or a manager? Well, if you have a platform like Final Forms, it's going to help you cross tees, dot eyes, and do the managerial things, but not eat up eat up so much time so that you can get good books and you can

037lead and inspire and encourage and direct your coaches, not just put out fires all the time. And historically, for the position of an athletic director, that's what it's been about. It's why I'm so passionate about this program, one of many reasons. Um, so that's a great question. It's going to come down to accountability and I've got schools saying you're not practicing or you're not playing until we have your forms and you turn green. So it that's what it's going to boil down to. >> Yeah. [Music] >> And again, you know, I think I told Dr. Farley this, but we have about 400 schools, middle and high schools in Tennessee using the platform. I talked to Tony Clower earlier. I don't know if any of y'all know Tony, but he's the assistant superintendent of Rome County.

038Dear, dear friend of mine, and they've used final forms for years. You got White County, Overton County just came on board with Livingston. You got Smith County, uh, all the big counties in and around Nashville are using final forms. So, it's just all over the state. And I'm really excited because it connects common language as our athletic directors, you know, build their network. So, >> very thorough. >> Well, thank you. And and let me say this because I know y'all got a lot on your agenda. Um the second packet I put that was more on the bottom is a little history of the TIAA and I have the privilege of serving on the board of the TIAA and in turn we're partners with the NITAA. So you see a booklet, there's a profile of an

039athletic administrator. There's a booklet that was part of our awards program and then I did a report to the TWSA. I get to sit as an exeicio member with Dan Schlafer. Um if they don't put the name tags next to Dan and I, we go up before the meeting and we move them so we can sit next to each other. But um I did a report for TWSAA because I wanted them to see like the road map to certification which is another hedge of protection. So with final forms being a partner, the NFHS, TIAA, TWSA, NITAA, this just all made sense. And um again, that's why, you know, I feel like I said, you know, at the start, the Lord has enlarged my territory and I'm thankful for it. >> How much does it cost?

040>> Membership is $175 annually. That's a dual membership for every athletic administrator. that gets you membership in the TIAA and the NITAA. We have courses. It takes Dan. Dan is he's become a certified athletic administrator, but he's real close to getting a certified masters in athletic administrator. And I have to brag on him for a second. Tell you, I called the NIA and Dan, I hope I don't embarrass you, but at 73 years old, they think Dan is the oldest person to ever become certified. Now, how impressive is that to be a lifelong learner and to represent this community uh of stakeholders? It's really, really impressive. Um, but the classes, if you go to the athletic director's conference, are like $100. If you do webinars, they're $125. We apply for a grant every year and

041you get three free courses. This year the grant um we've got freedom to do uh three classes 501 2 and three uh on September 29th and we're doing it in Jackson. So last year we were in Wilson County and um you know we'll keep trying to go west middle east each year because we can only get one grant per year. So thank you for asking. >> You might want to tell just a little bit about the project and I'm about to wrap up about funding. >> Oh sure. So federal programs. So we get a lot of again we have over 400 members um but we only have like 120 that attend our annual state conference and I go speak all over the United States and I'll go to New York, Ohio, Utah and they'll have

042hundreds of ads and Tennessee is still far behind. So we're trying to be a champion and ed help educate and so one of the things Dan's doing for his certified masters athletic administrators project is about federal funding. title one money, title two money. What better veteran in the state of Tennessee to help us and the NITAA I have a dear friend named Rich Barton who actually co-wrote a book with and Rich has said he's never really heard of that and that we need to get that information out to ads across the country. So Dan's done this project. He's submitting it for approval. Once approved, we're going to build out a a PowerPoint, do a workshop, and help all these school communities, 95 counties, understand that there's federal funds to help the athletic administrator get tassel

043credit for taking LTC courses and to get certified because if you're certified, there's like a a $2 million liability policy. And just every little hedge of protection is important. And again, the ability to see around corners, we think it's not going to happen to us. And so, you know, nobody told me to go get my CAA in ' 04 or my CMAA in '08. And I just went and did it cuz I wanted to be the best I could be for my school. And we've got to create that mindset for athletic administrators across the state of Tennessee. What 520 middle schools and I think 430 high schools. That's a lot of information, a lot of responsibility. >> And people don't know what they don't know. Tassel credit has already been awarded for classes that are

044provided at the TIAA conference. NITAA coursework is Cognia approved which is the highest level of accreditation that you can possibly get. Cogna is the be all the end all what Southern Association of Colleges and Schools used to be. So, Cognia recognizes what NITAA is doing and they say this is great stuff. We're accrediting that that qualifies for funding. So, I'm trying to tie the two together. TASLE with their Tennessee instructional leadership standards, cogn accredititation, and educate folks about TASLE credit federal programs. Perhaps more importantly, uh, title two, the professional development piece. Just a quick example, and you've been so kind to listen. Last year, Scott Maddox asked for funding to attend the conference. The initial response was no. when presented with its tassel approved and it's Cognney approved that decision was immediately reversed here. So

045that's something to hang your hat on. And I will share this one last thing with you if there are no more questions. I got to know Trey Har a few years ago. Do you all know Trey? He's like Secretary of State. He had kids at the school I was privileged to work at for 35 years. I showed him what I was doing. and I was retiring from CPA. I I showed him the 14 legal duties of an AD and a coach and he stopped me at the end. He's like, "Mike, what they don't know, they don't know." And I'm like, "Trey, what do you mean?" He said, "I've never seen this. There's no way the state department of education has ever seen this." And to me, that's kind of scary. So, I go around the

046state asking for help. How can you all help me get in front of superintendent and boards like yourself? That's why I'm so thankful to be here today. You guys are like demonstrating a growth mindset. like, hey, what else is out there? Instead of being stuck in the 1980s like, no, we're not going to change. Let's figure out how to evolve and get better. Um, so when you got Secretary of State saying what they don't know, they don't know. Um, that to me is an alarm or, you know, cause for concern, but at the same time, it's inspiring like, okay, there's a challenge. Let's go see how we can make this better for AD. So, we're going to make it better for the coaches. are going to make the experience awesome for our student athletes who

047only have a four-year window to be loved by their coaches. So, I'll I'll leave you all with that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you so much. >> Appreciate your presentation, >> Mr. Slayer. We appreciate you being a lot of good information. >> Thanks. Okay. [Music] Mhm. [Music] >> Hello. Hello. We're we're getting you live and in person just a minute. [Music] I know you're doing some work and I appreciate that. >> Good to meet you. Nice to meet you, sir. Absolutely. You don't have time for thinking. Thank you. >> Mhm. [Music] >> Dr. Farley, has anybody asked the coaches about this? What do they think? >> Ads, have you all talked to your coaches about um final forms? Yeah, I've talked to several of my coaches about it. The biggest question I

048have in regards from my coaches is uh is it going to make my job easier or harder? Um because sometimes things seem to roll downhill and they want to help kids and so that they want def definite answers on how final forms would help them be a better coach and serve our kids better. Uh so we would you know we would need to answer that question for sure if that's something we wanted to pursue. I think >> it would be would be learning a whole new different system. Would that be difficult? I mean, do you think it would be difficult or >> Yeah, it it would present some challenges for sure. >> I'm not a computer person. >> Yeah, last last year we did big teams and the it just um it didn't don't go

049well, put it that way. So, a lot of folks have bad taste in their mouth right now. uh from our standpoint, from coaches and parents that I've spoken with and athletes uh who were pretty perturbed with big teams and the roll out and how it went and so they're very hesitant to try something new. Uh they just feel like it may be another program, something else that may be bumbled and stumbled through and ultimately dropped. So, they're not sure they want to invest their time and energy if it's not something that's going to be a long-term investment that ultimately allows them to be better coaches. That's the general consensus that I've received from my coaches, parents, and athletes. >> The implementation is what mine are most concerned about since we're already this far into the

050se, you know, the fall season's begun. You know, just worried about getting our parents, which, you know, we still have people that can't even register for schools, you know, the with the online portion. So just to give them something else online to to deal with is just being like training like like everybody's going to be trained up on it per se. >> Thank you. >> All right, Amy and Macy, I have you on the screen. So we have you miked. Hopefully they can hear you. If I need to uh be the go between questions, I'll be glad to do that. But you're ready to roll. >> All right. Uh good afternoon everyone. Thanks for asking us to assist. I've got Macy in our office, staff attorney that oversees our evaluations on the line is um

051well on the conference call as well. Um I believe I can't see you all, but did you all receive I believe one of your board members and the superintendent has worked on an evaluation instrument that looks a lot like our previous TSBA sample evaluation. Is that correct? >> Yes, it is. >> Yes. >> Okay. Has everyone had an opportunity to review that? And do do you have questions or comments? Typically, when um a board will ask us to assist, I usually have calls with individual board members if you if you choose to to tell me what you would like to see in the evaluation and those types of things. But I think y'all done it a little bit different. you went you went ahead and drafted one which is quite all right but do you

052all want to discuss the one that has been emailed to you from I believe one of your board members that has worked on it with your superintendent or do you just want to ask some general questions about superintendent evaluation? Yeah, I don't know about everybody else, but I know that I haven't had a chance to go through what was sent to us. Just today was the first opportunity that we had to see that draft that was sent to you. >> So, I don't have any idea what's on there. >> No, the draft was sent last week. >> Of the week. >> Yep. About a week now. >> I think he's talking about the rubric that Macy sent. You talking about that? >> The one that Macy sent today. TSBA has developed another um sample evaluation

053instrument. We just rolled it out really at the beginning of the year. It's it's patterned after the principal's evaluation rubric and it it has 1 through five just like um our principal's evaluation. So, we wanted you to see that one as well as an option. But if you choose the one that it doesn't matter to us. I just know that your one of your board members and your superintendent has looked at the one they sent you a few weeks ago. So >> So this we received this on we received this on Friday, Tammy. Uh last Friday. Uh this is the first that we've seen this draft. >> U I I do have some concerns about it if if I may. >> This is I don't know if you can see me or not. This is

054Scott Van Winkle. Um, >> I cannot district. Can >> you tell me who's speaking? I I don't I can't see you. >> Yeah. So, this is Scott Van Winkle, District 2. >> Okay. >> Um, so I think this is a really good template and I appreciate the work that they've done on this so far. Um, my my concerns with this are are there are no real measures and timing. um which makes this feel like it's more uh I guess uh not focused on what we're actually trying to accomplish. It's more feeling than based on facts. Um so just just a few for instance that I've made some notes on and I'll scroll down to that. So performance objective for academics um ensure the academic improvement plan is clear and databased. So currently what what are

055what's the data and what are the clear objectives at this point? We don't have that. Uh what are the agreed measures for this? Um we we don't have that either. And then what's the timing to present that to the board? So, it's it's really hard to without without those things in place to determine how we're going to score this. Um, and I I have >> Go ahead. I'm sorry. >> That's a that's a very good question. If you look on down, I I think where you get into how you're going to measure it actually starts with um number four, and these are four on through are what the state department requires. uh where you as a school district should be which is and I understand what you're saying you need these objectives to be measurable

056and when are they going to be completed and that should be an easy thing to add to an evaluation instrument but those are the measurable things that are listed you know science grades 6 through 8 reach 52% if you want to I'm sure we we can add in there It needs to what what is it currently? You could add, you know, we want it to increase from, you know, 52 to 53 or whatever percentage you want it to to move up. >> But I think those are your measurable and >> yeah, those are those are some >> your evaluation instrument. You should have it completed at the beginning of the school year. And the items that are listed in the evaluation instrument needs to be completed by the time you evaluate your superintendent at the

057end of the school year. So you base your instrument off of here's what we want you to do this year starting at the beginning of school and then after school is out then you evaluate your superintendent on how the year I understand all that. So my next question would be on on that particular point. So say we want a 37% districtwide for ELA scores. >> Is is there so is that a is that a three? Is that a five? Do we set do we set some higher uh higher targets for the four and five range? Is that something that we can do? And then along those same lines, is there any way that we can say no school below 35%. You know, 37%'s the goal, but no school below 35. And then and then put

058and then know that we can put some focus on the schools that are not meeting those targets rather than just saying, hey, we're going to just, you know, not focus laser focus like our strategic plan says we should. >> Yeah. Well, absolutely. I I think if what we what I typically like to do when I get individual comments, if you could, you know, just email me the things that you would like or we can call and discuss it on the phone and I can gather what each individual board member is wanting and then sit down with the superintendent and make these adjustments to whatever instrument we want to we want to make. Um whether it's this one or the one we emailed to you today. So some of the other object or some of the

059other goals too I' have the same the same uh issue with they're more they're more based on feeling there's nothing measurable about how how is your director doing you know well I I feel like they're they're a five I mean that's that's some of the questions that are in this evaluation so it just needs to be more measurable and have timing. So, and then like things about like the director's report, when are we going to see that? What's going to be in it? Is there a template that we're going to expect to see certain information each month? That those are things that are measurable. If you don't get that presentation each month, then you say, "Okay, we only receive that 6 out of 12 times, your 50%, your whatever that measure is." That's that's what

060I'm used to seeing from my background. And I agree they they need to be measurable and they need to be timesp specific. I think whenever you have an opportunity, the one that Macy sent today, which is a sample, if you h when you get a chance as a board, if you could look at it, what we kept hearing from boards uh on superintendent evaluations, no one ever knew what a one meant or a two meant. So, we've got a rubric that's in the sample that we sent you that'll say what the sources of evidence are going to be for whatever particular objective that's listed. And then it'll say level one, what is going to be given to demonstrate that, you know, overall application reduced, overall sub reduced by an average or whatever. It'll give you

061a dis a definition of what a level a score of a one is and what's what is a level five mean? Whereas right now you've got a rubric that you know just it'll say meets expectation doesn't meet expectation. So, we did a little bit different of a of a rubric. That's it's it's what principles get the instrument they get evaluated on, but the rub rubric gives you more of an explanation of what a one, a two, a three, four, and five mean. What types of evidence do you as a board need in order to give the superintendent a five for a particular objective? >> So, I I have a for instance on that, Timmy. So if you look at the sample that that we sent >> Mhm. >> Um number two on a performance objective

062for talent acquisition and retention. So the to retain 85% successfully performing staff. When is that reported? Is that reported in in June at the end of the school year? And then 85% would be a three. 90% would be a four and greater than 90% would be a five. >> A one would be less than 80%. So I had done some of that before Macy before Macy actually sent that. Um >> yeah. >> Is that what you're Is that what you're speaking of having identified? >> Yes. >> Scoring ranges. Okay. >> Yes. It it basically in the one Mac sent today, it'll tell you if you're going to give her a three, that means she did the following, provided the following evidence. And we list it out there. What does it mean by if you give

063her a five? It means that she's done everything that's listed underneath that rubric under level five. We give you examples of what you should have received so you can do a better job of determining does she get a one or does she get a five or does she get a three? >> Yeah. >> May I speak? >> Yeah. >> So I met with my supervisors and that's how we kind of came up with the goals and and all I had was what I had been given. And so I just filled out those goals for 3rd through 5ifth grade, 6th through 8th, 9th through 12 for math, science, ELA. So um I do and my supervisor team as well. Uh we do have some concerns about some of the pieces of the strategic plan and you

064all have discussed this even before I came on board about your strategic plan. I think we need to look at that and come up with some more measurable goals for that. And the example you just gave was kind of one of those because you know while yes I am in charge of retention at the individual schools that's up to the principal and I don't know what's working or what's not and and all of the pieces there. So there's some pieces that I would definitely on your strategic plan um if you choose to go with the one that we had started with I would definitely like to work on that some with you guys and figure out some fair >> and measurable things for sure. I don't know if you've seen it or not before, but

065I worked on a a work plan where you can actually put those goals on your work plan, but you could also set up tabs for supervisors or administrators and have those goals be aligned with what they're doing as well. >> I don't think I've seen that. >> Okay, I can send that to you. But yeah, >> so if I've read correctly, the state law requires uh Dr. Ganger for this to be completed in July. >> There's not a deadline. Okay. >> Uh to It just requires the board to evaluate you annually. >> Okay. >> It doesn't say what uh date. It just says review annually. Evaluate you annually. So would that mean that we would evaluate her performance next year in July? >> Yes. >> Okay. So this could be developed over the next uh

066I don't know several months possibly if needed. Well, on that whenever we this voted to use TSBA to help us hire the DOS, did we also not include then doing the the first year's evaluation, DOS evaluation? Yeah, but we we've got to get the evaluation instrument first and then we once we get an instrument mid year, we'll do like a checkup, a midyear evaluation, not where the board fills out the form, but I'll just touch base with the board and say, "Hey, how's the year going? Do we need to make any adjustments or any questions we have?" And just really like a checkup. And then we'll administer the instrument to the board at at the end of the school year, whatever month y'all say you want us to send it out for the board to

067to complete and then we'll compile the result results and present it to the board the overall scoring. >> I think that basically said that they would help us with the evaluation and but the board they're not going to develop what the measures are. We still have to do that as a board. Is that right, Tammy? Well, we'll help you. That's what typically the process is. I ask the board if board members want to to give me a call and you tell me what you're looking for in an evaluation instrument, what your concerns are. >> Mhm. and I take all of those comments and then I go sit down with the superintendent and typically the chairman or his or designate and we take all board members comments and try to incorporate those into the evaluation instrument.

068>> So that brings a question to mind that that I've asked the board attorney. How does how does that include the community and the public? Do we not have to follow the process of of having committees or doing this in the work session so that the community has attachments of what we're actually talking about and they can actually have input into the process. >> Well, I mean you can ask community but you as an elected board member represents the community. >> I understand but I represent the community and they they should have a voice through me. So if they don't know what's going on, that that's what that's why the process is set up to have these meetings and have these committees. And we're we're we're bypassing that currently by by having these conversations with

069you and having you to develop the evaluation. We're we're bypassing the process >> once I get everyone's comments, it'll come back to the full board in an open meeting to discuss. So there's no secret about it. It'll be we'll help you develop it. We'll send you a a a draft and then the board will need to discuss it just like you are tonight in an open meeting. >> Okay? >> So there's no it's no TSBA deciding, hey, this is going to be your instrument. We're just helping you really to get everyone's thoughts into the instrument and then present you with something for you to critique or say, "We like this, we don't like this, we'd like to change this." And the superintendent needs to agree with it as well, right? >> And then the board

070can discuss it and then the board needs to officially adopt the evaluation instrument that you're going to use. >> Okay. So, we're not going to we're not going to come up with this today, obviously. >> No. But I think if you want to move the process along, if any of you individual board members have comments and things that you would like to see, I would appreciate if you could email me and let's set up a time that's convenient for you that you can talk to talk to TSBA and tell us what you're looking for, what your concerns are. We'll try to address them and then try to bring an instrument back to you that has all of your questions and concerns addressed in that sample draft evaluation instrument. >> Does that sound good? I mean

071that's typically the frost we use when we do an evaluation instrument. I think it it works well. Um that way we can just I can talk individually with the board member about what they'd like to see and >> Yeah, it sounds good. It's a good plan. >> Are you good with that? Everybody on the board and then that way you can >> the community and anyone that's at your board me meetings can hear the discussion of what's in the instrument. >> Yes, I'm good with that. Yeah, let's go. >> They are all saying yes now. >> Okay. >> You can't see us naughty. >> Yes. Yeah. I can't see. I don't know if y'all are sticking your tongue out at me. >> Never. Never. Never. If y'all could, you know, we need to move on

072with it. So, if if we could maybe for those that want to talk with me individually, and if you don't want to, that's fine. But if you could email me or call me, you know, tomorrow's Friday or one day next week because we need to move on it. >> Yeah. >> And get get going. Um [Music] >> so now it's I'll just wait. Why don't we We're like Scott said, we need some deadlines. So I need to give you a deadline. >> That's a good idea. >> I need to hear from you all by I'm going to say next Wednesday. If you want to talk with me, I'm not saying we have to talk by Wednesday, but you got to let me know you want to talk to me by Wednesday of next week so

073we can get something scheduled. Is that fair? >> Tammy, this is Scott Menwinkle again. I want to talk to you. >> Next Wednesday is August the 20th. >> So by August the 20th, if you want to talk with me individually about the instrument, shoot me an email or call me and we'll get something scheduled. Scott, if you could go on and just email me some dates and times you're available, we'll get yours scheduled. Okay. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay, >> we're good. Thank you guys. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I look forward to hearing back from every one of you all. >> Bye, Macy. >> Thanks, K. >> All right. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> I have a question about this. um you know like I read it like I

074was supposed to answer everything but I wouldn't answer for what the administration >> correct so the the first draft that was sent out that I was given uh it would be the administrator's perception that is supervisors and principles that work with me they would fill that out and then the board piece you all would fill out that was appendix B appendix C dealt with data and that was test goals and then uh there was additional sheets of paper that dealt with your strategic plan. Okay. And I that I guess that would be completed by you all as well. >> Yeah. Because I've been not been here and not had a chance to talk about this. But I was thinking I first that the first part you all would not >> she holds me accountable. I

075said, "What do you hold me accountable for?" >> Yeah, that that's what that is. >> Excuse me. >> This So, another question. Um I guess the surveys that go out to employees that that you've sent out quite a while ago that like 150 questions each. I don't know if you remember that. You've sent out two ones for I guess systemwide type surveys that would be a part of this would be part of your evaluation. >> So we send out principal perception surveys that goes to teachers. >> Okay. >> And then we send out supervisor perception surveys that goes to principles. >> Okay. >> Um and then we send out uh principal perception surveys that goes to um uh supervisors as well. But those are just like 10 and 11 questions. Okay. >> I don't know

076for sure what. Now, there's a teacher survey that the state sends out and it's very lengthy. >> Okay. >> But that's through the state department. I do eventually get data uh but it's not very userfriendly until like >> how you can download it off the state website, right? >> But it's not very user friendly right now. >> I think you sent out two documents that were like 150 questions long and I I I've looked at that but I I'll see if I can find it. >> Yeah, please. Oh, so now um I had shared with you all um the uh evaluation that my attorney had used for another district. That was the framework. >> That's it. Okay. >> Yeah. But no, I haven't I've sent nothing to anybody that's 150 questions. >> Okay. That's so

077>> And I was just trying to help you on the process. So, you know, >> so I I was wondering is is that part of of this overall evaluation? Can we have some input on those questions? >> Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I was just trying to give you all I see my job and maybe I see it incorrectly sometimes, but I see my job as trying to help you all come up with some stuff. Um, I never mean to be a lot. >> No, that's helpful. >> But, you know, yeah, after I said that to you, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I really didn't realize that it was 150 questions." It was a lot. I get it. I'm sorry. >> When was that? Oh, it's been a while. That was a few weeks ago

078when we were first discussing the director evaluation. >> Just an additional thing to throw out there, you know, just to go on with the next one. >> Are there any other questions about this item? >> I don't know. We've talked about having committees before for for I guess going through this and setting it up. Is is this work with TSBA >> is that to reduce the number of meetings? Is that why we're doing it this way? >> It was part of the original concept with TSBA election. >> Yeah. >> And we voted >> package. >> We voted on a committee for this was turned down. >> Yeah, it was. >> That's we have a special committee for that. >> It was a tie vote, right? >> That's a failure. >> Yeah, I know it's a

079failure, but It can be brought back up if it's a tie vote. Correct. >> It can always be brought back up. >> Okay. [Music] >> So, why are we not using the one that's TSBA? I mean, we have used it in the past. I've not been here. I'm sorry. My health. >> It's okay. I I I don't think there's anything wrong with using some of that. I just think that uh what's what's been presented today was something that Dr. Farley had had gotten from >> okay >> other members of the of the um >> okay >> staff and I guess administrators too from what she said. So >> they tried to work through get get some more detail or get more detail than what TSBA has. >> Yeah, it could be better. So why, you

080know, are we not comfortable with TSBA what they send us? And >> a lot of times TSBA stuff is cookie cutter. It's not tailored to our individual needs for our district or situation. So it needs modification time some way or another. >> But then are we doing it for this specific superintendent? The next one that comes along, >> do we make up another plan for that person? things change. >> I think it would have to change >> almost annually, especially on the on the data side cuz cuz we're going to we're going to have changes. They're not we're not going to get the same data every year and we hope we're getting better, right? >> Every year. >> A perfect and a perfect example is CO and how that changed and >> again >> how

081CO changed things as well with schools and with us being gone and the data that came in and and that had to all be reassessed and brought in and new teaching whatever that. So it's just a things constantly changing. >> Hopefully we can have a a template though that you know others can use going forward that just just change the numbers basically. Hopefully >> and I don't know for sure that uh I know in the past yes they have used TSBA. They went straight by TSBA survey and that's what you guys have used in the past. I know that when Mr. Steppp was here uh you all were trying to tie in your strategic plan. So I think the template began to change at that point. So, I don't know right now that this board

082has any type of evaluation tool to evaluate a director on. That's what we're gathering all this information. >> I think that's why we're wanting to all work together to come up with something. >> Exactly. Very well put. >> Okay. Other comments or questions? Well, so this one that's been being worked on by Stout and others. I don't know the others. Um are are she getting ideas from the teachers and from um you know, it says, you know, that's going to be the principles fill out this one and and um school board relations. I guess we fill that out. Community relationships, you know, how how are we going to >> So, what you need to do on that, Miss Hel, that was just a place to start in a draft. >> Okay. >> So, what you'll

083need to do when you talk to Dr. Ganger and you can reach out to her and let her know and then you can share your thoughts and your ideas on how you want to proceed and what you want the evaluation piece to look like and she can work on tailoring that to what you're asking for as well. Okay. Thank you. Uh-huh. [Applause] [Music] I think we're ready to move to number seven, athletic trainer discussion. >> Okay. So, um on July the 28th, uh Mr. Brown received a phone call. Uh July the 28th was a Monday. We had a training that day. Uh Mr. Brown received a phone call from uh corporate at Benchmark Therapy and they notified us that our contract with them had expired I think May 25th, May 31st. Um and they had

084no desire to renew that contract with us. At that moment we have no athletic trainers. Could they not have given us two week notice or something? I mean, >> well, I guess that they feel that they I guess that they feel that they did a service for us by allowing us to have trainers the month of June and July. Um so, but >> so, um I don't think we're the only system that that happened to that day based on the information we were given. So immediately um I asked uh Mr. Brown and Mr. Allen to reach out to some various organizations and see what we could come up with. Um I've shared with the board uh Benchmark had provided this service uh to Cumberland County Schools at no charge for many years. I can't tell

085you the number of years, but I can tell you it's it's been a few years. Um, so obviously going from no charge to a charge is is going to be a change. Um, and uh, Miss Diane, can you pull up some options that we have? Um, so um, I think I've shared with you all in an email as well. Um, we were able to reach out to Covenant uh, medical center, Covenant Hospital. Um, and they have agreed to enter a contract with us. They would provide two trainers for the high schools at a cost of $20,000 for the two trainers. And this is just an information sheet. Uh and I've shared some of that with you. We had had a contract for benchmark. Um we were notified on July 28th. What these trainers do is

086they attend home and away games and practices for football and basketball. Uh they also attend all home sporting events and are present on high school campuses for all practices including but not limited to soccer, baseball, softball track, girls flag football, wrestling, volleyball and cross country. They do attend to cheerleaders and dance team members uh when needed before, during or after practices. Um and they cover during fall break, winter break, summer breaks. um they provide support and training for coaches to ensure safety compliance and um I I don't know if they serve any of the middle school sports or not. So again, in trying to be good stewards and trying to give you some options, uh based on board policy 2.809, 809 contracts and bids. We would be able to enter a bid with Covenant without

087having to go through the process because he this is a professional providing a specialized service and with it being $20,000 it does fall under the threshold of $25,000. So in trying to find money to pay for this um I have given you some options. Option one would be Cumberland County Schools and then CCHS and SMHS to split the cost 50/50. Um $5,000 a piece does obviously I know you all can math but that would be $10,000 that the school system would be out money. Option number two, again the school system and maybe the boosters split the cost. uh and it's a percentage and it's based on the sport the percentage that the sport brings in. You know obviously football and basketball are going to be your bigger sports so they could maybe contribute 10% whereas

088um track uh wrestling maybe could do 2%. Um, and then option number three. So on page nine of our budget, and I I apologize. I can't remember right off what the line item is for the budget, but I do know that athletics is page 9. We currently give Stone Memorial and CCHS both $10,000. So we could pay the entire in we give them 10,000 a piece. we could pay the entire invoice and then um that would be their 10 that would be their $10,000 and that would be what that would be used for. What do they currently use the $10,000 for? >> Mr. Brown, >> uh it's it's specifically since I've been here been audited to transportation. We've never been allowed to use it for anything except transportation. So we allocate that money uh evenly

089between all sports for transportation. Each port gets about $600 to $700 a year for transportation cost, which covers about three three buses. >> Okay. So, what would you end up doing um if you didn't have the $10,000 >> for transportation? >> Mhm. >> Uh well, to be quite frank, we don't have transportation very often anyway cuz we can't get bus drivers and buses. Um so, football, we do have buses, I should say. We don't have drivers. Um, football uh generally takes buses anyway. Uh, most of our other sports rely on parents to drive them to events. So, uh, but that would hurt because they do use that $700. Even though it is for transportation, it is at their discretion. So, it does cover other uh revenue expenses such as uniforms andor equipment needs. Uh, if

090if sports travel for state tournament like cross country, they're a non-revenue sport. They don't get any money. They've made state tournament four years in a row. That's why I'm bringing them up. So, they use that money to offset their cost for hotels while they're there. So, not having that $10 $10,000 would hurt, but it would be an option that we we could explore >> if needed to be. >> And again, I was just trying to be proactive and come up with some options. >> I I have a couple parents who've just said they'll pay for Stone Memorial. That's how big of a need it is for us. Um, very I don't think that's a good look for our county or our community or our school. But I do have parents who are ready and willing

091to pay for it. We've got athletes that are at risk every day. Yes. We had a student two days ago had to go to the emergency room because we couldn't provide service and we couldn't diagnose what was wrong with him after practice. >> Uh, so it is something pretty severe that we I would hope you guys could help us with pretty regular uh pretty quickly. is I >> mean is this not something that we would be able to just fund without taking it from the schools? >> Yeah, that's what I was >> from the fund balance. >> Yeah, we could take it from the fund balance, but I mean because here's the thing, guys, that budget is really really tight. And um that was another thing I was going to ask you guys. Uh even

092if we did if we let's just say we split it, I would still want direction from you all as to where you want me to take it from now. Yeah, I can take it from the fund balance. I could take the whole amount from the fund balance, though. >> I mean, it's to me it's it's an amount that well, the schools were not, you know, expecting to go ahead and budget for this at all. We weren't expecting that either, but we're the ones that have to go ahead and decide what what's done. Um, but the schools, you know, what they're working with, it's different as far as, you know, the notification that they need to go ahead and make the plans to go ahead and cover um such a large expense. So, well, I've been

093talking to um um his name just left me. Um the uh Mr. Tim from Covenant. Yeah, Tim Hoskins from Covenant. And he's got the approval. he's ready to go. These uh individuals would be employees of Covenant and him and he would work with them. He would train with them. If they couldn't be here, he would get us someone else. He could do that. I'm sure that and we can't do anything tonight because we can't vote on it. >> Uh but I'm sure if I called him Thursday before the meeting and said, "Hey, there's a possibility we could have a plan tonight at 7:30," he'd say, "Call me and we'll have somebody there Friday." But we just I just want some direction from you all. Um to me 10,000 or $20,000 is a lot of money

094either way we look at that and especially knowing how tight our budget's going to be. Um so just wanted to give you some options. >> I've got a question about the bottom line. Is was Benchmark serving This might be for you, Mr. Brown. Was Benchmark serving middle school programs? >> No sir. Benchmark has not served our middle school programs. So, our middle school programs have been at risk since we've had middle school programs. If they're available, uh they do see them. They don't deny service in any capacity. Uh but they are not on the sidelines on Friday night or Thursday announcement football games or come to any type of basketball game or event in any way. Uh M uh Covenant did mention that they would be interested in potentially providing an additional trainer to each

095school uh depending on how things go with the high school. Uh so that's something we could explore as well. And I would just kind of add as a caveat, we've never had to pay benchmark for trainers. They paid the trainer salary. The school's part of that contract was the school through my athletic department and think same thing CCHS, we would cover their supplies. So any type of supply that they need, take whatever $2 or $3,000, whatever their operating costs were, the school has covered that. And we've done that at the school level for years with benchmark. The the contract covenant health is kind of similar. The $10,000 covers their operating costs in terms of uh concussion protocol, concussion tracking, their equipment, their bells and whistles. They pay their salary. The school's not having to pay

096the salary of the athletic trainer. The school's paying the $10,000 to get extra benefits and coverage for our athletes and continue um continued education for the trainers. So they would be going each month to train and continue to get better which I think would be a good selling point for us too in terms of making sure our trainers are always up to date. So it would alleviated cost in the long run uh from the school system from the schools right obviously the school system would have to pay that but >> the middle schools not having I don't understand. So we have football there's injuries but there's no ambulance at middle school games. >> Ambulances do come. Ambulances are physic >> on middle school games. Yeah, there we we schedule those through EMS. So that's through

097the county. So they just come to high school and and uh middle school games. That's through the county. But if there's a specific injury on the field, they're only coming in if it meets their criteria through emergency management system. Trainers could provide services that are different than what they're going to provide in terms of like a sprained ankle or something like that. They're not helping that. >> Yeah. To me, I think it would be, and I'm kind of inclined uh to follow Miss Stall's lead on where to source the funds for it, but I think at least for the most contact sports, at least basketball and football at the middle school level, if we could get that information to see what that would cost as well to to take care of I mean, we're looking,

098we're talking about the longevity, the physical longevity of student athletes. So, I'd like to see what options are there for. >> I will reach out to Mr. Hoskins tomorrow. Yeah, >> get a prize for you all and I can share that Monday with you all >> cuz I'm sure you guys have all gotten phone calls, too. I mean, I've got people that have called with entries and this is just unacceptable. We just can't do this. >> It's scary. >> I think it I think it justifies using the fund balance to >> Well, and the thing is is that I feel that had we had this information before we were doing our budget, we would have put it in our budget. I don't think we would have wanted to go ahead and put this on the

099>> school is unforeseeable. >> Unforeseeable, right? So, >> and here's the fun part. When's the first high school football game? I mean, we're already having practices. We're already taking risks with our >> And we've got injuries. Yeah. >> First game's next Friday. You guys vote on it next Saturday. >> They're also talking about compliance as well with heat, with lightning, uh things like that. Just the stuff that doesn't, you know, make the headlines that athletic trainers providing every day. They are there to actually be a stop gap and to take that uh responsibility off the coach is to be thinking about you know is it 98° or is it 97.5° >> that is what they're there for. They're there for prevention more than anything really. It's so >> you're missing that every time those guys

100are out there. >> So the lady that is sitting by side Mr. Brown is Miss Katherine and she has been a trainer in Cumberland County schools for a long time. >> Awesome. She was at Stone Memorial and she now works for Cumberland County High School. Would you like to say anything? >> I'd love to. >> I've got a lot to say, but I'll try to keep it short. Um, so Ben brought me in as a professor athletic trainer in county in 2015. Um, I was provided for free to you all. Um, until I transitioned to an early and then I came back to CCHS in 2022. Um, prior to that in 201 [Music] 19 or 20, uh, they provided one to CCHS as well. Um, which I can for free at no cost. Um, I,

101as well as everyone else in this room found out on July 28th that they dissolved the position. Um, our team position was unaware as well. Um so it was completely with everybody was completely blindsided. It was at the corporate level. Um it wasn't necessarily our benchmark. It was >> the bigger people. Um so I while I was at Stone um I did do my best to cover middle school anytime middle school needed anything. Um there are multiple sports and we are running around um all the time. Um even at CCHS I'm fortunate that my middle school and high school football athletes practice together so I see them. I'm there with them all the time. Um I help them. I can't physically be at everybody's game all the time. Um I was at varsity soccer last

102year. A middle school child broke his arm. I went down left my varsity team to go to them. So um we do try to be everywhere um all at once. Um the $10,000 is a lot of money and I understand that. I'm not trying to take that away from anybody, but um the liability of not having somebody out there um is huge. >> Yes, ma'am. the um the package that Kevin has presented is nothing Cumberland County has ever seen before. Um they're talking about creating a whole unit of resources of physicians that we can send our athletes to so that everybody's taken care of. They're all on the same page. We're not sending kids to random NPs and PAs and positions that have no concussion background. Awesome. >> The idea is we're going to have

103concussion care, which has been an issue since 2015 when I came here. Um, I would have to send kids attempt to send kids down to Nox orthopedic clinic because they have concussion training positions. Um, >> and a lot of times the walking clinics won't see any, >> right? Yeah. We can't we and we can't accept none of us can accept um ER visits as clearance. So, we have to send them to somebody. So sending them to somebody that I trust, that I've worked with, that Nathan trust, and he's worked with, and our coaches trust, and we know that our kids are getting good quality care. That matters, >> right? >> That matters. And I've been at Knoxville Orthopedic Clinic. I've been at Erlinger Hospital Systems, Benchmark, I've been at Lamar University in Texas. I was

104at UT Knoxville. Um, continuity matters. That matters. Yes, ma'am. >> I would very much love to have my job back. >> So, Covenant has agreed, I believe, right, to bring you on if we if we go with Covenant. So, so like that's another added benefit to going with Covenant would be Katherine would get a job. She just would work with Covenant, set a benchmark, and she would get to stay at K County High School. She's got the relationships with those coaches and athletes and so she would be ready to go Friday night. >> Awesome. If you guys were to approve it on Thursday, she could start Friday night and take care of Toma County High School. >> Okay. Just a quick question. Is there a game really on Friday night or Okay. >> It's 22nd.

105Yes. >> Okay. And I had actually had an athlete Friday night as well that uh to his NCAAL and a visiting athletic trainer. Thankfully, he traveled with their team and took care of them. Y >> but um I wasn't there, you know, >> and I heard he held him out longer than he should have. >> I got a call from that parent, too. I was I was there as well. >> I mean, I was I was there behind the scenes. I still >> um but yeah, >> it's a it's important and I know that not everybody has a vested interest in it because you don't have a kid on the high school. I get that. >> There are kids. There are kids. But it is it's a big deal and it's and we're so far

106behind have been so far behind >> all the other counties in this and not having the continuity of care. It's it's a big deal and I think Covenant can bring such a a big thing to this. >> Yeah, it's awesome. >> And they're they're actually going to provide um things like concussion testing as well for our athletes, which we've never had never had. >> That's important. It's a much more comprehensive package. I will make sure that I have that and send that out to you all on Monday. >> Okay. >> And your email. >> Thank you. Thanks for all you do. >> Thank you, Miss Catherine. >> Awesome. >> Wish we could vote now. >> Me, too. >> I I kind of have a question about that just because it's it is kind of an

107emergency situation. Can we not do that by can >> executive order of some some sort? >> Oh, can we >> direct Dr. Farley to make some kind of executive order because the emergency and the the money because it's money. >> I'm just talking about the interim just to get coverage till next Friday. You know what I mean? Or till next Thursday. I think it would still be an expenditure coming out of final balance and have to go through that process. >> You'd have I think the only way you could do that is if you published an agenda, had a special call and that be the only item on the meeting, >> right? >> Has to be a 24-hour notice. >> Mhm. >> Which would be >> Can we notify him on Monday and have it

108on Tuesday? >> Well, you could probably I mean, you could publish the agenda tomorrow and have the meeting on Monday. I mean, one reason I think about this is we're getting into the 90s next week all week long. >> I mean, it's going to be 91, 92, 93 degrees all week long next week. And we're going to need some type of coverage for these kids just for their lives. >> So, practice and and I'm speaking as as a coach for the little league football bunch and everything. So, like when we're talking heat index values and the uh different protocols for that, that's fairly manageable with the coaching staff. If we're just talking temperatures, >> you can you can look up National Weather Service, get your temperature and your D point and all that, do some

109quick math, and you know what your your heat index is pretty accurately. Um, I think with us already having a meeting next Thursday, I think we could probably take some action then and then like Mr. Brown said, be ready to roll Friday night. >> You've had two heat related deaths in the southeast. One of them in Tennessee. >> Yes. But no, my sister reminds me of that. >> It's not that coaches don't care. It's not been on Friday. They got a whole lot of hats on. >> Yeah. >> All right. And stuff gets away from you. Especially football where you got 40, 50 kids out there. >> Mhm. The temperature is the same though. >> This person though, the athletic trainer does not look through the lens of the game, >> right? >> Okay. And

110I've been a coach and it happens to you. >> All right. >> They are looking the entire time. >> They're there and even when they get off and go home, that right there, you know, it's answering phone calls in the middle of the night, going to emergency rooms, sitting there with kids. >> That's the entire purpose of the athletic trainer is to be focused on Yeah. Okay. I know. I know that your phone didn't go off, but mine did >> and there's lightning in the area >> and we got to go. Okay. Or >> the heat index. That's that takes that off the coaches and takes the liability, >> you know, like doesn't carry his phone either on on practice days on the field. He he's coaching, so he keeps his phone at his desk

111away. So, um I go to him and I say, "Hey, you know, there's lightning and we got to we got to move to your point next sure. Can you look up that?" Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, he depends on the thing. Um depends on the coach. >> Yeah. depends on um frankly the admin and if they're going to enforce if he's not doing or she's not doing what they're supposed to be doing following you know index and lightning. Sometimes they don't. Um >> yeah I think uh like we're talking about football obviously cuz that's the big one but girls soccer uh is the highest rated injury and head concussion sport for any female athlete. We have we have female sport athletes that are getting injured every day and heat index like you guys are talking about.

112We have games next Monday and Tuesday for girls soccer. >> Yeah. >> That's what I mean. It's not just >> Yeah. >> We're going to take a very short recess and be right back and pick up where we left off. >> Stay tuned. Miss H is party. >> So, let's pick up where we were. >> Talking about trainers. [Music] What do in the meantime till next Thursday? Several options. We could call a special call meeting between do something. >> I may be able to do something else. Yeah, I I mean it'd be worth a phone call call covenant, whoever your contact is there with them and just say, "Hey, can we have something retroactive to where we're, you know, you can we get some coverage until that?" Just >> they may have signed contract. >>

113Are the funds available as soon as we vote? Uh yes to it if we have a majority vote for yes. >> Miss Bray shaking her head no. >> Okay. So, it has to go through the county commission. >> No, we still have to pull a purchase order to go through. I can't just write him a check. >> Gotcha. Yeah. >> They don't need the check right away. That's the contract sign. Is that correct? >> I don't know. >> I think I think he would be willing because um Miss Durham, the trainer, uh was telling me that he had even said that if we needed to make monthly payments that he was willing to accept monthly payments from the school system to work with us. And I he hadn't I hadn't got that from him. So,

114um I think he would be willing to do whatever uh to work with us as far as the payment piece. Um so my other question was um if we could have the schools cover the payment of that upfront and then we vote on Thursday and then we go ahead and reimburse the schools >> because they have that money already. If we could get them to enter an agreement with faith that we're going to pay them, I think that would be a more streamlined approach. >> Well, I can reach out to him tomorrow and see. Um, I think they're pretty willing to do whatever to assist us. >> The majority approves they get paid, right? We >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Take a minute. We go get paid. And honestly, I know that $20,000 may seem

115like a lot, but for the services that they're providing, it's it's really not. They're giving us a lot of they're donating a lot of time. They're donating a lot. Giving is effort. >> Yeah. >> Well, and and like I was telling somebody during our break, you know, with my coaching, the little league in Little League, in the past two years, I've rode in three ambulances with one of my players and I put one on a helicopter in Little League. So, the need's there. There's no >> Yeah. >> How does that cover us in middle school? [Music] >> I would just have to reach out to him and see about middle school and I'm sure I mean he they will be happy to provide someone something for middle school. Uh but obviously there's going to be

116a cost affiliated with it. >> I know. >> Sounds like Thursday is okay. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Sounds >> Yes. >> Yeah. I'll reach out to him tomorrow and see if we can have somebody ready to go on Friday. >> Okay. >> If if that's the case. If not, you you could >> if something comes up, we can call him. >> Well, not not even for Friday, but like Nathan was saying, we've got soccer games coming Monday and Tuesday. >> Next week. >> So, next week. >> Yep. >> Even before. That's why I was asking if there's any way that they could >> Well, I know that they have a trainer lined up probably for CCHS. I'm not sure that he has another one lined up for SMHS. I don't know. I I I don't

117um he and I did talk about Miss Catherine, but I don't know about >> being in two places at >> him. Correct. But, you know, I don't know if he's got somebody lined up that would be ready to go Monday for them, but I can see if he can get one quickly. >> Yeah. So, if you can talk to Covenant, >> the attorney tomorrow. >> Yep. To help. >> We'll know where we are. If we need to meet, we can. Okay. >> Call me. Okay. [Music] >> Good. On to number eight, board retreat discussion. So, um I had thrown out the idea to you all uh about if you all would want to get together um in September to do a half a day. Typically, you do a 6-hour retreat, do a half a day

118and do that in September. Um my opinion is that we really need um to do this day in September because we need to take care of some planning items and figure out what direction you all as a board are wanting to go. So um and I just threw a Saturday out there. Um I did throw out September the 13th. I also suggested um you know obviously I love this building because I come to it every day, but I did suggest you going somewhere else to do that just for a change of scenery for you all. And I was able to get uh and this is at no charge. I was able to obtain the country store at the community complex. Uh it has tables, uh restrooms, a little kitchenet area. So um we could do

119that on September the 13th. And then I also had listed some items maybe that we could discuss and I had asked you for some input and that's how I came up with some of these items that were on there [Music] and those are the monthly budget meetings and then the middle school committees. So unfortunately I won't be available on the 13th not Saturdays until middle October booked but >> I'm available crazy >> I'm available that day but I I was going to ask we also discuss strategic plan and just a high level but >> some of the I would really like to discuss that if if it's going to be part of the evaluation process. Yeah. >> So, okay. So, from what I'm saying, what I'm hearing and um Miss Stout did say that she

120would be available for that day, but it is her birthday. >> So, you're saying, Mr. Cole, that you couldn't be there and Miss Dole, you couldn't be there? >> No. >> Okay. Um, so do you want me to check in to another day in September? Do you want me to shoot for October? Um, >> I hate to do that. My se my September's gone. Every every is this Saturday we're doing this? >> Yeah, every Saturday's gone. >> What about and this is just an idea. What about two evening sessions versus one Saturday session? >> Talk about a half Saturday. So one 3 hours be kind of like this. [Music] >> I'm not opposed to that either. >> I'm not even opposed to that. That might be that might work better for myself, but >> Okay.

121Well, would you all want to do it in September? >> I can do September in the evenings like not a Saturday. >> Okay. So, if we started at 4, we would end at 7. >> Okay, I'm good with that. Yes. >> Oh, hello. Happy birthday. So, what if I come up with some days and um throw those out in the email to you on Monday and then we can discuss a date and finalize it at the meeting next week. Would that work? >> Yes. Are you all good with going somewhere else or do you since it's in the evening, do you want it to be here or you all tell me what you want me to do? >> Where I will a field trip. Do you want me to get a bus too? >> Are

122you going to get a CDL anyway? No, just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. So, the next item that we have there is a job description update. Uh, this is our safe schools counselors. Um, and we have had one to recently leave and we're getting ready to hire uh replace that person. and um this is in line with what they do and we've just had to strike out a line. So, we would want you we need to approve this description and we do have uh Mr. Hull who uh works with those individuals. We do have him here uh to answer any questions that you might have um regarding this. We've added the additions in blue and what is no longer pertinent uh we have marked out but we would this is something you would vote on.

123Um so it looked to me it was more just rephrasing than anything >> some clean up. I think there was some changes uh towards the bottom, Miss Diane, if you wouldn't care. I think some changes about um the knowledge piece and the education >> and it is flooding. >> Basically, it just reflects how we actually hire. This says an LPC or LCSW license is required. way we hire, we prefer a licensed candidate, but we require a master's level candidate. And with my license, I have a a supervision. I'm a certified supervisor from the state board that allows me to provide supervision to M's level clinicians. So when we hire them, I'm able to give them supervision on the job because we have Kland County Schools uh certified by the state to be able to provide

124mental health uh supervision to our counselors as they work, which is a good way to attract new candidates. >> So the only thing we're changing is that LPC andor LCSW is preferred, but the M's level is what is required. And that's how we've always hired since 2018. That's really the just change. >> So that's to help with recruitment basically. >> Yeah. You know, you open your pool more when you when you go from just requiring an LPC to a master's level. >> And of course, you know, we want to bring those in and continue to improve them. So we're doing supervision because, you know, there's no state where you're at. You're either moving forward or you're moving backward. And if you're not continuing to stay above, you know, current trends and therapeutic techniques, you're going

125backwards. So, we do that every Tuesday with those of us that are not licensed. Some of us are licensed, some of us just have the master stuff. [Music] Can add that to your things that your your team's doing is to help with recruitment. You're changing descriptions. So, that's that's a good thing, I think. And we're going to have to I mean >> these job descriptions are going to have to be updated because they are >> old. Yeah. >> Anybody else have any questions of Mr. Hall? No. >> So this will be something that we need you to vote on next Thursday. So from there we've got calendar of events quite a few that's closest to the year all that we know of. >> So what happens here is um our uh CTE groups as you

126can see go on lots of trips and goes to lots of competitions. So they go ahead and they submit their calendar at the beginning of the year. Uh and this is where they will want to go. Of course, if it's out of state or overnight trip, that is board approved and it does come from you. But this is all of the events for the year. And this is what they typically do. They've done this, I think, for years just for ease. But this will be something that you all would vote on next week as well. [Music] So, the next thing is my transition calendar. When I interviewed for the job, I told you that I would um I gave you what I would do my first 30 days, what I would do my first 60

127days. Um so, um the first 30 days, we did have a meet and greet July the 7th on the courthouse lawn. Um we I did meet with supervisors, principles, central office staff. There's the dates. Uh did convocation. Um and then um we I have met again with school administrators. There's the days and the times that I met with each of them to establish yearly goals. Um I was able last week to attend nine faculty meetings in the schools. The three schools that I was not able to visit their faculty meetings. Um I did get to go and um be there on the 10:00 day. So last week before school got started, I wasn't every able to go to every school. Um working on back to school, meet your teacher open house and whatever else they

128call it. Um but um I missed two events tonight because this started at 4:00. Uh Stone Elementary uh had their open house from 4:00 to 6:00 and uh Homestead started at 3:30. >> Pleasant Hill started. >> Yes. And Pleasant Hill was was it at 5? >> Yeah. So, um, missed three different events tonight, but so that's kind of where we are. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> I didn't get >> question on on this. So, in your director's report, is this something that you could give us a high level of how you what kind of goals and what what you're learning or or improving or helping with when you go to these events. And other than just I I I appreciate you doing this and showing us what what you're doing. I just like to know

129how that's helping and and maybe some pictures and things like that in the director's report that shows, hey, here's here's why I'm doing this and here's how it's helping. >> Yes, I can. One thing that I did when I went to the faculty meetings, um you know, this was obviously this was my first convocation leading the whole system. So I did go over some of the expectations that I have um and then um I followed that up in the faculty meetings that I was in in a smaller setting more personal and clarified that. So that that's an example and then obviously you know meeting with the school principles um depended on the school but I can share with you the documents that I had them to complete. Sure be happy to do that. >> I

130just I just think and it doesn't have to be the full document. I think just high level to let us know and I think this is what I'm alluding to as far as the evaluation goes is more detail what are we doing how are we getting better how are we going to measure that and especially going forward it might change because here's what Dr. Charlie did, you know, this year, >> what is she going to do next year to help us get better and grow? >> Sure, be happy to. >> Uh, strategic plan update. Um, not a lot of change on it, you know. I mean, we we haven't really visited that. That is something that >> Yeah, I've got that to add to the retreat right now. It It's really nice because we have

131three items on the agenda and we have three hours. That would be a really nice breakdown if we keep those three things, but I'll be happy to add anything you want me to add. But, um, yeah, I we definitely need to revisit that. >> We'll stay with that. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We'll do another prayer. >> Absolutely. >> ROC NDCC update. >> So, um, you know, back when this program was started, my seat was in the back corner. So, I really wasn't involved a whole lot with that. Um, I was given the individual's name. Um, that that was our contact. Um, I reached out to him and he let me know that he retired over a year ago. He asked me if I would text him. I had called him on my office line. He

132asked me if I would text him and he would give me a point of contact that I would be dealing with now. And I did that last week and I haven't heard anything back from him. >> And this is who's this is the >> I think this is Mr. Henson. Dawson, >> Dawson, sorry, Dawson. So, uh, I know that's not much of an update. I know the program is up and running at CCHS. Uh, we have a teacher that we've had pretty much since the beginning. Uh, we >> Mhm. Uh, >> SMHS, I don't think they have been able to secure someone who the military agreed on allowing to come and and doing the classes. So, that's the only information that I can give you right now. Um, I will reach out to him again

133tomorrow. Um, I've been in Nashville all week. Today was my first day in the office, but I will reach back out to him tomorrow, but I'm at his mercy. [Music] So next we just have our regular board meeting items which is the policies that would be for you know the first and second readings the personnel reports your newsletters calendars retired inventory field trips and then Miss Brace financials. Do you have anything that you need to >> you want me to go through or just >> she do you all want her to go through? Is she going to go through them next Thursday? >> No. I don't see the point of doing it twice. >> Do you? >> No. >> Before you folks leave, be very careful. >> We got flooding. >> Flooding. It's going to

134be in the lobby. We're trying to keep it out. >> Okay. >> I mean, >> I know we've all looked at it, so I just don't see the point of you doing it twice. Do you? >> I don't. Okay. >> I totally agree. So, Other discussion sir, >> can we not fix that front? What's going on out there? Is it drainage? >> Yes, the plugged is this like well it just the drain in front just gets totally overwhelmed. >> It's been cleaned out. It's just >> it is cleaned out. >> It has a little bit more. But once it stops like this then when it comes hard it comes in. >> Okay. Thank you Billy. >> Is there any other items we need to discuss tonight? have one question about how and I how and

135uh the salary scale was communicated to all the employees and you know I've had some questions and emails and things like that about the salary scale. So just maybe a brief description of that. >> Absolutely. So uh the budget was approved on um August the 12th. So yesterday was August the 13th. There's 59 individuals that have been affected by this. 21 of them are in this office. 26 of them are at the elementary school and I can't remember the other number um 9 or 11 I think. Sorry, but I I do remember it was 59. So what happened is we drafted a letter. Yes, the letter was dated August the 11th because that's when we started this process. We were aware of these individuals. So, we um drafted a letter explaining that we were working

136on balancing the budget and that we were trying to get um equity between the degrees and years of service and that as a result of that some people's pay would be frozen. Um and it would remain the same this entire year. um you will not make less than you did the year before. Um we also explained in the letter that um it didn't take a year to get there, so it's going to take us a year or two to get out of this hole. Um I was in Nashville, so Miss Bray, uh Miss Smith, and Dr. Spike divided the schools and the individuals and they met with each individual. They gave them the letter and the individuals did sign saying that they got the letter and uh no one was um ugly or disrespectful. Um

137obviously some feelings might have been hurt, you know, uh but all three of those ladies did answer any questions that they had and uh talk to the individuals there for just a little while. And uh we lacked probably about four or five from yesterday that we couldn't get. And at this point, 58 of the 59 have been notified. >> Do you do you know if they understand that that the salary scale was frozen at year 25 and now that it it's been changed and and we're trying to balance it that they're not frozen at from 25 to 29 at this point. So eventually when everything gets balanced out, they're they're going to be better off in the long run if they if they work in this county for 30 years. So >> yes, >> they

138do understand that. >> I think so. They were posted the next day. I don't ever post them until it goes to the commission and we they you know put their blessing on the next morning. They were posted. I've explained to everybody that they're going to one scale, how it works. >> That was included in the letter as well that we're going to one scale for certified. >> I think most of the folks I talked to, were they happy? you know, but they understand and most of them said that they felt like going forward that it will be the best in their everyone's best interests. >> All right. Thank you. >> And um you all had we had there's been some questions, not necessarily from you all, but there's been some questions about the $2,000 uh

139teacher bonus that you all voted on back in April or May for the teachers as part of the educated education freedom act. We have found out that we'll go out on the 15th check, but uh it will be all on one check. Um they only have uh cut two separate checks on a teasa outcome one time since 2019 and going forward it will be put on an on the same payroll. Additional checks will not be cut included. >> Yeah, it's included. Is it taxed as a bonus? Do you know? >> I think it is. >> I I can't answer that for their system. I'm not sure, >> but we can get the answer. >> That was something I spoke briefly with Dr. Barley about it some last night about the the pay freezes and all

140of that stuff was the for these 59 individuals. I know that they feel like they've been very underappreciated this year because of the freeze and I know that's the it's never good to not get a raise. Um but just an idea and I'm throwing it out there. You guys help me brainstorm. Is there a way that we can help to ease some of that? whether it's a one-time bonus that doesn't affect their scales, that doesn't affect their salaries. Is there a way that we can do that to um I don't know that we we do appreciate them. We we I mean because these are a lot of the our veteran people are are uh more highly educated or whatever that that have really put in the work and the effort and for them to not

141get anything from us um sucks just to be honest. So just a thought of throwing it out there. you guys think help me understand if there's any way that we can do anything. >> I think our next opportunity to to show what we can do is the next budget cycle because >> Mhm. you know what? Yeah, it's up for lack of a better term. But >> by combining the pay scale and not capping at 25 years, capping at 30, while the perception is right now that it's bad, in the long run it's good. I I I think that's really our next opportunity to to follow through with what the plan was originally and and uh try to make it better. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> In the next cycle, you know, >> we weren't really dealt

142with a very good hand of cards this time. >> No. >> Yep. >> Early. >> Mhm. >> So, we needed to do something because it was getting out of kilter real fast. >> Yeah. We had to do something and that caused the freeze. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Nobody got cut. >> It was only going to get worse from >> It would. >> It's going to was going to have a terrific collision. >> So hit. So >> we saved it from that. >> Yes. >> Now we can go back and do something else. >> Yes. >> Any other discussion? >> Questions from the media? Being none, we will adjourn. Watch your weather. Watch.