001Man, we have a lot to celebrate and I'm not going to take the thunder away from the announcements that will be coming during our celebrations. Just know we're celebrating District 8, District 6. Just really quickly, I wanted to give a shout out to all of our graduates. It was a phenomenal graduation season and we did it. We graduated a lot of students this season and so congratulations to the Antioch High School Bears and the Can High School Ravens. Y'all did a great job. >> District seven, >> no announcement. >> District six and six. >> Five three. >> District one. >> That was quick. Uh the one announcement that I have is uh there's a fatherhood festival coming up. It'll be in June, the day before Father's Day. And so we celebrate dads in this district.
002And uh we we're inviting all of the fathers that have participated in workshops throughout this year uh in our schools uh to attend the fatherhood festival. It's on June 20th. It'll be hosted at Tennessee State University at their indoor football facility. And um there'll be tons of games and fun is for the entire family and so uh you can uh register online. Uh the NFL alumni association is uh one of the primary host and so you can uh visit their website for more information. >> Thank you. And then district 4 um I just want to take a moment to wish all of the families who are celebrating tomorrow. uh Eid al Adha uh with the Muslim community. I just want to remind faculty and staff across MNPS that if you do have Muslim students who
003are missing, it is because of the holiday tomorrow. Um they'll be back on Thursday um for promising scholars. Uh but just want to wish all of them a happy uh happy holidays. Thank you. And that'll conclude announcements. I call this meeting to order. We have a quorum with um seven members. Um we'll have a pledge of allegiance. We will have Franklin Willis lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. >> Surprise. Um um I was to entertain a motion to approve the agenda. Is there a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by member Maize. Is there a second? >> Second by Vice Chair Nabal
004and Kenny. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? It passes unanimously. 7 to zero. We will now move on to awards recognitions. Dr. Adrien Battle. >> All right. Thank you so much, Chair Player. And good evening, board members. Um, well, the 2526 school year is over, but we still have so many outstanding students, educators, schools, and community partners to celebrate. So, I am going to jump right in. If you have just transition in, you know, we've got a big group um here this evening. So, I'm going to try to do this as efficiently as possible. Um, first up is Claire Williams McGee, our MNS lead STEM STEM coach, who received the 2026 Tennessee Excellence in STEM leadership award this spring. and come on up, Claire. Um so, um driven by her deep
005commitment to inquiry um and equity within MNS, Claire Pres partnered with the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network to advocate for our community. Her collaboration successfully established a more inclusive review process designed to support urban public schools. Claire has worked tirelessly for years supporting MNPS middle schools within an interest interest in achieving STEM or STEAM designation from the state which we'll hear more about in just a moment. Claire always brings a unique perspective to any collaboration as well as passion for the work and a desire to support others. Claire, thank you so much for your advocacy for our schools and for the value of STEM and STEAM education and congratulations on this award. Uh, I want you to stay here because we've got some more celebrating to do u regarding your leadership, your collaboration and partnership. Y'all
006give it up um again for Claire Williams McGee. So, we heard a moment ago about Claire's support for middle schools seeking STEM or STEAM designation from the state. Well, I'm happy and proud to say that we have three schools out of just 11 statewide that were honored for the first time this month by the Tennessee Department of Education and the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network with the Tennessee STEM designation or the Tennessee Steam designation. So, let's give it up for these three schools. And if we have representatives here, please come on up so we can celebrate you. First up, we have Dupant Hadley Middle School. Next we have Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School of the Arts. So both of these schools have earned the STEM designation and McMurray Middle School has earned the STEM designation. Come
007on up, Mag Murray. Congratulations. So, these designations recognize schools for their commitment to equipping students with the essential skills for post-secondary achievement and workforce readiness. The schools underwent a rigorous application process that included a comprehensive self-evaluation, interviews, site visits, and they had to demonstrate excellence across five areas: infrastructure, curriculum and instruction, professional development, achievement, and community and post-secondary partnerships. Each of these schools has embraced STEM as their ethos, which has allowed them to achieve their designation. Dupont Hadley has maintained a commitment to college and career readiness, integration of the arts and learning experiences that connect students to real world applications and future careers. It Creswell has embedded arts into student learning along with using community partnerships and authentic experiences to develop authentic inter interdisciplinary opportunities for students. And McMurray has leaned into its collaboration with
008the Nashville Zoo and wildlife research scholars focusing on careers, real world problems, and a local global conservation mindset. Congratulations to principles Armstrong, Lane, and Coverson, and your teams on this great honor. And I also would like to recognize our director, um, Jennifer Barry, who is here. Um, thank you for your leadership and collaboration as well. Um, again, we salute you all. We thank you all. We're grateful for your leadership. Um, so let's give it up for all those represented >> and stay put because we'd like to get a quick photo of everyone. So, board members of these three schools, if you can join us, Thank you. Yes, thank you. So, congratulations again to all of our STEM and STEAM um designations and to our leadership um for supporting all of our middle schools. Next, we
009want to recognize the winners of our 2026mmies of Nashville awards which were presented during a ceremony at Deote, one of our many outstanding academy partners a few weeks ago. We appreciate the support of alignment Nashville which played a big role in producing these awards and is always a great partner in promoting themies of Nashville not just nationally but internationally. These awards recognize innovation, partnership, teaching, promotion of early post-secondary opportunities and growth and achievement in advanced academics, industry certifications and other areas. So, I'd like to ask the following schools, educators, and community partners who were honored at this year's of Nashville awards ceremony to come up front as I call your name, and then we'll gather for a group photo. All right. So, these are all um um award winners. So, as I run through the
010list, representatives who are here, please come on up so we can celebrate you. First up, we have Whites Creek High School, John Overton High School, Maplewood High School, Hunter Lane High School, McGavic High School, Hillsboro High School. >> James Lawson High School. We would also like to um celebrate Laura Hickman from James Lawson High School. Also Tommy Kelly from Glen Cliff High School. Tony Williams of Volume One Nashville, which partners with Pearl Cone High School. Marlon Sims from Cain Ridge High School. Thomas Patton from Pearl Cone High School. Jesse Ciphford from Straford STEM Magnet High School. and Jeff Parker of Hazen and Sawyer. So, I'd like to say congratulations to all of our 2026Mies of Nashville award winners. What is represented in front of you are um winners of academic growth achievements also achievement um
011ACT performance um career academy growth in industry certifications experential learning opportunities um all across um our district and the trophy in the middle represents um the winner of our academy of the year which is at McGavoc High School. So, okay. So, I've been corrected. So, so I have to tell the story first real quickly. Um, this is a Roving trophy that goes to the Academy of the Year each year. Um, McGavic won it last year. They repeat it this year, but they forgot to bring the trophy to the war, so they had to go back and get it and bring it back only for us to give it back to them again. So, give it up for McGavic. two-time winner of the Academy of the Year. >> And board members, if your schools are represented,
012join us up front for a quick photo. Congratulations again. >> I think everybody that's not intentional, by the way. Okay. Beautiful. One more. You take your gum out too. >> Yeah. >> All right. I told you all this was a a big evening. We've just got so many um to celebrate from our students, our student athletes, our educators, just so much goodness happening even beyond the school year. So, now we're going to turn our newly um turn to our newly crowned state champions and runner-ups in spring sports. And there again is a lot of them um which we're very proud of. Um so, we're proud of our student athletes for the skill, hard work, dedication, teamwork, and resilience they've shown not only over the past couple of weeks, but also throughout the season. In the
013track and field events, we have a lot, and I mean a lot, of individual students. So, go ahead and stretch your hands a little bit um and relay teams to recognize and celebrate at both the high school and middle school levels. We'll start with our high school student athletes. We'll go through these schools by school and get a group photo of each school student athletes and coaches. So, come on up front as your name is called. Um and then please return to your seats after the photo. We'll get one big photo at the end. Um, first up is Pearl Cone High School, which brought home several trophies. So, I'll celebrate them as they're coming up. So, they brought home several trophies from from the class single A meet, including one of the biggest as the
014girls team won the state championship. >> See, a team championship at one of these meets is the ultimate testament to all-around excellence. And the Lady Firebirds did an amazing job finishing first out of 42 schools with 88 total points, which was way out of reach for the second place team's total of 58. The Lady Firebirds also won the 4x400 relay, and a couple of them lit up the track in the individual events as well. China Harris Rucker, where are you? China, raise your hand. She here. Okay, she's not here. Okay. She won the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and the 400 meters. And she set new state records in all three events with her blazing speed. >> And check this out. Her twin sister Messiah Harris Worker was right behind her, finishing second in the
015100 and 200 and third in the 400. Messiah's time in the 200 meters was the second fastest in state history, meaning only her her sister kept her from setting a new state record. Pearl cones um boys also brought home some hardware from Knoxville, winning the state championship in the 4x400 relay and finishing second in the 4x100. So boys, if you are here, come on up. Are they here with us? Okay. Misha. All right. So, Misha Harris Rucker is the twin sister. Went um second in the 100, 200, and third in the 400. All right. And Pearl Con's Chester Burgess also won a state championship. Chester won the boys discus event with a throw that was more than 18 feet longer than the second place winner could manage. So, congratulations to all of these Pearl Cone
016track and field stars. I'm going to come out for Congratulations. Congratul All right. So, we have a um few more state champions and I'm going to have you all come up and then we'll get a big photo and a couple individuals um while you're up here. Um, first let's give it up for Taylor Hood from East Nashville Magnet High School who was a runner up in the class A Girls High Jump. Tyl Taylor, if you're here, come on up. Congratulations to Taylor. Yes, absolutely. And then in double A where two of our schools um wowed the crowds with multiple outstanding individual and relay performances. U Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magna High School girls won two relays. the 4x200 meters which was a repeat from 2025 and the 4x400 meter relay. So congratulations y'all. Let's
017give it up for Martin Luther King Jr. and MLK's Aaliyah Vornado also went to Knoxville and did what she always does. She won both the 100 meters and 200 meters. Now that's four years in a row for Aaliyah in both of those events. Incredible fourtime two event champion. We do know that Aaliyah and we celebrate this will be continuing her journey as a student athlete at the University of Cincinnati where she has earned a full scholarship. >> We have a few more to celebrate. MLK's Wyatt Bowling also received a repeat victory, winning the boys 1600 meters for the second year in a row while also taking second place in the 800 meters. Let's give it up for the Royals. That's why you're here. Is he here? and Whites Creek also represented at class doubleA at
018the class double AAA meet with state champions by the boys 4x800 meter relay team. I see y'all out there. Y'all come on up so we can celebrate you. That's my nephew. >> That's what he see. >> Yep. That's my nephew. Okay. The Cobras also took second place in both the boys 4x400 relay and the girls 4x400 relay. And Amaya Alexander won second place in the girls 400 meter. So girls, if you're here, come on up. Congrat congratulation girls and guys for representing Whites Creek and Nashville public schools. So well um we're going to get a quick picture with Whites Creek and then Abigail is next. road. One, two, three. like you don't know me. >> All right. Um, I do want to um shout out um I believe um director Robi Grant's um daughter um
019was one of those young ladies um we just um celebrated. So congratulations to you. >> I was wondering why so I was wondering why you were so happy at a school board meeting. All right, finally, let's talk about the class AAA meet where our James Lawson track and field stars brought home two state championships, broke another state record and were runner ups in three individual races. The Lady Lightning 4 by 100 relay team, which we celebrated four weeks ago for setting the state record on April 11th with a scorching time of 46.20 20 seconds blew their own record out of the water last week with a time of 45.99 seconds. Ladies, come on up so we can celebrate you. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. and Jakari Head, one of the members of their relay team, also became
020the new state champion in the individual 100meter dash. Congratulations. The Lightning also had three Lawson runners finish as runnerups in their events. Dream Williams in the girls 400 meter dash. Um, Jasmine in the girls 300 meter hurdles and Keiante Allison in the boys 200 meter hurdles, excuse me, 200 meters. Congratulations to Lawson for an incredible state um run. Um we are so proud of you all as well, students, coaches, parents, family, staff, everybody. Thank you all for representing so well. So, we would like to get a quick photo to celebrate you. Congratulations. See, sometimes our spring sports get left out, but not in this district. We're going to celebrate all of our incredible student athletes. Um so again, congratulations to all of our high school um student athletes for representing so well. Um we're going
021to turn our attention now to our middle school athletics state champions and runners up. Um remember we are just um two years in of competing at the state level in our middle school with our middle school athletics. Um right before the board meeting we held our first u middle school reception to um celebrate all of our middle school state champions. So we're going to get started. We're going to start with the TM Oh, we're going to let transition for just a moment. save the transition. >> Somebody else is more than willing to >> I didn't even see them back there. >> I didn't even see my niece in the back. >> Oh, really? better. Sorry. I hear so close. Thank you. about 70% the way. It's not working. the about the first 60%. We'll have
022to do them in waves. >> All right. So, um again, congratulations to all of our high school state champions and runner-ups. Um and we've got even more at the middle school level. So, we're going to go ahead and jump right in. um families and student athletes. I hope you all and principles and teams and coaches, I hope you all enjoyed the reception. Um y'all keep keep doing what you're doing. It's u making us respond and support you um accordingly. So, we're so excited to have you here this evening to celebrate you. So, we're going to start with the TMS TMSAA class A track and field meet. And we have to begin with East Nashville Magnet Middle School, whose boys and girls teams both won the state championship. Let's give them a round of applause. >>
023And guess what? That wasn't all for East. The girls won the state championship in the 4x200 relay and second place in the 4x400. The boys won the state championship in both the 4x200 and 4x400. Genesis Grant won the state championship in the girls 400 meters and second place in the 100 meters. Terrence Fleming won the state championship in the boys 100 meters and 200 meters. Cree Hannah won the state championship in the boys 400 meters and second place in the 800 meters. Shanila Moore won second place in the girls shot hood. Jalia Newsome won second place in the girls long jump and Darren and Hannah won second place in the boys 110 meter hurdles. East girls and boys, please come on up here so that we can celebrate both teams. That look nice. >> Yeah.
024>> All right. Who had who was E? TK. >> Robert. Robert is yours. Yes. Okay. >> Okay. One, two, I'll let the parents get two. family want to take a picture before they move. You want to come on up? Come on up. >> Yeah, I don't work hard. All right, picture in three, two, and one. All right, let's give it one more time. Okay, almost there, y'all. Almost there. >> All right, congratulations again to East Middle School girls and boys, middle school state champions, track and field champions. Um, so Straford STEM magnet Middle also had a great class A meet. Both the boys unified and girls unified teams won the state championship. >> And Straford also won the state championship in the girls 4x400 relay. And William Cummings won second place in the boys long
025jump. Strafford also had multiple winners in the unified events. Deasia Dillard and Rashé Little won the state championship and the girls unified long jump. Deasia Dillard and Aubrey Guest won the state championships in the girls unified 100 meters. >> Deasia, you something else. Deasia Dillard and Sydney Little won second place in the girls unified shot put. >> Okay. Zet bumpers and Aubrey Guest won second place in the girls unified long jump. >> Kishan Fesmeer and Don Terius Taylor won the state championship in the boys unified 100 meters and second place in the boys unified long jump. And Kan Fesmeer and Jeffrey Williams won second place in the boys unified shot put. So, any of our incredible athletes here representing Straford, would you please come on up so we can celebrate you up front and get
026a picture? >> Listen to all that. >> I know. >> So many. >> Yes. I mean everybody. You guys Good picture. One more. >> All right, parents. If you want to join us, come on up real quick. Thank you. All right, on the count of three. One, two, three. >> Oh my god. Congratulations. >> I promise I'll be almost there. This is a good problem. >> Yeah, check might be our best sport. >> All right, congratulations again to Straford. Um we have a couple other middle schools who also excelled in class A. Um we're I'm going to announce these if you all would come on up and we're going to get a big um group photo um with our individual champions and runner-ups. Um so first up we have Hannes. We have the Hannes Middle
027School won second place in the girls 4x100 and boys 4x200 relays. >> And Jaden Davis of Hannes won the state championship in the 100 meters and second place in the 400 meters. We're also celebrating Isaac Linton's middle school boys team who won second place at the Class A boys meet as well in the boys 400 4x 800 meter relay. >> We also had a couple of individual honors as well. Keen Perry won the state championship in the boys long jump. >> And Bentley Story won second place in the boys shop. in class double A. Again, please come up front. Um JT Moore Middle School's girls won second place at the Class Double A meet. Come on up, my Matadors. My lady Matadors, come on up. and JT Moore's Reese Arnold won the state championship in
028the girls 100 meter hurdles in second place in the 400 meters. From Apollo Middle School, Malaysia Anderson is the new state champion in the girls 200 meters. Rose Park Magnet Middle School brought home two state championships with the boys 4x100 relay as well as Darius Weaver in the boys 200 meters from Madison Middle. Naza Shannon won second place in the girls 200 meters in the state. >> All right. Um from Head Magnet Middle, Landon Davis won second place in the boys 800 meters. And from Dupont Hadley Middle, Brandon Bass won second place in the boy shop hood. So I also want to acknowledge that TWSAA has notified us that Rose Park tied with Lidden for second place in the state championship. Again, congratulations to all of our winners and runners up. Thank you all for
029representing your schools and Nashville public schools. So, well, board members, if you can join us up front for a photo. >> Is that all? >> Might be. >> It's It's one more after this. We're going to we're going to uh >> please smile. >> Miss, you got to come up now. >> Okay. I can't a lot of faces. I can't They're good. I can't see. >> Mommy, I can't see. >> The students in the back. You're going to have to come sides over here. >> I'm telling you. >> Smile. >> Thank you. Such a beautiful smile. >> Thank you. >> We can't find Kea. Okay. >> Okay. If you can't see me, I can't see you. >> All right. I'mma take this side and that side. Okay. Hold everything. >> All right. Here we go.
030>> Smile. >> Bes. I don't see you. >> You don't see anybody? >> Yeah. >> I'm here. >> We don't see you. >> Okay. Stand on your toes in your back. >> He's behind. >> Are you in the photo? >> Okay, you're in the photo. >> All right. One, >> smile. >> Here we go. One one more time. One, two, three. >> One, two, three. for the parents. I get to take this >> picture. I'm like >> All right. Congratulations again, parents. They're just doing so well. I'm sorry I couldn't get everybody up for a photo. That's a good thing. >> Congratulations. What's her name? Who? Dr. Dennis. >> Dr. Dennis. Mhm. Hold on. Dr. Dennis, they called everybody up so quick. I couldn't get one of y'all by yourself. >> Uhoh. Excuse me. >>
031Stay up there. I think get one of y'all right there >> cuz they called y'all too fast. Can I get one of them? >> All right. So, as we're um wrapping up these last photos, um again, congratulations to all of our student athletes. Congratulations to all of our coaches, our school teams, families. Thank you so much for your incredible support. Um, I'd also like to give a shout out, let me keep going, to both our athletic directors, Mark North over our high schools and Penny Howard, um, over our elementary and middle schools. You don't need >> shake it. All right. And last but not least, we have a few awards to celebrate for our studentled music initiatives. Last week, I hope you all have heard this and you know, we received four Tilly awards, including
032a gold award for the documentary and videos that came out of our annual songwriting summit, where students work with our educators and music industry professionals to write and record original songs. The Telly Awards honors excellence in video and television across all screens. Judged by a council of more than 250 industry experts from leading production companies, networks, and platforms. This year's awards drew more than 13,000 entries from across the globe. Every student known the making of an anthem. The documentary that had already won a Midsouth Emmy award received two telly awards including a gold award and this is where we belong and I belong music video each received an award as well. Congratulations to by the way gold is the highest award you can receive through the telly awards. Congratulations to all the students who played
033a part in making these songs and the visuals that help tell the stories. to our music educators, to our vision performing arts department led by Franklin Willis, and to the moving picture boys and Andy Morris who filmed the documentary and music videos. We are so proud of everyone, especially our students. These awards show what's possible when we give students the opportunity and support to explore and cultivate their talents and express themselves. Let's have everyone who is here tonight from these award-winning teams please come up front so we can celebrate you and capture a photo. Congratulations. Absolutely. >> Sure. My god. >> I just I'm just Beautiful. Thank you. All right, congratulations again to our telly award winners and they're adding telly's to their resumes already. Some of them Emmys and Telly's. We're so proud so
034proud of all of you. Um, all right, one more sports award. Um, please give a huge congratulations and round of applause to our all sports award winner for middle schools for the 2526 school year. Please give it up for Meg's Magnus School. >> Four years in a row. >> You know, I I love to stand corrected. So this is the fourtime awardw winning in all sports recipient. >> the only ones who have who have ever won Meg middle school. Thank you Dr. Neil. >> Who's me? Who got me? Uh, >> you might need help. >> You might need your help. >> Congratulations. All right, congratulations everyone. Chair player, I'll turn it back over to you. >> All right, when I go home tonight, I need to ice down my hands from all that clapping and
035my cheeks are a little sore now. Uh but that is a awesome thing to have is to have that and I can't wait for the next like what six years four yeah champion after championship after championship and hopefully some Olympians in there too. Uh now we'll move on uh to director report school starts update. >> Yes ma'am. Thank you so much again chair player and board members. So a few months ago, you made the historic decision to adjust adjust the start and end times for elementary and high schools throughout the district following many months of stakeholder feedback, research, and planning after what amounted to many years of conversation and debate that had taken place on this topic by board members and superintendents for a long time. Um the decision by the board was not the
036end of the conversation, but rather it started the second phase of planning and implementation of the mechanisms needed to ensure this happens with fidelity. Since that vote, our team has been hard at work. Routes are being validated, writership audited, and we have been building the communication tools and templates that schools and families will need before August. That groundwork has been laid, and we are now moving into the next phase, finalizing operational plans, updating systems, and making sure every school is ready for day one. We are committed to getting this right. families reorganized their routines to weigh in on this process, and they deserve a transition that is smooth and well coordinated. Tonight, our chief operating officer, Mora Sullivan, will share exactly where we stand and what comes next. So, Chief Sullivan, I'll turn it over
037to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Battle. Good evening, Madame Chair, members of the board, and Dr. Battle. I'm pleased to be before you tonight to give you an update, as Dr. Battle said on the work that we're doing to imple implement the schedule changes approved by the board earlier this year. Uh let's see. It's up. It's already done. Thank you. I appreciate you. As a reminder, this is the new start and end time schedule that was approved. Our high schools will begin at 7:25 a.m. and dismiss at 2:25 p.m. Our elementary schools will begin at 8:10 a.m. and dismiss at 3:10 p.m. And our middle schools will begin at 8:55 a.m. and dismiss at 3:55 p.m. Please note that there are a number of schools that are unaffected by the changes. Some magnet schools and
038charter schools, for instance. Therefore, we have a full listing of all schools and their start and end times on our website. Next slide, please. Our implementation priorities are more than let's just get it right. We first established agreed upon guiding principles for implementation. Those guiding principles are led by safety, clear communication, building an integrated transition that leads to long-term system excellence. And we are looking at this start and end time transition as one that creates opportunities beyond just schedule changes. We know that with it, guided by these implementation principles, we will see improved student readiness and attendance, strengthened transportation reliability, improved arrival safety and efficiency, stronger cross department coordination, and that because of this indepth work with our data teams and the help of our vendor partner formative, we will truly establish sustainable performance monitoring.
039ing for our transportation department. Next slide, please. Our implementation will occur in three coordinated phases. Our implementation plan is strong and coordinated through those phases and it must be. As you know, school start and end times affect every part of our business. We are taking the deliberate steps to ensure that this is done correctly across the entire district geographically and functionally. A strong implementation matters because reliable morning routines support attendance and readiness. Smooth implementation reduces disruption for students and families. Operational coordination is essential across schools and departments. The transition creates an opportunity to strengthen long-term systems and early communication and proactive planning are critical to success. As you see, there's some green. We have already completed phase one and are well into system design. Now and throughout the summer, we will be continuing to ensure
040that our preliminary routing efficiencies translate to smooth routes for our drivers, soliciting driver feedback along the way, working with our partners at WGO, the police for our crossing guards and others. We'll be working across departments, divisions, and throughout the schools to ensure that entry procedures, food service, and bell systems are updated and ready for day one. And during this implementation work this summer, the operations team will be working with our partners across the district to provide updated bell schedules for each school, coordinated food service and custodial schedules, and new student arrival times as the transportation routes are finalized. This will allow schools to focus on res revising staff duty schedules, expanding early supervision and collaboration with before and after care. Our communications team will help us all keep our families informed throughout the process on
041schedule and transportation updates. Next slide, please. So, I hope this brief status update has been helpful for you and please know that we will keep you updated throughout the summer. We'll be providing you information that you can use to communicate with families and community partners throughout your districts. You can also support the effort by knowing, recognizing, and sharing that the first 10 days of every school year always dynamic in student transportation. This year will be like all others as routes are finalized, new students are added, etc. There will be some fluctuation, but it will come together because we have a solid implementation plan and an excellent team. So, I encourage you to have patience and I ask that my team members say with me, blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out
042of shape. >> Thank you all. And with that, I'll turn it back over to to you, Dr. Battle. >> Thank you so much, um, Chief Sullivan. And we um wanted to end that way because of course um even before the start time shift, we run a very complex um transportation um system here in Nashville public schools. And so um just because star time changes doesn't mean that complexity goes away. Um in fact, it becomes a little more complex. And so just as a reminder, we'll be reminding everyone um of this. The first couple weeks are always an opportunity for us to adjust um to see who's actually riding the routes um and for us to um become more efficient over time. And this will be the same. So that won't change. Um we will have
043a system in place um in order to get feedback and make adjustments um as quickly and swiftly um as we can. But of course, the primary goal is to be as proactive as possible, which is why um Chief Sullivan and her team are doing so much engagement um with our drivers, with our transportation team, and with formative to um get as close um to that efficiency as possible before the start of the year. So, bless are the flexible for they shall not be out of shape. >> Uh chair, I'll turn it back over to you. >> All right. Is there any questions, comments? Uh Abigail Tyler. >> Yeah. Um, so I know that we had piloted an app so you could find out exactly where the school buses are. Is that live across the district
044now? >> Yes, ma'am. Uh, thank you. It is. It's live across the district and that will have their new bus routes and times um later on this summer, probably in late July. >> Okay, perfect. And I think that also will be helpful for parents kind of trying to figure out as because even when school times don't change that beginning of the year can take a little breaking in and takes a little time. Um do we know where we are as far as school bus staffing at this point. >> We have the the most drivers that we've ever had and um we've had great retention this year. Um, we are continuing to hire and um, thank you Lisa Spencer and the great HR team and um, our our recruitment team and the drivers um, in transportation.
045We have even more than than than we've had in the pipeline. So, we're in really good shape, but we are always looking for more. >> Great. That's wonderful news. Thank you, >> Member O'Hara. >> Um, thank you for this. It's super helpful. Uh, and um, I think for all of us to remember that the first couple weeks are hard regardless, but this added complexity will add a lot is a good thing. Um, and remaining flexible. I'm uh, I'm curious about um, any coordination with we go um, and times on we go buses and how that's all coming together as well. >> Yeah, thank you. Um we are working with we go around um just looking at our new bus stops, coordinating with theirs as we have in the past and um looking at our new
046start times. We've actually had several meetings where we've been um overlaying our routes with theirs and um we've looked at our student riders and um and looked at more opportunities for we go to to have writers as well. So we're really looking at many many opportunities and um it's helping we go also see um with formative and our team and we go all working together it's also helping them to see where um additional wrership is possible throughout their system and probably needed. So it's helping them with their improvements as well. >> Thank you. That's awesome. Um and I'm I'm glad to hear it. And in here um on the list of things for us to do is uh distributing communications and and sharing. When is going to be when will we know? I'm sure things
047will get sent to us, but um how soon should we start reminding people and should I put this particular >> logo like up on my Facebook page or you know? I think um part of the language on there was when we start to send out the formal communications getting everybody ready, we'll note that this is a formal communication, continue to share it um send it out to folks um as as needed. Right now, it'll just probably be moreformational board updates um but as we move into the summer um and have more detailed specific information, we'll formalize that and send that out district-wide. But if we have folks who are start who start getting on occasion, I have people who ask questions before we are ready with full answers. And I think the appropriate answer is
048we will be communicating frequently about this at you know towards the start of school as we normally share information about the start of school. >> Absolutely. I think the information that is full goal right now are the decisions that have been approved and made. So um start times um have shifted. Um so the information you see on the screen there is factual basic information. Um and again because um routes um will vary um for families you know it's hard to share that information information just now but in a normal school year um a few weeks out we'll we'll um have our system go live where families can go in and check their um pickup times, drop off times, locations, so on and so forth. >> And we still have a section on the website that
049also talks about the start time shift. Correct. So we can point people there as well. >> Great. I just I know I'll this will be coming up while you guys are still working through it. So anyway, thank you very much again as I said when we went through this process and the voting really appreciate Chief Sullivan, you and your team and everyone that I know this is and even just in the outlining of some of the things you know one thinks of buses, one does not think of food service. Um so thank you all for being the people who are thinking of that and prepping principles etc for getting that done. >> And I I will also note um part of that is um as of Thursday we'll be kicking off promising scholars um with
050over 11 12,000 of our students. And so we have a whole transportation system that has to run the summer before the start time shift in August. So just everyone keeping that that in mind as well. Okay, member Mazize. >> So, my question has uh technically been answered and uh I'm looking forward to getting the communications because I want to make sure that I'm sharing it out as much as possible. So, just a comment, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Because this is good information and knowing that uh there will be communications forthcoming is very helpful as I start to share the information out. So, I appreciate that. Thank you. Vice uh chair and machin, >> thank you so much for the update um and the information on this. Um in your
051presentation you mentioned crossing guards, something that has been a constant um call or ask or concern in in district 4 has been about the reduction of crossing guards uh for schools across our district. I'm aware that MNPD um uh uh >> staffs crossing guards. Um so I'm curious what type of conversation you've had with MNPD related to crossing guards and and possibly the increase in students who are walking to school. >> Um happy to respond um to that. So just like in a normal year, we share um our start time information and um student information and they make um the the determinations around staff and of course we share where we see you know some opportunity but it's uh solely an MNPD um decision regarding crossing guards. >> Uh member uh Young. Thank you, chair.
052So, I've not ridden the school bus to school in a while, and so >> come on over. >> Um I'm When a student boards the bus, are they how are we tracking like are they swiping their student ID or anything like that? How do we track usage of of uh because maybe I'm crazy. Well, but I could see where in in route design and things where maybe there are certain days of the week where you've got more riders than because of certain after school or before school activities and stuff. And I I wish as we think about what solutions are out there. Surely that data would be useful to have and also maybe from a security and safety standpoint of of parents knowing on the app, hey, my kid has swiped their card to get
053on the bus. I don't know if such a thing exists, but sounds expensive, but it sounds useful. Um, and I don't know like how so I guess how are we tracking who's getting on the bus and how how many kids are on the route? >> Thanks. That's great. >> That was a lot of questions. Sorry. >> No, it's a great question and um I appreciate you uh you know really thinking through all of that because that's also you know I'm excited when folks are thinking through all the indepth little minutia of everything that we do. Um but we uh we have um wanted to have that tracking system for quite some time and we have been poised to have it. Um we had some some issues at the beginning with some state rules around how
054to how to implement it but we have gotten past that now and we are beginning the implementation. the Antioch area. Um the Antioch cluster has uh started that swipe in um this year and uh we'll be continuing that out um piloting um that pilot out through the rest of the district. So, we're very excited about that. And um but before that, our drivers have um uh one of the great things about having um the family of drivers that we do have and monitors is that they know our kids so well. And um they keep up with uh um the kids who are driving, who are riding, excuse me, um on uh on their worksheets and um you know, and have a clicker um to count the number of kids getting on when they're when they're
055hopping on right now. And um we do driver um uh checks periodically throughout and they they keep a a very um on those days they have to keep an even more accurate um rather than just the count and um uh attendance. So um but we are moving thankfully towards uh the swipe on which um will be very exciting for us. >> Yeah, you um again you'd be surprised. Our our drivers know our kids extremely well. Um so they they keep up with that um well in in places like for example in elementary like kids are designated by if they're a a bus rider um car rider and so it's not only do you get it from the bus side you also get it from the school side as well um as well. And um when
056there are shifts and and and things of that nature. So it's a it's been a collection on both school side driver side but again we're moving in the direction of the electronic tracking. >> Awesome. because I think that also helps prepare our students to be um users of WeGo. Um I mean just this fiscal year alone over 650,000 trips have been scanned by students on a WeGo bus. Um so uh you know and we go is able to take that data and they can parse down what time frames are busiest for students because they know those swipes and stuff. And so I'm sure there are a number of reasons why that information is useful that I couldn't even think of. So, I'm glad to hear I and that question was not planted. I did not
057know this was a thing, but I do feel like I certainly teed you up quite perfectly. So, you're welcome. So, glad to hear that. Thank you. >> Uh, member Taylor. >> Okay. >> member Tyler. >> Um, yeah, I had one more question. So, I know that part of the plan was to have some consolidated bus stops where students will not be at the same bus stop as that they were last year um and might be moving a short distance but still a distance away. So, will those families get any sort of targeted information about their stop change or will that just be kind of the generic way of you have to log in and just look for your bus start time? How's that going to work? >> Believe it or not, that actually happens year
058over year anyway. um this is just because of the start time we know that there could be some adjustments. So the normal um process has been you and families know this you go on you check you look for your your stop um because again year-over-year we this is actually an annual process where we're looking at routes we're looking for efficiencies sometimes it's consolidations sometimes it's breaking it out because we're seeing um uh uh population growth or enrollment growth in certain areas. So it will be by way of the system that's going to be the most accurate way for families to find out. >> Great. Yeah. you know, um, one of my kids is a driver himself now, but the other two ride the bus and so we check every year, so I'm very familiar with
059how that works. And we love our bus drivers. They are fabulous and to the point where they have been known to wait a second or two because they know we're coming. >> Yes. >> So, um, they're wonderful. And I'm I'm really pleased to see that this is working so well and that's due to y'all's leadership. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> All right. Thank you. The last thing I'll say and how to support is just to continue to love on support, thank our drivers, the entire transportation team, whether they're seen um on the bus um as a driver, as a monitor, or behind the scenes keeping our buses running efficient efficiently and well um throughout the school year. Um we absolutely have um the best transportation department in the country. I told him this just
060today. I was with them and so um just continue to support them um and celebrate them um as well because we greatly appreciate them. We know they are typically the first um school employee and the last that our students see um at the beginning end of their day. So thank you again to Chief Sullivan. Thank you to the entire um transportation team and all teams who have had to lean in um to adjust to make sure that we get off to a smooth start in August. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chief Sullivan. Um, and I also encourage uh view a come work at MNPS on all levels, but we encourage you. It's a great place to work. Um, and so we will love to have more new employees to come work with us and fulfill
061the needs of serving our awesome children. Uh, we'll now move on to public participation. Is Brandy Harmon here? Brandy Harmon. All right. Okay, we'll move on to board reports and naming of schools. Uh um to take it over to member Taylor to talk about um our committee meeting. >> Thank you, Chair Peters. I'm sorry, Claire. Taking it back. Um we um had a committee meeting earlier today where we um re well we officially named the new early learning center at the Hillwood site after Phyllis E. Phillips today uh who was a long-term employee here um for over 37 years and uh was um the director of our prek program for years uh and helped to start the prek programs that uh we offer currently and we were able to uh unanimously approve that naming of
062that new early learning center and so I thank you all for your support. >> You're very welcome. We're proud to support. All right, we'll move on to governance issues. Um, I make a mot I will entertain a motion for the consent agenda. >> Move approval. >> Uh, moved by member Young, second by member Maize. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Seven to zero. And be no further business. This meeting is adjourned. This has been a service of the Metro Nashville Network. If you would like to see this presentation again or for more information on this and other programs, visit nashville.gov. Gov.