001I 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. You're welcome, Britney. Thank you, Britney. We appreciate that. Um, I'll accept a motion for adoption of the agenda. So moved. Second. Been moved by member May, second by member Young. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? All right, that passes unanimously. Now we'll move on to director's report. Um, Dr. Battle is in uh at the AVID conference and so uh we'll have a state of the school's part. We'll give it to Chief Brenstead. All right. Thank you all. Uh for those of you that may be new uh to this board meeting this year, uh we have an annual state of schools address from
002Dr. Battle. Actually, it's a presentation and uh this year um we're going to feature Dr. Battle and some other uh special guests. So, uh she does a great job of introing the video herself. So, if we'll pull that up and then you're going to see some projector screens come down. All right. And away we go. [Music] The 202425 school year was a powerful chapter in the story of Nashville public schools. It was a year defined by steady growth, bold initiatives, and meaningful achievement inside our classrooms and across our city. Even through hardships, our students continue to rise. From academic gains to artistic triumphs, from three teams state championships and athletics to numerous personal breakthroughs, our students and educators show what's possible when we work together with purpose. At the heart of everything we do is
003a simple, unwavering belief. every student known. That's why we've continued to invest in strong instruction, safe and welcoming schools, and opportunities that stretch far beyond textbooks and test scores. For example, at Whites Creek High School, one of our many high achieving high- growth schools, student enrollment has increased by nearly 50% in recent years. This spring, the first cohort of Weiss Creek Early College students graduated, earning associates degrees from Nashville State Community College alongside their high school diplomas. every student known, every student supported, every student on a clear, guaranteed path to success. Of course, none of this happens alone. Our progress belongs to everyone. So, to help tell the story of 2024 25, I've asked a few of our friends, our incredible educators, dedicated principles, passionate students and families, and partners across Nashville to join in.
004Let's hear what they have to say. It's a tremendous honor, not just because it's a national recognition, but because it's a validation of what's going on in MNPS classrooms across the district every single day for the teachers and the students that we work alongside, it really is an affirmation that all of the leadership plays that we have been doing as far as uh instructional leadership teams, uh as far as being visible in classrooms, it's work. It's working. And that's evidenced by our school district being a level five district for three years in a row. So our goal is to continue uh the work that we're doing and to get further recognition for what we've been doing. teachers delivering high quality instruction and that comes from the curriculum, but also the planning and the talk around
005that they do each week with the other teachers really is helping to kind of they know where they can tweak and refine, but they also are learning and they know each and every student in their classroom and they're able to know where those students are at the beginning of the year and where they need to be at the end of the year to show adequate and appropriate growth. I believe we were able to achieve the level 5 3P uh due to the systems and structures that we have in place in MNPS. Uh we're very intentional with ensuring that our focus remains on positive student learning outcomes. So whether that means supporting our students to fight the attendance barriers that they may have, whether that means helping meet them with their social emotional needs, we are
006very clear that our focus is improving student learning outcomes uh to be able to support our children and our teachers with meeting the needs of every scholar. I can definitely say I feel like I saw Dr. Battle a lot. I I feel like I saw her a lot, you know, she became my bestie, you know, and I feel like seeing her and seeing all the people in the staff at MNS at like our little student events. She was at our basketball games, it made me feel like she's just not a big superintendent that just hides from the students and works behind the scenes. She's actually there. And I feel like MS actually shows us that they're here for us, that we're seen, not just, you know, working in the background and things just happen. You
007actually see the things happening in front of you. Not just with the early college program, but just me personally as a student that I was known, that I had so many opportunities, so many things I never would have had if I went to a different school district than here in MNS. Um, and I really want to thank MNS for that. Every student known means that every student in our building has an adult they can connect with. Whether it's their PE teacher, a pair professional, or their their favorite social studies teacher. They have somebody who when they see in the hallways, they say they'll welcome that student. And each student has somebody that they can check in with who knows more than just their data, their test scores. They know about their families, their interests, what
008they like, what they don't like. Uh every student known means that students feel safe, welcomed, and supported at school. this mantra, this phrase, every student known, but it really does summarize what I what my educational philosophy has always been. I think what my philosophy as a person, as a parent, honestly, I I if you take out the student, you could sub in every child known, you know, you could sub in every parent known like everyone wants to be known. It's it's our human nature. And I think when we take the time to get to know each person, the relationship building and connection really allows for um growth, really allows for students to uh to uh exceed expectations. You know, that's one of the lines in the song. We're exceeding expectations. We're going to do this.
009Being a part of every student known means a lot to me. Just being able to represent the kids of MNPS and getting getting to be able to do that through something that I love. It's a wonderful opportunity and I'm forever grateful that I was even considered for it. And one thing I loved about every student known is how much freedom they gave us. They really put us in a room and told us to do what we love. And that trust, it made us build up the confidence so we could collaborate with each other. For me, it was important to create a a Spanish language version of of every student known because it means that immigrants, Latinos, the Hispanic community, we all we we all are being heard like our voice has an impact in people's
010life. It was so important to create Kadisante Colorado because it's a way of our district really practicing what they preach. You know, sharing our core values of every student being known um to a district where so many of our students are non-English speakers. Um especially in my school community. Um so it was super important for us to demonstrate those values and demonstrate them through our actions. Um and music was something that I feel like everyone can connect with. show. Um, everyone was able to connect with the song and it was really amazing. The Emmy win, um, showed truly how brilliant our young people are. it uh provided another opportunity and platform for others to see what's going on in our district, the talent that we have, the amazing educators that we have, and then also
011community partners who are willing to lean in and support our students and teachers. I feel like it was an initial feeling of excitement and community as we all stood up and went on stage. It was just excitement and I was overjoyed that we were not only nominated but actually won an actual Emmy. But it didn't settle in until later on at school when they were playing it over the announcements. So we just wrapped our songwriting summit um this summer. This was round two and we had an amazing group of young people um sign up for this week-long intensive um collaborative uh session where they come together, they work on and write songs and then immediately we take the students into the studio and they record their vocals, they add lib, they improvise, they give feedback,
012they go back and fine-tune, and then we played um their creations for their parents that Friday. But what I love about this formula that we've created and crafted is that we bring our educators who have experience in songwriting and performing and then we bring our students. And this year what was special is we had students return from our songwriting summit last year but then we also had some new folks come and so you got to see the leadership and the growth of our firstear students um with our returning students and that mentorship that happened. The early college program at Whitesburg High School has been phenomenal for our school building. Uh this year we were able to graduate 21 scholars with their associates degree uh who had their associates degree before they actually got their high
013school diploma. Uh and they were excited. It created great opportunities for our students. Some of them, most of them are planning to go to a 4-year university. I can definitely say that that was one of the best opportunities I've ever had. Um Dr. Newman, everybody that was there really, really, really had our backs. I never felt for a day that I was struggling alone. I never felt like this was too much for me. At times I was a bit overwhelmed because it is college classes with you know high school but I always had that support system. It definitely helped me with, you know, rigor and understanding how college classes go, emailing professors, understanding the syllabus and like D2L, you know, the bright space, you know, and so I could definitely say that the early college
014program at Ice Creek definitely definitely definitely supported me. It definitely gave me all the tools to be successful in college or anything that you want to do. Even if I didn't go to college, being able to have my associates degree, period, is amazing. It definitely gave me that backbone to keep continuing on in any further education that I wanted to. It's it's saving families thousands of dollars. um when you you have students that are taking um dual enrollment courses um over a 2-year period and you know those students are not only graduating high school but they're earning their associates degree in a pathway that they feel like they want to pursue as a career. We have had a tremendous support from MNPD. We have several officers. We probably average 3 to 4 days a week
015of multiple officers and shifts out there through the voluntary overtime program. And that has been so visible and really those officers being consistent have been able to provide a really uh positive authority figure for with the adults and the and the children in the building. But that has been invaluable being able to have uh MNPD out there. School resource officers have a dual purpose and their both their roles are critical. One of them, of course, is to keep us safe, but also become a part of our culture. We see our school resource officers in classrooms. We see them in the gyms. We see them in the car rider lines. We see them show up at our basketball games and in our athletic events. So, they're not only keeping us safe, but they're building those relationships
016with students and families. So they are helping us by keeping us safe and we are helping them by building relationships with students and families to have a very positive um experience not only at our schools but in our communities as well. My dream was Belmont and was Belmont and I have a lot of faith and one day they call me and they told me Michelle I'm so excited to award you with the Bell Tower scholarship. like it was a huge change in my life cuz I was going through that dream that desire that I have but I I didn't know it was was coming true like all my effort but it was and I am so so glad and thankful for that opportunity and I will become the best version of me cuz that was
017my dream and I got it. Well, the University of MNS program is very important because it gives so many children opportunities that they've never had before. Um, I can definitely say that without the University of MNPS program, I would never know about 10 TSU Trailblazers, you know, the Fisk program, the Vanderbilt National Scholar Program. I feel like a lot of kids that think that they don't have the ability to get into college or the money or the means can use the university MNS program to actually pursue their goal because it's full rides. Everything's paid for. You don't really have to worry about, oh, how am I going to pay for my tuition and how am I going to live on campus? It's all worked out. All you have to do is, you know, focus, study.
018That's what you're going to school for. So being able to just study without the worry of any financial anything is why the University of MPS program is important. And I would definitely say the Vanderbilt Scholars program. I was just extremely shocked because Vanderbilt is a very prestigious school. And just the opportunity to go from a Nashville public school right into Vanderbilt all expenses paid is such an important and big thing that I feel like I didn't understand its like magnitude. On an everyday basis, you'll see a classroom associate act as a substitute teacher. You have seen them in small groups and one-on-one, but they're more than just a substitute teacher. They are a part of what we do. They have the ability to sit and plan with our teachers. They have the ability to help
019with one-on-one with students, whether that's behaviorally, classroom associates have been a gamecher uh for our school as far as ensuring that all of our classrooms are filled with um teachers that know the expectations of the students, they know the expectations of the school, they know my personal expectations as well. I think what an added benefit that a lot of times people don't understand is the fact that you know when you use when you outsource um resources like that um to third-party vendors um you sometimes don't get the fill rates that you would like to to get. But having these classroom associates actually employed through the school system, through the school itself, they are a permanent stakeholder in our faculty and staff. And so it they are not a stranger in our classrooms. Uh they're more
020as like an an extension of of the classroom teacher. The city of Nashville not only recognizes but cares about providing high quality public education for all the children in the city. We're a huge city uh very diverse and they want to make sure that um every student is provided that high quality instruction. I also see it in our community. We have very involved parents and they see that frankly they see their tax dollars flowing back through the investment that the city's made into public education and they see that return on their investment by the high quality experience their children are receiving at our school. I think the investments that the city has provided our school particularly as well as the rest of the district too is that we have the funds necessary to support all
021the instructional uh learning um needs of our students. We are putting the best human capital and best teachers in front of our students each and every day. We've got great security resources as well in all of our schools. Um we've got the human capital. I never feel like we're are low on staffing. And obviously too, um I pull up to a beautiful building each and every day and I could say when I go to other campuses within this district too, I could see that the support from the city of Nashville doesn't just come into our instructional environment, but actually goes into the physical assets of the buildings, too. Our buildings and grounds are in great shape. And um it feels wonderful being a part of something this great and being part of a city whose
022leaders really have a focus on uh public education. Being able to provide students with a well-rounded education, it doesn't just stop at the end of the school day. It continues with character building uh working on your integrity. Uh remember that you are a scholar athlete. Uh and the investment that we have poured into our athletic programs at MNPS has been remarkable over the last several years. Uh so much so that students are now there more students engaged in a participating in our after school activities. Uh it has been a huge increase since the pandemic and you see there there's competitiveness and there's a desire and there's a sense of ownership of your school really bringing back that school pride that used to be around in each of our schools and in particular I can think
023about the Whites Creek pride. Um the the athletics has brought that back. You won't find anybody saying anything negative about Whit Creek athletes without our students saying no no we're here and we're here. We're ready to rise up and be great every day. you we have not only jumped into MNS elementary athletics but we won uh the cross country championships boys and girls this fall and we've been competing at the uh in soccer for two years. I see that as just a really it's a great outlet and it builds kind of bonds and ties with those older fourth and fifth grade students and we see it as another reason to really retain uh and keep fifth graders in our building and focused on school and knowing that they can participate in sports as they move
024on to the next level. We raised $5 million in 67 days. And to say that this was an urgent project, when Dr. Battle came to us um at Percy Priest in November of 2023 and said, you know, ground is broken on these schools. Um she took out a big leap of faith in me and Katie Agnu and said, if we're going to do Percy Priest, we need to do all three schools. and she trusted us to fund raise that money, which needed to happen quickly because the schools were already under construction. And so, uh, she didn't know if we'd be able to do it. So, um, her faith in us absolutely opened doors that would not have been opened otherwise. what's possible for the community when they partner with public education. The sky's is the
025limit. We have the opportunity to engage in other partnerships and I think the incredible donors because we have to thank the donors who've responded quickly and said yes we will step into the breach and make sure that this happens. Um I think donors are excited about the possibility of future public private partnerships. Well, they'll have expanded community spaces and Percy Priest is in a unique situation because it has a PTO. Lake View Elementary and Paragon Mills do not have active PTOs. So, the parents in those schools, you know, weren't given the opportunity for formal fundraising the way that we were. And when Dr. Battle pled the equity case to us as to why it needs to be three schools. And then she upped the Annie even further by saying if we do these three schools,
026we will change the ed specs to ensure that all elementary schools going forward have full-size gymnasiums and full-size community spaces for all the things we know that they do for students. Uh it means a lot to me and it means a lot to to my siblings and my entire family. Um, Metro National Public Schools is something that my dad advocated for and worked for for quite a long time. So, even though he's not he's not here to see it, for us to see the fruits of that labor um is really exciting for us. Um, very emotional for me. Um, and one thing he used to tell us was that a dream deferred is never denied. So, um, he would just be so honored to know that the school board has decided to rename the school
027to honor him and his legacy. And we're so happy to be a part of it. I think our record high graduation rate speaks to the K12 education that's being provided inside of MNPS. Uh, graduation rate doesn't just start with the senior year. It starts with the student in kindergarten. And it speaks to how our elementary principles are preparing students for middle school and our middle school principles are preparing students for high school. And then the high school principal is finishing it out by providing the supports needed to ensure that our students are ready to go out and to either be college or career ready uh going out into being in that workforce or going into the university setting. Uh it speaks to how we are preparing our kids to be ready to graduate when they
028leave here. It speaks to the well-rounded education that's being provided inside of MNPS. When you think about being a level five district for three school years in a row, now you're seeing the fruit of the labor come together, when you see now only thing the next what's going to happen was the graduation rate was going to increase. What gets me excited um about the 25 26 school year is um just continuing to ride the wave of success that we've had over the last four to five years. So what what makes me excited about the 2526 school year is that one I know that we're going to get back the the results to say that MNPS is a 4P, right? Has has completed that and is building upon their their dynasty uh here inside of our
029school district. But also makes me excited is that there are more opportunities that are being created for our students to be successful. Uh there's a new and renewed focus on ready graduates. So ensuring that our all of our students have the right uh supports needed for them to be successful after uh high school and that post-secondary um pathway uh regardless of they choose to go to college or the military, go to the workforce, they're going to be prepared for that with this renewed focus on the ready graduate. So I'm excited about those opportunities that are being created. And I also have heard that our enrollment in our school district has been going increasing, which means that there are more opportunities for students to be successful. In the words of our fearless leader, Dr. Adrian Battle,
030know where you are, but don't stay there. So, what I'm looking forward to is the opportunity to scale up what we're already doing, the opportunity to expand on our leadership plays, the opportunity to dig further into our student data, the opportunity to advance uh beyond what we're already doing, hopefully get a four pete as a TOAS. Uh so I'm excited about the new opportunities and just scaling up, being more focused, more purposeful, and more intentional about the practices that we are already uh putting forth here in our district and at our school. Thank you to everyone who shared their reflections and thank you to every student, teacher, staff member, and supporter who made this past year one to remember. Whether in academics, the arts, athletics, or career exploration, we've seen our students rise, lead, and
031thrive. While I can't talk much about it quite yet, I am very much looking forward to sharing some exciting news in the coming weeks and months about our continued gains and academic performance and growth that have been a staple of our district over the past few years. But we're not just looking back, we're looking ahead. Because in Nashville Public Schools, we don't stand still. Our philosophy is simple. Know where you are, but don't stay there. Growth is the goal, and our work never stops. This summer, we're building on the momentum of 2024-25 to go even further. We're deep into planning, focus on new ways to accelerate learning, elevate teaching, and ensure that every school is a place where students and the adults who serve them can flourish. I believe in what we've built. I believe
032in where we're going. And most of all, I believe in the people who make it happen. Our educators, our families, our partners, and our students. This is more than a school district. It's a community, and I'm incredibly proud to lead it. Thank you for making Nashville Public Schools such an extraordinary place to learn, work, and grow together. [Music] Um, now we'll move over to um public participation. Uh, we have one person I believe I can't remember. Uh Juan Lewis, I mispronounced your name. Desawn, are you here? Going once, going twice. All right, we'll move on from public comment. Uh we have no committee reports. Um we did not have any committees meeting um prior to this meeting. Now we'll move on to governance issues um and onto the consent agenda. May I have a motion?
033Move approval. Second. Moved by member Young, seconded by Vice Chair Nabad and Kenny. Uh, all in favor say I. I. Any oppose? All right, it passes unanimously, 8 to zero. Um, we'll move on to board reports. The only report that we have is that we will not meet until July 22nd. That will be our next board meeting. We will not meet in the first meeting in July due to the Fourth of July holiday um, and for the break. But we'll we'll meet at July 22nd. Um and be no more further business. This meeting is adjourned. [Music] Man, what 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. [Music]