11/09/21 MNPS Board Meeting

00121 of the metro national public schools board of education we thank you all for being here uh as we begin the night we have a quorum we have just a few missing but we'll likely trickle in um can we all stand for the pledge of allegiance being led by our new hr director mrs melissa roberge i'm really hoping my memory from elementary school serves me well 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 wonderful thank you so much and again welcome to this new capacity though you are a consistent team member all right we are excited we have some awards and recognitions uh from two different schools so dr battle good evening

002and thank you chair bugs um tonight we've got a couple of amazing groups of mnps high school student athletes and coaches and teachers and administrators we want to recognize and honor i'll start with the hume fog volleyball team until recently it had been a long time 23 years to be exact since one of our schools had won a state championship in volleyball but on friday october 22nd the blue knights did it and they did it the hard way so come along with me on this journey you see him fog lost his first match in the class double a elimination tournament that's a tough way to start wouldn't you agree ladies but they didn't come home from that first day in murfreesboro with their heads down no they knew they still had a chance and they

003seized their opportunity hume fog did not lose again and i was thrilled to be there cheering them on with so many of their fellow students their parents the staff the team of hume fog when they defeated east hamilton in the championship match don't get used to this okay so tonight we're honoring the entire hume fog volleyball team their coach samantha kopas assistant coach carolyn owens athletic director jesse blair assistant principal lisa benelli and principal kelly hargis and everyone else who played a part in their success now we also want to recognize a parent who very generously paid the price of admissions for dozens if not hundreds of students to attend the championship game mr crew death the lake are you here you're at the lake are you here come on up come on up he

004has a daughter sonia who is a junior on the volleyball team and he knew sonia and her teammates will need some big energy behind them as they took on a strong east hamilton team after playing three matches the day before and it was a joy to see and hear the students creating the energy in the gym so mr jayatha lake thank you so much for your incredible generosity and your support for the team blue knights you had a tremendous tournament and a superb season that we will never forget you've placed your way into history and you deserve every bit of that big trophy can we see it there it is the big trophy thank you for bringing it with you tonight so congratulations to all of you on winning the 2021 class double a state

005volleyball championship let's stand and give them applause [Music] in coaches administrators if you can come on up we'll get a couple pictures as a part of our celebration the last dogs was my senior year in high school oh yeah were you on there no no you're a soccer player we also made it to state but we're the runners athletes oh like it was lost [Music] [Laughter] you're like i have a different picture in my mind like french it's like uh like so it's like where they just set the ball down and shoot just literally pee okay [Applause] [Music] you know yeah [Music] um getting ready for the holidays [Music] is congratulations again all those affiliated with hume fog and especially to those volleyball students we have another set of awards and recognitions because metro national

006public schools is always rocking dr battle thank you chair bugs i do have another one for you so we are also thrilled to recognize white's creek high school tonight for winning the tws double a's af bridges sportsmanship award so if the white's creek team can come on up to the front the af bridges award is given and named in honor of the tws double a's first executive secretary who served in that role for 26 years under mr bridges leadership high school athletics in tennessee reach levels of excellence and competence that earned respect all across the state this award is given to schools that had no reported unsportsmanlike conduct incidents during the previous school year and displayed impeccable sportsmanship at their games white's creek was one of 27 schools across the state that received this great

007honor for playing sports the right way i want to thank and congratulate principal brian males and his administrative team the white's creek athletic department and every coach and student athlete at white's creek for instilling creating and maintaining such a strong culture of sportsmanship rise up cobras and thank you for making mnps look so good with the way you play the game congratulations let's please stand to give them a round of applause [Applause] and i'm sorry as a point of privilege i do have to point out that coach cole actually coached me in basketball once and he did make sure that we were very that we showed sportsmanship that we were kind that we um hustled but that we were not rude on or off the court so i appreciate you i appreciate what you all

008are doing at weiss creek oh man all right thank you for that dr battle and m ps staff it is now time for one of our most exciting parts of our meeting public participation where we get to hear from community members in nashville understand your issues a bit better please know that if you are everybody you will have three minutes once your name is called you'll see it up on the screen once your three minutes is over please we ask you to end your last sentence and step away from the mic but let's say that you are you are not finished with your remarks please feel free to call or email us later with the rest of them so that we can follow up if need be with that being said we had a bit

009of a snafu one was left off we'll begin with james spencer then aaron evans [Music] good evening everyone i guess i get to lead the show i'm speaking tonight in two capacities i'm representing the movement with the sciu about the compensation study we need that we need the compensation study done across the district for all our support staff i understand that you guys are moving forward to that i appreciate that so much because it's definitely needed me personally i feel like transportation which has an issue with the district nutrition which has an issue with the district and security which also has a current issue with the district are the three most important factors in the daily operation of our commodity our commodity is the kids if the kids can't get to school it's a problem

010if the kids don't eat when they get to school it's a problem because some of them that's their only meal in the day breakfast lunch that's it when they go home it's all they get you know and then as far as security they have to be safe they have to feel safe when they're in school if they can't learn because they're not getting to school not eating well and they don't feel safe that's the issue that's killing the kids that's killing the educational process of the kids all right thank you i speak in that half for my sei youth constituents on this next half i'm speaking as an officer [Laughter] an officer of the security department that has a bunch of ongoing current issues i already spoke about the conversation and y'all are dealing with

011the compensation but my biggest issue now is still the executive officers in our department you did make a switch over who's over us directly as far as the executive staff the e.o.o yes you did that appreciate it the e.d still over us and you all know the conversation you all know what's real you all know what's on black and white why is that still happening up until everybody got their raises 138 to do what now 143 143 five thousand dollar raise you can fix my problem with that 143 to do what hey thank you uh councilman aaron evans thank you for recognizing me this evening i appreciate the opportunity to speak in front of all of you my name is aaron evans i represent hermitage in district 12 and so mr little is my representative

012and so i wanted to be here tonight really to share an experience that i had that i felt like was very very positive uh through the pencil foundation with the principal for a day i was afforded the opportunity to be with one of my schools in my district i only have two elementary schools but they're the two best elementary schools in all of mnps and i had a wonderful time with principal westbyre and vice principal stadium learning more about ruby major i think one of the negatives that happened as we got started with our day because we were on zoom on teams is they let me know hey our internet may be unstable during this time i got home later that day on social media heard of other stories of teachers experiencing a lot of

013frustration with their internet access i don't know if it's been resolved but i know that when i was an educator if i didn't feel supported with the tools that i needed it made for a very frustrating teaching experience and so hopefully it has one of the things that i had an opportunity to do last year during the council term was represent the council on the education committee as the vice chair i really appreciate the opportunity to work with chair bugs and vice chair elrod on some of the things that we did to really educate the council about the issues that you all are dealing with on a regular basis i will say that on the council the majority of us recognize that nobody in the in that's teaching or faculty member administrator are likely paid

014enough um and so ultimately we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to pay so i uh support you know mnea and the efforts that they're putting into really trying to raise the conversation with seiu about pay in addition i wanted to mention that i have switched over to the public health and safety committee as the new chair and one of the opportunities that i've had recently is to go to a church and talk about some of the health and safety issues that i have in our community and ultimately one of the things they asked me was what can we do to support your work and my default answer which i think is is true for practically any answer related to metro council is i talked about supporting our schools and

015how can the community be more involved in supporting our educators and our faculty members and our staff so if anybody is listening from district 12 if you need a job please consider mnps if you'd like to be a bus driver please consider mnps because i know we desperately need those so thank you very much for your time and have a good rest of your meeting thank you very much council lady all right uh karen's son all right my name is kellyanne graff and i'm speaking for karen's son tonight who had to deal with a family emergency i live on glen rose circle and i teach at thurgood marshall middle school i'm a 7th grade ela teacher and i wanted to come here to speak today to talk about the widespread effects of the sub and

016bus driver shortages and propose solutions that we can fix these problems that are impacting our quality of education and our quality of life for students teachers and community members so at marshall we have three vacancies and um one teacher on fmla we do have a permanent substitute but that is like a small drop in a pail when you have three other consistent vacancies we have teachers going through a lot of trauma and personal issues because of the continued pandemic so dealing with family health crises dealing with um mental health second-hand trauma from our students the trauma that we're going through ourselves and we're unable to take mental health days sick days personal days because we know there's no one there to cover our classes almost every single day i'm covering one two classes my co-teacher

017i teach four inclusion el inclusion classes my co-teacher is pooled to cover classes almost daily um so our ee and our el students are really bearing the brunt of this and from a professional standpoint from mnea of course i'm worried about our students i'm also worried when this test scores come back of these students who have not been receiving their services and my coworkers being punished for doing the work that they were asked to do and with scores with teams evaluations there's little grace there's no box on that rubric to say oh you did a great job covering classes today you did a great job teaching two interventions at the same time you really managed to keep five students engaged on teams while teaching a class of 25 while we might get a little bit

018of money here and there for covering classes we're still hurt professionally and our students academics are suffering as well i'm also concerned about buses some of my shyest meekest gentlest students have come to me concerned about the quality on their buses and their safety on their buses because they are being threatened by other students they're being compacted in there which is heightening tensions i'm also concerned about the lack of contact tracing on buses the lack of contact tracing with split classes and the lack of transparency with covet issues i've had students who tell me that they have tested positive for covet and they were sitting next to my desk and they did not the school did not contact me to tell me i was a close contact thank you all right um we have a

019golden calyx and an interpreter to support golden calyx [Music] my name is golden calyx i have three girls gildan 15 years old who is in 10th grade um who are 12 years old and are in seventh grade saudi arabia all three attempt to lead southeast mi familia parte del escuela saudis my family's been a part of lead southeast since gildan was in fifth grade as you can see i have six years being in this school and i'm part of the leadership team of the school [Music] i'm real happy and calm having my children there [Music] because they're learning how to be leaders how to follow rules and how to um and there's a monthly meeting with the principals from the middle and high schools [Music] which actually uh tomorrow we have one in tenemos los

020padres directors uh and parents have an opportunity to voice their concerns and propose solutions or collaborate on solutions and i'm very happy about that lisa [Music] the student teachers and the teachers make us feel like we're part of the school and to me that's something very important an example of lead southeast or what comes out of leeds southeast is my oldest daughter not just because she's my daughter but each year the school my daughter and us as parents my student is focused on going to university um can we proceed i'll give them well because they have a interpreter and speaking twice we'll give them another three minutes thank you um as i was saying my daughter is very focused on going to university she's in 10th grade and she is very excited about becoming a

021veterinarian and i hope she is able to do so and i'm very excited [Music] i've never had any issues with the school she's never had any behavior problems everything has gone well we have a lot of a lot of the journey ahead and that's why i'm uh asking you to vote uh in favor of lead southeast families so that my daughters are able to finish their studies and also other families have the opportunity to join this organization thank you so much for your time thank you nicole rowan billy sanders anitria pettis rachel harrington neil cappallino jeremiah wooten good evening i will try to talk quickly my name is jeremiah wooten i live in mrs bush's district but work at oliver middle school in miss elrod's district here at mmps we strive to make every student

022known in last year's day of the school's address dr battle said quote every student should have a clear and achievable path to success marked by measurable goals a critical aspect of that is collecting and communicating accurate data on student performance unfortunately the support hub's procedures around grading and communicating student performance this year has been mired by simple mistakes unforced errors or perhaps incompetence and when these mistakes were brought to their attention members of the so-called support hub continue to deflect blame onto teachers for their own mistakes instead of supporting the teachers students and families they're supposed to here's a list of these mistakes in chronological order first setting incorrect grading calculations on infinite campus at the beginning of the school year is not supporting teachers students or families communicating corrected quarter one progress report grading

023guidance for grades two through eight with less than 48 hours to the grading deadline does not support teachers students or families claiming that progress reports were delayed and replaced with notices of concern because of technical issues is a lie and unacceptable behavior that does not support teachers students or families the fact that the support hub set up incorrect grading calculations is not a technical issue tying teacher virtual workday incentives to registration for the personalized student dashboard which for the entire first quarter displayed inaccurate grades for students in grades two through eight is not supporting teachers students or families stating that changes were made to quote simplify the sinking process for teachers does also not support teachers students or families nothing about the sinking progress changed the only thing that changed was they finally changed the

024grading category so that they're weighted correctly communicating quarter one grading guidance with less than 24 hours to the end of the first quarter is not supporting teachers students or families and asking teachers to complete their grading duties on the day reserve for mandatory trainings or over fall break was in violation of our mou technical support messages like the one posted on schoology two weeks ago which continued to imply sinking issues were the fault of teachers and not the fault of the support hub's own directions to for teachers in grades two through eight to not sink grades until the last few days of the first quarter do not support teachers students and families in primary previous email correspondence i invited mason bellamy david williams and jill petty to share what changes they'll be making to ensure

025these issues don't continue and i receive no response so i'm now asking the board to investigate how these consistent and significant unforced errors occurred and how we can prevent them in the future so that our students parents families know about their students performance that's the only way we can make every student known i've emailed the full text of this speech to all board members so please reach out if you'd like to learn more about any of the seven major failures by the support hub in regard to grading in just this first quarter thank you for your time eli foster [Applause] my name is eli foster i live in bellevue i have two children that go to bellevue middle and one child that goes to harper valley and first i just want to say thanks for

026the board taking the stand to say we need to teach accurate history and for you saying you have our back thank you second i want to say thank you to district nine rep miss abigail tyler for the process she is leading with the naming of our new high school in case you didn't know we're getting a new high school and what you have is you have the bellevue people say name it after bellevue you took our high school in 1980. versus the hillwood people who aren't as loud and there aren't as many say no keep it hill would keep it up that's what you have but the current hillwood community is made up of three communities north nashville bellevue and hillwood instead of trying to leave the north nashville community out i think we need

027to be more inclusive with the name we name our high school let me humbly suggest the name james lawson you see the reverend dr james lawson was trained in direct non-violent action in india in 1957 he came back to united states and an oberlin college met with dr king and dr king said james come to the south we have no one like you here he moved to nashville became a leader in core and he was an educator he led people here in nashville in non-violent direct action resistance he trained james bevel he trained diane nash he trained john lewis he trained ct vivian none of those people would have led the nashville student movement the way they did without james lawson and what did vanderbilt university do to say thank you for this leadership they

028expelled him in 1960 from vanderbilt divinity school 12 of the 16 faculty at that time at vanderbilt resigned in opposition to this see james lawson was a leader and educator who made a difference in nashville and the world not only did he lead the most successful sitting campaign which was the nashville campaign he then was behind orchestrating the architecture of snik student nonviolent coordinating committee he then helped organize and was imprisoned during the freedom rides in 1961. he helped organize the march in washington he is a man who has been committed to equity for all continuing to speak for the rights of the lgbtq plus community and continuing to speak for workers rights his entire life when we named fifth avenue james when we named it john lewis way james lawson was the keynote speaker

029let's do right incorporate all three parts of the community at hillwood and name the new high school james lawson thank you thank you mr foster honey harris sidekick i'm honey harris i live in 1217 bryan street o hickory teacher tulip grove and hermitage and just for the record before i even get started i called my board member and i have yet to hear back from my board member i'm still waiting i have worked for metro for over 20 years and every year i'm told the same thing we got you honey we'll take care of you we'll give you the raise that you deserve we'll give you the right well on those promises i still managed to work two jobs and put my daughter through high school i'm a proud parent of a daughter who's 27

030who now works at vanderbilt i have this one now he's 10. he's been with me at tulip grove since when he was born taking him to school now he's just at the school next door at dupont tyler y'all still giving me the same song and dance we're gonna take care of you honey we're gonna take care of you i have yet to see it and everybody sitting here know i've been here a thousand to one times plus one take care of me stop promise me you won't take care of me and do what you've been telling me you're going to do for the last 20 years now y'all ain't been sitting there for 20 years but y'all sitting here now so the problem is yours now pay me so i don't have to choose between

031feeding him and keeping a roof over his head pay me pay me what i deserve pay me what i've earned i said before and i say it again i'm not asking you to give me a hand out i'm just asking you to pay me what i give you and have given you for 20 years pay me our kids parents don't know school starts at 7 45. we had kids rolling in my building today at 9 30. wonder why they're telling us not to take attendance we're worried about teaching content and i'm in the third grade this year third grade push in that's a teacup grade every parent sitting here need to know your kid at tula grove if they ride in these buses we're getting buses in at 9 30. now you talk about tcap

032scores makes you watch your kids tcap scores because i'm telling you now they're getting there at 9 30. so how much school are they missing and you talk about taking and if they get a score that you don't like now you know the answer you have two i have two people in my cafeteria and a manager who are feeding my school who is 500 plus people they're having to still do breakfast at 9 30 while they try to prepare for lunch so when your kids come home and say they're hungry i wonder why that's my time thank you elizabeth [Applause] hi my name is dawn johnson i'm the parent advisory committee secretary i'm here on behalf of bb heinz she's graduating from the my city academy this evening uh the pac now has 84 members

033as of the eighth of this month and we have reps from every single school cluster nine of the 14 clusters have been assigned cluster coordinators we're still actively looking for cluster coordinators at antioch hunters lane stratford white's creek and maple wood so if you're interested please reach out to the mmps pack we've partnered with and created projects with our local community partners such as the nashville public education foundation the nashville public library el hamada noaa and the tennessean we've had monthly meetings in both our clusters and our district-wide packs since august of 2021. we consider these meetings to have been incredibly successful and very amicable we appreciate those of you who have shown up and supported us along the way we have several upcoming events in the month of november the first one will be

034our district-wide pac meeting on november the 16th at 6 00 pm it will be an online event you can find that information on our website just google mmps pack on twitter or follow us on facebook as well we also have an event coming up on uh we are reviewing the by design movie on november the 20th at 2 p.m at the edmondson pike library we have a pack town hall that will be in this room on november the 23rd at 4 pm and we will have another viewing of the by design movie and a discussion on december the 4th at 10 30 a.m at the hermitage library branch again please follow us on our website on twitter or on facebook thank you all thank you charles friedman don't start it yet all right good evening

035my name is charles friedman i'm the founder of nashville classical charter school i am here to humbly ask you to locally approve our school and ask the administration to work with us on a mutually agreeable location why am i making this request well three months ago i watched you discuss our proposal which review committee of mnps staff found met all criteria for approval however the board denied us based on our proposed location and at that meeting i heard you say two things one the representative of district nine shared that the location would not have community support and second the board chair expressed concerns about our transportation plan wherein the burden would largely fall on african-american families in bordeaux white's creek in north nashville and frankly those comments stuck in both my head and my heart

036you see for the past 10 years as east nashville has rapidly gentrified we have worked to build an intentionally diverse and inclusive and integrated school it is my life's work and as a new father and as someone who has a wife who i know many of you know has a has a terminal disease i think it is a goal that i plan to work towards with every second that i have and here's what we've learned from 10 years of leading that diverse school schools are so much more than bricks and buildings they are communities we opened our school in a four-room schoolhouse families followed us to an abandoned head start that the city said was unusable after that we leased bailly middle school from you which had actually already been closed three times in five

037years due to low enrollment today nashville classical has 552 students in grades k through 8 and opened this school year with the second longest wait list in the city clearly schools are so much more than buildings and so even though our school has approved to open at brooke meade by the state and we are happy and prepared to do so we are also trying as hard as we possibly can to both hear and honor your feedback and so humbly i'll ask you to vote for local approval of our school tonight which means local control of our academics local control of our budget and local control of yes our building and so i hope that you'll consider a resolution to approve our school locally and i hope you'll ask the administration to work with us to

038identify a mutually agreeable location there is a 30-day window under state law in which this can happen and there would be nothing that we would like more than to be locally approved to partner with the district and be part of mnps thank you very much for considering this proposal i'm very grateful i know this is a complex decision and so even to be able to be considered to be on the agenda means a lot to us i'll be here to answer your questions and i would hope during discussion you would consider giving me that opportunity thank you thank you julie trudel trudeau trudeau it's okay my students call me miss t um my name is julie trudell i live and work in antioch and fran bush's district and i'm here today to talk about how

039buses right now are not safe they are not safe for our students kids come to me every morning telling me how stressed they are from having to sit three to the seat sit in the aisles go multiple routes as you have heard from other people it's an unsustainable situation it's not fair to them academically it's not fair to their health and safety in a pandemic and the roots of this is because we're not paying and recruiting bus drivers like we should now the united steelworkers union have partnered with mnea and sciu to come forward with demands for better pay for bus drivers and a better recruitment strategy better pay for subs and more time for teachers and we have nearly 1200 signatures on that petition that we're bringing to you because we're fed up this

040is un like this is unsustainable and kids are suffering like imagine coming to school and you've had to go on your route or been late to your route there's no way you can focus academically buses are arriving just as late as um honey said and kids at the end of fourth block they're so anxious about getting on that bus they're anxious to get to be able to get a seat we've had kids i work at antioch high school right we've had kids leave the building at 4 pm before because there's so many multiple rounds we can't have this happen we have to have a solution and that solution is a better recruitment strategy and better pay for our bus drivers thank you so much thank you felia howard good evening chair and board members my

041name is cordelia howard and i work at maplewood high school 401 walton lane nashville tennessee as an administrative assistant and i have been a metro employee for 30 years this evening i would like to bring to your attention the ppe supplies that the school received for staffs and students we need better ppe that comes from the state to our schools the gloves that are sent are vinyl ones and they are very cheap and thin they tear when you put them on and some staff members must put on two of them because of the thinness of them we need gloves that the of the same material like the custodians the maintenance workers and the hospitals have the hand sanitizer comes in gallon jugs some of it's clear some of it is the yellowish the yellowish is

042not that good one of our teachers accidentally dropped her bottle and it burst it it stripped the wax clean off her floor so you can imagine what it's doing to your hands it has no moisturizer in it the next thing i would like to bring up is the white cloth mask those are really not the proper masks they are not the proper mask for students or staff members to work to wear you cannot breathe in them people that are close contact may get the virus or whatever it cannot filter out what needs to be filtered out last of all we do get the disinfect wipes but we get been getting more hand sanitizer wipes than the disinfect you cannot disinfect the chairs the desks that the students have to do before the next class come

043in with alcohol sanitizer wipes they need to disinfect wipes and i'm glad that lp pencil box they're a big help they have supplied plenty of lights all wipes as well and that helps out a whole lot high schools and middle school teachers they go through more than one pack a week it could be two elementary schools different they don't change classes unless they go into related arts middle schools high schools students change classes every blocks so one pack of wipes a week which is five packs for one month is not going to do it and they should be able to have more when they ask for it and instead of us just saying no we can't give it to them we should be able to give them what they need some teachers use two packs

044a week please take everything i have mentioned into consideration and thank you for your time thank you kelly phillips nate miley hey good evening y'all i must have missed the memo on this one i'm uh there's a lot of people in here i'm the principal and uh proud parent of creep hall elementary and i came just to share some really great things that are going on in the district and other schools and at my school with you all so a little bit different tone transportation has been tough you know there's there's not a lot we can do to help our kids when we don't have bus drivers but i've been so impressed by two people within the district melvin fulgium and kenyatta harrison they are rock stars so kenyatta worked herself sick earlier in the

045year by doing by doing her job but then also driving the buses and so then her supervisor melvin had to take over they've been awesome with communication and as a principal melvin has texted me evenings before saying hey there's going to be an issue he's texting me early in the morning which allows me then to communicate with families in advance yeah nobody wants there to be bus issues but when they're when we can't control that communication is awesome so they've been fantastic to work with next at my school one of my teachers kendra mccalla again rockstar she is currently getting her eds and she's definitely going to be a leader that y'all need to be aware of because she's going to be running this place someday but as a teacher it's been awesome so i've

046i've been with her this is year six so the average growth of students in her class who come in below grade level is 1.5 years worth of growth that's awesome y'all we expect kids to make one year and she for her below kids in her hat and above kids are making 1.3 years worth of girls she's fantastic fantastic and last the school less than a mile to the south of us is norman binkley if you don't know james urquhart over the principal over there man he's a genius i was going to end with that but i'll throw it in there what james is doing he's creatively using funds and scheduling in his people to get multiple opportunities for his el students to get small group support it is incredible every year i'm talking to james

047and saying what are you doing and trying to figure out how i can replicate that at my school for my el kids so that's all i wanted to say hope you have you all have a good evening thank you cynthia goddard hi my name is cindy goddard i'm district 4. um live in nashville tennessee i'm here representing moms for liberty and as you know our main focus is what is being taught to our children in the classroom we're also fighting to establish and protect parental rights as we don't believe they stop at the classroom door tonight we would like to ask the board members a few questions so we can determine where each of you stand on certain issues we realize you can't answer us directly tonight so we'll just bring our questions to light

048for now and expect your answers afterward we'll be leaving you a hard copy of the questions we're asking and we'll also follow up with an email we are looking for direct answers please question one this question is about the esser grant that mnps received according to the mnps website it says in response to cobit 19 the u.s congress passed several pieces of legislation that sent billions of dollars in relief funds to states tennessee received in total 4.2 billion dollars to be spent on schools across the state in three phases this is known as the elementary and secondary school emergency relief fund and for the third phase that was included in the american rescue plan mnps has been granted 276 million dollars we would like to know what is being done with the money how much

049of it has already been spent and on what exactly has there been any money spent on the study and efficacy of industrial hygiene initiatives also are there any strings attached to such a huge piece of federal funding what are the incentives specifically is the receipt of this funding based on you all continuing to impose a mass mandate in our schools are you receiving a certain amount of money per child to keep them in mass our main concern is that governor lee once governor lee signs the bill that the tennessee legislature just passed then school jurisdictions throughout the state will have to comply with the law and eliminate mass mandates for our school children will that have any effect on the esser grant will the school board comply with the law and eliminate eliminate mass mandates

050even if some of the funding is jeopardized thank you for your time thank you carolyn lutz good evening thank you for having us speak tonight i also am with moms for liberty i am going to continue with our questions my question this evening is on the textbook transparency act according to the textbook transparency act which is a tn hb-150 that governor lee signed into law in may and it went into effect july 1st of this year parents are guaranteed access to their children's textbooks and all instructional material including teachers manuals under this bill there is an electronic version of there is supposed to be an electronic version of the textbook then it must be it must be stored on an electronic database that data and that database be available for public review the same applies

051to all proposed textbooks and instructional materials the online site shall allow inspection of both the textbook or instructional materials and all accompanying manuals workbooks and other uh materials so our question is my question is where can we obtain this information we are told according to the the bill that the each each lea should have a link to their textbooks and materials instructional materials and teachers manuals on their websites they do not we have looked at all different schools and nobody has direct access to these manuals i do know that they are at the textbook depository uh i've been there i've seen them but you're not allowed to check them out of course they're extremely thick so copying them would be very difficult so we we were told our i was told at the depository that

052the best way to view them is online which of course we agree but we have not been able to find the teacher's manuals or any other material online we were also told that the manuals get changed and updated online but these changes are never sent to the depository so what they have on file is not up to date or complete by any means so again my question is if please tell us where the current teachers manuals live online and how we can access them which is according to the textbook transparency act we would like to have this information please thank you for your time thank you jennifer konder [Applause] hello my name is jennifer conder i'm also with moms for liberty and i want to continue with uh one more question for the board uh

053now that a cobia copin 19 vaccine has been approved for children ages 5 to 11. i'd like to know where you stand on a cobin 19 vexing mandate for children in our public schools realizing that you may have both a personal opinion about a vaccine mandate and also a board position on the subject we'd like to know where how you feel on both fronts do you think that children should be required to get the vaccine in order to stay in school or do you believe it should be a personal decision made by the student's parents if you're for a vaccine mandate for all students how do you think schools should handle the unvaccinated should the unvaccinated students be separated from those who have been vaccinated or should they be banned from coming to school altogether

054if they aren't allowed to come to school in person is mnps prepared to provide online education services to these students who don't get vaccinated since the past year of at home learning has taught us that it is inferior to learning in person do you think that would be fair to these students simply because their parents have health concerns and refused to have them vaccinated if they are allowed to come to school without being vaccinated would they have to sign a religious exemption as with other vaccinations or do they have a choice to opt out without the cover of religion and if allowed to come to school would the unvaccinated students be held in in-school suspension and be segregated from the rest of the students because of their personal decision not to be vaccinated do you

055feel this type of segregation would be fair so as you can see there the possibility of a vaccine mandate for children brings on a myriad of questions and issues that will need to be decided and planned for and paid for with our tax dollars we think it's only fair that parents and constituents know where you stand on these issues and as it's a decision that every parent will have to make as well thank you for your time and i'll leave copies here for you all thank you amity marsh [Applause] hi my name is mary french i'm taking amnesty marsha's place i'd like to reiterate the questions that were presented earlier and ask that they may be answered so that we can determine where each of you stands on these issues according to mnp school board

056website the school board represents the public's voice in public education providing oversight for what the public schools need and what the community wants an effective school board has an important role in keeping your local school on track and setting policies that affect your child in your school so to reiterate what the community wants our questions are number one we would like to follow the money from the ess er grant and know how it is being spent and if there are any strings attached to it number two we would like to know where the current teachers manuals live online and how we can gain access to them as outlined in the textbook transparency act we would like to know where each of you stands on the issue of mandatory vaccinations for our school children it is

057my understanding that a current school teacher told me that there will be three months of wit and wisdom after christmas i and many others feel that critical race theory is pure evil to talk about suicide gender identity and even bringing attention to whether a child is white or a person of color is insane the children do not see color why are we telling them that especially elementary school they cannot handle it high school students resent being asked what pronoun they want to be called let's get back to reading writing and arithmetic thank you very much for your time thank you lashane smith [Applause] shane smith hamade mohina sherry flanagan donna brown um good afternoon dr battle to the school board i stand before you all my name is donna clay i've been working for mnps

058now for eight years i'm at stratfor stem i res my residence is at 1500 for the road i stand before you all today because of pay and the way things are expensive how they're taking away property and then we have to have to move if my rent is a thousand and sixty dollars i can't make it on what i make now it's impossible my net it don't add up so i'm robbing peop a power to pay peter is whether i'm to pay my light bill or pay my rent and then i got late fees and the day's off we are we office too many days i'm sorry i'd rather be at work serving the kids feeding the kids you know i love serving them i love those little rascals um and the days we have

059off in those months is like three days off in a month we're off that's an impact on my paycheck i can't i'm i'm not i just i'm tired of balancing it's hard if i go out and get another full-time job guess what my co-worker is going to suffer because i'm hard to call out a day because i'm tired but i don't want to put that burden on them you see what i'm saying if you're in the i work in the cafeteria we have four employees that are part-time if two people out guess what now we got to work hard we shouldn't have to be that way to work two full-time jobs it's not for me i'm just saying it ain't gonna be somebody i mean i can't do it because i feel like i work

060hard and i love doing what i do i feel like the pace should be better and we should be in school more working than all those days off including the holidays i mean shouldn't we be getting paid for veteran day i'm just saying i'm asking i mean i'm just wanting more money and better pay for the work that we have to do i mean and it's a lot of people i hear them i hear my co-workers there's a lot of them some of them work two part-time jobs and there's no way impossible i could do that because i wouldn't be able to come to work for y'all i mean i'm a call out you can only call out something today you gotta have a doctor's note i ain't gonna go to a doctor like that

061i wanna pay no no i'm gonna pay extra money but the pay would help you know what i'm saying the pay will help if you increase our pay if i can bring home a thousand dollars or more in a week guess what i can pay my bills i can pay my rent i don't have to make my checks every month i'm sorry balance them out splitting them up here and there it's impossible for me to do all i do is i ask that you all take it in your hearts to do the right thing among the people to give us better pay and you get better results thank you kelly lawrence we have a duplicate all right juice i'm sorry joseph tidwell joseph tidwell lisa vale jennifer kyger good evening thanks for allowing me this

062opportunity to speak tonight my name is jennifer kear and this is my seventh year teaching in metro i'm here to express my concern with the current state of education at mmps unfortunately we're seeing nationwide issues with the current workload of teachers however i truly believe the deciding factor for whether teachers leave or stay will come down to the individual districts and schools teachers in schools and districts where teachers feel heard feel supported and feel valued will stay our school has already had multiple teachers leave this year to surrounding counties which consequently adds to the responsibilities of those of us who remain this will continue to be a cycle of the issues currently facing schools are not addressed we're covering classes during our planning time multiple times a week along with covering multiple times a week

063during our plt time as well as attending multiple meetings professional development and countless other responsibilities teachers need time more than ever we don't have time to do our jobs and it's taking a toll please listen to our teachers before there are none left thank you thank you claudia cornelison um good evening my name is claudia cornelison i live on lichi avenue and i work at east nashville magnet high school um it was really hard for me to come here today because as soon as i left my building i was breaking down in my car i didn't have the time to prepare for this like i wanted to because my planning time went to a pop-up observation meeting it went through going through a text that i didn't choose to teach and trying to make it

064even slightly culturally relevant to my students who i care about it went to preparing for an upcoming evaluation submitting two weeks worth of lesson plans having administrators pop in and out of my room to talk to me um that wasn't even scheduled on my calendar what i write what i would have rather have been doing was grading my you know 300 papers sitting behind me because progress reports are due soon i would have rather been taking care of myself being able to use the restroom during the day i would have been rather have been following up following up with family members of my students because they're suffering right now but i couldn't do any of that because my time isn't my own right now it's just it isn't and this is unsustainable it's it's not

065okay and i guarantee you i promise you that if it continues this way you're gonna see a mass exodus of your talented and passionate teachers and your incredible support workers from this district and probably from this profession all together there's only so long that you can stand on a sinking ship begging for help and not getting it before you just jump off i'm asking for your help not just for us but for our students because ultimately i know that they're going to suffer the most out of all of us thank you thank you aaron dara julian good evening my name is erendira julian i am a proud sca parent i live in madison i work in medicine and i'm here to ask all of you to please let smithson great kid academy have fifth grade

066i have two children my first child is a fourth grader at sca and she is a proof of what sca is doing she started when she was a kindergarten in sca now she's a fourth grader and she is absolutely one of the not because she's my daughter but she's actually one of the best students um she has put her effort and heart and you will hear from her in a minute um i'm just here as a parent asking you to please give these kids a chance to stay in fifth grade in a place where they know the teachers where they know the all the staff it's a very important a process or it's a very important change from elementary to middle school and i think that a lot of us are concerned in this time

067because our kids are growing physical and emotionally so i want my child to be at sca with people that love her care about her and i just want to ask you to please give them the chance i mean you have seen that sea and smithson academy has grown so much over the years i mean we we've seen the growth with the principal and i am just very blessed to have my child at this school and my pre-case my pre-k son is actually there so please take this into consideration charter schools are very hard to find at that area at this moment a good charter school a good school in the madison area i have a school a block away from my house and i actually decide to drive to sca because i know that she's

068getting what she needs and actually more than what she needs because she's always been pushed by the teachers and the staff so i really appreciate all of you for listening i know this is your job but i thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you're doing thank you thank you caitlyn hutch [Applause] good evening my name is caitlin houch and i live at 3902 drake's branch road i moved from sullivan county schools to mmps over christmas break my fifth grade year having experienced fifth grade in an elementary and middle school i agree fifth grade is better suited to elementary schools on the mmps website there is a quote regarding reimagineet an initiative to improve academic outcomes for all students charter schools are asking for equity as a part of the public school

069system we as public charter schools are a part of mmps and i think the board should make decisions like these with our families in mind students face greater hurdles than ever before due to the pandemic having fifth grade at rocket ship will allow students to develop a stronger social and emotional foundation before moving into the environment of middle school just as importantly the academic benefits will set them up for long-term success on their educational journeys i would like to thank chairwoman bugs member little member bush and member player peters for taking the time to respond to our invites and meet with our parent coalition we truly appreciate your transparency and your willingness to listen to the voices of your constituents we welcome the opportunity to meet with and learn more about all the other board

070members as well thank you for your time this evening thank you graciela rodriguez good evening my name is graciela rodriguez and i live at 510 heritage drive in madison my first grader alyssa started off in head start really needing attention and focus on her social emotional learning and she was really shy she then headed off to ross early learning center where she continued to have deficits in her social emotional learning i chose rocket ship nashville northeast as her elementary school because i hoped she would get more intention and more one-on-one time with her teachers the teachers have been kind understanding and very supportive in alyssa's social emotional needs this is especially important for me because my daughter is on the spectrum and really struggles with that alyssa benefits so much from having a deep connection

071with all of her teachers that i believe she would flourish so much more if she could stay one more year at rocket ship nashville northeast mnps has identified that fifth grade is better to have in elementary school for a number of reasons including social emotional learning for students for my alyssa this would mean she'd get to stay in an environment she has called home for years that has nurtured her given her a sense of safety a place where she loves her teachers and her peers i know that if she feels safe and loved by her teachers she will listen she will do the work because she trusts them and if she leaves them too soon then she will just take steps backwards alyssa is counting on your vote on november 23rd to include fifth grade

072as an option for all mnps schools including rocket ship nashville northeast thank you for your time thank you sophica acosta good evening my name is topeka acosta i live at 2718 combs drive rocket ship is the school for my children i have been there for five years and they are my family now i have a fourth grader and a first grader who are not only excited about learning but they are even naming the colleges that they want to attend i mean think about it how impactful is it to know that the school places such a high importance on college readiness and preparation for at such a young age i want my son to be able to attend rocketship for his fifth grade school year he deserves to be with the teachers and the staff that

073have watched him grow and develop since since kindergarten they have worked so hard to support my babies and it would be a huge inconvenience to have to send my son to a different elementary school for just one year before he has to switch again from middle school i do not look forward to having to drive to two different schools and fighting through school and city traffic every single day when they could when we could just simply remain at the elementary school of our choice i am not ready to leave my family just yet so i'm standing before you to declare that my fellow parent leaders and i will do everything in our power to ensure that our charter school that that our charter school and students will have access to the same opportunities as other

074families that choose to attend traditional schools i'm here tonight asking that you add fifth grade not only to rocket ship but to all elementary schools in within m n p s it's just the right thing to do thank you so much for listening and for your time thank you daronte acosta [Applause] i love my school and my school loves me my teachers push me to be my best my teachers make me feel safe and i love them all my friends go to my school and i don't want to lose all my friends i'll i deserve one more year to learn with my teachers and grow with my friends i really thank you for your time very good job thank you zarante i i don't think you all realize how difficult you all do difficult it

075is for adults to come and speak before the board but to have a young person thank you good job uh michelle sheriff like i have to follow this kid good evening at chair members of the board dr battle my name is michelle sheriff and i'm a 29 year veteran of mnps and president of metro national education association typically our office receives one or two requests each month for guidance on how to resign or take a leave this nine weeks that has increased to three to five requests per week with the current staffing shortages the district can't afford to continue to bleed teachers bus drivers and support staff our students can't afford to continue to lose the staff who work most directly with them we keep hearing teachers say they're drowning they're drowning under the continued

076pressure of teaching during a global pandemic while the world wants to insist we get back to normal they're drowning under the weight of returning to in-person classes and helping students navigate the trauma of the past year and a half they're drowning under the weight of implementing numerous new initiatives they're drowning under the way to filling the gaps for open positions for classroom teachers substitutes bus drivers and paraprofessionals over the past week we held listening sessions just to ask teachers what they need and here are some of the comments and quotes that were echoed throughout all the sessions and some of the things you've heard tonight one teacher said increase pay for subs and bus drivers offer hiring incentives streamline high the hiring process we're expected to do our jobs and fill in for all the

077vacancies it's too much another teacher asks slow down on pushing out new initiatives another working an additional 20 hours a week outside contracted hours we need less mandatory meetings and more planning time we need time to authentically connect with students time to analyze student work to know their individual needs time to plan lessons to meet those needs treat me as the professional i am and give me the autonomy to meet needs of the students it feels like students are in crisis mode and teachers are in crisis mode with no staffing while someone from the district has extra time to make sure no one is off schedule with their lessons why aren't those people filling classroom vacancies if we are really a student-centered district the district should be prioritizing having appropriate staffing in front of our

078students at all times so in conclusion we understand some of these issues are systemic it will take time to fix but teachers need help now teachers say they're drowning and for some it feels like they're going down for the last time and you have the power to throw them a lifeline thank you for your time thank you valerie garcia and clapper up good afternoon my name is valerie and i am a fourth grader at smithson creek at academy there are many reasons why sca should get fifth grade number one a lot of parents like sca and it might be hard to find another school like sca for fifth grade sca is a caring and kind school for fifth grade we have fun activities just today i flew a drum because i am part of stem

079scouts number two the school lunch in sca is yummy healthy and homemade by the lunch crew the breakfast and lunch crew is led by chef daryl number three sca has the best teachers sometimes they are strict but they are still fun caring and kind teachers my fourth grade teacher dr david helps me with long division she makes it fun to learn and i love her number four some kids might be scared to go to middle school they might not know anybody i am excited and scared i'm excited because if i do well on my tcap test i can go to a magnet school i am scared because i may not know anybody and the stress of having to know all my classes i won't have my own friends that i had at sca i hope

080you like my four reasons and i hope you give sca 5th grade thank you for your time and thank you and very good job sarah duran thank you this is not fair i have to go after that i'm definitely not as cute as she is um good evening my name is sarah duran i'm a former eighth grade ela teacher at thurgood marshall middle and now i work for mnea the majority of my job is to listen to teachers i do it every single day all day and i really listen to them i hear the good the bad the even worse as a teacher myself for nine years i know the feeling of burnout i know the feeling that creeps in right after spring break as we're just trying to crawl across the finish line in

081may it is only november and the despair that i have heard is unlike any burnout that i ever experienced it is despair of helplessness and hopelessness it is despair of being asked to give everything but being given nothing it is the despair that frightens me for our school this pandemic is not over and the trauma of the last 18 months is not over it's only getting worse our bus drivers our support staff our educators and our students are not okay they are desperate for help for some relief from the mounting responsibilities that ignore the realities of what we have and continue to experience they don't need seminars on self-care they don't need more initiatives and more data collection they need actual relief they need to feel that the same people who prioritize their health and

082well-being a year ago are still willing to prioritize their health and well-being now i urge you to listen to all these folks who are talking to you before you're just left with silence thank you thanks patricia klutz greetings i'm here today advocating for purpose but academy to be granted the expansion through fifth grade which should take place on the next school year i wasn't sure what to say and in my asking i was told to tell my story well we don't have enough time for that but what i will tell you is that i'm a grandmother with the awesome responsibility of raising three of my grandchildren two of whom are in fourth grade at purpose prep academy and they're anticipating one more year at that awesome school graduating with friends they have bonded with since

083first grade i've been in education in one form or another for all of my adult life i understand the importance of a strong sound academic foundation and community i understand the need of children having a safe nurturing place to explore learn and grow i also understand as an educator parent and community member the desire to see students challenged to think outside the block and in the box and encouraged to set reach and go beyond the standards set for them real or imagined i enrolled my grandchildren or my granddaughter into purpose prep academy after watching her fall further and further behind and now as a result of her attending purpose prep academy she is making gains i never thought possible i also watched my grandson with his beautiful mind continue to flourish under the structure and

084guidance of well-trained caring and compassionate staff purpose pep academy according to its scores and awards is not just talking the talk but walking the walk there are no empty promises there hey i'm not arguing for or against charter schools nor is my concern today for the other great public schools in metro my concern and prayerfully yours too is to nurture and watch this community of scholars grow by adding fifth grade let's not stunt their growth but encourage its development vote yes to fifth grade at purpose prep academy for the upcoming fall school year thank you i appreciate your time thank you next is heather harold heather harold courtney brown oh that's you don't rush you have a baby i get it sorry about that thank you i had to pass off my little one hi

085my name is courtney brown and i am a proud purpose prep parent i'm also the best friend of another proud purpose prep parent and together we have three children in purpose prep my son initially started in tusculum and excelled in tusculum but then we actually found out later that he was falling way below national standards so i transferred him to another school and we worked very diligently diligently with him along with her son as well both of our children have different needs as far as their behavior attitudes and things like that and i love the fact that his school and the other charter schools according to my friends as well have catered to our children and they don't put them in boxes and so with that we ask that just like the metro davidson county

086schools and you all wanting to give those students fifth grade so that they can continue that in their elementary school our children also need that with the current schools that they're in right now they're excelling at these schools and i'm sorry my voice is outside i'm sorry for shaking but they're excelling at these schools and we just ask on behalf of purpose prep we've met with rocketship and other charges as well we really just want you guys to stand with us and add fifth grade there so that they don't have to transfer to another elementary school and then to middle school after that allow them to stay for that additional year so they can have an easy transition into sixth grade after and that's all i have to say thank you so much for your

087time thank you mary french paula pendergrass joshua long dr pendergrass is teaching a graduate class tonight so i'll be reading her speech on her behalf good evening madam chair members of the board and dr battle my name is paula pendergrass and i'm the current vice president of mnea back in august i stood before you and expressed my sincere gratitude for the collaboration between the members of management and m en completing the memorandum of understanding today i stand before you concerned that several sections of the mlu are not in compliance for example it says all professional employees shall be present at their respective schools seven and a half hours each day students are in the school and fortunately teachers are logging 20 to 45 minutes each day beyond the required seven and a half hours to

088supervise students due to a lack of bus drivers that computes to one to three unpaid hours per week approximately three to ten extra work days per year according to the mou all professional employees shall have daily planning time which shall be free of student responsibilities except for emergencies however we are constantly receiving calls regarding the violation of planning time due to the shortage of bus drivers and substitute teachers when teachers don't have planning they are forced to spend time outside their contracted hours for planning and preparing lessons management might use the argument that teachers are helping because we're in a state of an emergency at this point in the school year this is no longer an unexpected emergency the district has had ample time to brainstorm possible solutions the mou states professional employees authorized to

089use personal automobiles and performance of their duties shall be provided reimbursement consistent with board procedure 2.807.8 nevertheless we have school counselors who are conducting home visits with no reimbursement of mileage being offered mnps and mnea agreed to establish and maintain a teacher retention committee consisting of stakeholders according to the mlu the committee should have convened no later than september 15th as of today november 9 the committee has not been formed although mnea's officers brought it to the attention of management when they were meeting weekly despite changes to these meetings we still have not met regarding the formation of this committee it takes a true partnership to solve issues and concerns as a representative of mnea i am open to meeting as often as necessary to share possible solutions to the concerns i have mentioned today

090because we have a responsibility to adhere to the mou thank you madam chair board of directors i'm sorry board members and dr battle for the opportunity to share thank you joshua long [Applause] hello so i thought i would address the board with a simple question explain my reasoning for asking it being at a crossroads in my own personal life and not knowing what to do next to my career i thought it might be helpful for other teachers who might find themselves in a similar situation to express my feelings honestly in a public forum how can i advance my teaching career without leaving the classroom the answer is i can't i could go back to school get my master's in education for a raise that it would take several years to acquire and compensate myself for

091the expense of going back to school i could leave the classroom for an administrative position with the advanced degree to cover those expenses faster but that's leaving the classroom so i have heard of some programs that allow experienced teachers to mentor alongside new teachers sacrificing one of their own classes to coordinate and mentor for a modest raise and increase responsibilities in an already overwhelming job that sounds like a good idea but over the long term would a teacher ever be able to accumulate a significant amount of wealth to accomplish some personal goals such as having a home paid for before it's almost time to retire or living completely debt-free financial existence the truth is those are unreasonable expectations if you believe your purpose is being just a classroom teacher and would be even more so

092unreasonable if i had a wife and young children so you have to leave the classroom to some extent and therefore have less direct interaction and personal impact on the students whom it is supposedly our mission to serve if you want to grow professionally in public education thank you cassie cassie norton hello my name is cassie norton i live at airwood drive in 37214 and i teach at mcgavock high school and today during plt i asked my students what do you want the board of education to know about what is happening in mcgavig high school right now and i'm going to read our list to you all it starts off with some pretty normal teenager complaints the food is bad so we're hungry uh the wi-fi is always out our computers are old teenagers you know

093and then it picks up into things that are really having an effect on their education and safety and mental health the buses are always late i'm missing all of first block at least once a week i'm sitting three to a seat or on the floor i'm begging my fourth block teacher to let me out early so i can get a seat on the bus our teachers are quitting or they're constantly not here because they're burned out and so they're taking days off a lot the teachers know the students know they see us and they know that we're burned out they know that that's happening and there's no subs so there's no one to cover their classes they're getting merged or someone else is being pulled into the room to the cover and is not happy

094to be there because they have work to do the classes are too big they're crammed together in a pandemic and without enough adults and they're not exactly happy with the quality of our teachers they're worried that a lot of teachers have biases that aren't being addressed they're worried that their teachers don't have any training to help them with their mental health or with trauma or with everything that we're all going through right now they're worried that there aren't enough mental health supports for students in place they are upset about all of the fighting because a lot of students are really struggling they're constantly in their fight or flight and we're seeing that reflected in the building and we're constantly dealing with this there's just not enough time to support students they're looking for more safety

095more anger management more therapy more social workers they really want those things in our building i found out today that for all of the students we have at our school we have two part-time social workers and that kind of blew my mind a little bit um they're upset that we're acting like the pandemic is over they feel like the district is no longer being understanding that they're in trouble constantly that teachers are in trouble constantly that there's just so much pressure on everyone that the flexibility and understanding we got last year is gone they feel like there's no one that cares that they're struggling and they're upset that their classmates and teachers are not wearing masks i don't know if y'all know that but covent safety is not is not really being followed in our

096schools anymore and then finally the last one um they're upset that our building is not on the docket for renovations because it leaks when it rains and there are cockroaches coming out of the ceiling um all this to say that our students see what is happening and they see these problems and they don't have any solutions and they shouldn't because they're children and i know that you all can't solve all of these problems and not very quickly but you can take steps and you can do things like hire more subs pay our support staff and our teachers more pay our bus drivers more please be there for us also if you ever want to come shadow at mcgavin thank you brad rayson uh good evening chair bugs members of the board dr battle i'm brad

097rayson i'm with seiu local 205. support employees are members of our union you know i want to start by saying we value the relationship and partnership we have with you you know we've made some significant gains over the last three four years and we have 15 as our minimum wage we've added days on calendar on payroll for some of our support employees and step increases are now a part of your basic budget not an afterthought or an add-on afterwards but that doesn't mean there isn't work to do work to do now and work to do in the future you know right now this evening you've heard about the challenges that bus drivers teachers support employees are facing every day you've heard from our members this evening and from teachers about staff shortages and what that

098means the additional work and burden it puts on the the staff that are here you've heard about the need for additional compensation to recognize the extra contributions and duties that workers are picking up you've heard about safety concerns these conditions have a physical and emotional impact on staff they affect morale they affect students we understand that recruiting new employees right now is challenging for a lot of places but not impossible but what is possible is doing everything we can to respect and honor and keep the employees that we do have here we're ready to roll up our sleeves and sit around the table and come up with solutions to these issues and we're ready to do it together with you now let's talk about the future back in 2019 the board outlined the plan to

099evaluate pay and there was a slide in the presentation that i went back and looked at today and it was called people matter it says in order to deliver a great public education to every student every day our compensation strategy must attract and sustain the talent necessary to provide exemplary levels of service what does that mean for a support employee it means being able to live in the city where you work it means you can support yourself and your family and not have to work multiple jobs or scrimp and save just to make ends meet it means being able to save for your kids education in your retirement it means that there's pay equity in our district we have a chance this year to make sure that our compensation will attract and sustain the talented

100support and staff our community needs and deserves there's going to be a pay study this year it's long overdue and we're willing to do our part and we're ready to make sure that whatever that study shows and how much it cost we'll help you get it thank you thank you tahari matthews corey richardson good evening my name is corey richardson i live in goodsville tennessee um i first off i want to say i should have vetted my wife a little harder when we first met because i you guys are familiar with edward kendall he's my grandfather-in-law married his granddaughter uh so make sure i make him proud up here tonight so i represent smithson craighead academy i am a staff member there i've been there for this is my eighth year now and one thing

101i can take from everything that i've heard tonight is that no one is quitting on you i've heard despair in our teachers voices i've heard a plea for help even in our parents as well and that's why i'm here as not only a staff member but a parent as well my son does attend smith's and craighead academy and i'm here to ensure or implore why i believe that charters need to be included in the reimagine ed initiative when i go to work every day i don't feel like i'm at work i truly feel as if i'm there to make a difference my my students as you see the illustrious valerie garcia came here she's been here since kindergarten and uh love her to death i watched evan be in vitro and i was able to

102see him now he's four already in pre-k being able to see and that's just a microcosm of the growth i've been allowed to see not only in our students but our staff as well how they are motivated every day to come in how they push and i am very grateful after hearing some of the things that a lot of schools and educators are going through i'm grateful and i'm also empathetic towards their plights i feel like my my school and my experience lends itself for me to be a second home not in a negative light i did not attend college to become an educator i was in the business field i've been in a school i'm only 33 i've been in the school for over half my life if you include the eight years that

103i've been there and that's simply because we're called we're called uh we are called to to raise a generation to influence a generation and i've been able to do that and i would like to continue that i'm 63 about 280 and i turn into a soft little teddy bear when the fourth graders graduate i think the difference between that is them being able to graduate in fifth maybe i won't be so teary-eyed and soft if they can graduate in the fifth grade so i'm grateful that you guys are here uh in full audience listening to our plights and listening to our pleas to allow continuity in our children's lives because with continuity can continue to breed growth thank you for having me have a great night thank you tremaine hamer [Applause] hello y'all y'all pretty

104much know who i am so i'm going to skip the everything else before i do for earlier today i heard that crt was evil and for somebody who was called the n word at third grade it let's it should let everybody know that color is seen before anything else so crt isn't evil it's necessary i am the proud parent of a purpose prep alumni and a purpose prep scholar but you already know that because two years ago i was here in request of the same thing in extension two years ago i told you about my son who is now 14 years old six foot three had plans on attending a private school but he's more excited about the stem program than he is the athletic program purpose prep did that i told you about my

105son who is on the spectrum of autism doctors gave him no chance of leaving the normal life and now he's on he's on the pathway of living an independent life purpose prep did that tell you about myself who come from north nashville during the time whether it's the highest incarcerated highest incarceration rate in the nation i grew up through that i've been through that one of the most scariest moments of my life wasn't worrying about getting robbed it wasn't worried about if i'm going to eat the next day it was worrying about where my son is going to go for school purpose prep helped ease that purpose prep also opened up the door to allow me to become an advocate not just a charter school advocate but i advocate for district school parents i advocate

106for home school parents i advocate for private school parents because that's what we're supposed to do we're supposed to help one another out don't matter no matter where our children go to they're still our children i say all that to say this two years ago i gave you the story and i'm still here asking for the same thing now so what i'm going to ask of you is to make this decision with open hearts open minds stop playing politics with my children stop this to eloquently put it stop this dog and pony show charter versus district stop this political grandstanding we're all parents purpose prep deserve to have fifth grade eight years ago legra newman and her staff knocked on the doors of north nashville promising a change of education that changes now thank you

107kiana page hello good evening my name is kiana page i live at 3711 dickerson pike apartment b 217 in nashville three seven two zero seven i have a seven year old and second guess and second oh i'm sorry i'm a little nervous y'all let me start over okay i have a seven-year-old um in second grade at rocketship and a sixth grader who completed elementary through rocketship rocketship has supported the development of both of our children helping them to grow into young men the community there is loving and supportive it feels like a small family i'm actually proud to say i'm a rocketship parent my youngest has struggled with behavior issues but the staff at rocketship has showed so much dedication and compassion for him even when he has hard days i am asking you to

108support the expansion to fifth grade at rocketship so that my son can grow in this loving community for another year before he transitions to middle school it is very important to me that my son is not thrown into a sitting where he could be easily influenced by the behavior of older students history has shown what happens to little black boys when they are not properly prepared for the world that is ahead of them my son has benefited from the individual approach that rocket ship uses for each child and i am confident that spending his fifth grade year in this elementary school rocketship which he which has i'm sorry okay rocketship that has shown so much growth and gave him so much advantage of him being himself um my son needs the extra social and behavioral

109support that rocketship offers him so please support our charter school and please support my son and vote yes thank you for your time thank you i'm ed white christian sanchez [Music] good evening my name is christian sanchez and i am a constituent here in the proud parent i'm here to ask in favor of spencer academy for the charter amendment um i am the mother of two girls and both of them have attended at school one of them is in fourth grade now and the other one's in middle school la escuela is an excellent escuela the school is excellent and i feel with the teachers as if i were there with my family los nino [Music] the kids are happy and well taken care of personally the teachers and the staff they're excellent they're very professional

110me kindergarten my daughter has been lucky to attend there since kindergarten it is and we wish to have access to fifth grade so my students um my my kids can have access to remaining there and be safe in that school and we hope that you give us the opportunity to have fifth grade in our campus thank you thank you trudy campbell [Applause] good evening and thank you again for this opportunity to come before you and speak on behalf of purpose prep academy my name is trudy campbell i am a native of nashville tennessee and a very proud parent of two boys that i must anxiously get home because they attend purpose prep and they got work to do well excuse me my oldest son goes to mlk but to that in a moment i'm aware

111that purpose prep that mmps mnps has expanded elementary school in the pro con cluster to include fifth grade as a parent i want the same opportunity to be granted at purpose prep for the continuation of the academic progress and social development for those students there at that school serving fifth grade students is critically important not only for purpose prep but the other schools the charter schools that are represented here but because i have a vested interest in purpose prep that's why i'm here uh it's critically important to my child's success and the other scholars there at purpose prep as well i've seen and value their work and the results that i've gained with my children attending the school my oldest is a purpose prep academy graduate he attended head and now is currently a seventh

112grader at mlk i contribute that to the foundation he gained at purpose prep academy my sons have excels through their literacy expanded vocabulary mathematical skill set science social studies and also attending attended a school that is now a part of history their character and social development has been molded there during the pandemic they pivoted still meeting their academic standards with the necessary tools i believe in the work that they do there at purpose prep i believe in their results i've seen it firsthand and i see their vision i want you to know that i support purpose prep and exp i support purpose prep expanding to serve the fifth grade thank you for your time today thank you laura neal good evening board members doctor battle chair some of you it's good to see you in

113person we've met recently so my name is laura neal i live at 112 creasy court in jolton i am a parent and educator at smithson craighead academy when i went to choose a school for my child my main priority was choosing a school that the focus would be on the whole child balance between rigor and social emotional growth i can stand before you and say that sca is a family we're a family focused school small classroom ratios always academically focused but they never forget the individual needs of the child that is there consistently serving families and the community not just the families that are out at our school but the families that are in the community that surrounds us we have so many initiatives with diaper giveaways food giveaways during the pandemic we believe it's

114bigger than just us and ours as we approach fourth grade i am a nervous parent i know that my daughter annabelle's needs are going to be best met staying in the school community that she's familiar with developmentally scientifically we all know right they need that extra time to mature to grow that the gap guys the gap that is between a nine-year-old right and an eighth grader that that's that's not healthy that doesn't serve the needs of any child in this district regardless of the school that they go to that isn't even up for debate right um mnps is called to be equitable to serve all children in the district regardless of the school that they're enrolled at i am calling sca parents i believe all charter parents here we are calling for you to include

115charters in the reimagine ed to improve to approve our charter amendments and basically just equity that's all we want we don't want more we want the same we want what you are offering every child in the district to be equitable across the board i'm also going to say um mr ahmed white sends his regards he had a family commitment his son cameron had an awards banquet tonight that was very important for him to be here he has entrusted each of us to come and share and speak on his behalf knowing that we would represent the spirit of sca well thank you for your time thank you jahari matthews hello my name is jahari matthews and i reside at 2809 red clover court nashville tennessee and i just want to add in that i have raced

116across the city to make it here just in time because this topic is so important to me i am here today to advocate on behalf of purpose preparatory academy as a parent of a second grade scholar and a product of metro nashville public schools as a parent my child's education is a top priority and finding a community that supports his growth as a student and each individual is of the utmost importance to me and my husband his father the addition of fifth grade at purpose prep would allow my child to remain within a community that allows him to thrive i fully appreciate that this opportunity has been given to other schools and families in the north nashville area but i ask that you seriously consider extending this opportunity to the families of purpose prep the

117addition of fifth grade at purpose would allow many of our families to continue on a journey that speaks to the overall positive educational experience that so many of us have started on and as parents we do not want that to end prematurely if it does not have to it is evident that the board and and mnps recognizes the importance of having fifth grade in an elementary setting and it is only appropriate for purpose prep scholars to have that same benefit all children regardless of the school that they attend should have the same equitable education standards made available to them and i just ask that you please consider approving the addition of fifth grade to purpose preparatory academy to support current and future scholars thank you thank you mrs matthews and with that we conclude public

118participation thank you all for engaging with us again if you were not able to finish your sentiments or if you have additional concerns questions or ideas please feel free to call or email us with that we will move on to governance issues um do i have an amendment to this as listed or go ahead mrs poopo walker i'd like to pull uh a one e policy 4.300 off of the consent agenda you said four point three zero four point three zero one interscholastic athletics which one is that am i saying the wrong one yes one e but is it four point three policy in each number um four point three zero one interscholastic athletics all right do we have any other amendments that has been pulled uh mrs tyler and then mrs pupa walker this

119is player peters um i'd like to pull the 20 22 23 district calendar okay that's one c all right this is player peters all right all right so the the consent agenda has been amended to pull off both c and e 4.301 do i have a motion to accept it as amended i move approval of the consent agenda as amended do we have a second any discussion all in favor please raise your hands passes unanimously we'll move on and begin with uh chronological order no i'm sorry listed order the 2022-23 school calendar mrs tyler or mrs player peters i'll leave a coin yeah my biggest question is i'm looking at their beginning dates in august final order is there a motion emotions not necessary for pulling something off a consent identity but we do have

120we do have a motion that wants to be made go ahead mrs player peter i make a motion to defer the 22-23 calendar one meeting all right do we have a second second all right go ahead with comments or questions or discussion go ahead you made a motion um i had a discussion um the employee groups want to meet with the appropriate staff to work out some questions um just do a scheduling conflict or a scheduling mishap for that so i like to defer one meeting so they can have um discussions of um with regarding some of the concerns they have at the calendar dr battle did you have a did you repeat that um mr peters so i've heard from the employee groups and they would like to meet with the appropriate staff about

121some of the questions they have about the calendar and so it's only that opportunity time so defer one meeting for that to happen thank you i believe it was last week we did have a meeting that involved dr witte myself and seiu representatives to talk through the calendar and compensation concerns and benefits concerns so we have we have answered those questions already i'm so my understanding is that there was a conflict originally when the stakeholders met to review the calendar of course this is a pretty lengthy process with all stakeholders involved and the follow-up meeting has already been scheduled in and has already been completed with those who had a conflict so i just want to clarify that that that meeting has already been held with those stakeholder groups um can we hear from the

122employee representatives of not i think that might be better for them to advocate to us yeah individually i mean i that can be part of the deferment but all right mrs tyler um i guess um i've had some similar concerns as miss player peters but then also i was just just looking at some of the ways things fall like i'm looking at when students start and they start on monday for a full day and they go to school for their full week for the first full week and we all know that that can be really difficult so i would just love to get some clarification if i could from somebody about why we chose to start school full day monday and just roar right in without any time to ease everybody in a little bit

123like as we've done in years past i'm i'm happy to have dr woody approach the podium who leads the school calendar committee um i think it's safe for me to say that there's always lots of wants and desires around the calendar but there are competing demands with regards to balancing out the calendar pay schedules um what's allowable under state law so on and so forth but doctor witty if you could address particularly the start of the school year dates yes dr james woody executive director of schools for high school and also leading this work one of the things that we have discussed in years is kind of that phased in approach but it has been kind of a challenge because we have discovered when we start with a full week it gives us an opportunity

124to work out all of the logisticals from nutrition services to transportation to schedules to things such as that so we have had those debates over the past three years but we've always kind of landed back with starting that first full week because of those reasons it really does allow us to get the operational side of things situated and students to to start off strong we also have built in i think three years ago some half days for our pre-k and kindergarten students as well because we also understand and realize for our younger students that that's their first experience and we want them to have some of that opportunity to phase in so we've tried to balance that with some other kind of approaches over the past three years trying to honor that so it is

125a delicate balance could you also just recap for um for the board who all is included in the conversations around the calendar absolutely so the calendar um there is a tca you know that specifies who's on that committee it's made up of pretty much all stakeholders we have principals teachers parents we've had some student representatives folks from the board the support organizations were a part of that as well as mda so really just a collaborative large group of around 50 people that really kind of take a lot of time to look at what's possible within the guidance that we've been given from the tennessee department of ed thank you dr woody any further questions discussion around the calendar all right we have a motion to defer to the next meeting to the next meeting go

126ahead i i'm just wondering so i asked some questions about this before the meeting so and i was told about all the different groups and that there were three months of meetings before coming to agreement on the draft and i guess i just want to know how how many meetings were there with all of these different groups and and what was the the method of them being a loud input was it sort of a democratic process or was it just sort of a like throw out what your thoughts are kind of thing yes so this is actually the third year that i've gotten to organize this work and we've learned what works and what doesn't work so year one we went total democratic what do you want and that was very challenging because everybody wants

127competing things last year we shared two different calendars and kind of got feedback from the entire committee based on a modified thanksgiving break and the committee was very clear that they liked the traditional fall break so this year we started with an actual calendar had a committee shared that out so that the entire committee would have an opportunity to actually review it and come to that meeting with questions because we want to honor their time and then part of that meeting is facilitated so we present all of the state and school or policy around the requirements so that there's a level of understanding of what we can and can't do when developing the calendar and then after that we have stakeholder groups it's actually a part of our facilitated discussion where we're asking parents students

128teachers and stopping to make sure that everyone is every constituency or group is actually acknowledged and has an opportunity to share um so we take down all of those ideas and um and feedback that we get and then we take that back to the table and we updated the calendar and then shared back out once again with the calendar committee this is what you asked for here are your four major recommendations here's why we made a change or here's why we couldn't make a change with a very specific rationale to be clear just so that they understand you know what was possible and what wasn't and then we also followed up with a connecting with our mda partners as well as meeting with the support organizations this week because there are underlying implications around the

129calendar that don't necessarily they the calendar has a lot of implications so there's other factors that um sometimes we have to work through and think through logistically when when doing this so how many times did the core calendar committee meet oh the large committee one large meeting and then one follow-up feedback session with with that committee was that feedback session also an actual meeting or was that sort of just email feedback or um it was a i basically emailed feedback with all of the different recommendations and um then followed up with them as well to say you know if you have additional concerns please let me know we've pretty much kept an open dialogue with anyone who's had feedback yeah it's my understanding there was one 45-minute meeting and i don't think that's probably adequate

130to actually receive the level of feedback and input that's necessary from all of the the different groups across the district dr woody could you clarify the larger meeting how many sub-committee meetings did you all have did you have additional subcommittee meetings absolutely so there were probably five or six additional you know meetings along the way this was a larger meeting and one of the good things is i've worked with this committee for the past three years um and we've really slowly developed okay these are the things to anticipate these are the things that we um have to make certain are in the calendar and and work through on the front end so we have tried to be really proactive too with very specific things on the front end that we know are going to be

131challenges around the calendar so what was the thinking behind a full week to beginning with a full week a full day the end of that entire week i'm sorry i just i don't think i understood that answer sure there's a lot of different things so under tca we can have up to three half days but we also use those half days very strategically at different points of the year so it's challenging to use those to kind of phase in the other thing that we've consistently heard over the past three years is the challenge even from a lot of our leaders on starting on a thursday and friday and then going directly into the weekend because we're just kind of getting students into that school routine we're adjusting schedules we're getting kind of transportation issues worked

132out and nutrition services set up and ready so just uh we've heard overwhelmingly over the past three years that it's much easier to start at the beginning beginning of the week and get all of those kind of things ironed out instead of kind of cutting that that half week and i think there's also some hr implications because if you move back the date the first date of students given where end service starts you will we will run back into the issues around the pay calendar that we have historically faced particularly with our support employees and that was something that was top priority for us last year that we tried to work through to make sure that we had a balance in meeting our student needs but also our staff needs and i just want to

133be clear i am i'm not commenting on the talent i would not even pretend that i would be able to come up with this calendar because that so much goes into it i just i i'm really concerned with being sure that the process allowed for the level of necessary input from all of the different you know principals and and school leaders since we do place um such a high level of autonomy on each of our individual school leaders i just want to be sure that they all really were able to to give the level of input necessary to be sure that all the needs are being met absolutely i hope so because we really the conversation was open the entire meeting we didn't shut down the meeting until everybody was done kind of sharing we've

134just done it a lot now the past three years and a lot of the same players are there and we really did spend a lot of time on the front end trying to anticipate what the hurdles would be and sharing that as a part of the overall presentation um but again we're we're always open for feedback dr ginger thank you dr a couple of questions um first for you madam chair is the motion on the floor still to defer it is okay if we're going to defer i know in the past and correct me if i'm wrong the calendar has been separate because we've had a presentation on the process do i mind recalling that correctly there's sort of been a summary when it was been has been presented all y'all are new i'm really

135looking at mr hansen all the way back there am i correct yes so there's been a presentation that talked through the process and i will remind us and echo ms master's comment we do not have the capacity to create a calendar here at this table but if it's just your desire to understand may i ask that with this deferral at the next meeting we just get a presentation on the process that got us the calendar that's being presented to us to vote on and it has been said a thousand times here at least i've heard it a thousand times probably because it's bouncing off the walls and in my head um that no one is ever going to be 100 happy with the calendar okay and there are always competing priorities we want to we

136want to be able to pay people for as many days as we possibly can that is usually one of the major drivers in creating the calendars that are presented here so if i we ask that we call for the question and at the next meeting there is a presentation to fully understand the process and the timeline that got you to the calendar that you're presenting to us today all right dr battle we can work through that unless you have a comment before we move on i do not all right the question has been called thank you dr witty um could you restate your motion a motion to defer the calendar for one meeting all right uh all in favor please raise your hand all right unanimous we'll move on to policy 4.301 interscholastic athletics mrs

137pufa walker oh no i was just pulling it to oh sorry we deferred oh yes we deferred it did i use the wrong no okay we're not discussing it tonight right so we're pulling uh 4.301 we had a committee meeting before this so we're pulling this to just defer yes indefinitely all right so we'll tie that that's tied up in a bowl we'll move on now to nashville classical 2. yes miss tyler um i'd like to make an option on that if we're ready oh gotcha there's nothing else to me [Applause] mr whitaker there's nothing else with four point three zero one right since we're the first okay all right i'm sorry go ahead miss tyler um i make a motion to deny local authorization of nashville classical two okay we have a motion do

138we have a second second is that the problem uh presentation do we have a presentation by the office of the charter office i mean i know we're all here it's already approved it's just the one where they yeah this is just us this is yeah this is just local authorization okay so for the viewing public nashville classical two we're having discussion about they have been approved by the state though they were denied by the board we're now having discussion on who will over who will maintain oversight whether it's the state of tennessee or metro national public schools board all right yeah and state law dictates that we have to vote within 30 days of the vote by the state charter commission and today is day 28 so i would have loved to defer it to

139have a little bit more discussion around some of the changes they're asking for but we do not have time so with that being said nashville classical has written a letter to all the board members claiming that they desire to partner with the district and that they intend to prove their willingness to be a good partner by belatedly addressing our initial concerns the truth of the matter is if nashville classical had intended to be a good partner with the district they would have responded by taking our initial concerns seriously when they first brought their application before us their amended application to the board would have proposed a location change at that time instead of waiting until the very last minute today instead they dismissed our concerns as unnecessary and went so far as to go over

140our heads to the charter commission to get what they wanted now that the very issues that we raised concerns over are manifesting expensive renovations lackluster community support nashville classical is bringing it before us to correct and this shows me that that they probably they don't have an intention of partnering with mnps unless it's beneficial to them so it's important to note that when nashville classical applied to open a second school their application specifically listed 1051 davidson drive brook mead school their application was approved for that location by the charter commission there were no contingencies or alternate locations written i repeatedly raised concerns about the state of that building noting that it was so full of asbestos that it was only safe for storage when mnps sold it in fact metro police were told they were

141not allowed to use the space to run practice drills even if they wore gas masks because of the safety risk no one was ever able to give me a satisfactory answer about how they would address those safety issues i was just told that they would meet all code requirements before opening now i've been told by supporters of nashville classical that the school wants to move to a different location as quickly as possible so they can stop sinking money into the brook mead school if nashville classical truly wants to open in a different location based on the stringent process of charter approval i am hesitant to support such a move because there are many unintended consequences of allowing a charter to apply with one location in mind be vetted and approved after careful consideration of the

142impact on that community only to turn around after they're approved and move to wherever else they want to go since fit with community is a consideration of the process to try to switch communities this late in the game undermines the ability of our charter review team to appropriately vet every application due to the nature of the application process it's my understanding that approval of the application is binding for everything in the application if nashville classical wants to open somewhere else then they can withdraw and cancel this contract and submit a brand new one at the next application process however the fact that they were not able to follow through on the details of their application would be problematic and would be a consideration during any future applications finally i want to address the ramifications of

143voting to authorize a charter school forced on us by the state if we add another charter school under our umbrella we do not add another staff member to our charter school oversight team so every time we have a charter school added our staff get stretched more and more thin the amount of money that a charter would pay us to oversee them does not cover the amount of money and time that we put back out into them it is a net negative proposition for mnps additionally contrary to what mr friedman said during his speech local control does not give us control over his curriculum or his discipline policies the whole point of charter schools are that they are not subject to oversight by this elected board but that they have the autonomy to make those decisions

144themselves and answer to their own independent board so if i could take a minute to ask a question cheer woman sure of dr battle yes what control does mnps actually have over the charter schools that we oversee you feel comfortable i'm going to ask for our legal team actually to respond to that so if john and melissa could approach the podium with the board's permission we will tag team this one yes by state law there's very little operational or policy control that the lea exercises over a charter school the intent behind a charter school is that they operate independently and so we act as the lea and we funnel money to them but we do not have influence over their day-to-day operations all right thank you [Laughter] okay thank you so i think it's really

145important that we understand that if the vote is to have control local control over it that does not give us control over what happens in the school what happens in the school is 100 percent up to them there is nothing that we can vote on there's no recourse if there's discipline issues there's no recourse if there's another issue all of that would have to go to the nashville classical board not to us so to try to paint our control of over them or being the one who authorizes them as having some control over their policies is just false all right other statements or questions discussion mrs masters i i just want to say that i i feel it's important for us to remember that what we are voting on tonight is is the application as

146presented to us which we um we declined to accept their charter application they appealed to the state the state overturned our decision and i just think it's important that we vote on it as presented which still includes the issues that it had initially which is the location and um the the issue of the desire to bust children to the school from different areas throughout mmps i while i am appreciative of the school's desire to answer to those concerns now now is not the time the time for that would be for them to reapply for a different charter application um you know i hate to think that we're going to be placed in this position of you know amending sort of on the fly according to what we're told the desire is i you know i

147would prefer for us to be able to work together in a more transparent way so i mean i will be voting um not to bring them under the umbrella of mnps for the same reasons that i voted not to approve the application in the first place and i am looking at it from that overall perspective of while i care for all of the children in our district i also believe adamantly that local control is incredibly important and it's the only way that we can truly serve all of the children and for us to allow the state to say no we you have to take this this this school you didn't initially want we are going to force back on you i do not think that is an appropriate use of of their power over our

148local district regardless of what the school is now telling us they would like to change all right further discussion all right well i will say that nashville classical one is in my district and there are so many different thoughts i have just about the state and about ways that we need to continue to increase our advocacy and relationship building with them i do i have to be thinking about what the student impact will be and what i don't like about asd or state-run schools is that we don't have any access to them we cannot support the schools we cannot support the students or the families when they come to us because they're no longer under our portfolio i would prefer that we bring in nashville classical under mnps so that we can continue to do

149business with them and increase our own relationship building with their boards because what i will say is that when i reach out to mr friedman if i do ever have issues from a parent he's responsive his team is responsive and i understand that it's coming from a privileged place because i'm on the board but i think that's something that we maintain if they're under our control versus not being now please hear me when i say that i understand that the state continues to step on our toes but they will continue to until we convey to them who we are as a district who we are as people and what we represent for our students but i i just continue to think about asd run schools and how separate they are from us and how hard

150it is for us to support families when we have no connection to them go ahead mr little yeah this this is just a tough decision and i'll say i have a kid at nashville classical one who's who's attended since kindergarten and in listening to all the parents tonight um all the the teachers the support staff i just think we got to give people a chance until they show something different and so when i when i listen to mr freeman and i wait for pushback on him just being a good partner i think when we initially had this conversation we discussed that you know they didn't want it in bellevue and so i got a message from a council person today who said hey like i wanted in my district which was district 20. and when

151i think about our our academic scores not even 2021 because the pandemic was just rough but even some schools in bellevue when i look at charlotte park like proficiency in reading was 10.4 percent and i think we got to ask ourselves will this school help us do a better job will we have an opportunity to really grow kids because if we have 10 for every 100 pre pandemic how do we continue to grow and support our students academically where they can even have a chance and so i i really appreciate miss tyler's like passion like i think you ask really difficult questions i gotta ask so do we have trust in a leader who has never shown to be disingenuous with his relationship with the district thus far with different mnps buildings in his response

152to how he wants to proceed with not going to brooke mead because as they stated it's no community support in bellevue and i would be remiss if i didn't at least acknowledge that as a district and as a board i am urging us to stop pinning schools against each other if you if we want to support one school and bring it under our portfolio we don't have to make comparisons you know i do appreciate that parents want the best for their children but it makes me cringe when people talk about 37208 and they talk about jones but i see my son and his peers getting all the resources that they're getting even though they are not getting those resources in their community so we don't know what family life is like in one area of

153town and it isn't another and the idea that we want to pit choice schools against each other or even zone schools against choice schools is just inappropriate and i mean i we are all welcome to our different thoughts but we've got to stop talking pitting parents against teachers pitting schools against each other it just does not benefit the conversation for students we're not moving the needle for all students when we do that and so i just want us to continue to focus this conversation around whether or not nashville classical 2 will be under the mnps portfolio or whether it's a part of the state portfolio we'll go mrs elrod and then mrs bush thank you so i guess first in response to us not being able to have oversight of them if they are underneath

154the state instead of us we don't currently have much oversight as just stated by legal that's the intention of charter schools is that they work independently so again there's not really that much of a difference whether they're with us or without us except for potentially some said um work together that they would say maybe could happen but i cannot point to us having that currently with the current location and today's examples of not having the location down correctly and changing that after they've had two opportunities they had the first time to apply which was denied they had the second time to apply both of those were with the current location which they still continue to say was the right location though many options and many times they were told were the incorrect location and then

155the state approved them under that location and then today the day that we have to vote on it is the day that we hear from them about how they want to have a new location that does not show to me an example of collaboration nor of work together nor of true good planning which would be necessary and should be required and ex can thought of so for me it would not be a wise idea for us to include them within our own group we do not again have much oversight of them whether they're with us or whether they are with the a.s i mean with the state but it is worthwhile to say that under the spirit of local control it is not good for us to have the state to approve them against our

156will and essence and then us still take them the state needs to have that control if that's what the state chose it is not within any of mmps's strategic plans or visions currently to have any growth in that area whether it's in abigail mrs tyler's district to whether it's in the preferred area that has been mentioned to us now of cherokee park sylvan park or north nashville there's no plan for those schools now of course currently it should be only a discussion about what's inside of uh that brook mead location though i understand that there is some want to change that but we have no strategic plans or any wants as we have stated as a mmps group and as a board to have growth in that area additionally we've had no plans for that

157in north nashville which is where they would be pulling students from those schools are currently going through an incredible amount of work to regroup and to have the reimagined work being done and they need to stay as a consistent community and have the resources that are now provided to them and without being pulled from enrollment so my hope is that we do not have them underneath the m mnps umbrella and that it is with the state as that is who approved them all right mrs bush oh yes i am going to support nashville classical to hopefully be included into our mmps circle of care of schools we've had over half of charter schools to be denied by the board and be approved by the state and we also have had most of the charter schools

158to be included as far as oversight so this is no different than any other schools that we've denied and the state have come back and approved them my schools you know this very board denied my kipp schools in antioch for oversight and that really really bothered me that oversight means everything it doesn't mean that it's going to financially give us a gain it means that we can be able to have relationships with our parents relationships with our students relationships with our teachers and that means a whole lot when you have a community where a school lies that you have that type of support so i will support this because i think that um having any school it doesn't matter if it's a charter school it's a traditional school to be included in oversight you know

159i can't i can't keep keep thinking in my head when the state looks at this board and looks at the local level and how we're making decisions we keep coming back hitting charters against traditionals and and charter and all the negative you know comments about charter schools these are our kids and it's about choice we we heard tonight about choice how parents have come up to the podium and our kids have come up to the podium and talked about their success and talk about how it's changed their lives and we just can't ignore that i won't ignore that so it's about choice every child is not built for a traditional school every child is not built for a charter school the the bottom line of it is is that oversight is always important it's about

160trying to come together and and and bridge this gap that we have been you know this this bad cloud that's been over this board about charters versus traditional and how we handle um the inclusion so i'm going to vote on this to have nashville classical to hopefully be a part of mnps thank you any board member that is not spoken if not i'll call for the question all right uh miss tyler would you mind restating your motion i moved to deny local authorization of nashville classical ii all right all in favor please raise your hand all right denial four uh uh all against all right five motion fails i will entertain a new motion i move to accept nashville classical 2 under the mnps portfolio do i have a second any further discussion all in

161favor please raise your hand 5'4 all against four against no extensions motion passes all right with that we'll move on to a board committee report from miss pupa walker with governance thank you chairman bugs we had a uh very good governance meeting today where we were able to approve um one two three how many pull sorry i'm just uh one two three four five six paul five policies um thanks to dr sevier's uh work and so uh those are all online and can see those and then we deferred on one related to interscholastic athletics and then we had a good conversation about whether to join um nsba now that they have left now that tsba has withdrawn from nsba and we're going to continue to have that conversation and gather more information about that um

162looking forward to that conversation that completes my report all right with that we'll begin with announcements uh with our student board members anjali we'll begin with you this time this week okay um i'll start my announcements by reaching a thank you to dr battle for attending the mayor's youth summit last wednesday as for the mnps students and teachers who also attended and engaged in quality discussion that will ultimately be conveyed to mayor john cooper seniors college applications um for specifically early action are due on the 15th make sure you turn that in and also make sure to turn in your fafsas i want to remind everyone that veterans day is on thursday so we won't have school i also want to extend a thank you to those who have served our country um vaccinations please

163get your coveted vaccinations if you haven't done so already as well as your flu shots as we are moving towards flu season um and then i want to say thank you for a great public participation this is my and ebenezer's second public participation with the first being our very first sport meeting um in september as a student i don't really get to see much of the behind the scenes and with that i want to share something as student board members ebenezer and i got to attend the chamber of commerce meeting two fridays ago where we got to actually share a lot about mnps and with that i am a proud student of mnps and the quality discussions that we've had during public participation only highlights that i learned that our teachers are working so effortlessly

164faculty staff and i can't thank you enough for that i wouldn't be here without the people who are sitting behind this table without the people who have helped me go through all my years i started as an mnps student at charlotte park and now i'm about to graduate high school and i just want to say thank you to the teachers who have worked effortlessly through this pandemic who have worked effortlessly regardless of the thank yous that they so much deserve and don't receive enough credit and with that i just want to say thank you to mnps and thank you for creating an environment that is welcoming for teachers for students an environment that emphasizes on mental health for not only students but also for its teachers faculty and staff thank you thank you mrs tyler

165so i have given the student survey to our middle schools and high school i'm excited to get them back to see what any write-in answers are going to say and i will compile those and then create a final survey that will be pushed out to the entire community um that will give us our final hopefully final responses for um what we think the name of the new high school should be thank you uh mrs masters sure so i would typically tell you what the pack is up to but our secretary don did a fantastic job with that so lots of exciting things happening with parent advisory council we are still looking for a few cluster reps so although we have um pack reps from every school we're still missing a few cluster reps and unfortunately

166two of those are maplewood and hunter's lane which are mine so come on y'all i know i know i've been trying um and then i also um i just i wanted to mention for a moment the um that the bep the state funding formula is currently under review for how the state funds our local districts um and i attended one of those meetings in hendersonville and i know that miss jeannie poopo walker and chair bugs you were there as well i really wanted to thank noah for being there one of our advocacy groups or they had a big representation i saw some mnea folks there um very appreciative of everyone who drew up drove up to hendersonville since we didn't actually have one of those meetings scheduled in davidson county and i would encourage anyone

167who is is willing and able to continue reaching out to the state education commissioner and let her know that we would like public dollars to go into public schools for the benefit of every student because a high quality public education is the is a right of every citizen and we want to be sure that the funding stays in public education and we also want to be sure that it is equitably distributed and it doesn't shortchange our students in our larger urban districts like nashville and if you have a different opinion just don't worry about it you don't need to reach out to her at all it's fine um and that's the only announcements i have thank you mrs masters this is uh player peters all right mrs l rod thank you um this week haywood

168is having their online family night mat excuse me math nights not nightmaps math nights tonight is english and spanish so i'm missing it tomorrow night is burmese and karen and it's from 5 30 to 6 30 and then um also tomorrow creep all pta who we heard from dr miley during public participation he tomorrow they have six students from the el program that are graduating out of it and they're going to have a parade for those students and you can be outside to wave at them and encourage them at 8 20 a.m also announced during public announcements is and i want to make sure i have this date right i apologize for having some notes on my phone and some in paper such as life is um our pac meeting and our parent action group

169has at the edmondson branch library the by design documentary being seen along with a quick discussion and that's going to be on november 20th at once again edmondson pike library thank you all right thank you mr little so um a few things so november 13th from 2 to 4 at mcgavock high there's going to be a free anti-violence basketball count mr juan adams who is an mnps grad and had a son who graduated from mps who was unfortunately gunned down is doing the program so if you have time if you have kids who are interested in some of the basic skills and you're interested in anti-balance i ask you to come it's on facebook the more the details next wednesday november 17th from 5 to 6 30 at the hermitage community library i mean hermitage

170community center right across from the police station on central pike we're going to have our first in-person community meeting where we hear from parents teachers um and stakeholders about things that are going on that they care most about so i'm willing to take the feedback um and then come back to the district to see as well as the principles to see how we make situations better or expand things that they think that are going really well in the district um i want to say thank you to the parents and the teachers um who have just made a huge sacrifice to attend tonight's meeting i saw a lot of them sitting in the crowd with kids um as i as i have a kid and having a kid here between five and seven you know a

171lot of times they get hungry they get antsy and just hearing from parents teachers and even students it just it warmed my heart and kept me focused on you know what do we really want to accomplish as a as a board of education so i appreciate you guys and then this um this month just doing school tours um and so i had a chance to go by stanford montessori um and meet with their students um and i had a magical time in one of the classrooms i'm going by hermitage mcgavig high and donaldson and if there are other schools i call it the um yeah the district 4 tour but thank you right mrs bush yes thank you um last night we had a great turnout at jfk they had their stem day at um

172at the school and we had a lot of great students that really enjoyed all the innovative things that they saw and they were really excited about the opportunity to be a part of such a great event and want to thank moves and grooves for putting on that event and there's going to be many many more that's going to come into the district now that we're kind of getting back to some little normancy and i will be visiting more schools and making sure that activities are supported uh and encourage our schools to get back into uh that mode of celebrating and um being able to get you know get that parental involvement back again in the district so really excited about that and there's more to come in district six thanks so much this is pupa

173welcome i want to start by um um giving my condolences to the family of letharias lewis he was a ninth grader from hillsborough who was shot and killed since our last meeting and it's our second hillsborough student to be lost to gun violence this semester tremendously heartbreaking and just want to remind everybody that our kids are you know need a lot of support and we've got to do find a way to just end this gun violence there's a second round of redistricting for our districts if folks want to take a look and give input there's still a time to do that kids 5-11 can get vaccinated vaccinate your child mnps is helping make that happen it's a national school psychologist week i'm so grateful for our school psychologists who do tremendous work really in the

174background making sure that kids needs are mad and they're such an important part of the piece of the puzzle for us and then i want to congratulate evaneser and anjali who were filmed uh by cbs news a few weeks ago for a documentary um which came out this week is that this week last week last week um and it's a cbs news it's online you can stream it it's called the trials of critical race theory and they were in a focus group with students did an outstanding job very very proud um ebenezer made the final cut angeli did not um but really really proud of his remarks and we they were all mnps students they had students from girls inc from um you know different programs in the district and it was just um a

175testament to how brilliant our students are and i will leave it there thank you abenezer um i wanted to start the my announcements by mentioning that next week is national stem week and i just want to give out a shout out to all the math and science teachers in the district who have been helping you know students in these four subjects for example i go to magnet school so i've had i've had the pleasure of experiencing teachers who've been very helpful in introducing me to various subjects i also wanted to mention that just as miss jenny pooper walker said students five through the ages of five through 11 cannot get vaccinated and certain schools have vaccinations for students and it's available on their website so parents should um explore that option and then finally i

176want to mention governor school applications are not open so for my fellow rising i think juniors and seniors you can apply this week and if you have any questions or you're interested please contact your school counselors or you can contact me or angela because she attended last year and that concludes it thank you oh we have one more for mrs pooper walker i'm so sorry this is player peter i'm so glad i love you genie um i just want to acknowledge uh with dr bowell being interviewed by lester holt i am big fan of on national news and really putting us in a bright light a bright spot on the national level coming and representing schools anybody having a chance to see it please go and see it but the fact that national news network

177came and made a point to have a conversation of where our schools are going i just want to highlight that to go back and google it it's a great interview highlighting nashville and our great education system so and on that note i will say i haven't told you this dr battle and i i hope to not give you any ideas but two different board chairs from across the u.s reached out to me the very next day to ask about your contract and i i told them in no uncertain terms no ma'am so i do appreciate that you had a great interview don't you do no more interviews but no really seriously thank you for representing us thank you students for representing us on the national scale also um i want to uh also extend my

178my thanks to both ebenezer anjali and then we had a couple of principals um mrs harrington mrs taylor the soon to be me dr taylor from jones who spoke to the report card committee for the chamber in years past we had not had a true student-focused conversation we hadn't heard from educators around with the chamber report committee or the chamber education committee suggests to us so i appreciated them representing us so well and being very honest and very candid so thank you for being there thank you to all staff students families that came out to that town hall that was on the exact same day as the legislative special the legislative special session being called some of us were racing from the capitol to get out to hendersonville to both advocate to the different parts

179of the state i.e the legislature and then advocate to commissioner schwinn one thing that i do want to continue to elevate though is that a billion dollars is not a lot of money when you're serving more than 80 000 students we sit here and listen to our staff say that they need more so what i would urge us as a community to do is to stop pitting parents and educators against each other and stop saying that we could do more with less i would urge us to all be advocating to the state to say that we need more we can how is it that we are asked to have top tier education when we're asked to do it with pennies that it just does not compute so i would again just ask us to remember

180that our educators our parents our students deserve and need more we don't have it so we're going to keep advocating for it but our messaging has got to be consistent it can't be that we're going to be okay robbing peter to pay paul as one staff member said we've got to be consistently just driving for more for our uh all of our all of our families um i in that same vein i would urge community members to just unders begin to try to understand what's happening at the state level when we say the state that sometimes means the department of education it sometimes means the legislature and it sometimes means the governor and it sometimes means the other entities that operate at a state level that are appointed by the governor just get familiar with

181it reach out to your board members there are certainly community groups that help support that it's time to start training so that we're ready in january i want to remind everyone that thursday is veterans day that means we're going to have our kids at home with us just be prepared if you weren't all ready lastly that just hurt my heart i love him lastly redistrict.nashville.gov is where you can go to look at the proposed redistricting maps they will be finalized soon but please make your voice heard if there's something about the district remapping that you don't agree with and as a point of privilege lastly i will shout out mrs pringle at jones elementary school who is teacher of the year and she she just so has happened to prepare my three-year-old son for kindergarten

182already two years ahead of time he is ready he based on his report card and his teaching strategies before card thingama who's it he's ready for kindergarten so thank you mrs pringle and mrs lindsey the teaching support staff be there no for the business though this meeting is adjourned [Music] 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