001meetings and David could you do a roll call vote for us yes yes dr. gentry present dr. Gentry's present miss Elrod present mr. Wright's president mrs. baring present sparing his presence miss bugs president bugs president miss Bush its Bush's present miss player Peter's pregnant let's play your peers as president mr. pooper Walker don't believe she's joined yet miss frog a president president madam chair you have seven members present okay mark you president it was people walking everybody thank you that's okay so it has been a very tough day for us as a board and I think we are all reeling from the news this morning I thought I would start out the board meeting by reading a statement that I've read at the conference this morning and then if anyone would like to make remarks
002they could make them after the statement or at the end of the meeting it is with a heavy heart that I'm before you today our school board chair and dear friend Anna Sheppard passed away last night peacefully and unexpectedly we have lost a tremendous leader who carried us through many difficult transitions as a board and helped lead our school district to a productive and stable place she will be dearly missed Anna Shepherd has consistently been a champion for our students she challenged all of us to be better and to do better for the students of MMPs she knew that was where our focus had to be Anna was a strong proponent of arts education and a former band mom in fact her personal email address was music mama she served for all the right reasons
003never for personal gain or recognition but truly as a servant for her community she was folk only on the betterment of our school system Hermitage Donaldson and Old Hickory couldn't have asked for a better representative Anna never stopped fighting for the students and she was advocating to the end she represented the board in the district before the Metro Council during the springs ongoing budget discussions I suspect councilman Mendez and other council members knew very well where she stood scripture tells us that peacemakers are blessed and Anna certainly was she was often in the middle of the controversy of the day negotiating between the two sides on lots of issues she did more than vote or even lead her ability to engage in the holy work of reconciliation kept this board together in its hardest days
004I don't know what we would have done without Anna I personally don't know how I would have gotten through this past year without Anna strong leadership and I told her that many times I would like to extend our sincere condolences to Anna's husband Larry and to her children and her family as well as to the mcgavock high school family our prayers and our hearts are with you during this difficult time and I'd like to call now just for a moment of silence before we start the meeting all right dr. Gentry has requested to pull two items off the consent agenda what are those items dr. Gentry thank you miss frog I'd like to pull items one b12 and item one D okay I'll entertain a motion on the remaining consent agenda items I'm sorry can
005you repeat that one more time I'm sorry one B as in boy one b12 or Ryan Building Corporation and item one D as in David Student Handbook revisions 20 22 20 21 thank you but someone like to thank motion madam chair this is Jill spearing I move to approve the consent agenda as written with those exceptions is there a second that was freed of seconding yes okay all right is there any discussion other it's not discussion I'll call for a vote dr. Gentry I'm Miss Elrod I the Senate votes I'm the Spearing aye spearing votes I'm miss bugs I miss bugs webside miss bush bush folks I display your Peters I just player Peter if I'd Simon's pupil Walker I people Walker votes I missed rogue I shrug votes I met him chair you have
006a dice thank you all right so now we will take item 1 b12 the Orion building corporation contract miss dr. gentry thank you Miss broke I just want to refresh my memory is this the same corporation that we had the huge public participation turnout around failure to pay some of the subcontractors that were involved I don't know if there's anyone on that can confirm that mr. Hansen or mr. prophet available this is David prophet yes ma'am this is the same group and the particular incident was due to non-payment of the subcontractor not Orion in fact Orion attempted to pay mr. rosante the monies that were purported to be owed to him however they would not sign a nondisclosure agreement which is customary in these type of circumstances and therefore they didn't get paid but they
007were orion was prepared to pay them the money that they felt that they were owed and this is dr. battle just been proffered can you also clarify that the Orion Corporation subcontracted with the individual so if you can work through how the subcontract and went so that the board members can be refreshed yes ma'am Orion had a contract with a particular subcontractor in Europe - excuse me I'm having a great moment and can't remember the subcontractors name but they had a contract with them and then the subcontractor had sub subcontracted a portion of the work out to mr. rosante there was not good record-keeping by both entities between them and but I Ryan did prove satisfactory at least to me as an architect who seen these things a million times that the payments to and
008from that subcontractor for the contracted work were paid the argument is and always has been between the subcontractor and mr. rosante and not necessarily Orion how in discussions with Orion in order to make the to resolve the issue they did attempt then to pay the contract and resolve the issue but again the documents that needed to have been signed would not be signed by mr. Rosati Joe Haas I believe was the subcontractors name by the way thank you so I haven't no question so I think I know the answer to this so with regards to this particular contract do we have any insight into whether they will be moving forward with using Joe Hoff's as another subcontractor do we have a thought about that no ma'am I have instructed Orion that if they are contracted
009on any of our future projects that mr. Haas would not be entertained as a subcontractor okay what would you like to make a motion on this item say something discussion this is Frieda player Peters I would just like to put on the record that best practices would be used particularly with contractors having another incident like we had with Santes unacceptable I appreciate the effort to try to make up the payment I know that didn't come to a satisfactory agreement to both parties but I think it's crucial and important that I Ryan chooses subcontractors that are high road high quality and make sure things are put in writing it's unacceptable to have war done I mean it was a subconscious you know sub-contractor which is often it happens often in construction but just as is kind
010of a moral statement that employees shall be paid to clean government public contracts that are done by the taxpayers money that we need to get steward of that and make sure that we practice best personnel practices and we will help our contractors and expect our contractors to have the same best practices and the best moral authority to pay for a work that's been perform and services that been performed I would be very disappointed if you have a situation coming back where another subcontractor has come back and saying they had not get paid and we I would hope that all I know it's not always customary and cut short for it to happen but at least under this purview and under our purview that working there would be a contract within the work and I don't
011know what legal obligations we have for that but just as an expectation I will likely set the expectation from a board level that even in future contractors other than Haas that's the expectation of the board if any contractor wants to do work listed with the Department of Education or the Board of Education with us that this is a moral standard that we hold to and an expectation that we hold to that whatever our wages are decided upon that they would be fulfilled and be be filled there will be a agreement before work has begun on whatever whatever business is decided to beat a month's the amongst the parties so hopefully we can avoid the situation again yes miss Blair Peters if I may just very quickly mr. oh you're exactly right that is the way
012that we intend to operate much better as we go forward one of the issues in this particular case was there was not a contract entered into between the subcontractor and the sub sub contractor going forward our specifications now require that so that anybody working on an MMPs project is under contract and therefore there's a legal document involved that will bind anyone and everyone to the requirements of the contract in the general conditions of the contract so we we will not have this issue again and but I totally agree with you in this players will will certainly go forward with those type of veterans thank you any more comments madam chair yes I moved to approve the contract with Orion okay that was emotion from gentle Spearing is there a second second okay that was miss
013Peter player player Peters I'm so sorry all right is there any discussion any further discussion okay I call for a vote dr. Gentry dr. James you put assignments Elrod I I'm still revered Simon sparing I miss baring votes I miss bugs I miss bugs vote sign miss Bush miss bush Miss player Peters I just play your Peters votes I miss people Walker I miss people Walker votes I miss frog I shrug votes I miss Bush sure that one worked in my chair you have seven eyes one president voting okay thank you next we will turn to consent agenda item 1d the Student Handbook revisions for 2020 21 dr. gentry yes so I wanted first to think dr. battle for the the time that she spent with us on on Monday presenting in that one-way conversation
014no debate no discussion we'll make sure that's on the record sharing with us at a high level some of the changes that were were made in the to the Student Handbook is specifically around the Disciplinary codes and how they would be applied in the future so I just want to kind of take us back to when we had the meeting back in the in the conference room a couple of years ago when the request was first brought to us to take a look at those codes how they were being applied the severity of some of the punishments and more specifically and more pointedly the disparity in the data that we had we were seeing then and we're still seeing I'm although there has been some improvement under the previous changes some of the disparities that
015we've been seeing and how those disciplinary codes are applied to students of color specifically black males in our in our district and so on I think I'm to see how the revision put us in a better place or at least helped us maintain the progress that we have made and I was reading through it and I saw one of the earlier pages about more intense interventions so get several questions but just want to get a better understanding for the example the one code where we were we had one time you could either expel a student suspended student out-of-school suspension for five days or an expulsion and so we put some some space in the middle right so we give them some additional days what I'm struggling to understand and under this current budget how are
016we supporting the student in that time when they are out of school so when I think about this and I say say this before so I apologize for repeating myself but I struggle with our other goals of improving literacy our literacy rates when we have again such large number amounts of days being spent out of the classroom and often by repeated populations of students and so I have a student who is repeatedly just put in an out-of-school suspension situation and I would dare say there's some correlation between that students number of days out of the school and their scores that being the case I also want to say I understand to provide teachers and building level or staff and building of leaders ability to take some action to ensure that they have an environment in
017the classroom and in that building that's conducive for all students to learn so I just need a better understanding of the Milan what are we really doing to minimize the the I guess the subjective application of the codings what are we doing to prepare that student to return to the classroom as a more productive student and more in a position to learn and as well as that what are we doing to to help our teachers is it more classroom management training is it cultural sensitivity training is it cultural bias unconscious bias training I just need a better understanding because I'm not getting the connection directly not a school teacher but I'm not getting the direction the connection directly between how making these changes especially in our current climate right so we're gonna have students coming
018back into a classroom who've been outside of the structured environment but much longer than just a summer and so I'm afraid that what we're gonna have is just more superfluous applications of these these these out-of-school suspensions and these disciplinary codes again dealing with the student that's just not accidents from this truck you know I apologize but just my brain dump trying to get some clarity on what we think we're accomplishing with the changes that we made [Applause] dr. Gentry I'll be happy to respond to your questions there and feel free to follow with me for some reason I missed one of them in my response first and foremost I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the hard work of our teachers and our administrators when it comes to building strong academic cultures in
019their school buildings I also want to remind us that when we're talking about disciplinary infractions almost when nearly 90 percent of our students have either one or no zero disciplinary infractions throughout the school year so what we're talking about is about 10 percent of our students who may have one or more infractions throughout the school year and what our school teams do what our teachers do is work closely with their students and their administrators regarding the the plans for students upon their return that is a school level determination a lot of times if you see an extended amount of days part of that process in the investigation and the determinant of the disciplinary action is for the school team to come up with a plan of support I also have to acknowledge and give thanks
020to our school leaders who are working diligently every day to ensure that they are providing those restorative practices and processes to to our students with regards to professional learning our team offers a plethora of professional trainings to our faculty as a matter of fact there are so many of them that we can we could probably not just rattle them off because our portfolio and catalog of professional learning in the space is so great and the beautiful thing about that is that those professional learning opportunities are by our trained leaders in-house those professional learning opportunities are offered throughout the summer and throughout the school year you might remember previous conversations with regards to schools here one supports that every school selects a Tier one support for their school discipline plan and then those discipline options are
021those training options are around SEL foundations PBIS and restorative practices so our goal is to ensure that every staff member is trained based upon the needs of their their faculty and I would also be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that while schools had an option of those three trainings specifically and can can layer in others based upon the catalog many of them have chosen to have their staff trained in more than one or all three of those areas so those professional learning opportunities do exist and continue to be offered through to our staff through the summer and throughout the school year what you have probably heard in years past with regards to budget constraints I mean similar to not the same but similar to what we're experiencing this year they may have to reduce the
022number of trainings or the timing of those trainings given the budget constraints but our team has remained committed to offering and sharing the the catalog of experiences and learning opportunities - to all staff so they are part of our catalog of offerings and are expected for each school team every year okay it's bugs yes thank you and thank you for your explanation dr. battle and I I appreciate you taking my call earlier this morning even with everything that was happening you know dr. battle we talked at 7:30 this morning after we found out that our colleague you know passed so thank you for spending that time with me to walk me through the code changes I also have some reservations I appreciated you kind of respectfully pushing back on me and making me think also
023dr. battle but yet my reservations are kind of along the same lines dr. Gentry's you know I think the the past two or three weeks have just been really hard you know they're really really hard and I think when we we as adults are having to acknowledge what's happening around the country and how it's impacting our our mental capacity the mental drained the mental toll is taking on us you know it's hard to see an unarmed black man call out for his mom with his dying breath you know that just that that hasn't set well with many of us right and I think the more I tried to process my own feelings the more I thought about what our students are dealing with that we know we've been in the middle of this pandemic that
024they missed three months of in-person school and they've witnessed the same tragedies injustice racially-charged interactions that we have and you know how are they coping and so when I think about what the FOB will look like I do think that there will be students with energy that we you know we need to be prepared to engage with lovingly and that we need to be able to and ready to support but the reality is I think if the rest of the country is wrestling with anti racism and bias trainings and calling out their colleagues I don't know that we really do that in education and please hear me well because I understand how this can house how my statement can be misconstrued but it's just a truth that in African American communities and African American homes
025very early on we were taught that the KKK was made up of policy makers and authority figures legislators police officers and yes even educators it's an ugly truth for the truth nonetheless you know we as humans all have some type of bias that we have to work through and I remember you know I've told the story a few times that even as an african-american woman in a stem field I still found myself being biased toward my female students and had to work through that I had to seek out my own trainings you know I had to identify that for myself but if we have educators who don't know their bias or don't understand the way they may misinterpret or miss code something when we make it vague we add to the injustice early on in
026their lives you know we accident injustice done to children and specifically black children rap boys when we don't acknowledge you know how especially in a system this large with 167 schools making sure we do things with fidelity we don't always you know think through how the little people and I in in these situations will be negatively impacted by someone who just doesn't hasn't quite grappled with themselves internally and that gives me pause and I respect your professional suggestions dr. battle and appreciate you know what you're looking to do to support the you know our students and our teachers and having better conversations but it's one thing to offer a training and it's another to mandate it and true we haven't had the resources to mandate fees but again with the current climate and people are
027finally starting to accept that hey racism is a thing race and racism is something that it's felt whether it's done overtly or subconsciously and I think that we need to be ready to acknowledge that and I'll go ahead and say that I am developing an anti racism policy I know you know we we as board members have just been talking to the community and acknowledging the community's thoughts right now and I think we need to be prepared to support them in different ways and I'll pause there so I don't go down too many rabbit holes but that's where my reservations lie and that you know there are measures being put in place to try to better support implementation or to make sure that there's not an abuse of codes but I just think that sometimes
028if we make the codes a bit more open to interpretation that they can be subjective thank you okay we have two other board members that would like to comment one is Fran Bush who appears to be unable to get back into the meeting if any of our staff can help her with those with that technical problem and then miss Cooper Walker would like to make a remark okay can you guys hear me okay yes we can hear you so I don't want to repeat what my colleagues have already said I do want to say that I know that every year for many years we have had a push and pull mini community conversation staff conversation about the handbook but at the end of the day I do believe it comes down to what our fundamental
029beliefs are about children and about our role I also you know I know that schools are asked to take on so many challenges that students face outside of school yet we're meant to or expected to alleviate or resolve or address or somehow or pass those things and we frankly have not been supported in a whole range of ways financially and otherwise to address those things well there's forever a struggle between school safety and learning environments and students right and we are forever going to have a tension between those two things and so we have to eternally be reflecting and adapting and evolving and our policies have to reflect that but so do our funding and our practices and our training and our priorities so I want to remember that this year we prioritize our funding
030on our budget and number two on our list was SEL support and we had seven mil over nearly seven million dollars in possible line items to address a lot of these concerns including advocacy centers success coaches restorative practice assistance in every middle and high school redesigning our alternative learning centers and providing more social workers and SEL specialists I also know we've been in long conversations with partners like the Oasis Center and stars and many others to co-locate staff in our schools to help our students because it's truly a collective responsibility to make sure students are supported and and so our staff and so the change really begins with each OS and I think that we have an obligation to hold ourselves accountable but also as my mentor star Harmon says for every unit of change
031we expect we must provide an equal measure of support and we have not provided the support that schools need in lots of ways to address student behavior in all of its forms and so while I understand that that adjusting and adapting this handbook will occur for the next 30 years probably the bottom line is that we have to prioritize training staff supporting staff making sure that we have ways to help students manage conflict to learn from situations where their there's conflicts and so while I'll support these changes I want to ask dr. bio on her team to create regularly scheduled reports to us this year on how it's going and how the data looks because our data has gone in the right direction the last few years and I would love to see a public-facing
032dashboard where we can truly monitor how this is going and how we're addressing it to make the case for future funding and support and so I recognize this as a terribly challenging and difficult conversation and I respect every single advocate and passionate person that wrote to us there's no easy answers here but I hope that we can not only do better but hold ourselves accountable for doing better so I'll stop there okay we have three other board members who would like to speak first miss Bush yes I think I'll hear me yes okay I'm sorry I got month-out internet problems again I'm sorry I just wanted to make sure that we all understand why we're here with this change in policies last year was a very difficult year for our high schools middle schools and
033elementary schools as far as behavior and discipline problems and if you guys remember when we had our social workers to come stand before us and speak to us about the shortage because I definitely understand the emotional learning around grounded situation but we have to remember that we are not financially capable at this time to support these care centers that we need to put in place that we did not once we passed or once miss Leveaux dome our prior administration so we actually failed in that area as far as trying to make sure that we can give our students support so we have remember that and also the fact that we have got to understand this is not about prison to pipeline this is also about parenting it means that we have got to hold our
034parents more accountable when it comes to student behavior now we talk about race I have five african-american boys and in this day and time it is very difficult to see what we're seeing right now this is a little different we're talking about behavior problems across our district and we have got to set a precedent and standards in our district that we have got to compete with our other counterparts which other districts that have these same policies in place so that their students can learn and their teachers can teach we are not paying our teachers enough to deal with discipline problems and the fact that our students are suffering tremendously those who want to learn because we are always up against student behavior and students not learning and teachers can't teach we have gotten to tighten
035our belt and we have got to send a message and we have to have standards in our district I hope my boys are countable with their behavior nine times out of ten you would never ever see the bush boys be disrespectful to a teacher and if they are it is my responsibility to make sure I correct it now we do have students that do have me there is no question I've always said that and we do have those supports in place but what we have to do is send us a message to our repeat offenders that this is not tolerated because students know what they can get away with I support dr. battle and what she has done she has done her research she has talked to stakeholders she has talked to teachers she has
036salted students and bus drivers she's done her homework we all have seen it and we know that we're having a problem with discipline and I will make my last statement and that is last year discipline got so out of control and before Tobit these students were tired the teachers retired students were saying I hate my senior year because we're not able to learn me we have the same students that keep acting out over and over and over again and I just want to graduate and be gone and that's not the spirit of what we want to leave out these children leave their legacy at their schools so I just want to make sure that we're clear this is not about race this is about being responsible as a community and making sure that we're parenting
037that's what this is all about and making sure that we hold and we make sure that we hold our students accountable and make sure that we give the teachers the support they need in order to teach and that's my comment and I do support the changes in this policy okay we've got I want to speak and it appears miss bud wants to respond so let me let Jill Spearing please speak next and then Rachel and Elrod and the Miss bugs thank you Miss frog I agree with Miss Bush dr. battle has worked tirelessly with teachers and principals Noah a juvenile court and many others to create these revisions they are needed and I move to approve the Student Handbook provisions for 2021 okay do do we want to take a second and then continue discussion
038sure is there a second okay let's move to miss Elrod thank you I was gonna ask dr. battle if she would please share some of the information that we have heard about the four code recommendations and the two level recommendations so that there's a more robust discussion of what exactly is being changed on the board floor yes it's Arad I'm happy to do that there are four codes in particular that are being recommended for some revision and is the addition of a 400 level code for repeated violations one is a reduction of a level code that is currently a 400 code regarding inappropriate sexual behavior of students we have received feedback from all stakeholders regarding that code being very punitive to our students and not restorative in the nature we would like and so we
039are recommending that we back that code down from a 400 level to a 300 level and really push it supports to address that behavior there's also a code regarding a 400 level code regarding extreme disruption of the learning environment and the revision there is simply to address the previous requirement of what's currently in the handbook of it affecting multiple classrooms to only being a single classroom just simply on the premise and in philosophy that every student deserves a safe nurturing learning environment and that is feedback that we have received from from various stakeholders with the same code what we've heard from our discipline review board in particular who reviews many of these infractions is that when we use the words intentional or unintentional it is very subjective for them to uphold appeals or requests from
040parents in support with guarding determining the intent of the Act and so really just focusing that code on making sure that it's about creating safe nurturing environments for all students I'm given the level of disruption and the final code is in regards to 400 level code which is specifically for 13 group fighting allowing some flexibility for school teams with a sign and disciplinary action currently there two options for school teams there's a five-day suspension option and the only other option they have is to expel students and what we heard time and time again a plea from teachers and from our principals and from parents and students is that if you have a student in that situation who only had one particular incident they would like to have flexibility not to expel students there are several
041occasions this past year where principals only option given the timing and the extent of the situation that they had to move for expulsion and and principals teachers parents and students are saying we would prefer not to go to an alternative Learning Center if I have an opportunity to restore repair harm and continue to adjust back into my learning environment in a proper manner and so those are the extent of the changes there is some language change with regards to and we heard from stakeholders how we can be more restorative in our language and how we approach disciplinary incidents in the school building and so that was well received and something that we want to continue to stay focused on as a school district so in our level a responses we have adapted some of our
042language to be more restorative it's important that it's that we give space and time for students to be heard for adults to share and listen and for adults to have an opportunity to share and listen as well so we can become clear around the incident and really set separate what happened from the student and really seeks to repair the student and equip them with the skills necessary to not repeat the offense and the last bit of tweaking just kind of echoes that and requires of our school teams to ensure that they are considering several different components before assigning disciplinary action making sure that the school team is considering the age of the student the disciplinary history the level of harm before signing there is not anything in our codebook that requires a certain day of
043suspension pair of excuse me principles have a range so when you see a one two three days it does not mean it's an automatic three day that means we have a range after the principle has considered the students infraction and how the student can repair the harm or disruption that has taken place alongside with these recommendations that is outside of the handbook we have again identified all of our internal professional learning opportunities which we do plan to Rica Munich eight to all of our teams again as well as a monitoring process which mr. Walker mentioned earlier in her comments so we've already created our structure of review and monitoring of disciplinary actions as we move it forward and we should always do that not just with the recommendations that are before us and so there
044will allow us to take a deep dive into any disparities any incorrect coding and definitely to increase expectations and accountability for all of our leaders and school teams no that was a long explanation miss Arab Elroy but I hope that answered your question it did thank you I really wanted to make sure that I understood from previous conversations that when we talk about discipline a lot of times the assumption is that it's going to be more discipline and more punitive and that some of these changes that are going to be made inside of or potentially may be changed inside the student handbook are more restorative in nature whether it being changing some of the 400 codes to 300 codes or as dr. battle explained to us the level a of having more teacher language that's
045rich more restorative and based on teacher conferencing or the level D recommendation where there's a new option so children are not just immediately expelled and then removed from inside of their school and their peers and we want to keep that we want to keep those children within the communities that they're learning inside of addition I think it's worth us mentioning so dr. battle this will be for you as well can you tell us everyone that was considered within these discussions to make sure that we're you know saying to everyone of this decision and these discussions were not done in a silo will you please let us know who always considered in those discussions and decisions yes ma'am I'm happy to share that information as you are referencing it is important that we do not make
046any changes or proceed with planning without getting input so as a part of our process as we communicated early in the spring we engaged with our school leaders we engaged with our teachers we engage with our transportation staff we engage with parents and students we engage with our community organizations we engage with our security department M MPD we really try to make sure that we brought as many stakeholders around the table to have this discussion in fact many of those conversations I was a part of and some of them I led myself to make sure that I was able to really gather the insight of the various stakeholders to make to really consider the data that's before us and we talked about the data and the evidence that would support any recommendations and our keeping
047our vision and our goal and in front of us and so there were some recommendations that came from every stakeholder quite frankly we probably had more recommendations internally than what we're seeing tonight and there were there were some recommendations that came away that I have not brought before the board because it's important that we have the data we have the evidence we have a balanced approach and being restorative in nature for our students so it's not just about being punitive this is really about how we can support and educate our students as well and so there were other recommendations that did come our way that after kind of bouncing and around various stakeholders I don't think we should move forward with giving the goals that we have for our students the professional development that's needed
048and the resources that school teams and students should have genuine access to on their school campus okay thank you so we now have miss bugs and this then miss player Peters would like to make comments thank you sorry about that so I understand and appreciate everything that you all are saying first again I just have to acknowledge that dr. Bella was a true professional you know she offered pushback and just because she disagrees with me I'm not gonna try to get her fired that's not what a boy should do so I I just have a difference in opinion specifically when it comes to the increasing the time of suspension from five days to 10 days and I just think when you if we don't have measures in place to make sure that a child is
049restored during those five days or now you know what seems to be what might be ten days I just have concerns about that that's where my biggest reservations lie and I think it's important for us to again stop pitting one stakeholder against another we shouldn't be pitting teachers against children or pitting parents against teachers you know we all have work that we can be doing to better support students but true parents are the first teachers that is so true but not every parent has the same or even equitable sets of tools so for my son you know I'm gonna make sure that I work with him so that he's not misogynistic and that he's not a pervert that he's not sending pictures of girls like that that is my job to do but when he
050steps out of line I know how to advocate for him I know how to teach him but what happens with when a child does not have an advocate or does not have a knowledgeable advocate as a parent and they don't know what to do but they do feel like the consequence was too harsh or the you know it didn't fit the inappropriate situation and I just think we need to be mindful of those things and as much as we want to dismiss race it's just not dismissible anymore people have to accept that there are biases and with authority figures in the way we'd all out consequences particularly to black and brown boys and I just now I just have reservations I'm at first I was going to ask that we postpone this to have more
051conversations around it but I also know that when we post postponed really important votes it's it's back our administration it keeps them from you know important planning time it sometimes increases the costs of things we need to pay for so I'm willing to just vote against it but I do just want to make sure that we're we're gonna continue to have the conversations and think through how it's affecting some of our more vulnerable disenfranchised populations and I love this football locker suggestion that we have a fuller face and dashboard where the community can see the suspension rates and we can you know they can dig in and ask us questions and we can either offer pushback or make adjustments okay miss player Peters yes I want to make a motion that we do six-month pilot
052program of this of these changes with with the fort facing dashboard and reporting that mr. Walker suggested I agree with my colleague with Kristian bugs I we cannot be blind to the unconscious biases one may have we all have them whether you're a black person white person person of color of another abscissa tea it's just inherent to being a human being and there's a tough part of how do you give our teachers the tools to give to be able to be a man to be managed at the classrooms and I am NOT a teacher never was one you know close as I was to a sunday-school teacher which is nothing compared to and a real educator but I think we need to be mindful of how we approach this and I want to be very
053cautious of how to give the tools and provide some leeway but also be very mindful of we are a district primarily made of people of color and of all ethnicities and racial backgrounds and I want to be really sensitive that we are not preterite of culture of and I have faith and trust in our director of schools that to be very mindful of that and I want to see how do we find that ground so I want to come and revisit it I mean hopefully in the calendar year in December and with constant monitoring and constant countability with our community partners with this I here you know the valid concerns that they have about inequities but there's a balance of how do you create discipline how do you create an active nurturing environment but also
054we have to be very mindful of in this day and age what are we setting up the culture and the structure and scaffolding and putting structure up to support our children especially makers with sort of practice most most social-emotional learning and that you know our intent as a march 10th was to have substantial funding put into that and then you know as a fortunately you have come to a pandemic but I mean I think it's important to be put on the record that we have to be very mindful about disparities that's going on we have to make sure that our practices are fair and equitable and what does that look like and it's a continuation of adjusting and building and and be very mindful of that and I wish this was a different budget year
055because this will make this conversation totally different that we can implement stronger socially morally practices restorative justice practices around these discipline problems in a more substantial way like a better word and so just as a black woman as a black elected official I want to be very mindful on knowledge of what what are we doing and make sure we support our students of color and also providing teachers resources that they need to to be able to do and hopefully get some flexibility but I do not want to probably commit to these changes so I'm hoping that you know emotion to have this as a pilot program for six months we can come and revisit it see trends and hopefully you know the economy come back and maybe we can ask for supplemental budget to help
056support this even more to provide just some flexibility leeway but more important we examine where we are and see what's working what's not working and we and be able to adjust accordingly okay we have a motion on the floor is there a second the motion is for a six-month pilot program I'm sorry he was that this pupal Walker sorry that with Dini yes okay so emotion a second is there further discussion miss boat I miss frog you guess mr. Gary yes I'd like to hear from dr. battle about her thoughts about the palette let's see here Oh can y'all hear me yes perfect so with regards to a palette to be quite honest I'm processing how we will roll out a discipline a student handbook pilot going into the year I think some of the
057implications we have to think about is with the student student handbook the reason we go through this process over the summer is because we have to make significant revisions and updates from year to year with the handbooks what's going to happen is once we make this putting on my principals hat once we make the determinations regarding the student to parent handbook principals and school teams are going to start baking this into everything that they do training communications a lot of schools print or create handbooks of their own at the school level and so that would have some potential even cost implications and in time and implications for them I would also be concerned by the integrity of implementation given that it would be a pilot that would be concerning to me as well and I
058just I think it might be difficult to approach the student handbook in a pilot from a from a pilot point of view I'm also thinking about professional learning for our teachers as we in principles because we are immediately I'm going to go into the planning phase with our school leaders this summer who will be then training their staff once we come back in the inter-service format and then teachers are going to be training their students and then school teams are going to be training their local community and so by doing that we could possibly be looking at undoing that and I already very challenging scenario so when you're thinking about communications it's it's difficult to do that at the beginning of the year I think it could be very complex and challenging for us to
059address again in December or January if if things should change drastically now I do completely agree with progress monitoring the data and being willing to make adjustments as as we see fit so if we see disparities if we see subjectivity we're going to immediately address those but I also want to remind the team that again only about nearly 90 percent of our students don't have a disciplinary infraction at all and when you're talking about miss coding and disparities that might be present you're also talking about a limited limited spaces where that's happening and so part of our structure is to be able to identify where the MIS coding or the misapplication is happening and correcting that immediately along the way as opposed to adjusting the the handbook time over time these recommendations would not be
060before you if they weren't fundamentally sound and what we're trying to approach and achieve on behalf of our students so those are my initial kind of processing potential implications by approaching a student handbook in a in a pilot format it will be something completely new for me from my classroom experience to my principal experience and now as the director so we would we would have that as a challenge to overcome thank you dr. battle okay we have a motion and a second on that motion do we want to proceed forward with the motion display of our theatres I'm processing it's such a heavy topic I usually I'm pretty good about making my decision but I mean I was I mean I was torn I mean I I feel for the community spots and what to
061be equitable and be very mindful and that equitable aspects and respect the work of you know dr. battle on the team and so yeah just trying to process for a part wish there was a kind of a committee a committee moment to it's really a flesh this out a little bit more it's kind of tough to as you know as we as we talk as a board to process this okay okay I guess we'll go and vote on the motion then yes okay all right I'll call for a vote then David dr. Gentry no dr. Gentry votes no mr. rod I need a point of clarification yes I want it I want so yes I want the motion repeated please my motion was to implement a six-month pilot program with a with a monitoring for
062monitoring - I'm a dashboard of data of the plantation of this of the policy or of the revisions on a regular basis from the administration enter your question missile rod yes it does miss probe I'm sorry I know we're kind of in the middle of the vote but can I just I'd like to speak directly to this motion and I send a note but I guess you missed it it's okay it's okay I know it's a lot of moving parts we don't have hand-raise functionality here I don't think but I think - miss Peter players comment I think you've got some of them like a redundancy and I apologize for using the word I can't think of a better one if we're gonna have the dashboard and dr. battle is committing to the dashboard we
063have visibility into this data and I don't know how frequently it'll be refreshed six months could be a long time if things are going or until the sixth my point I think we have the record and we're getting this aboard on a regular basis at any point in time this board can say according to the data that you're showing me things are going awry or according to the dashboard you're showing me this particular these pillar fractions which we changed our seem to be growing the number of explosions in our over-represented subgroups than it has in the past so I think the dashboard itself allows us to react maybe more proactive right and react when we see the data trending in a direction that we don't want it to go versus waiting six months to revisit
064it so if we're going to get the data on a regular basis because as a board we have the authority to say this doesn't look like it's working and we can say that three months down the line thank you okay so we do have the motion on the we have an emotion in a second and I think we're gonna have to vote through this if someone and if it fails someone can make an alternative motion that is also fine so let's start back on the roll call vote please David I'm gonna start back from the beginning with dr. Gentry just for clarity's sake dr. Gentry no miss Elrod no Sara votes no mr. barring know spearing that's know miss bugs no experts no miss Bush no specialist no miss player Peters no let's play your
065peers butts no mr. Walker no no miss frozen Oh strugglin Oh madam chair you have eight nose motion fails okay I'm gonna make an alternative motion may I bring my motion darkness yes thank you I move to approve the Student Handbook revisions for 2020 one second yeah okay seconded all right is there any discussion on the motion yes I do one point to that this will be for dr. battle talked about can you help us understand what happens with a student who is suspended for five ten days what is the interaction with that student with that students family to address the infraction or the behavior to prepare that student to return and you may have said it and I know you shared a lot I appreciate that and I apologize if I'm asking you to
066repeat something no I'm happy to respond to that question because we are a rating for learning district we provide the opportunity for students to do retakes take assessments complete assignments I am looking forward to now that we have may be able to realize our one to one go for our students with technology that we can continue to engage students moving forward via a remote space as well so that's something that we have not done in the past that I think we have a prime opportunity to elevate as we're moving forward I also want to just clarify in that particular coal which I believe is for 13 and I'm recalling all this fun from memory I'm fine it is up to a five-day option or up to 18 days it's not an automatic five or ten
067oh there is not a scenario where we would say that there's an automatic 10 day suspension or automated automatic five day suspension we're holding our principals accountable and clarifying and expecting them to take all things in consideration before making that determination you could probably expect that if we got to a 10-day suspension that there's lots of factors that are playing in that are needed to separate the student equip them restore them but also do the same students or individuals who might have been caused harm so I'm gonna follow up on that if you don't mind so the dashboard is the dashboard capable or can we ensure that it's capable of awful we're also reporting on the interventions right so in handbook very early in in the introduction it talks about we've improved or intensified or
068increased intense interventions can the - won't report out that when Sharon was disruptive and it was decided I needed to be sent home for five days or six days or whatever that number is what were the SEL type interventions that's a place I'm excited about our remote learning piece and can keep me engaged academically I'm really more asking about the social and emotional interventions and can those be reported on the dashboard sure so we're talking about several different dashboards at this point and so we're also talking about customizing something as we move forward first I want reminders that we have had and continue to have a KPI around discipline and discipline disparities so we will continue to monitor VR dashboard with data in that space we also have in our student management system we have
069a program called incident campus which is our student management system that is where our our educators our principals our staff go in and log any disciplinary infractions in that system they are to document and log all interventions for students that is our monitoring system where if there is an infraction for students we should always be able to go in and check to see what interventions have been put in place to students before any disciplinary action was assigned given the discipline matrix so inside our Infinite Campus system which is our student management system you have that in the discipline category within the system but you also have a dedicated page for every student that is called supports and interventions and we train our school teams every staff member every year around that expectation to document and
070log support and interventions into the system so we've got our KPI dashboard which is which we monitor through data warehouse we also have our student management system two places in the discipline category but also on our student support and intervention play page that is where we log all interventions all enrichment parent contact so on and so forth thank you okay so we are okay so we have a motion on the floor to approve the handbook changes we have a second and we're still in discussion did anyone else want to make remarks okay I will just say briefly when we voted on some of the Disciplinary policy changes I guess it was last year it was a difficult decision for some of us but there were a few of us on the board that were very
071concerned that we didn't have the right supports in place and since we made the initial changes to our policy I have gotten so many reports from teachers from principals from african-american leaders in our schools that we just have kind of out of control classroom so I really appreciate dr. battles leadership on this issue and that she has worked with a variety of people who are involved in the classrooms to try to address some of the issues and I miss Claire Peters effort to to provide some monitoring and for the from the board level I know this is a very sensitive issue and and I think you know that that's a good thing for the board to keep an eye on what happens with these changes but I think to change that year you know would
072be disruptive as dr. battle pointed out and so if this is something that needs to be revisited you know over a summer in the future that's certainly something that the board can do so I'm gonna vote in favor of the changes and just want to say I appreciate dr. battles leadership on this issue anybody else before you vote I mean I think that was that's that's very good I won't be voting in favor of it because I remember also when we made the initial changes that we did not have the resources available and given where we are from our budget situation now I don't think that we have the funding to provide the supports to implement these changes do with fidelity with all that be and he said I hope and I sincerely pray that
073we will see our disciplinary data not regress that we continue to trend in the right direction and that the teachers do feel supported because I believe this is going to pass but I hope that the teachers get the supports that they need to maintain the learning environment that's conducive for all students thank you thank you all right so we'll call for a vote dr. gingery no gingery votes no mr. rod miss Elrod sell rod we'll come back to miss Elroy miss spirit I miss spearing birds I miss bugs no bugs pups no miss Bush I miss Bush votes I miss player Peters this player Peters I let's play appears most I miss poopoo Walker I people Walker votes I'm miss frog I shrug folks I miss Elrod I'm gonna come back to her I apologize
074I had to run down the hallway to parent and I heard you calling my name so I'm so sorry I shall write votes I'm sure you have six eyes tunas okay thank you now we have the directors report and so I'm going to turn it over to dr. battle at this time um Thank You Vice Chair frog and board members I know we're virtual right now but there's an empty seat where chair Shepherd will be sitting and that's gonna take a lot of getting used to she asked for this report just last week and I know she would have been listening carefully and asking me some good questions as always and she always did we are all going to miss her leadership her kindness and her relentless advocacy for a district and for our students
075earlier today I joined mayor Cooper dr. Ahlers to hunger and other education leaders to announce the reopening plan for all Nashville's schools public independent Catholic and charter schools we work with leaders from each of those education sectors to ensure that we'll all be on the same page when it's time to start school again in August I co-chaired the group along with dr. Jahangir who chairs the Metro count of coronavirus task force we consulted with pediatricians from a Harry and Vanderbilt other public health and emergency management experts and opportunity labs and organization with deep experience and pandemic response planning Public Health and emergency operations the result is a plan that prepares for three basic scenarios a relatively normal school environment a hybrid approach that involves significant social distancing and a combination of in-person and remote learning
076and when we became all too familiar with this frame with schools closed and all learning happening remotely we will be ready for any of these scenarios but there's only one that I'm hoping for and that's a return to traditional school on August 4th which is eight weeks from today of course there will be an opening that would be safe for everyone I think the great majority of students teachers and certainly parents are united on that point this plan covers everything from instruction to clean into technology to transportation to athletics it explains what we'll need to do to prepare school buildings for reopening and what stewed students and their parents will need to do before coming to school each day using this plan as a framework an internal task force at M ApS has been working
077to develop implementation plans for the 2020 21 school year that will be based on these scenarios and the guidance provided the task force includes three working groups operations and safety academic planning and student family and staff support the working groups include teachers parents students staff members community members business partners and union representatives along with central office personnel with those implementation plans in place we can be sure that every child in our district receives a great education no matter what circumstances are thrust upon us and mayor Cooper's announcement yesterday that the city will spend twenty four million dollars in cares Act funding for devices and Internet connectivity for our students will make a huge difference on that front each school in consultation with the district will develop its own specific implementation plans for how to operate
078under the three scenarios outline and that is after the district determines the protocols and the expectations for every school moving forward unique challenges such as vulnerable student populations facilities capacities or successful implementation of a rote learning in an equitable fashion must be considered we will continue to develop and announce further plans with guidance for school administrators families and staff through June and July to prepare an account for changing circumstances we will be releasing more detailed reopening plans the week of July 6 and we can't anticipate being able to say which of the three scenarios will be starting school with at that time so that parents and staff have adequate time to prepare and of course we will frequently provide updates between now and then again I hope we can start school in the traditional way
079just as I wish our recent graduates could have had the classic senior year experiences I want our new students and their parents to experience the first day at a new school the way generation after generation has this won't be easy supply chains for personal person personal protective equipment like mass continue to have reliability issues and we still need to identify and obtain significant funding for materials and resources if we're going to effectively implement our plans and ensure equitable access to education please also understand that we are reviewing our plans and adjusting daily to health officials guidance CDC guidelines and our local context it will take a district-wide effort and a citywide effort to overcome the challenges we'll face and to create the conditions we'll need for a safe return to school but I know we're
080up for it as a district and as a community as always I appreciate the board's leadership as we navigate these tough times together thank you alright thank you dr. battle so we're gonna turn now to announcements and I'm gonna start with miss pupal Walker and work my way or ask dr. battle a question before we go to announcements please absolutely thank you dr. Bailey I have three questions will there be any practice run such as riding the bus while implementing social distancing placing masks on students taking temperatures and will this happen before July 6th do we have enough thermometers at the school levels I'm thinking about large high schools like hunters Lane how many thermometers would they need if we are in that phase of reopening school and how many principals served on the school
081reopening task force that wrote these reopening steps thank you board member spare me those are all great questions and again take me back if I'd missed up and do not answer one of them with regards to the trial runs the one thing that we have acknowledged in our internal work groups is that the the practice and the transitions are going to be critical to the success of any plan moving forward and so the worg routines right now are considering all of the needs in preparation for the start of the school year they very well may include practice ones or at least trials for us to work through our plans whether they be at a smaller scale or a larger scale to make sure that we're fully prepared for the opening of school I also want
082to remind us that if we are in an opening space it will be because our local data and research will indicate that it is safe for us to do so it's also important for me to reference here with regards to the Nashville plan there are some various scenarios within those protocols with regards to social distancing and so the health officials and CDC guidelines give some options with regards to what strategies we can use to mitigate the spread of the virus your second question and this might be the third question with regards to who thermometers was the second question yes we are in the process of securing thermometers for all of our schools part of the recommendation is not to do a wholesale check every day but we are equipping would be equipping our school teams
083with thermometers I believe that order has actually already been placed so that if need be they can take temperatures and of course if there would were to be a case I'm in the school that they could immediately do so so we would use the farmer to use would align to our phase reopening plans if that makes sense but we are ordering and schools will be equipped with thermometers we work closely with the Metro Health Department Nicole who oversees that work within the district and the third question was regards to administrators and principals serving on the workgroup teams yes we have several principals who are serving on the world group teams I believe there are at least between two to four on each workgroup team at an initial acid it'd go out to our principal advisory
084group of which many of them volunteered to be a part of the workgroups and so we asked them to identify which workgroup team they wanted to be on so some of them have more than others just simply based upon where they felt like their skillset aligned but we continue to receive recommendations and and and individuals volunteering too so to support the work of the workgroups on that note each work group has probably close to 20 or more various stakeholders a part of them so that we can really blame the perspectives of various stakeholders so that we can ensure that we're building strong plans but as a reminder if we were looking at a reopening or hybrid scenario it would only be because of our phased reopening plant plan that would suggest that it's safe for
085us to do so Thank You mr. an for your questions and I hope I answered them oh oh sorry have a good question regards to reopening is there will we have access to additional care funds regarding PPE for students during the opening or do respect more stimulus but not stimulus you know carrots funds federal state aid if students can't don't have masks and afford vas don't have access to him will we be providing them as a student through to students and staff throughout the phases until we Phase three when school is in session yes so what we are working through right now was important for us to finish the framework which you heard today what we've not shared are the detailed plans that the working groups are working through we needed to get the Nashville
086plan done because of that plan helps us identify what the PPE needs are at each phase and so we have been working with chief Swann the office of the emergency management and others with regards to securing some initial mass for all of our students but we're also looking to utilize some of our cares fund to purchase additional PPE to maintain our our level of PPE supplies that's what I'm looking for available to to students and staff also once you just update based upon miss parents last question we've ordered about 2,000 thermometers about 300 of them have been received thus far just one additional question if you don't mind miss bro I think you talked about in your report you did make reference to the 24 million that we got for laptops and hot spots for
087students just at some point and we haven't probably hashed out how we're going to distribute those etc etc but we really interested in having a report specifically on who's involved in creating that plan and how those devices would be distributed maintained etc thank you I appreciate it absolutely our academic planning workgroup will be is the team that's working on the plans and can deliver updates with regards to distribution okay any other questions or comments about the directors report okay we'll move to have announcements now starting with miss Pippa Walker thank you Miss rogue so I just want to just make a quick remark we know that there are still budget negotiations happening in the council and that there are multiple budgets out there and I want to commend chair Mendez for his attempts to get
088additional funding for us to cover part of our cola increase that we gave last here I want to reiterate that we will honor that commitment to cover that cost of living increase for staff that we gave them last year including the mid-year increase and Kevin Mendoza's budget also provides funding for us to get every employee to $15 an hour which personally I feel is something that we have prioritized for a number of years and I want to say that miss Shepherd always talked about that passionately and I think as I think about her today and that's losing her I think it's um it's it's poignant that we're talking today about finally getting to a place where we can get that minimum wage for employees and so I just want to encourage fellow board members to
089support the budget that councilman Mendez has put forward I think it is in this time of fiscal crisis probably one of the best opportunities we're going to get and and and I appreciate councillor Mendez for offering that and just thoughts and prayers for the Shepherd family and thinking about them today and wishing all of them peace and knowing that Ana was a true community leader and made a profound impact on our city and our students I'll leave it there thanks thank you Miss Pippa Walker miss Player Peters I went to echo our budget chair Walker about the $15 an hour you know this is a this is a fight that I've been fighting for several years and I think it's crucial we're probably one of the last government entities that's not be able to fulfill
090this moral commitment you know when I was was an advocate for workers one of my sayings was that no government employee should qualify for government services and getting to $15 an hour helps make that kind of I guess fill that that sentiment that I have that you know the cost living here in Nashville is becoming more and more expensive but more importantly we have good efficiency our support staff they do the heart work of our school you know as we had talked about this the handbook revisions it's a lot of time support staff that's having those one-off conversations interviewing intervening emotionally trying to pour into those students have the conversations that the teachers cannot have because a their teaching and it's a different it's a different a different voice that is also supporting the teacher
091and it's a sport staff that knows when a child is hungry they know the issues that are going through more emotionally but sometimes it's because they have the time to have those one-on-one conversation why teacher is teaching to a full classroom that that supports that person's and take that student to the side and have the conversations and they have children themselves that they're trying to feed and you know $15 an hour it's you know that puts you right at $30,000 a year and so there's people there's many of our support staff that works two or three jobs on a regular basis there's a support staff I know that works a student works Metro Schools during a day and Walgreens at night and when I go to Walgreens to get my mother's prescription or get things
092that I need I have a conversation and it's unfortunate when I go in the evening I know she's putting in our 12 of a long day and maybe going to 13 so we have people who are trying their best and really love the work that they do really wanna be partner students a nation and who worked full time this is full time positions I would say and that they should deserve a full time pay and so the commitment that council members have put out there that there was members of the board that really feel passionate about fulfilling that commitment so I really want to put that out there and you know also going back to our custodians and I know miss Shepherd felt the same way I did about that and the first time I
093met her 10 years ago was during the custodial fight that I was to try to prevent the outsourcing of custodians and when she was running ten years ago that was one of the conversations that we've had and one of things that we agree on so so yeah so to to Jeannie's point about being very poignant you know and separ I did always agree but one things I love and appreciate about her that she was very respectful very straightforward and we always had a great honest conversation about the issues and you know in the past my time on the board we agreed on a lot of issues coming up a budget wise and custodians and textbooks and things like that and she's she's going to be miss you know a shock most of the day and
094had it set in I said once we have this meeting it's going to times going to know it's gonna start sinking in that the reality of her loss so to our families my prayers are with you and and you you and that would be forgotten thank you all right thank you Miss Blair Peters miss Bush yes thank you miss phone this is for Anna when I got the news this morning of her past and my heart was broken she was a jewel or not born very gracious they're always kind and kids were always propriety she'll be truly missed and my prayers goes out here in our family thank you thank you Miss Bush miss bugs yes just echoing you out sentiment sending thoughts and prayers to to Anna's family 2020 has just been hard and
095I also just want to acknowledge and on a still heavy but on a different note teens for equality a couple of hours to our MPs students they attend middle college of NSA are members of this group are started this group has really been supporting this movement to eradicate racism and even to help fund schools more fully and so I just appreciate that young people are making their voices heard this this young generation they they are bucking back and I appreciate it I appreciate them just speaking up and advocating for themselves so just shout out to that group and to all the other young people that are just advocating for anything you know just advocate for yourselves kids I love it just 2020 has been hard and a death is more was another tough blow thank
096you Miss bugs miss Bering yes thank you I have three announcements first of all congratulations to Emmy frog it will be the guest speaker in a video conference with Diane Ravitch educational historian and president of the network for public education npe brings together voices from diverse perspectives and tomorrow at 7:30 Amy will discuss with Diane ravaged the fight for better schools in Tennessee secondly I also support miss Walker at mr. Peters to ensure a $15 an hour rate for our employees as well as a color so thank you for those comments this morning I woke to the devastating news of the passing of our leader and chair of the board and a shepherd she may have been short and statue but her heart was as big as Texas next to her dear husband Larry her
097children and grandchildren and a loved Metro Schools she loved politics she loved leadership she loved vacationing in Florida with Larry her family and friends and she loved New Orleans she loved music and the arts and the academies of Nashville she loved the marching band and spent many years serving as president of the Gavit marching band in support of her own children often after musical and art presentations at the top of the board meeting and it declared to participants that you have seen the best part of the meeting Anna you will be sorely missed your equitable leadership your love and respect of students and employees I will miss your contagious smile and most of all I will miss your friendship I extend my condolences to Anna's husband and best friend Larry and her children and grandchildren
098may you rest and pace and a shepherd thank you thank you miss bearing mr. Elrod mr. Elrod are you on the call I am okay thank you I first would like to bring some notices in my announcement so first this is notice that I am bringing an item to the board to take action on in response to the current and past due public conversations about systemic and societal racism and this is being done in partnership with my colleagues with an aim of purposeful action over performance additionally I'm also providing notice of a naming of schools meeting timidly it's to be on July 14th so I understand that this date may change as we have changes on the board this meeting date is tentative though due to the need for board review and potentially board action
099in this meeting we will discuss the addition of short biographies on school websites if the school is named in honor of someone and then take a critical look at any school named after someone that is principally known for racist acts or promoting or defending racist acts or white supremacy lastly I am proud that I was able to work with Anna she always wanted the board to do and be better for our students and teachers she had a unique an increasingly rare ability to disagree but not take things personally I will miss our inside jobs our jokes and her knowing smile I am better for knowing her as is Metro Nashville Public Schools I think of her a lot particularly as we continue to have our budget conversations and poke to kind of carry her torch
100of talking to Bob Mendoza lot so on that note I am in support of Councilman Mendez's budget proposal and hope that the council moves forward with voting very soon okay thank you mr. Roth miss gentry thank you again also like to just send my condolences to Anna Shepherd again you could not theaters proponent of what's doing with and I believe yes miss Walker has shared this alternate bone budget that has been provided by Councilman Mendes allows us to honor some commitments that are long overdue but into the end we talk about budgeting any part of a lot of work starting surfacing with the recent protests and issues of systemic racism that have been raised we've gotten this hashtag that's going around hashtag defunding the police and I understand how that phrase phraseology and the use
101of that term can be misleading to people and there have been some interesting commentary around that so I'm just a point of clarification and just gives the people something to think about when the phrase defund the police issues again I understand how it can be misleading but I would rather people to think about the fact that what this is really doing is asking municipalities to conduct a detailed review of Police Department budgets right so there's funding in those city budgets that exists to address the myriad of problems that arise as a result of underfunding in other areas under funding public education underfunding work programs under funding or not funding at all affordable housing efforts and other things that leads to the propagation of of so many of the issues that we see in our society
102so in other words this whole defund the police is a call to use funding to address the problems and not equipped police officers to deal with the symptoms and so no one is looking to zero out of Police Department's budget or put them in a position where they're able to protect and serve and we want to get them back to protecting and serving and MIT as a city looking at the city as an organization in each department has a goal to to help the city recognize vision and realize that vision for all of its citizens and I think just a holistic review across the board of how every department is using its funds and whether those dollars are placed in the right places and in the right areas so that we're getting to the root
103of some of the issues that are seeing in our society and not equipping departments to deal with all of the symptoms of them thank you okay thank you dr. Gentry's so I guess I will try to chant Channel and Shepherd here and say that all of Nashville is paying their employees $15 an hour except our school system and so I hope I have been on the board for eight years and will be stepping off in September but I hope that before I leave that we are able to finally accomplish paying these folks a living wage we know it's increasingly difficult to live in Nashville and fully support any effort to raise our our base rate to $15 an hour also I would like to thank mayor Cooper for the immense investment and our students and
104for providing every child an MMPs a laptop and also ensuring that all of our students have internet connectivity this is a major step toward equity in our district and so I am appreciative of the use of the carriers funds to support our students and there being no further business this meeting is adjourned thank you all this has been a service of the Metro national network if you would like to see this presentation again or for more information about this and other programs visit nashville dot you