001school board meeting. Thank you all for joining us. We have a quorum and we will begin tonight. We are going to have our pledge of allegiance. Uh uh Miss Rachel Waters, if you would come up and lead us in the pledge of allegiance tonight. Rachel is a student at McGavoc High School. She's the president of the student body. Body. Thank you. McGavoc High School. Thank you, Rachel. 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. Thank you, Rachel. And for those of you who are not aware, what we are starting to do is requesting that our board members um suggest a student for each board me each board meeting to uh lead us
002in the pledge of allegiance. We are all about students and it's time that we showcased our students as well. Um so thank you again Rachel. We appreciate you coming out tonight. And we will move into uh student board member reports. Do you have a report this evening? Fantastic. Um, one thing too I wanted to advise is that if you will look at the agenda, if you have a copy of the agenda, we've made a little bit of an adjustment. We are going to do um announcements at the beginning of our meetings going forward as opposed to the end. Um, we are all terribly afraid of losing an audience by the time we get to the announcements. So, this is a great opportunity to start. And Miss Spearing, we will start with you. Right. Thank you,
003Madam Chair. Uh instead of making announcements today, I'd like to bring my intention to the board to submit a motion uh for the April meeting. And I'd like to read the resolution. MNPS resolution for high stakes testing. Whereas our nation's future and well-being relies on the highquality public education system that prepares all students for college, careers, citizenship, and lifelong learning and strengthens the nation's social and economic well-being. And whereas our nation's school systems have been spending growing amounts of time, money, and energy on high stakes standardized testing in which student performance on standardized test is used to make major decisions affecting individual students, educators, and schools. And whereas the over reliance on highstake standardized testing in state and federal accountability systems is undermining educational quality and equity in US public schools by hampering educators efforts
004to focus on a broad range of learning experiences that promote the innovation, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking and deep subject matter knowledge that will allow allow students to thrive in a democracy and an in an increasing global society and economy. And whereas it is widely recognized that standard standardized testing is an inadequate and often unreliable measure for both student learning and educators effectiveness. And whereas the overemphasis on standardized testing has caused considerable collateral damage in many schools, including narrowing of the curriculum, teaching to the test, reducing love of learning, pushing students out of school, driving excellent teachers out of the profession and undermining school climate. And whereas high stakes testing has negative effect for students from all backgrounds, especially for low-income students, English language learners, students of color, and those with disabilities.
005Whereas what occurs in our classrooms every day should be student centered and result in student learning at a deep and meaningful level as opposed to a superficial level of learning that results from the current overemphasis on that which can be easily tested by standardized test. And whereas the culture and structure of the systems in which students learn must change in order to foster engaging school experiences that promote joy and learning, depth of thought, and breath of knowledge for students. And whereas our vision is for all students to be engaged in meaningful learning activities that cultivate their unique individual talents, provides for individual for student choices in work that is designed to respect how they learn best and embraces the concept that students can be both consumers and creators of knowledge. And whereas only by developing
006new capacities and conditions in our district will we ensure that all learning spaces foster inspiration and celebrate innovation, creativity, problem solving. Whereas these are the skills that business leaders desire in a rising workforce and the very attitudes that are essential to the survival of our democracy. And whereas imposing relentless test preparation and boring memor memorization of facts to enhance test performance is doing little more than stealing the love of learning from our students and assuring that we fall short of our goals. Whereas we do not oppose accountability in our public schools but believe that the system of the past will not prepare our students to lead in the future. Neither will the standardized tests that so dominate their instructional time and block our ability to make progress towards a world-class educational system of student centered
007schools and future ready students. Therefore, be it resolved that MNPS calls on the governor, the state legislator, the state legislature, and state education boards and administrators to re-examine public school accountability systems in this state, and to develop a system based on multiple forms of assessments, which do not require extensive standardized testing. more accurately reflects the broad range of student learning and is used to support students and improve schools and resolved. MNPS calls on the US Congress and administration to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as No Child Left Behind, reduce the testing mandates, promote multiple forms of evidence of student learning and school quality and accountability, and not mandate any fixed role for the use of student test scores in evaluating educators. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Bearing. Miss Shepard, I have
008none. Mr. uh Kingston. Um yes, Madam Chair. Um I had made motion at our February board meeting to bring um a resolution or motion at this meeting uh that would uh open up us to revisit our academic achievement policy. I have not yet perfected the language that I want to bring and have not, frankly, have not yet had enough conversations with uh folks in central office to to be able to come with that, but I intend to bring that next month. Perfect. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Okay, Miss Frog none. Okay. I just have a couple of announcements. Um, we will start with on Wednesday, March 13th, which is tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. We will have a meeting here in the boardroom with the Antioch area members of the Metro Council, uh, Mr. Kingston and
009myself to get ana to get an update on the pending school projects in the Antioch area. This is the, uh, pending pro projects for the, um, middle school and elementary schools. And again, that will be tomorrow afternoon here at 4:00 in the boardroom. Um, Thursday, March 21st at 5:00 pm, we will have a reception in the boardroom with members of the Metro Council. Um, March 25th at 1 p.m., Representative Brenda Gilmore, chair of the Davidson County delegation, has graciously invited this board of education to update the delegation on the potential impact of the current state legislation on Nashville's children. Um if any of you are able to make that, please let U Miss Hawkins know as soon as possible so that we can um RSVP to Representative Gilmore. Um also we will have our first
010we had our first MNPS project expo. Students in MNPS regularly engage in project-based learning in all classes where students go through an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem, or challenge. More than 300 students from 16 high schools competed on Thursday will compete on Thursday, March 14th, which is this coming up week at Trade Traca Nazarene uh University Boon Convocation Center. I'm going to get this in a second. I promise you. Um students will receive a gold, silver, or bronze uh or participation ranking based on scores from their project and interviews with the panel of expert reviewers. A public awards session and viewing will be open to the community from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday evening. And that's Thursday, March 14th this week. Um, one other announcement is tonight um
011at 6:00. Bless you. Tonight beginning at 6 p.m. uh the Crossings Nashville Action Partnership meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. at the Crossings Event Center. And that is um this SNAP meeting in the area in the Antioch Cambridge Priest Lake area. Um one last thing before we move ahead. I would like to say a special hello to Mr. Kindle, our former board member for joining us tonight. We appreciate you being here. Um any awards and recognitions? I don't see any. We will move right into public participation. Uh first up, Miss Mahogany. Um, while she's coming, let me just say the board will hear from those persons who have requested to appear at this board meeting. In the interest of time, speakers are requested to limit remarks to three minutes or less. Comments will be timed.
012Miss Vaughn, on behalf of the dedicated educators across the district, I want to address the board regarding the district's lack of two-way communication, accountability, and trust. telling the educators are being harassed and intimidated out of the field for simply standing up and bringing attention to the district's impotent policies and non-compliance to the existing policies such as the global executive constraint and your staff treatment policy. We all have our faults and flaws, but we also have expectations. Expectations of ourselves and expectations of the district for which we work. The expectations the teachers have of the district are just as high as the expectations the district has of its educators. And when educators take a stand to hold you accountable for meeting our expectations of you, a breach of communication has become an unexpected result. Hence the
013reason you don't have the participation you would like on the tail survey. And ultimately the greatest expectation we should have of each other is accountability. However, the refusal to accept accountability has become the greatest symptom of our school's failures and has brought about a plethora of other symptoms such as distrust, apathy, and indifference. The district has a very critical issue sitting on its plate at this very moment. And the board has refused to follow protocol of addressing and investigating the situation. As a result, it has caused the the students to go nearly seven months without a certified special education teacher, taken and complicated what was a basic conflict resolution matter and compounded its impact. Consequently, the students have fel have suffered, the teachers have suffered, and the district has suffered. Situations like these are prime
014examples of the hostile climate that teach that prevents teachers from performing at their best thereby affecting the academic growth of the student body. And after experiencing and and or witnessing how um how situations are not being investigated properly, teachers are reluctant to participate in anything they feel compromises their jobs, their performance, and their reputation. As long as the district refuses to take responsibility for its leaders who are responsible for the environment and climate of each school, situations will continue to escalate. Teachers will continue to lose faith in the system for which they work and in essence affect the academic growth of the student body. It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that teachers are equipped and afforded a healthy environment and in turn the educators afford a healthy learning environment for the students.
015No one likes their faults or mistakes and errors thrown in their face. But at the end of the day, we all have to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, did I do the right thing? We must be honest with ourselves and decide to make a change. So, I'm pleading to with you, the board, to take that look in the mirror, accept accountability, and restore the faith of his teachers. Thank you, Miss Fawn, Miriam. I'm not even going to attempt this last name. Basera and Chelsea Kingmas of Nashville. Did I get the last name right? Basera. Basera. Yes. Nice. Thank you. Go ahead. Good afternoon. My name is Miriam Basera. And I'm Chelsea Kee. And I'm Alicia Camp. The reason why we are standing here in front of in front of you is to represent
016the hospitality academy of Glen Cliff Glencliff High School since Okay. Um since there are going to be some changes in it where um cosmetology is fading out facing and we started a petition we took the liberty to start a petition where we have received more than 450 signatures from students that they include freshman, sophomores and juniors and a few seniors that that are supportive of the program that they would like for it to stay because we see that cosmetology isn't academic based is not so much science and so much so much math. Although it does include it does include it, but some students don't don't have that in them and they just want to be creative and they want to showcase their talents in a different way. Sometimes a career in science or math isn't
017what they what they look for. They look for something where they could showcase their creativity and they could feel accomplished in their talents. and cosmetology is a great way of showing that not only through through nail technicians but also in hairstyles and barbering. It's been a creative career. They do make um they do make good income and our mission statement says that they would like to develop professional citizens in hospitality, culinary and cosmetology and I feel that we have done that. I feel that the students who take cosmetology they learn how to communicate better. They learned to take pride in what they believe in and what their talent is and they showcase that. Also, if with this with this program phasing out, this wouldn't allow any new students to take um cosmetology anymore. So, what
018would they have to do? They would have to pick a different academy that they don't feel so passionate about. they would have to take a different academy that they don't have it in their hearts to do. So that wouldn't push them to do good. That that wouldn't push them to do their best. Um eighth grade students, they wouldn't when they arrive to Glen Cliff and they see that hospitality and marketing isn't no longer on the academy list. I've talked to a few eighth graders and they feel devastated because they wanted to join that academy. they wanted to learn the talents that are required in that pathway. What we do a lot in cosmetology is that we like to get involved with our community. We actually go to Runner Towers every Christmas and every um Valentine's
019Day and we do manicures and we do panices and for them that they stay there for hours and they don't receive many visitors. for them to know that we care and that we spend time just to dedicate a few hours of just pampering them. They appreciate that. Thank you so much, Miss Bera and others. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Stephen Henry, M MA and MNPS collaborative partnership. Miss Bera, if you could send a copy of your PowerPoint to the board administrator, I'd really like to take a look at that. Okay. I also have the petition if you would like to if you you could send that to the office. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the board and Dr. Register. My name is Stephen Henry. I'm a middle
020school teacher with 27 years of service to the district and currently serve as president of the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association. First of all, I want to thank you and express my appreciation to so many of you who uh participated in our ReadAcross America events recently and thank you for helping to make that day such a success and for what you do every day for our students and teachers. I'd also like to publicly thank Delta Dental of Tennessee and the Nashville Symphony for their partnership in that reaping initiative and hope you've had a chance to see some of the pictures from those events at uh Ross Warner and the Skimmer Horn Symphony Center uh which involved students from Hattie Cotton, Tom Joy, Glen View, and Cole. Uh at those events, every student received a Cat in
021the Hat book, a red and white stove uh pipe hat, a bookmark, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a timer as part of Delta Dentl's uh 2* 2 plus 20 uh init reading initiative, which encourages students to brush their teeth two times a day for two minutes and to read 20 minutes a day. Additionally, the libraries at Ross and Warner received $1,000. And this annual event is one example of the work that M&A does year round to support the work of the school system, our teachers and students. Um M&A and MNPS have been collaborative partners for a long time. M&A was officially chartered in 1964 uh with the merger of the city and county governments and the creation of metropolitan government. Prior to that time, there were two school systems uh and each of those there were
022two teachers associations, a white and black. uh those four came together in 1959 and formed the education council. In 1964 they merged to form what is now M&A. It was one of the first examples of integrated uh teacher organizations in the south and with social justice is one of our core values. It's part of our history that we're very proud of. Um also those four organizations were involved we know at least back in at least until 1895. So we've been working with the district a long time. This past fall, in my letter to the uh supporting the district's uh race to the top grant application, I included the following, which pretty much sums up our philosophy of collaboration. The Metropolitan Nashville Education Association and MNPS enjoy a rich history as collaborative partners. This is an
023intentional approach which is focused on student achievement. Because of legislation by the Tennessee General Assembly, this cooperative dynamic is now rare throughout much of the state, but for us, it's how we choose to operate. For we know the the best and only way to ensure student success and the success of our stu of our schools is by working together. M&A and MNPS are doing our part in Nashville to lead the profession to support publication public education and most importantly to meet the needs of our students. What we do matters. Uh but how we do it I think is a real story. We are a model for the state uh and nation for what true collaboration looks like. For the past two years and in recognition of our work, we were the only association and district
024in the state invited by the US Department of Education to the labor management collaborative because we value collaboration and we do it well. Also recently, NEA President Dennis Vanok uplifted the work that we're doing. We were one of four highlighted uh for the collaborative work at a national convention for educators. Um, and that credit is due to the dedication of our MDA members for the work that you are doing, Dr. Register, and members of his staff. I've listed uh some of the examples of the collaborative work that we are uh currently involved in. I won't read them all, but I want to highlight a few. Well, actually, your time's up, but thank you. We do have we do have the documents, so we will take a look at that. Thank you, Stephen. Uh, governance issues,
025consent agenda. Miss Shepard. One, approval of minutes of 21213 regular meeting. B. Recommended award of contract for soil and materials testing Southern Consulting LLC. MBOE13-0013. Recommended award of contract for soil and materials testing. SNME Inc. MOE 13-002. Recommended award of contract for soil and materials testing, Beaver Engineering, Inc., MBOE 13-00003. Recommended award of contracts for soil and material testing, PSI, Inc., MBOE 13-004. Recommended award of contract for roof replacement at Schwab Elementary School, Roofing Solutions and Services, MBOE 13-005. G. Recommended award of contract for roof replacement at Glenn Elementary School. Roofing solutions and services, Inc. MBOE13-006. H. Recommended award of contract for roof replacement at DuPont Elementary School. Roofing solutions and services inc 13-007. I change order number four for Herage Elementary School additions and renovations diary Boger Construction Inc. M-449. J. Change order number
026one for recording studio at Pearl Cone High School, South Sling Constructors LLC. K. Recommended approval for amendment A for prototypical playgrounds at various schools. Parentheses Lake View Lake View Elementary Custom Recreation, Inc. L-2684 L designer supplement number three for Canidge Elementary School EO A Architects L-2530 M recommended approval of lease of Stokes site to Lipkcom University for parking. in awarding of bids and contracts. Number one, RNA Solutions, Inc., Rhonda. Two, Belmont University, the Curve Event Center. Three, Lipkin University. Four, Yoya and Rogers Company. Five, the Ban Hall. Six, Cam Aqua, Inc. Seven, Aquaase, Inc., eight, Landscape Support Services LLC. Nine, Middle Tennessee State University. D, DK Brand Strategy. 11, Headspout, Inc., 12, Leonard Stevens Consulting, Second Amendment. 13, CDW Government LLC, and 14, AT&T Corp. O, recommended approval of request for compulsory attendance uh waiver.
027P final approval of diversity management plan and Q recommended approval of special courses colon AP Cambridge Capstone interdisciplinary investigation and critical reasoning seminar AP/Cambridge Capstone research project. I make a motion that we accept the consent agenda as read. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Miss Shepard. And we will move into the director's report. Dr. Register. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh we only have one item on the agenda for uh the director's report this evening, but uh it's not a it's not a small item. It's one that's uh occupying a great deal of our time. And several members of the board have been very actively involved in working with the legislature while it's in session. Also, I'm going to ask Kank Clay to uh start a presentation
028and discussion of um uh legislative activity to give uh all board members an update and would welcome comments and questions from board members uh and uh also some discussion of of each of you and your involvement in legislative action as we go forward. Hanks, as you know, is in a position that has shifted responsibilities and we're really glad to have Lank work Hank. Lank Hank working with us as a legislative and intergovernmental liaison. Hank, uh, we'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Dr. Register. Madam Chair, members of the board, um, you have to forgive me. I have a cold and I have my mysterious voice on tonight. Um, there has been a lot happening um, downtown at both ends. Um we'll start with some of the happenings at Metro Council. Um our friends at
029Metro Council have recently taken several positions in support of the school district and we'd like to thank them for that. One of those positions in support of our position as a school district on the school vouchers issues and charter schools authorizers. They've also supported our teachers through recognizing our eight um newly nationally board certified teachers and have supported your position on the diversity plan. So, I'd really like to thank Metro Council for that. Um, our close partnership with them and continuing to build on that relationship. At the other end of downtown at the general assembly, there's been a lot in the news recently. Um, I'd like to talk first about some of the good things that are happening. Um, specifically, uh, Representative Jason Powell has shown greater leadership in trying to get more resources for
030our English language learner students, um, through the BEP program. um this bill that he has um has a very large fiscal note and so isn't likely to pass but is really bringing attention to a very um specific need that our district has and other districts across Tennessee and we hope that this attention will help to address that not maybe not this year but in future years. Um there's also been some cleanup done on the evaluation the uh the our teacher evaluation system through team. Um the Tennessee Department of Education has partnered with SCORE and going around the state this past year and listening to some of the teachers concerns and trying to incorporate those. Um we uh we expected that this would help to clarify some of the issues that have come up particularly around
031um teachers that don't have an individual TBS score. Um we need to be paying attention to a facilities bill that's coming down the pike. We've been trying to work with a sponsor on uh addressing some of our concerns with this. Um but that is just something to put on your radar as as we move forward in this legislative session. Um, one of the issues that we've had grave concerns about, um, is the bill that's commonly known as the Guns and Trunks legislation. Um, this bill would, um, enable, uh, licensed handgun owners to carry those firearms in their lost vehicles on school grounds. Um, we as a district under this law would still be able to have a policy prohibiting that. um prohibiting parents and and teachers um but it would not have the criminal backing
032of it. And so that's something you as a board and we as a school district need to figure out how we're addressing in this changing environment and we need to ensure the safety of our students in that. Um another issue that's gotten a lot of press recently uh is the idea of school vouchers. Um there are several different bills on this subject this year. Um one is the governor's bill. Um the governor's bill would address students who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch um who are eligible to go to an ASD eligible school. Lots of eligibles in that. Um but it is um relative to some of the other bills a little bit narrower in scope. Um some of the other bills broaden that um to a much larger population. Um we as
033a school district feel like the most resources they can go to educating all of our 81,000 students the better. and that's why we're opposing those. Um, one issue that has taken a lot of attention um, particularly from you as board members is the idea of the charter authorizer bill. U, this is House Bill 702. As you remember um, it has uh, been a long process in coming. It started off as a surprise amendment um that targeted just Memphis and Nashville in um establishing a state authorizer in which charter school applications can go around the LAA to the state um to the state authorizer. We have worked um and we thank the speaker for working closely with us on trying to address some of those issues. It has now been amended to be statewide and has
034been amended um to uh go through the LA first. But there's still several two two major concerns that we have with this. One would be the idea of the fiscal cliff that this would create. We and we would like to build in some fiscal guard rails that would help to enable the district to plan for that for that certainty. And second thing is in schools that are majority locally funded, we feel like those schools need to be accountable to you as the elected officials who are targeting your taxpayers. So those are a few of the bills that I pointed out. I'd be happy to um answer any questions and write down and get back with you individually about other bills. Um but I'll turn it over to you now. Any questions? I do have a
035couple. Thank you, Hank. I appreciate that. Um, in the Guns and Trunks bill that you were talking about, you made the statement that we as a district could opt out of that legislation. How could we do that? Let me clarify slightly on that. Um, we could not opt out of the legislation. What we could do is um maintain a policy that would prohibit guns on campuses, but we would not be able to enforce that with the criminal penalty. So, for example, we could fire an employee, but we would not be able to um uh engage the police with that employee, and we would have less leverage over our parents, who of course we cannot fire parents. Do you feel like we would be challenged on that? From the legislative intent, well, we could definitely be
036challenged. the legislative intent on the House floor um was that um that would be allowed and business owners and schools and universities would be able to have specific policies prohibiting that. Um so that's the legislative intent. Okay. And I have I have one other one. Um I don't know the the number of it, but Senator um Stacy Campfield was supposed to have a bill in his education committee today and I don't know the number of it. It's the don't say gay bill. Do you know if that made it out of committee today or not? That bill actually uh Senator the Senate Education Committee meets tomorrow. Oh, I thought it was the House but that bill the House side of that bill came up in education subcommittee for the first time today and that meeting may
037still be going on and I don't know if it made it out of subcommittee. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Miss Frog, I wanted to ask about the the changes to the teacher evaluations. Yes. Do you know any details on that yet or is it um they are very detailed. Um and I have the bill and be happy to follow up on specific questions. Um do you have a specific question or is that No, I just I just was I I really hadn't heard much about that. So I just wanted um I I don't want to give misinformation. So let me follow up with you in that. Okay, that's great. Mr. Hayes, uh I wanted to see if you could um certainly thank you for spending all your time with Sure. the legislature. must be
038uh fun painful. Um uh you know I know they mean well um you mentioned uh that you're interested in uh I guess two points that are that are not currently in what would be HP 720 702 yes for 702 uh fiscal guard rails to plan for certainty uh I guess being the the first one and and I was going to I guess hope you could walk me through the request because my my my thought about this is that uh if it goes through local if it goes through an appeals process, right, there's a pretty significant lead time, right? I mean, they go through our typical application cycle, it would go to some sort of a board that might hear it over the summer. Is that uh they're actually trying to tighten the time frame so
039that um charters that are going through the appeals, it could happen more quickly. So there wouldn't be as much back and forth, but it could happen quickly. So our our process wraps June 15th, June 30th, and it could go through their process by by July 30th. And so is roughly, right? Roughly roughly, and maybe it's August, but um and then theoretically that that group could get a charter awarded um and open within 12 months, right? I mean, it would be impossible to get a facility. I mean, I guess wouldn't be impossible. It would be incredibly difficult to get a charter approved say August 1st when school for us may even start July 25th or August 1st if you're ask yes it is a next school year that that So what are we trying to tighten?
040I mean we would have a whole year to plan. So if we needed to reszone or if we needed to close a school you're you're saying that you're interested in in uh a guard rail. Are you asking for a limit or cap on the number? or you're asking for more time or what are you trying to do to give us because we we would have theoretically a year to plan for this or if there were 10 of them coming right we'd have a a pretty significant amount of lead time to plan for it what are you what are we asking for well we're certainly not asking for caps and if I may perhaps I can defer to um one of your fellow board members will Dr. register on that particular issue. Yeah. So, I'll take
041the first cut. Um, so I've been involved uh at the chairman's uh at the chair chairwoman's direction uh in my capacity as the budget chair and the the short answer is um there's not any specificity yet around ideas. you know, we're kind of have started, of course, in last week's budget committee meeting to advance the concept of, you know, how can we just build in or bake in some fiscal protections that that uh protect us, you know, in an unexpected event. I I I can see a situation where a charter management organization would bring 10 schools or in the case of one last year, five schools. So, maybe it's two bringing five each. And um you know, at what point does it start to um create a negative fiscal impact? um potentially negative fiscal impact.
042I think great schools um are going to cost money and the ship can't turn on a dime and uh so I think the question is not you know should we or shouldn't we be approving great schools and and we should uh but the question is at at what point and over what period of time um do we have to adjust all of our other operational decisions and I' I'd love to hear more thoughts um from from you on this. you've been looking at facilities a lot longer than I have. But I think, you know, I think the short answer is Dr. Register, it's kind of up for debate, right? But but we're just trying to prevent um an unexpected fiscal event that has the potential to destabilize the budget through through, you know, a single
043appeal. And and I guess where I'm going with that is is I I'm wondering if aside from this piece where we have a year or two years to plan and then and then the accountability piece if there are other pieces that are that are out there. Those are pretty big pieces. Oh, right. Right. But it's not like a there's a date then it's March 1st. Let me give you this. Let me let me give it based on the on the meeting today and let me give it give you my take on this. We talked about uh approving a budget for next year. Right. Our budget, the final process is going to be completed in April of this year. If say this bill had already passed and they have until August 1st to approve a new
044charter school, our budget's already approved for next school year. So on August 1st when they start talking about that school that's approved and they're going to open that following August in the pro in the school year that we just approved, we're looking at a significant difference in financial um loss for the students that are going to be in that new charter school. So, it's going to be very critical that we understand how this process works. We could stand to lose, you know, right now we're looking at um probably a growth of about 15-$1,800 students in into our traditional public schools over the next school year. We're looking at about a $40 million transfer of funds from our budget to the charter school budget for next year. The influx is going to be between 13 and
04516 million. The outflow is going to be 40 million. We're looking at about a 24 to$27 million shortfall just for next year. So if we approve our budget in April of this year and then a school is approved in August of this year for opening the following year, where is the additional capital going to come from? That's what makes this a big issue. Right. And my my thought right, you just said it. So we have a whole year to plan. We have a year to plan, but if the budget's already approved, where are you going to get the additional funding? So the we're approving with your example, we're approving a budget now for the 1314 cycle. And if that school was approved in August of 13, it would open in August of 14. But where's
046the additional funding going to come from is my question to you. There maybe there isn't additional funding. Maybe it's we have to actually realign. So we would close a facility or we would we would not have as many details. And you expect that that would be able to be done in a year. Well, my question really is what's the compromise? What are we asking for? Oh, right. What are we we've we've said we're asking for a guard rail from from a physical cliff. What are we asking for specifically? What else? What do we not have alignment with on this bill? So, to the extent that you're negotiating with somebody, what's the ask? That's the question. What exactly are we trying to negotiate? Uh I think the step one is getting um people uh whether they're
047in the legislature, the council, the community uh at large, whoever to accept the idea that charter schools uh or any that is approved on an appeal is by definition an unexpected event for us and has the potential to have a fiscal impact. Now charter schools that we approve uh go into uh an integrated budget and strategic planning process. we, you know, open or help them open just like we would open a new school and we plan for it accordingly. But I think step one is just to get everybody sort of rowing in the same direction, if you will, on the on the notion that this could have uh a destabilizing effect on the budget if it's not handled properly and with care. And I think from that point, the conversation really is, okay, what does
048a guardrail look like? And I think Hank is doing a great job, as is class, and as is Dr. register and Amy, our advocacy chair, just communicating the reality of the situation that this does have a fiscal impact. It's surprising that there are some people in the legislature who just don't think that's the case. And I think getting past step one, convincing people that we're not playing with monopoly money over here, that that this is real life and we're dealing with with students and existing schools that still deserve our attention as well. getting everybody to realize and accept that is the first step in having a more um you know nuanced conversation about what a guardrail and the bigger picture is here is I think this started out just like Hank said it started out
049being two major counties in Tennessee Shelby County and Davidson County this thing has gone statewide so the impact that we're going to feel is going to be felt across the entire state so the questions and I and I commend you for that the question should be asked of every county in this state how is it going to impact you and what do you want to see happen in this bill other than just saying that you know we need the fiscal impact other than just accountability we can't answer the question for the entire state but we can answer it for this district we need to sit down and come up with those answers right so that that's my question is yeah right so to the extent that as Hank just said we're they're trying to accelerate
050it and compress the timeline and as as you said a second ago we can plan for it they would they would be approved theoretically 15 or 30 days after our approvals process So instead of having 12 months, we have 11 months to plan for it. That gets back to specifically what are we asking? Well, yeah. So, I mean, we don't we're not asking for anything yet other than people to to buy into the concept of large or districts of any size need some fiscal protection baked into this process. Um, not there yet. I think there are some people who legitimately want to force as many schools into existence as possible without regard to what it costs local taxpayers. I mean, it's literally a situation where you're trying to get people bought into the notion that,
051hey, let's be careful. Um, because I think there's there, you know, this could happen in a very careless way if we don't have that first conversation. Absolutely. Any other questions, Mr. Hayes? Uh I I'd love for just a broader more right I'm just curious on the things that we're advocating for because it it seems as if between Hank's efforts Dr. registered register's efforts. There's been a lot of uh movement within the bill, right? It started off, I think we can all agree, um uh not in the in the in the greatest fashion. It wasn't wasn't written as well perhaps as it could have been. Uh that's an understatement, but it but it seems to be right. A lot of the accountability pieces have moved in our direction. Um there are a lot of ways that
052it it has moved towards us. But the second piece is what specifically are we asking for around uh in schools that are you said in schools that are majority locally funded they would be accountable to us instead of to the authorizer. Um yeah and and that that is a clean bright line that I think we can draw around a very specific position. We first articulated this last week in the budget committee meeting but um but we have what the fourth lowest uh percentage uh share of BEP dollars in the state. uh we we're something like 20 something 23% u fewer uh uh 23% less than the average district in terms of the amount of our education system that's funded by the state versus local level. Another way to put that is Davidson County taxpayers fund
0532/3 of public education here. Um it's hard to envision in my opinion a situation where um we don't have a uh the ability to oversee those schools and monitor those schools that are not just majority locally funded but almost supermajority locally funded. So regardless of how they come into existence, I think we have um not just an obligation to students, but also a fiduciary obligation to Davidson County taxpayers to make sure that we have the ability to monitor and and oversee close if needed uh in the future if things aren't going so well. So I that's I I feel strongly about that particular piece of it, but would love to hear other views. I can't say have a view. I'm curious, you know, maybe Dr. Red, you would you could chime in or or Mr.
054coverstone if if that might lead to a if there's been any discussion if that would lead to a uh a toxic environment. Right. So to the extent that we this the state approves somebody over us that from the outset it's a contentious relationship. I'm I'm very supportive of uh local accountability and uh in fact I think the toxic environment would be much more likely to occur if there's a complete separation and no interaction between the charter schools and the district. And in terms of um oversight or accountability, we're talking about the same kind of relationship we have with the charter schools now. We don't tell them how to run or what to do, but we do look at the student achievement data and I think we have a responsibility to do that for for the
055students who live in Davidson County. So, I'm I'm very supportive of that concept. Uh I think some of some of the conversation's been around whether the language should say shall or may. Some school systems, there may be some districts that would want to opt out of that and take a hands-off position. Uh I think these children live in Davidson County and and they're our children and they attend public schools, public charter schools uh in Davidson County. So I would hope we would have some accountability u as we go forward. I think the key here to remember is that they are all our children regardless of what kind of tugof-war is going on in the legislature. These are all our children and we have to do absolutely our best to make sure that they are education
056that they are educated. um to the best of our ability. Uh so far as a fiscal cliff's concerned, I think uh Mr. Pinkston uh expressed uh very well some similar concerns that I have. Uh uh are there are there any parameters? Uh and as we make decisions about charter schools, I think fiscal impact is something that we can consider. We're approving five this year. our the cost for that, the outflow of funds for that is an additional $15 million to our budget. And um and and I look at it as that it there there there should be some parameter set by a state authorizer uh parameters or guard rails if you will, guidelines if you will, about uh about the future going forward. And and I don't see I'll say also I don't see caps
057in that regard, but are there are there guardrails or parameters? And uh and should we uh should we address that? And and uh uh I've I've been in the education committee meetings too and my concern has been that there really hasn't been any discussion of uh fiscal impact and uh and there really needs to be. you know, we need to be responsible for local taxpayer dollars and state taxpayer dollars in terms of having that discussion and being reasonable in what we approve as we go forward. Yeah. And I I kind of feel like, you know, if what um and let me back up and reiterate something that Hank said, which is I think Speaker Harwell has done a great job listening to the early concerns that were expressed and being flexible in terms of having
058conversations with everybody. um who's who's interested in the issue and I think as you see the bill um morphing it it is getting uh it's headed in the right direction right uh we are we are moving toward what essentially is a refined appeals process which is you know conceptually a good thing um it puts more certainty in the system in terms of what happens at every step in the process kind of eliminates this sort of pingpong back and forth between the state and the local district which was always confusing to me just even before I got on the board watching how that process played out. So I think you know conceptually it actually looks like what happens in other states. But I think if the goal is to create a process and a system that's
059more predictable not just for charter operators but for districts then I think it's you know it's a I think we have to have the conversation around around fiscal impact because it's bad for everybody. um if we get into a situation where it has a destab one one or appeal or a series of appeal appeals has a destabilizing effect on the budget that's bad for existing charters that are in the system because that puts a strain on existing resources uh potentially so I think just moving really carefully is is the responsible thing to do academically and financially and uh what it looks like I'm open to it I know everybody else is just a feedback on on something you just said. I mean, I completely agree. I have no problem with fixing the appeals process. I
060think we could have gone about that in a lot of different ways. And you know, you know, I personally am opposed to any form of this um bill just because as I think the best line I heard, I've been at the legislature a lot last last several weeks and one of the legislators said, "This is a solution looking for a problem." Um, you know, I I don't see any reason to take away local control and particularly when it was focused just on us. Um, because, you know, I've mentioned we're we're approving more than the national average of charter schools. Our charter schools are outperforming the national average. We have one underperforming charter school that was opened at the behest of the state. Um, but having said all that, um, you know, where we are now,
061I, you know, I'm happy that we're moving forward and that we are getting some concerns addressed. Um, but you know, I think that just to kind of echo what everyone's been saying, this is there's a real danger here um, financially to our districts. And I mean, I've been sort of thinking about what happens if we end up with a lot of schools that we can't afford. And I I guess, you know, I've mentioned there's a potential for a tax increase. Um, or we could end up taking away resources from schools that desperately need them. We could end up closing a lot of schools. There's really just a huge danger unless we get some sort of assurances. So that's what um you know that's that's I agree with everyone that we we need to have a
062few more steps to feel that this is a a good tight bill that's a good fit for all of us and I think there's a you know there's a lot of room for discussing what that looks like. So I I just want to acknowledge uh Miss Frogue. She has spent a lot of time at the legislature these last few weeks and I just want to say thank you Amy for all you've done. And I've got I've got a couple of questions um related to this uh guns and trunks bill scares me to death. Matt Madam Chair, I'm sorry before we switch topics. Okay. Sorry. I do I was trying to make eye contact. You were ignoring I'm sorry. I was not ignoring Dr. Gentry for the record. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I may pay for
063it now, but I wasn't done. No. So, I I just, you know, I I just keep getting flashes of the discussion we ended up having about diversity and then what we did and and it seemed that we were in reactive mode. And all I I just want to suggest that if this bill folded tomorrow, what it is that we need to do shouldn't change. We should have had the capacity issue around charter schools a long time ago. Um it it's a drain on us. It's it's it's exacerbated by this bill obviously, but it's a strain on the district every time in some way, shape, or form that we approve a charter school. And so the capacity, and this is really what it's about. You know, we have this discussion about throwing terms out at this
064board table that only the nine of us or 10 of us understand. It's not about guard rails or about caps. It's about what we have the capacity to manage and support as a district. And so we can we need to have that discussion regardless of what happens with this bill. And this just becomes information that we feed um to the legislators for consideration. And it's it's beyond, you know, the fiscal part of it again has been highlighted for obvious reasons, but it's even about what our needs are when it comes to charter schools. So, I hope that's one thing I did not hear mentioned this time around, but that ought to be some of what we get added to that bill as well. It's not about having a charter school for the sake of having
065a charter school, but having a charter school that fills a need within Nashville Davidson County. Um, and so it's it's academic from that kind of standpoint. Where are our needs? What is the population of our of our student that we need some support in servicing? And then it becomes then how much can we afford from a capital perspective, from an infrastructure perspective. this central office still provides support to our charter schools that I think most people are totally unaware of um that we do not charge we don't pay our staff anymore for doing it nor do we charge the school charter schools from for the benefit that they receive from it so I think it's it's a much bigger discussion again one that needs to happen regardless of where this bill is headed again if
066they wiped it clean off the table on tomorrow I hope we don't rest on our laurels so that we're caught unawares the next time that something like this comes around as we have done in the past. And that goes kind of to what I was saying earlier today. Um that right now I mean and and Mr. Pinkson, you can speak to this as well. Uh when we looked at the proposed budget for next school year, we're already looking at a shortfall of between 24 and 27 million based on our projected growth for next year. And you're absolutely correct. Um we are behind the curve right now. We should have already been ahead of it based on what we already know. But it could get potentially worse if we don't plan for it. I agree 100%
067with you, Dr. Gentro. If this bill were not in existence, we should have already been thinking about things like this. So, um, and and this is again what I was speaking to earlier when I looked at the projected growth in our traditional public schools versus the funding that will be sent to charter schools. Not could be, but will be sent to charter schools. We still have a shortfall of nearly between 25 and $30 million. And that's scary. If we have that shortfall every year, how are we going to continue to educate our children? That's scary for me. Um, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump in. Are you done? I, you know, I I just agree a thousand% with what Dr. Gentry is saying. You know, if we could somehow figure out a way to
068more actively, proactively communicate um to the charter market what we expect and what we need in Nashville. Whether that's, you know, we have capacity pressures in certain part of the county, you know, we could actually use uh, you know, additional capacity in some areas, whether we have u needs for more STEM education opportunities, whether there are some charters, you know, out in the out in the field that do an especially good job uh handling um uh delivery of educational services to to young new Americans. You know, those are those are conversations in that that are worth exploring and that you don't really see the charter movement raising their hands saying, "Hey, how can we help you?" Instead, what you see is a long line of prospective operators uh outside the door saying, "Um, we're bringing
069this school here and uh give us give us a check." Um, and you know, that's not a very collaborative way to approach things. So, I think we can do better on all sides having a more realistic, rational conversation about what the future looks like. And now I'm going to I bet you are so sorry that you had to get up here tonight, aren't you? Not at all. But I I do have a question about this guns and trunks bill. And like I said, it scares me to death. Um because if I understand, I know we can create a policy that basically says we don't allow guns in cars or trunks on MNPS property. That's correct. Uh so explain to me the criminal penalty that you talked about. What what exactly is that? is for instance
070if we have someone who is in our facility and they have a gun even outside the policy in their trunk you know hypothetically speaking if they have a gun in the trunk and for some reason um they just go out and get it what's how do we protect ourselves um and I I just need to understand more about criminal penalty what does that exactly mean yeah that's a great clarifying question Madam Chair so the criminal penalty applies to keeping the gun locked in the vehicle out of sight. Um there is still definitely a criminal penalty for taking it out, for having the vehicle unlocked, for anything um at all that you would describe if if a person even if they were lawfully carrying it, had it out of their vehicle, then there would be a
071criminal penalty associated with that. Okay. And how does MNPS play into that? because I'm I'm sensing that there's some sort of breakdown between what our policy states and what um the law will actually do to back us up. You are absolutely correct about that. There's definitely a breakdown. Um, this law also contradicts another state law in effect of zero tolerance for our students because um, uh, we have students in our non-traditional schools who are 21 and above. Um, therefore eligible to have a handgun carry permit and therefore eligible to have a a handgun in their vehicle, in their locked vehicle. Um, so there's several things that we're going to have to figure out that the state is going to have to try to figure out uh throughout this process. Um, luckily we have a new
072chief of school security that we can work with to draw upon his expertise about how to best um, protect our students. Um, and as we're as we're addressing this and I know uh, Mr. Tony Major is is very much aware of this trying to think about how he's building both how we are building our employment policies and our student policies as well. So, so the way I understand the law is that uh or the proposal is that we can pass a policy that denies parents or employees the right to bring a gun on the school property in a lock trunk. No longer will it be a criminal offense to do so. That's so so you're not breaking the state law if you do that. You're violating our policy. And I think that's a distinction. That's
073correct. And our teeth there would be being able to fire an employee, but we don't have that same teeth with other populations. Here's what's interesting to me. Um there was u um just recent, well, there are always some sort of incidents in the news. It's really interesting to me. I heard a young lady say that she had a restraining order against a former husband to keep him away from her property. Um but he came to the property anyway and uh attacked her. Now, here's what's interesting to me. Um policy is as good as the paper it's written on. If you have somebody who has a gun in their trunk, um how are you going to know that if if for some And that's why it scares me because we have kids in our schools every
074single day. What happens if one of our uh employees or one of the visiting parents or one of the students decides they've had enough of whatever the situation is? You don't even know that gun's in there. And what are you going to do? to go out and wig your policy and say you can't do that. That's why this scares me because it it continues to put our children and our our staff in jeopardy. Um so that's why I wanted to get some clarity on this. It it really I really hope that before or if I hope it fails period. I hope it just goes away like you know up in the air. But in the event that it does not um we really need to be very mindful of how we craft policy, how we
075um how we across the board how we look at this whole um this whole bill because it's it's very scary. It's very scary indeed. Madam Chair, you're exactly correct. As Dr. Register said recently, uh if there is not a gun on school property, then there's a very slim chance that it can go off. Absolutely. Absolutely. And uh and to to clarify, it's passed both the House and Senate and it's on the governor's desk um awaiting his signature. Now, I think I'll give him a call and say thanks, Mr. Hayes. Wanted to circle back to um to vouchers. You really glossed over vouchers and kind of where we are and what we're talking about. I think you you said, "Well, we're talking about it." Uh, I've had some pretty significant concerns around the the amended legislation
076that really opens it up, uh, around the the $74,000 income cap. Um, can you talk more about the proposal as it stands today and the process? And I guess to to kind of further it, I think a lot of our private schools are are a majority of them in Davidson County are, you know, at capacity. Uh, but that's anecdotal. I haven't called all the ones to say how you doing, right? Um, but I guess I've had some concern with the with the notion that this could attract a private operator to the state to open multiple schools and a $74,000 income cap. Really would open it up to most of our most of our student body. High percentage, right? If we're 71% FRL, you could maybe infer that that 80% could be under the $74,000 cap.
077Um, can you talk more about how this is weaving its way through? What what um what your task is, right? How how have you been negotiating this process? Um, and and results that we might expect. Uh, and then second, what's what's, you know, the way the voucher language is is moving, what sort of accountability pieces are out there for, um, private schools that would take voucher dollars as the legislation says today. Uh, Mr. Hayes, lots of excellent questions. Um, I did not intend to gloss over. It's a very serious issue. Um, that, um, happy to address some of those things. So, um, first, there are at least two major voucher proposals right now. Um, one of those is the governor's proposal. Um, I'm sure you remember that, uh, this issue came up during last legislative
078session. Um, the governor asked them to hold off and let them study it. This past year, that process occurred, um, bringing together various educational stakeholder groups. Um, the governor then brought his proposal. His proposal um limits it to students who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch. Um students who are eligible though not necessarily attending an ASD eligible school. So that that does not limit it to just ASD schools but schools that are eligible to be an achievement school district. Um it limits it to the state and local portion of the BEP. So for example uh Metro Nashville Public Schools goes above and beyond that. um it would limit it just to that portion. Um those funds would be withheld from the school district school district for any voucher participant in that school district.
079Um and then given to that private school the private 7,900 what how much I believe it's 6,400 roughly um roughly 6,400 um and students who were to um accept that voucher if if the the private school to accept those students would have to accept that as payment in full. So, for example, if their tuition, let's just assume it was $6,400, if their tuition was $7,000, they wouldn't be able to ask for an additional $600 from the parents. Um, today the bill was amended to include um uh students who are eligible for free and reduced price lunches for those school students to uh help provide equitably and um so that's that's the large portion of the governor's. It limits it to 5,000 student available vouchers in the first year. Um, and private schools of course have
080the option of participating in this the option of limiting the number of spaces in all different ways. You can imagine that um, private schools would have to have a I believe the term is norm reference test. It wouldn't necessarily be TCAP. It could be TCAP. could be another um test such as the ITBS or something like that. Um we have some concerns with that because we want to be comparing apples to apples and more importantly we want parents who would presumably be making these choices in the best interest of their students to be able to um have apples to apples comparison. So when you uh try to develop a growth measure um we are concerned about how long it would take to be able to develop that growth measure for the students and the parents
081to know whether the they're really getting a value on their money. Um so that's one proposal. And so so within that there's one test or a couple of tests that happen uh while that student is enrolled in the school or it's just an it's an entry test or an exit test or what that would be akin to the TCAP that our students go through. So something like that would that would be able to demonstrate growth for that student um the impact that teachers had on that student things like that. And are we saying just no, we don't like any voucher proposal, or are we trying to advocate for certain positions within the voucher legislation? Well, our our position is that we want as many resources as possible to go to educating all 81,000 of our
082students. And so, just as we had a conversation around the charter schools, um there's a real cost associated with that. And again, we're wanting amazing educational opportunities for all of our students. Um, and that's that's where we're coming back to. Um, you talked if you looked at um, Senator Chairwoman uh, Gresham who chair that uh, Senate Education Committee, she also has another bill that would be more expansive. I'm not quite as familiar with all those details. The governor has asked that his bill not be amended through the process. Um and he's of course leaving it to the the wise discretion of the general assembly as to which bill they decide to pass, whether it's more expansive or more limited. Um and so our position is no vouchers and uh but we would prefer the the
083more limited version if something were to pass. So the the help me kind of walk through this. Let's just say that the governor's bill passes uh as an example. uh a family could elect to apply to a private school. They could be accepted to the school. The child could be accepted and the child could go and while the child is there, there would be some norm based testing that would occur. Correct. Correct. Um and then the child would theoretically metriculate and graduate through the the program. But but to the extent that it's a private organization um who doesn't and and I you know one of the things that I really like about the charter is the fact that you know our board we have a contract with another board of directors. Correct. Who can then
084hold right their school leader and teachers accountable. Correct. And we have some there's some accountability there. Correct. But with the private school they could just go uh and we would have no sense whatsoever uh of of performance really until it's way too late. Right. the kids have gone all the way through. That's correct. The philosophy of the legislators is that um it would be the um the parents responsibility to be able to determine whatever. That's correct. Um and this allows this legislation allows um charters operate in the state of Tennessee is nonprofit corporations. allows forprofit private school operators to to have schools and have students apply. I'm sorry, I'm not sure whether it would allow for-profit private schools or not. Are there any are there is there any definition of what a private school is?
085So, can a can an out ofstate conglomerate if such a thing exists? And and that's that's a great question. And with one of the with with with Miss Finger here, you know, she we had spoken when she moved to Tennessee about fears of charter authorizers in the state of Tennessee versus Florida where forprofit charter operators were open. Uh, and I'm I'm sorry to call you out, but I I I wasn't terribly familiar with the for-profit charter world. So, think about the for-profit private education world. I don't know if there are lots of these companies around the country that operate networks of schools. And so does it motivate people to open forprofit schools here? Uh Mr. Hayes, I think that's a great question. One that I don't have the answer to right now. So we're we're
086advocating for just no authorizers. Is that really the position? Uh no no vouchers. No vouchers. Right. I guess it's something I felt we we haven't collectively as a board talked about all that much. We've been busy with charter. felt personally that the voucher pieces could be much more destructive. I think it I think you're absolutely I don't know if it could be much more destructive, but I think it could be just as destructive accountabilitywise, especially because we have no visibility on what our what they're learning or how they're being tested or you know. Well, and there's a there's a regardless of who you apply to, right, with the current legislation to the extent that that you have to apply through us and go through a pretty serious process with Mr. Coverstone's office, office of innovation,
087maybe go to the state, right? It there's a high bar to entry to open a school. It's not an easy process with the voucher process. It's pretty easy for a company to come in here and say, "I'm opening a school and look at what we're going to do. Don't you want, whether it's true or not, don't you want to come to my awesome, beautiful school? Look at how and they could they can they could they could show scores. They could show all sorts of things and I I don't mean to be the the um working from a place of fear, but it seems to have had really little attention within our board uh or within the media the the potential destabilizing effect u significant particularly the expansion in the voucher legislation. Uh, which is why
088I was curious. You didn't really talk about it and we haven't really talked about it much. Well, and I I will say that although we may not have talked about it extensively on this board, it has had a lot of media attention and it has had a lot of attention in the legislature. It may have it's I liken it to one of those things where, you know, it's the lesser of the evils. If they uh if we concentrate on the charter authorizers, maybe we can squeak that voucher bill by. But I think it has had a lot of um of tension in the legislature. Not probably as much as the charter authorizer because uh it is what it is. You know, we have a bigger fis fiscal impact with charter authorizers than we do with
089the vouchers. And I think that's probably why it's it has taken uh precedence over the vouchers. Uh there may be other questions which I'm happy to entertain. Any other questions? But if I just had a comment, but you go ahead go ahead if you No, please. I was just going to talk one thing that sort of struck me in listening everybody talk at the legislature is there's just this word choice is just thrown about wildly and when you talk when you're talking about vouchers the choice can be somewhat the parents but the real choices at the admissions office of the private school and so you know following up on some of your comments you know we we already know that a lot of the better private schools here are not interested in accepting vouchers um
090you know so I am concerned about the quality this of the schools that might be accepting them. Um what schools might spring up, you know, as a result of us having vouchers. Um and you know, particularly if the the U governor's uh proposal goes through, um I suspect that a lot of um good schools are not really going to want to uh try to educate the populations that would come to them through through vouchers because these are difficult populations to educate. They need um extra resources. They need a lot of focus that some private schools are not going to give. So, I've I've really not heard anyone counter the idea of choice. It sounds fine in a bubble, but but what does that choice mean for a parent? I mean, is that mean really a
091high quality quality education? And um so so and for me it got back to the fact if you have a private school open that doesn't have an accountability structure like ours they could attract a student and not give all the services because they don't have to show growth. They just have to attract kids and make money. Right. And that's a Mr. Pston. Yeah. I just want to it's more of a comment as much as anything else. Just to piggyback on something that Miss Frog was saying, you know, anybody who asks, you know, probing analytical quai critical questions about uh any of these issues, whether it's vouchers uh as Mr. Hayes is doing, or whether it's um asking critical uh probing questions about fiscal impact around charter schools, you know, we are immediately declared as somebody
092who is against choice. You know, the minute you ask a tough question, sorry guys, you know, but we're going to ask tough questions. Um, but how much choice do we actually have in the system right now? Dr. Register, one out of four students, uh, magnets, charters, that's correct. Everything else. So, we're going to continue to talk about choice, but we're going to continue to talk about taking care of what what we have to take care of and the kids who are in the system. Miss Kim, thank you. Um yeah, I guess this is just a broad comment. I mean, possibly riffing a bit on what you were saying, Dr. Gentry earlier, um and then building off a few other comments. I mean, it seems that like colle like we need a comprehensive strategy. Um that
093is rooted first and foremost in holding ourselves accountable to student growth and achievement. Um because the reality is that people like all this talk whether it's around vouchers, charters, name or charter authorizers, who's going to authorize what, who has control over what I mean these wouldn't even be discussions. Um if people and people would not be clamoring for options, charters or magnets with weight lists of hundreds and hundreds of kids collectively across the system um unless they wanted the options. Uh and so yes, the discussion now is revolving around vouchers and charters and budgets because those are the sort of the hot topics and they're, you know, they're the things to talk about um not just in Nashville but and nationwide. Um but it seems that we have to grapple with the fact that kids
094and parents would not be choosing these options, advocating for them, gunning after them unless they wanted them. Um and so the question for me is, and I'm not presuming that I have the any kind of answer, even a like a a sense of like, okay, exactly this is how it should work, but it seems to me that we need to direct our thinking and action on any number of fronts from budget to planning um and more to ensure that we provide more desirable options faster for our communities. and it's centered around student growth and achievement. Um, so and I know we all want great schools. I think most of us I think are pretty agnostic about what they're labeled whether it's charters or magnets or traditional schools. Um, but I do think the accountability sits
095like squarely in the center of all of that is that you know I think we we are going to face you know tough choices and decisions. Um, and all this discussion about what's happening on the hill, what's happening everywhere across the city. It just seems to me that uh my well my urg my own sense of urgency is increasing um about really replicating what we already know works because we do have proven schools we have bright spots in the district and the question is are we going to scale those up hold ourselves accountable to making that widely available and you know for our kids and our communities. This is a general thought really nothing to do precisely about vouchers and charters that yeah and then it seems then aligning resources and you know all our
096strategic decision- making and action is just all aligned to that regardless of what's happening around this Shepard. I think that some of um the demand that that you speak of is um generated on the state level. I think some of that is coming down to us because it's a it's the popular thing for the some of our legislators to do. They think that it's because it's a hot topic item. It's a hot button item. Oh, well, you know, then this is what I need to do for my constituents. I'm not sure that um there is a lot of demand that is there is some demand but I think a lot of it is generated just like sometimes the media generates interest to a particular topic because it's the thing to do. It's the it's the
097hot button item. So I'm you know I'm thinking that some of of these issues are are falsely generated for lack of a better word. And and yes, you're right. We do need to we do want all of our schools to be excellent and we do need to be in front of the eightball on that and I think that we are going in the right direction. We just need to be a little faster. Any other comments? Well, let me say um thank you very much Clay Hank because you do a fantastic job and we really do appreciate it. Um and thanks to uh Miss Frog and Mr. Kingston and everybody who has been on the hill in the last couple of months talking about these issues. Um, thank you very much and I'm sure we'll probably
098hit you up with some more questions. Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me just say in closing that, um, although a majority of the attention is focused on a few issues, um, the majority of my time is actually built in a very encouraging way, spent a very encouraging way on helping to build a strong sense of collaboration. Um, and I'm really optimistic as uh we put issues aside um that we can find ma much broader common ground on which to build and to to drive that student achievement. Thank you so much and feel better. Thanks, Madam Chair, members of the board. Hank, thank you for that short report. I want the only other part of the director's report I have is I want to uh recognize uh uh some parents and one student who are with
099us tonight from Hannes Middle School. Uh Katherine Wilburn, are you in the back back there? Uh I think she may have left. Oh, she may have left. Okay. I thought maybe she was still back there, but we had a group of parents earlier who were here from Hannes Middle School. She'll be back. She's I've asked her back to lead the pledge for us one day soon. Terrific. That concludes my report. Perfect. All right, we will move into committee reports. Youth Safety Summit, Miss Shepard. Thank you. Um the clock is ticking. The youth safety summit is like right at four weeks away. Um it will um we last met on Friday, March the 1st. Um the third annual Youth Safety Summit will be on Saturday, April the 6th. Our keynote speaker again is Craig Scott from
100um Rachel's Challenge. Uh he is the brother of uh Rachel Scott who was the first um person killed in the Coline tragedy. Uh on the on the day of the youth safety summit registration will begin at 8:30. Uh the presentation will be again around 9 and will be followed by a question and answer session. Our breakout sessions will begin at 11:00 and end around noon. Tony Major is not here tonight but he has arranged for some great breakout sessions and facilitators. light refreshments will be served. We will uh the the flyer is on the screen right there. We will be distributing this this flyer. It will go home to all students in grades 5 through 12. And this is a free event for our uh students and parents. Child care will be provided for the
101younger students uh attending. We are planning for some satellite transportation. We will have um we will begin online registration as well as you can call into the board office and and register as well. We encourage pre-registration, but we do not want you to let that stop you from attending the event if you did not um have the opportunity to pre-register. I want to say a huge thank you to Nissan for being the presenting sponsor, for their generosity and bringing this program to our parents and students. And um I want to thank everyone who's helping everyone who's helping make this event a successful one. We have a lot of people involved in this initiative. I would encourage my colleagues to make plans to be there for the day. It's just a half a day. So um
102it won't be that painful to be there for half a day. Our next uh meeting for this event will be this coming Friday, March the 15th at 700 a.m. Madam Chair, that concludes my report. I want to add one thing to your report, Miss Shepard. Um, you talked about Rachel's challenge and I have seen this presentation and for anyone who has not seen this presentation, um, you will not want to miss it. It is probably one of the most powerful presentations I have ever seen in my history. Um, we had, um, an opportunity to see this last summer and in a room full of nearly 200 people, um, when we walked away, we were all blown away. Um, I would I encourage parents to bring their students. I encourage parents to attend this event. It
103is probably one of the most again powerful presentations I've ever witnessed in my life. So, thank you for that present or your report. Uh, budget and finance, Mr. Pangston. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh immediately preceding uh this schoolboard meeting, the budget committee met and continued our discussion that began uh a week ago about the proposed FY 201314 operating budget. Uh there were no uh substantive changes presented at this budget committee meeting, this evening's budget committee meeting. Uh but uh Mr. Henson has continued to make himself available to the individual members of the board to answer questions. will continue uh next week with uh on Tuesday, April 2nd for the public. Uh at 5:00, there will be a public hearing on the proposed 2013-14 operating budget followed by uh a budget committee meeting to continue our
104discussion. Uh the final step in the process presumably will be Tuesday, April 9th, uh at 3:30. uh we will have final discussion at the committee level and uh approval hopefully uh at that time of the 20134 proposed budget. Um and then the budget hearing with the mayor uh is set for April 12th. So, just to recap, uh the next three dates, Tuesday, April 2nd at 5:00, public hearing, uh in this room, uh Tuesday, April 9th at 3:30, uh final uh uh discussion and hopeful approval of the proposed budget. And April 2nd, uh which I believe is a Friday, right, uh is the budget hearing with the mayor in the morning. Uh I think it's set for 9:00 a.m., but we'll confirm that date and report back at the next uh the next opportunity. Thank you,
105Madam Chair. Thank you. Uh Mr. Hayes, capital needs. The capital needs committee has not met in the I guess since our work session two weeks ago. Uh I do not have an update for capital needs committee other than we likely will be calling a committee meeting uh sometime within a week or two after the spring break. Um and I will coordinate with Miss Hawkins u to make sure everybody can attend. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Um the board chairman's report tonight centers around um a campaign that was launched recently by the TSBA, Tennessee School Boards Association. It is called um local schools for local decisions. If you have noticed, you'll see that we are wearing the little red teardrop type stickers. We also have these little fans here. And I want to read a little
106bit about this campaign so that it gives you a little bit more information about what this campaign is about. Um, the Tennessee School Boards Association launched a statewide campaign, Local Schools, Local Decisions, in February 2013 to increase awareness of the importance of local control in public schools. Historically, communities have supported local lays to make certain that local schools serve the community effectively and equally. The campaign focuses on maintaining the collective belief that public education should not be allowed to become a tool of any single group or person. that education exists to serve all people equally. Support for a strong system of public education is crucial. It is the backbone of our democracy and has made our nation a leader in the world. Um when I learned about this uh campaign um uh back last month
107in February um it took me by storm because of what it meant. we started talking about this is right around the same time as the charter author authorizer bill started to to um peak through the the window and uh it became extremely important and that we understand what losing control of our local schools would mean to students. Um I encourage all of my board members to go to the website which is local schoolsdecisions.net read about this campaign, find out what it is that we can do as a board and send this information to every single one of your fellow schoolboard members in the state of Tennessee. Um, I'll read you a couple of other things here. Why are local school boards necessary? Voters elect their fellow citizens to serve on school boards and those boards
108make basic policy decisions about the school's direction and costs. Additionally, Tennessee law requires that those decisions must be made in open public meetings that give it individual citizens an opportunity to participate. One of the things that is so critical to this board and every other school board in the state of Tennessee and across the country is that we live in our districts. We, every one of us here lives in our districts and we know our community and we know our constituents. Therefore, we know what decisions should be and shouldn't be made. you take the control out of the hands of local boards and you're giving it to a state um or some other federal organization that may not know your neighbor, may not know your neighbor's children, may not know how the PTA meeting went
109last week, may not understand how important it is for a schoolboard member to attend a community meeting. It is extremely vital that we continue to have a local control in our local schools. Um, I encourage each of my board members to do your part in getting this message out as often as possible. Again, if you go to the website, it will give you more information on um this campaign and what it means uh for us as a state. One other thing, here's the really cool thing. There's a little contest going on that I think Davidson County is going to win. Um because I've already decided that we're going to win. There's a photo contest. What you need to do is if you uh support local schools um local decisions, you take a picture with uh
110this uh little fan or one of these little stickers on and you submit it to the website. The great thing is the winning school board in the state of Tennessee gets absolute free registration for the TSBA convention in October. We're going to have nine free seats. That's all I'm saying. So get out there, get your pictures taken. Let's get this thing going. But more importantly, check out this website because it is it speaks a lot to what we do and why we do what we do. Um, and um, I think it's well worth sharing this information with as many people as you possibly can. So, and that Oh, and by the way, I know you can't really see this, but I want to share this with you. Our doctor register is already on the website
111along with our board secretary, Cameo Bobo. They've already taken the pictures here. I think it's fantastic. So, we've got some support for our uh program. So, um and that actually concludes my report. And since we have now moved our announcements to the top of our agenda, we will move it down to Miss Frog. There being no further business, this meeting is adjourned.