001time to call the October Elizabeth and Board of Education meeting to order. Would like to welcome everyone for being here. Um at this time, I'll turn things over to uh Director Van Hus for a moment of silence and pledge to the flag. >> Please stand. Please pause for a moment of silence. Thank you. >> Attention. Salute. Pledge. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. It's time to approve consent agenda and regular agenda. Can I get a motion to approve? >> Motion and a second. >> Second. Any questions? Any movement on that uh for anyone? Okay. Hearing none. The item is to approve consent agenda and regular agenda. All those in favor say
002I. >> I. I. Any opposed? And there are none. It's time for citizens to speak. We didn't have anyone request to do that. So, we'll move on to special recognition. And I'll turn it over to Mr. Van Hus to welcome our guests. >> Thank you, sir. Uh, at this time, if we could have uh TCAT representatives to step [snorts] forward. There's Dr. Church. We also have Miss Frink with us as well, another vice president from TCAT and Casey Robbins, also dual enrollment um coordinator and compliance specialist, I think. Did I get that right? Close enough. So, >> got it. [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you all for allowing us to be here, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Uh we're here tonight to recognize the hard work of Elizabeth and City Schools CTE department. And uh it
003goes without saying the hard work that they put in with the students every day. uh when we were at the CPAC advisory meeting there about five a month ago seeing some of the statistics but I want to give you some statistics from our from our standpoint uh as a post-secondary partner with Elizabeth and city schools. Uh first of all for us to be in Elizabeth and as our home base is a big deal. Uh if you know the history of TCATS it really started here >> uh many years ago in the 60s. So it's a big deal that we're here. Our central office is here. Our main campus is here. But we now have six campuses in our fivecount service area and have now over 200 students as of the fall of this year. So
004for us to be here is a big deal and we love being here in Elizabethan. Uh right now we have at Elizabeth and High School uh 222 students dual enrolled in our programs. Some of them are coming to our campus. Uh a lot of it is embedded dual enrollment in STEM and advanced manufacturing, automotive technology, uh computer information technology, uh building construction, uh criminal justice, off-road diesel, and our new one this year is pre-practical nursing through Ballet Academy. So that's 222 students that are able to stay at school at the high school and because of our relationship relationships with the CD department and some of these great teachers are getting credit with us the times that they're there. So that's a big deal. That also represents about 27% of your all's population, Elizabeth High School.
005So we started recognizing school districts three years ago. Um and we started recognizing them based on the and what this does is opens up pathways and opportunities for students. Uh what we do at a technical college is we get students ready for high needs in demand careers that are sustainable for economic development. So, for us to have these these opportunities where students can have these pathways open uh is huge for them. Some of them may never use that credit. We've seen some not use it immediately after graduation, but then come back and that credit's sitting there waiting on them. We've had several particularly in the CIT program who've accomplished a certificate while they're still in high school with us from us by doing this dual enrollment work. So, we just want you all to know
006that we recognize the hard work that they put in. So we started recognizing school systems three years ago. Uh but we were doing it solely based on the number of students enrolled. Well, there was a very uh intelligent person at a at a superintendence meeting last year that said, "Hey, Dr. Church, why don't you start recognizing school districts that also uh have a higher proportion of their students involved?" And I said, "That's that's a great idea, Mr. Van Hus. [laughter] >> Let me let me take >> Looking at an angle. Let me take that back to our leadership team and President McMillan and and see where we stand with that. Well, we unanimously unanimously approved to do that because that does make a difference. But tonight's unique in that you all will be recognized for
007being in both categories. The only school district to be in both categories. You are our bronze level dual enrollment partners for total participation with those 222 students. You're also our bronze level partners with having 27% of your total student body dy enrolled with us. So I want to say from us congratulations to you all. >> Thank you. >> And I I would like to bring up uh Mr. Brian Colbert, the Mr. Brian Colbert, the CT teachers that are here with us. If you all will please come up. >> We're glad you got him here. We're just [laughter] >> This is kind of a special occasion. I did see him at a meeting earlier today to remind him we'd be here. >> Oh, so he didn't have an excuse, did he? >> So, we're going to
008go ahead now and present you all with both of those banners. Our first time ever from a school district to receive both of those. So, bronze level for total enrollment and bronze level for participation. >> Thank you all. Get that picture. >> You should be in it, Richard. Sure. >> I'm good. Thank you. [applause] >> We equally appreciate your partnership and all the things you do for the students in our community. So, thank you very very much. >> Yes. Thank you all. At this time, uh, it's, uh, time for our director's update. Um, so I'll turn it again over to Mr. Van Hus. >> Thank you, sir. Uh, so just a couple of quick updates here for you. Uh, again, I just wanted to mention the TSBA annual convention that will be coming up November
009the 13th through the 16th. Uh, I think, uh, we're all going and so I'm excited about that and the opportunity we'll have to spend some time together and and and learn as well. The convention is always very beneficial. Tons of information. You kind of get a view for some potential legislation that may be heading our way. And so looking forward to that next month. Just a quick update on capital projects. Of course, the Dave Ryder Center for Athletic Performance. We've talked about it a lot. It is so close to being finished. We're down to uh just some finishing touches on that. And I would like to announce uh tonight and you you'll get some additional information on this, but Friday, November 21st at one o'clock in the afternoon, we will have a ribbon cutting for
010the facility. Again, that's that is a Friday, November 21st at 100 p.m. So, we'll get some other information out about that as well, an official invitation. Of course, all of our donors will receive that as well as city council and uh and other individuals in the community that that have an interest. So, we're excited about that. It is an absolutely incredible facility that is already being used by so many different programs in the school system. It's not just athletics. Bands already used it several times. Uh the uh um color guards used it several times. So, classes are using it now. So, uh it's what we had envisioned. It's even better than what we had envisioned and the impact that it's going to have on students. So, thank you again for your support and and making
011that a reality. A couple of other things. Uh, I wanted to mention that he's not here today because he's at the high school. They have a um soccer game tonight. It's Well, they've already started. I think it was either 5 or 5:30, but Dr. Mitten was selected as the TWWSAA 2425. Oh, where are you? [laughter] >> There you are. You snuck in. There you are. I was He asked me not to say anything about this, so I thought I was going to sneak it in. he but sorry you're going to get it anyway. Uh he was the AF Bridges principal of the year for this athletic district and just there it says that that award is rec it recognizes people who are setting the right example doing the right things and setting the standard for
012high school athletics in the state of Tennessee. So congratulations. [applause] >> And since I'm your boss, you can't say anything. [laughter] So anyway, so but no, we appreciate you and the example that you set there. So that's all I have today. >> All right. Well, thank you. Um we'll move on again, board member reports. I don't think we've had a lot of activities. Anybody got anything? >> I don't have a report, but I got a comment. I want to thank Mr. Simmerly and the council for helping us getting that parking lot paved at the training facility. It looks wonderful. >> Yes, >> it really looks nice. If you've been by the parking lot, it's really better than I thought it would be. It looks wonderful. >> Without that, it wouldn't look nearly as good as
013it does. You're exactly right. >> Curved in. It looks wonderful. >> Oh, yeah. >> We've been looking at that for 50 years hoping something would happen. Yeah, it does. >> Thank you for that, too. >> And I want to mention the city. They were so considerate. They waited until fall break to do that because they knew >> that doesn't happen everywhere. That just doesn't happen everywhere. So, I appreciate city officials keeping that in mind because obviously that's an extremely busy area before and after school and during the day. So, we appreciate that as well. >> Oh, yeah. >> All right. Anything else? >> All right. Move on to Mr. Simly. Any anything to share? >> All right. Well, it and it does driving back there, having done that for several years, it just blows your
014mind. It really does. The facility is unbelievable. Yes. But that it would not have been the same. So, thank you. All right. And now, Miss Haget. >> Okay. I'll just share some stuff that's been going around in the school. So, before fall break, we had homecoming week, which was really successful. Hope you guys got to come. Great game. And we came back from fall break to a beautiful new mural in our courtyard. >> Yes. >> Yeah. We had the guy who did the downtown one come and paint and I've got lots of good student feedback. And it's really a great step in elevating that space because that's like the one part of the school that hasn't gotten much renovation attention yet. >> And y'all did a great job, too. I think that was you kind
015of headed a committee, right? Put that together and it it you did a fantastic job. So, >> thank you. Yeah. In the future, we're hoping to get some seating. We're working with clubs to sponsor permanent seating and so it'll be a place for not only lunch but teachers can take classes out there and so we're just really excited. >> Next week you have the ACT coming up for senior retake. And one awesome thing we get to do is we're offering it to the juniors as well which is something not a lot of schools do. And so we're really excited for that. And in a couple of weeks, I get to go to New Orleans to a conference for educators called the Full Scale Symposium. And I'm going to help some teachers present about what we
016do at our school that makes it unique and hopefully get some input from other schools and organizations about new ways we can be a better school and hopefully spread that to the students. >> Perfect. >> And you'll report back to us about what you Yeah, we would love to hear. That's That's pretty interesting. So, >> yeah, I'm grateful for the opportunity. >> Well, thank you. All right, time to move on to the regular agenda. First item is to approve creation of an assistant swim coach at TA Duggar Junior High School. Can I get a motion to approve? >> Motion >> and a second. >> Second. >> Okay. So, before I mention I was scanning the room to make sure that Mr. Barry wasn't here since I'm so observant. But uh he again he is uh
017watching his daughter perform in a musical at East Side. So that's a good excuse to not be here. But uh he had shared some information with me. The swim program continues to grow and we had the report last week or last month about all the great things that are going on in the theater program. So what you heard about last month directly affects what we're going to talk about today. And so those students once they reach the junior high level, they have an opportunity to participate with the swim team. And those numbers over the last four years have fluctuated uh and they've averaged out somewhere around 30 students a year. So as you can imagine, being in a pool space, it's very hard. Right now there's only one coach, you know, so you have 30
018students in there with one coach. And that to me is very concerning from a safety standpoint. So creation of this position would would obviously be an assistant swim coach and we would be able to hire that person to have an extra set of eyes on students in the pool area. So I think it's definitely definitely justified uh based on the participation numbers. Okay, any questions for me on that? >> Okay, see none, the items to approve creation of an assistant swim coach at Tia Duggar Junior High School. All those in favor say I. I. And any opposed. And there are none. Next item. Then we'll look join these together to approve first reading of board policies. 5.50 discrimination harassment of employees and 6.3041 title 9 and sexual harassment. Can I get a motion to approve?
019>> Motion. >> And a second. >> Second. >> Okay. Just real quickly, both of these ch changes to both these policies are strictly bookkeeping um reasons. If you noticed in five, if you notice in 550, the discrimination policy, uh it previously it referenced who was in charge of that program that has now changed to a different title. And so it goes from the director of federal projects that manages that to the director of student services, which is Mr. Thompson. So it's just we're required to have that in policy. And since it was Mr. Hutchkins before and now it's Mr. Thompson. So that's that's the only change there. And then a similar change in uh 6.3041 under the title nine and sexual harassment policy. Mr. Hutchkins was the lead on that and now it's Dr. Newman.
020So that's that's the only changes in those two policies. >> Okay. Questions? All right. The items to approve first reading of board policies 550 discrimination harassment of employees and 6.3041 title 9 and sexual harassment. All those in favor say I. >> I. And any opposed and there are none. Next item, approve the 2526 TISA accountability report for expenditures in the 2425 school year. Can I get a motion to approve? >> Motion. >> A motion and a second. >> Second. >> Okay. And I know you've got some things you need to share. >> I do. I do. A couple things to start with. This is a requirement from the state uh annually to do a report on how we spend our TISA dollars, our state dollars. And I want to thank uh Dr. Newman and Miss
021Wilson as well. Spent a lot of time on this. Once this report came out, it's kind of evolved over the last few years. And now part of that requirement, if you were able to to scan over it, there is we we basically list goals, things that we're working on in the district that we feel are important. We have three goals in the TISA plan. [cough] One is a required goal that every school system in the state has to have and it addresses third grade uh reading. So, everyone has that one in common. And then school districts have the flexibility to do additional ones. We focused on two other areas and it lines up with our district uh improvement plan as well. It's 3 through 12 ELA. So, it takes that third grade and expands it
022out over all the uh grades that are tested in ELA. And then also there's a 3 through 12 math goal as well. So, not only do you have to report on how you're doing there based on proficiency rates, but you also have to tie dollars that you use in TISA that directly go toward those different uh different goals. So, if you kind of scan through that, you'll notice that uh the fir again the first goal is a third grade reading proficiency. And uh last year, hold on just one second, we spent roughly uh a little over half a million dollars just for third grade ELA. Uh if you look at the second goal, which is the 3 through 12 ELA goal, we spent uh 3 almost $3.8 million. And when you think about that, that
023sounds like a lot of money. Well, it is, but when you start thinking about it's all the general education teachers and assistants that work in ELA in those areas. It's special education teachers, it's professional learning, it's interventionists that we have. Um, and then different types of assessment tools that we have. And then the math goal, again, that was 3 through 12. Uh, we spent almost we spent a little over $6 million uh when you look at those. So I think the whole intention of this plan is to if this if we say it's important, do the dollars back that up? If we say it's important and we're not spending any money on it, then is it really important or not? So I think that's the intent of the report. Uh so it's been a good
024exercise for us again just to check well I mean are we saying the things that are important? Are we really addressing those? And the answer to that based on this report is is definitely yes. So, lots of work went into setting up a system that we can track things like salaries of individuals and those different categories. And again, Dr. Newman and Miss Wilson spent a lot of time putting that together. So, that work on this front end will make it easier in future years as we as we move forward with this plan. Couple of other things there. Uh, you have to have an opportunity for the public to comment on the plan. So, last year in this this same time, we provided that opportunity during the board meeting We're obviously doing that again this year.
025So, if anyone has the desire to comment on that, we'd certainly welcome that and would love to take your uh your thoughts and and if needed address the plan with that. But we also posted it on our website and pushed that out in social media at the end of last week and it was up for a week for people to comment publicly on the website. So, we went one step further this year and gave people another opportunity. U Dr. Newman and I had a chance to meet with um someone from the core office uh the state department talking about the plan and just seeing if we had any questions about it and her comment was there's not too many districts that have had the opportunity. So once you go through it there are certain measurables
026but you know over a fiveyear period what you want your proficiency level a goal for you to to reach and of the three goals we met we exceeded in two and the other one we hit improvement we just didn't reach the goal. So two of the three we were able to exceed and she said there's not many districts around that have been able to do that. So again, that speaks to not only the investment that we're putting in it with with the financial investment, but also the investment that our teachers and staff are doing to try to address those proficiency rates in those areas because we think they're obviously very important. So I wanted to point out that I thought that was a key that that you all needed to know that u again just
027speaks to the uh the great people that we have working with our students. So that's just a brief synopsis of the the plan itself. Again, if anyone has any questions, comments on that, we we certainly welcome that. Um, try to answer those questions. If there's something I can answer, I'm gonna let Dr. >> Any questions? [clears throat] If you look at our trends over, we had principal meeting today and we were talking about if you look over the last five years since co and moving forward when especially at ELA if you look every year there's been an increase and we talked about the fact that over that time period it's it's almost you know 14 to 15% increase in proficiency rates over that time and you know 15% you think okay well maybe that's moving
028the needle for large groups students at 15% is a substantial number of students. So that again just speaks to the work that goes in and we just talked to administrators about we should celebrate that. It is a big deal and it's again it just speaks to the investment that we've made and the people that we have. But there's nothing to say that in another five years we can't do 15 or maybe 20%. So, we just need to keep pushing, trying to find ways for teachers to hone their skills, their instructional uh delivery and things like that and tools that we can provide for them. We never want to get complacent thinking that we've figured it out and be satisfied where we are. There's always opportunities to grow. So, there was so much concern when this
029was being talked about. Was it as bad as it turned out being as bad as fearing that it would be in terms of implications for local districts >> for the funding formula? >> Right. >> So So there are there are some concerns. Um when they when it first came out, they infused almost $2 billion into the funding for public schools, but there's obviously things in there that fluctuate. One of the biggest things that happened to us is about a year in the federal government changed the way they identify economically disadvantaged students. So it looks like overnight that we had this population of economically disadvantaged students and overnight it lowered. Well, guess what? We didn't lose those kids. They're still here. It's just the way that they identify students. So we had a significant It's not
030just us. districts across the state had a significant drop in that economic disadvantaged funding. It was to the tune of almost 200 to $300,000 for our district, which is a lot. You know, when you look at our budget, significant. Two years ago when it happened, they did a hold harmless. They funded us from the previous that amount from the previous year. Last year, they dropped it to is it 50% or 75%? One of the two. They dropped the amount. We don't know what's going to happen this year. So that could be a potential shortfall that's no longer there. My concern is that $2 billion, that's state money. That's not federal money. They just use this federal um they use this federal system to determine how they're going to, you know, divvy that money out to
031districts. So my question is, if the state has the money, why don't we just use the old definition and continue to fund school systems the way it was? Because again, they touted$2 billion dollars. Well, it's not two billion anymore. It dropped significantly. I don't I don't know the number across the state. I know the impact for us and it's again it's not just us. This has been a common concern across the state from superintendent. Um so so that's that's a concern. The second concern is a great thing trying to increase teacher salaries. We're all for that. We've talked about this before. They continue to give us increases each year to try to address that, but it's nowhere near enough to d address address all of the teachers that we have in the system. Better yet,
032all of the support staff. So, as you know, we've stretched and pulled and tugged every way we can on our budget the last few years to try to continue to give everyone increases and we've not been able to do as much as we would like. So, there's one more year of that. So in starting the 20 26 27 year there will be there'll be another increase to the base for another jump in pay but will we be able to continue to do like we have done and give a raise to to teachers as well as support staff you know because we've historically done that. So they're really putting us in a bind. So when you lose 250 $300,000 that's a big hit. that that really hurts when you're looking at at it's counterintuitive. Well, you're
033being cut here, but they're infusing a little more money here, but you're just trying to break even from the amount that you lost. Plus, you have to there's some requirements that you have to put so much of that that additional funding towards salaries. So, it's really it's really a lot of school systems have had to dip into fund balance and we've not had to do that. Obviously, we did that for you. You all voted on that for the bonus with the that you provided for staff, which again you didn't have to do, but you want to try to take care of our our people, but we've not had to dip into our fund balance to to maintain these salaries and things. So, that continues to be a challenge. So, it's a little frustrating when things
034like that happen. Uh especially when they anytime you ever talk to someone, oh, $2 billion, $2 billion. Well, no, it's not. It's not $2 billion. Not anymore. It was then, but it's not now because you had an incredible amount of savings. So, where those dollars going? You know, they should still be coming to school systems. So, >> so those are some things we continue to fight. We continue to advocate at the state level to address some of these things. >> Did did the state decide to take the federal standard or did the federal government say state you have to take the standard? No, it was completely set up by the state during that process of what's the T of funding formula going to look like. And this is a metric that we can use to
035help determine how we're going to give students or school systems a diff additional money to address the needs of economic disadvantaged students. And so once the federal government changed that definition on how they how students qualify for that, then in essence it kind of in some ways saved the state money. I'm thinking Why are we doing that again? Those those students are still there. It's like >> you were economically disadvantaged yesterday, but now magically because of this formula, you're not. That's >> that's not practical when you when you're dealing with people, you know, that's not that's not reality. >> More than us, too. That >> absolutely. >> Yeah. So >> we're we're beating that across the state, beating the drum on >> trying to create attention around that. >> Any other questions, comments about that?
036Okay. The item is to approve the 2526 TISA accountability report for expenditures in the 2024- 2025 school year. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And there are none. You'll notice it if you need more discussion or have something you want to share again, please feel free to do that. Uh the next regularly scheduled board meeting will be Thursday, November 20th uh here in the M Pierce boardroom at 5:30. Can I get a motion to adjourn? >> Motion to adjourn. >> Have a good evening. Thank you all for being here. >> Thank you, Bill. >> Are we just going to sit here? We going to sit.