001Good evening. Welcome to the Franklin Special District's October meeting. We're going to start by having Miss Alicia Ericson, the principal at Papa Grove. And she has a student that she's going to introduce to do our pledge. If we all stand and please remain standing. After that, we'll have a moment of silence. >> Thank you. I do. I have McKenzie Campbell here who is our student of the month today and Mackenzie is going to lead us in the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the standy. Thank you. You may be seated. We have our recognitions and good news awards. We're going to start with our student artist of the month and ask Mr. Kevin Townsel if he would do that presentation for us. >> All right. This
002month's Franklin Special School District Artist of the Month is Mackenzie Campbell. Are you here, Mackenzie? She might have left. >> This vibrant cupcake drawing showcases her strong attention to detail. Kind of like me. Strong attention to detail. See? Created with oil pastels. This piece highlights Mackenzie's ability to customize colors while skillfully using highlights and shadows to bring depth and realism to her work. Mackenzie's art teacher, Lauren Lowry, says, Mackenzie's dedication and effort shine through in every assignment. This artwork is a beautiful example of both creativity and technique. You can view McKenzie's artwork along with other pieces by Franklin Special artist at the central office at the central office gallery. Our sincere thanks go to Chuck Sugg and Sonic Drive-In for his support of the FSD Student Artist of the Month program. Let's give it up
003to Mackenzie Campbell. >> Continuing with good news awards. >> This is for Dr. Amanda Munz. We are proud to recognize Dr. Amanda Munz and Moore Elementary School for an outstanding achievement. For the second year in a row, Moore Elementary School was named an I Ready stretch super stretch school by curriculum associates for demonstrating exceptional student growth in reading. This designation is awarded to schools where more than half of students not only met but exceeded their stretch growth goals, showing remarkable progress compared nationwide. This this resi this recognition reflects the dedication of Moore's teachers, staff, and students and the positive impact their hard work is making on long-term student success. Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you all for our good news. Uh moving forward, public input. There's a podium to my right. There is anyone here for public
004input. Seeing no one, we declare that public input is now closed. Reports, discussions, and presentations. Dr. Decker. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. Tonight, the teaching and learning spotlight, I'm happy to say, shines on the recently published guide to the FSD. I believe you received a copy either tonight or at the last board meeting. In 2017, a middle school course offerings guide for Franklin Special was created as a way to publicize the wide variety and depth of offerings including academic related arts and extracurricular furnished across our immed intermediate and middle schools. The goal was to reassure parents and/or community members that the Franklin Special District can more than hold and exceed its own with regard to providing a vast range of learning and growth opportunities to all our students. For the FSD, it has always been
005of paramount importance to prepare pupils for career andor college and beyond. As the years progressed and the FSD undertook a comprehensive brand refresh alongside the development of a new strategic plan, Aspire 2029, it became evident that the middle school course offerings guide should evolve. There was a clear need for the document to not only be updated, but to align with the current work and priorities of our school system as those were brought into focus by its latest endeavors. Moreover, in our global society, now more than ever, it is crucial to offer relevant information to parents and the community about the multifaceted offerings available within each school. The guide aims to serve as a valuable resource that highlights academic programs, extracurricular activities, holistic child development resources, and community partnerships that shape the educational experience in our
006district. By presenting this material in an accessible manner, we seek to empower parents with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their child's education and inspire them, if they wish, to actively engage with the school community. The document also serves a strategic purpose in encouraging and weling welcoming new families to enroll their children. By showcasing the unique strengths and opportunities inherent in the fabric of the FSD, we can effectively communicate the value of our educational landscape, fostering a sense of trust and excitement among prospective families. The guide to FSD is designed to illuminate the comprehensive educational experience provided by our school system, focusing on several key areas. Those are academic excellence, extracurricular activities, our whole child approach, community partnerships, accolades, the explanation and history of the term special school district, information about before
007and after school care and summer programs, and testimonials from parents, employees, and students expressing what the FSD means or has meant to them in terms of learning, a culture of support and belonging, and connection. connect it to life goals and dreams beyond Franklin Special. By effectively communicating these aspects through the guide, we aspire to inspire confidence in our school district's ability to provide a full and enriching educational experience. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions for Dr. Decker? >> All right. Thank you. >> Question. This looks good. That's really good. >> Thank you. Quite the team put that together. >> What's the accessibility of this for parents and especially people who aren't involved in our district already? How will they get a hold of this? >> So, we have it available in the front office
008here at central office. We've um sent copies to or brought copies to all of the schools to have available in their front offices at the pack. We'll have it available anytime we're having a presence at a community event >> just to get started. >> Also, when we spoke to the realtors last month, we took several copies there and left them with each person, each realtor who attended the session, plus we left extra copies for anyone in the real estate want. >> Perfect timing for the open house coming up for all the schools. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Approval of the board agenda. Is there a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Sparker. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Bale. All in favor? Thank you. Approval of the consent agenda. Is there a motion?
009>> Newman. Is there a second? Sparker. All in favor? Thank you. business before the board. Dr. Snow. >> Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, thank you. First item is the Freedom Intermediate School air conditioning unit replacements. Um, if you have been in the classroom at Freedom Intermediate School over the past few years, I don't know how the teachers teach and the students learn so much. Uh, because they're about as noisy as units and we've had trouble with them. And this is I know Dr. Oag and the teachers and and students at FIS will be appreciative if we can move this forward. This contract is a piggyback contract that is allowed through the state of Tennessee on the contract with Sumar County School District. The contract is number 2024924 using mechanical resource group MRG. Dr. Dr. Esinger has
010spoken with Sar County, who has used MRG for several projects, as well as Mr. Sterningberg, having made a site visit elsewhere for a similar project such as ours, and has found MRG's work to be outstanding. Also in your packet was a statement from MRG uh for your consideration as well as a copy of the scope of work. Uh the turnkey project price is quoted $4,591,5228. This is bond funded. It's been on your bond funded for several years. I think now Dr. Eslinger could tell me for sure, tell us for sure, but it's it's been there. So this is bond funded a bond funded project. We do recommend approval of this contract with MRG as presented. We also have representatives from MRG tonight, John Frudel and James Lynch, gentlemen. So, if you have questions of Dr.
011Esling or Mr. Sternberg or these gentlemen, I'm sure they'll be glad to answer any questions you have. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. Is there a motion to approve? >> Miss Newman, is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Miss Bale discussion. >> I just had a question. I know it's bonded. Were we planning on doing that this year in the original plan or is this a surprise that we're doing it this year? >> No, no, we were >> we were okay. >> We were planning on accomplishing that in this fiscal year. >> And when do you anticipate the project starting? How long? And when will >> I'll let fellows from NRG tackle that one. We're going to start with ordering tomorrow morning because the lead times rather significant, but it'll be throughout the brakes
012this year um for the areas we can have access to some of the electrical components on the roof that do not interfere with instruction. And then next summer is when we'll get into the classrooms. But I'll I'll glad you guys expand on that. And you have not previously done work for the Franklin Special District. You have you recall what work it was? Here. Okay. out of out of operations, not out of contracting. >> Okay. >> Any other questions or discussion? Have a motion and a second. We'll do a roll call vote. Mr. Townsel, >> yes. >> Barker, >> Yes. Snail, >> yes. >> Newman, >> yes. >> Still, yes. >> Approved. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Item number two is the Moore Elementary School roof drainage repair. This is for your consideration approval for bid
013award through W to Thrash Construction Services LLC. We do have a representative from Thrash, Mr. Jonathan Pope is here tonight for the total contract amount of 108,000 for you may or may not recall but last year several different occasions we had flooding in the main lobby and in the music room and uh it was quite the ordeal several different on several different occasions. So this is something that's definitely needed and there was a lot of research and W did a lot of work to determine which would be the best option to address this and we believe this is and W as architects believe this is the best way to address the issue. We recommend approval of this contract. >> Thank you sir. Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Bale. Is
014there a second? >> A second. >> Sparker. Is there discussion? >> I have the same question. Um, has um thrash done work for us before? >> Yes, sir. They have. They uh were the contractor that replaced our coolers and freezers um at at Franklin and Popular Grove. If I remember correctly, they did cooler freezer project a year ago. Um throughout that >> and the only asking these these questions very similar is that you know we're very picky about our vendors. We want to make sure we get the best and we find the best. We want to stick with them assuming they're competitive. So I always wanted to see if they've done more force before. >> Yes sir. >> And do we know the estimated timet >> for the roof train project? um yesterday >> is
015my is my preference, >> but um uh do we know >> Thank you. >> Any other discussion? Have a motion and a second for a roll call vote. Again, Mr. Townsel, >> yes. Mr. Parker, >> yes. >> Mr. Yes. Miss Bale, >> yes. >> Mr. Newman, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillings, >> approve. Thank you, Dr. Snowden. >> Yes, sir. Item number three is the FDA grant funded equipment. Number one for your consideration and approval is the bid award to mobile fixture for various kitchen equipment being purchased using a portion of the FDA research grant money. The recommended bid amount for these purchases equals $29,328. Future bid awards using this grant will follow numerically so they will be easily identifiable in the minutes. We recommend approval of this bid award to mobile fixture as presented. Also,
016I provide you additional information today through email. The total grant FDA grant is 1.75 million. The equipment budget approved is 780,000. And then I also sent a list of where that first equipment what schools would be. I guess everyone looks like is receiving something in this first expenditure or first uh equipment purchase. >> Thank you, sir. Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Bale. Is there a second? Newman. Discussion. I do have one question. Um, is this in in order of the most need or is it just um you were just putting all the schools? >> Well, Robin's not here, so I'm I'm making the assumption that she's doing the needs, the most need first and then go down the list as far as equipment. We can find that out from
017her, but Um, as you know, the past several years, we've put quite a bit of money into our kitchens, and we've renovated Johnson fully and Liberty prior to that was fully renovated. Um, so Mrs. M. Cross did an analysis of all the kitchens and um made a list of the uh equipment that was in uh the most need to be replaced. So that's the origin of her list here for the equipment component. >> I had a question. How did we go about receiving this grant? >> Mrs. Cross applied, wrote the grant, and we're one of two in the state of Tennessee that received it. >> 1.75 million is the total grant. >> And we have we have we've decided to spend 780,000 of that on equipment. Correct. And then we're doing the first bit at
01829,000. >> Correct. >> Okay. Well, good for her. >> Yes, it was a big one. She she has been Miss Cross has been very assertive, maybe even aggressive in securing grant funding. So yeah, >> I know her husband well and he would agree more. >> Thank you. Any other discussion? >> Not again, let us roll call vote. Mr. Stillings. Roll call. Miss Newman. >> Yes. >> Bale. >> Yes. Barker. >> Yes. >> We are approved. Thank you. >> Item number four is a 2025 2026 Tissa accountability report. The Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Tissa Public School funding formula requires each school district to submit an annual accountability report to the Department of Education. 2526 report is included in your packet. We recommend approval of this account accountability report as presented. >> Thank you, sir. Is
019there a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Is there a second? Council, is there discussion? Seeing no discussion, we will again roll call vote again. Mr. Stillings, >> yes. >> Miss Newman, >> yes. >> Bale, >> yes. >> Parker, >> yes. >> We approve. Thank you. >> Dr. Snowden, director of schools. >> Yes. Um, before I start with the formal report, I'd like to take an opportunity to introduce our latest leader in the district, and that's Mr. David Roth, our new transportation supervisor. So, Mr. Roth, I know Mr. Townzel said he was very impressed that we got David Lee Roth from the Rolling Stones as part of our leadership. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case, but uh that it makes it for a easy recognition of his name. Anyway, first item, quarterly
020report for the new state law, TCA 4962701, threat assessment team, board policy 3.204. Based upon this new law, school districts are required to send parent notifications when a threat is reported to an outside law enforcement agency for assistance in an investigation regardless if the investigation provides evidence the threat was credible or not credible rather. The report to our SRO's does not constitute the assistance of an outside law enforcement agency. On September 24th, 2025, a parent notification was sent to the families of both FIS and FMS related to an alleged threatening remark made by a student. Since this occurred after regular school hours, it was not possible to determine immediate credibility. So, we did request a home visit to the home of the student who allegedly made the remark by by the detective that visited the
021home. The detective also interviewed other students. It was determined through the investigation that the threat was not credible. But this is this fulfills the requirement that we have to make to the board on a quarterly and then we'll have another report next quarter which will also include it's a cumulative report. So next time we'll have hopefully we'll just say one report and that was the one from September. Questions related to that? Yes. >> I know we worried about this a little bit with this new law but how was that received? the parent notification, how was that received by families? >> It's through our >> I mean, was it was it concerning? Did you get a lot of questions and calls and things like that or was it >> Yeah, that was a great question. I
022had three emails and one phone call. So, most most parents I think I mean I think it's it's alarming when you get that call because you don't know because we can't give them definitive information other than what we know and what's allowed. Um, but we don't want it to be routine. We hope that's not the case. But I think the law was illconceived a lot of I understand the rationale, but I think hopefully they'll come back and do some correction so that you don't have to send something to parents when the threat is proven to be non credible. If it's credible, I definitely understand. Parents need to know that. But it just sends up an alarm if it's not credible, but they get you. You can't take that alarm back because they're going to be
023upset or concerned. Maybe not upset, but concerned. National School Bus Safety Week, October 20th, 24th. The annual week of raising awareness is an active and evolving public education program and an excellent way for parents, students, teachers, motorists, school bus operators, school administrators, and other interested parties to join forces and address the importance of school bus safety. Please help acknowledge our great drivers and aids especially during this week for the service they provide each and every day. The director of schools advisory council, those members have been selected from each site. Our first meeting is scheduled for October 23rd. The advisory council is composed of an employee and alternate from each school representatives from the central office, the FSSDA maintenance, landscaping, and transportation. The meetings offer opportunity to celebrate successes at each site and department as well
024as to bring concerns and questions to the director of school. Website refresh. We're transitioning from our current website template to a newer version. The launch is scheduled and and took place during fall break. Thanks to our communications specialist, Susanna, instructional technology and technology teams for their hard work in working with Final Site to accomplish this goal. And at staff meeting this morning, we discussed a few slight or small issues, right, Susanna? But nothing major. Okay. So, a good transition for a new website refresh. Remote learning drill. October 21st, schools will be conducting a remote learning drill to ensure that schools, students, and parents, guardians can easily transition from inerson to remote learning in the event of an emergency. Our families have been notified via parent square and will receive another message one week prior to
025the drill. As part of the drill, all KH students will take home their assigned Chromebooks and if applicable, a Clever QR code. A Google form accessible through Clever will be available on the afternoon of the drill for all students in the district to complete. Teachers will practice this task at school with students ahead of the drill so they understand the expectation. The remote learning drill is a state requirement. New family open house is October 23rd. All schools will host open houses on that day for families interested in learning more about our school. Each open house is scheduled during the school day so prospective parents can see the school in operation at wi and witness the exceptional teaching and learning environment. This is a great opportunity to meet principals, visit classrooms, tour buildings, and learn about
026the academic related arts enrichment and extracurricular offerings in each school. The FSSD's Performing Arts Center will also be open for visitors to tour from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Prospective families will see how the district emphasizes the whole child, highlighting the district's strong academic education along with instruction in the fine arts, related arts, and the performing arts. We hope families will take advantage of this opportunity designed to showcase the many ways our public schools are providing exceptional education to our students in preK through 8th grade. Also, open enrollment for insurance is this month. If the board is interested in signing up for this benefit through the district, please contact Katrina Wall and our HR department. As we all know, fall break was last week. I think people enjoyed that opportunity to be away, but also
027excited to to be back in session today. That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thanks, sir. dates. >> Nothing additional, sir. Thank you. >> Finance and administration. >> Uh yes, sir. Sales tax collections for the month of October are up 7% monthtomonth, which brings our year-to- date uh comparisons 5% over last year. >> Any announcements from the board? >> I just want to say that uh one announcement, I have known Mr. Roth for over 25 years and I was thrilled to find out he was our new transportation supervisor. >> We got a good guy there. >> So, welcome. >> Thank you. >> I'm just upset that this autograph means nothing. >> Goodness. Welcome back. Welcome back from fall break. Uh, one quick announcement. Uh, Selby Glass has a display in the back. If you would
028would mind just giving us a quick overview of what we have back there. >> Sure. to a location. always. Yes. It's not working on this. And so I'm over here. All right. Thank you, Sie. >> We certainly appreciate what you do. Absolutely. So uh after the meeting anybody wants to talk to S be go by and take a look at it please do there anything else from the board not we are journed