6.17.25 B.O.E. Work Session & Business Meeting

001to the Germantown Municipal School District Board of Education work session Tuesday, June 17, 2025. It is 5:09 p.m. Superintendent Manuel um has brought a couple of uh additional items to be discussed at tonight's and considered tonight's board at the board business meeting. Uh will you please share those with us now? Sure. So our request is to add three things to the agenda that we want to discuss during the work session but also vote on during the meeting. Um the first item is um because we are not having a July board meeting, we need to go ahead and recognize um the company that we want to award our food service contract with. Uh we want to stay with the same company that we have um been receiving services from SF. Uh and so we need to

002get that approved before the school year starts so we can continue without a a blip in service with that. So the SF contract who was the um person who uh was selected from our committee um we have Mr. Jones I think they have representatives here but um they can talk about that during the work session. So that's the first request is to add that to the agenda. The second item that we need to add to agenda is a a budget amendment. Um because we're once again we're not having a July board meeting. As you're aware, the governor passed um a law that said that if the board passes a resolution, and this was tied to the voucher program um about vouchers that our teachers could receive um $2,000 and they were also providing the funding

003for the you know the benefits that have to be paid with that. Um but we need to go ahead and do the budget amendment to recognize that. So once we get that money in um this summer, we will add that. So that's a recommendation and once again we can discuss that once we get to that item during the work session and the business meeting. And then the third item is one that we knew was a challenge for us. Um last week we had a $300,000 in claims in our health insurance account. Um majority of that being prescription drug costs. And as you know, we have been continually putting more and more money into our health insurance. um accounts. We have $147,000 left this year for that account. Uh and we have two weeks left. So,

004the concern is that we will not um be able to make it through the end of the year unless we shore up that account. If we do not see those claims uh or we have lower claims in these last two weeks, of course, just like every other account, everything gets swept into um our reserve. But that's a concern for us. So, we need to make sure that uh as we finish, it's the unknown of what are our claims going to be for these last two weeks of this fiscal year. So, that's the recommendation is to put additional money there. As you know, we we've made changes that will hopefully shore up and cut some of that and we're going to have to make more and this next year as we talked about, we're going to

005have to make more claims. Um but that's the recommendation for us to in order to finish off this fiscal year. But we can talk about all that uh during the work session and during business meetings. So but those are the three items SF and two budget amendments. Are there any questions about that? Any concerns about adding those to the discussion for the table or to be added to the agenda at the business meeting? Nope. move that. Okay. With if that is okay, then we can go ahead and move into the first item, which would be the policies. Speakman, if you want to lead the charge on these, you're welcome to. at at the chair's u behest. I mean, however you'd like to deal with these. I mean, uh we could do it from a standpoint

006of unless you somebody has a question about a particular one. Um we can just pass them over to the next one. Um but I happy to do it however you prefer. I would like a little overall rationale. Um, since we understand that state law often times dictates changes that would occur July 1 and on, um, and we talk about that frequently at this table and and up there. I still think it's important that we kind of hit the highlights on some of the especially I printed out the ones that because there are some that happen to um hit on some pretty hot topics and so which is probably why they have state legislation uh tied to some of their implementation. Okay, so we can go through each one. Um but no the rationale is the

007same for all these policies. They changed state law. State school board had to change state schoolboard policies and then it's trickle down effect. We have to change our policies. Um so if we want to move through the first policy is 1.402 which is notification of meetings. Um you can see the changes there of course are adding GMSD versus the the system but know that we have to provide 48 hours notice um before board meetings uh and we're posting them on our website. So those are the changes to policy 1.402. Any questions on So we're going from 24 to 48. Okay. Next policy is 1.704. Um, as you know, they've created a public public charter school commission uh that is heavily involved in approval of charter schools, but you can see the changes reflected there in

008policy 1.704. It's all about how we would approve charter schools if we had an application or how we would renew charter schools if we had uh existing charter schools. We do not have any charter schools uh currently in our district. There questions on 1.704 1.80 school calendar and school day. Uh you can see the changes here. So they've um added some provisions uh and some options for us. um around if we have dangerous weather conditions or outbreaks of illness in classrooms about how many days we can provide of remote instruction. So if for example we had a flu outbreak in a school and and had to close school um that we could actually have virtual instruction with our students for up to five days and they allow for four days um of hybrid learning. So

009those are just backup cases if we had to close for those cases. Questions on 1.800? Next. Yeah, go ahead. Question is I mean I'm surprised that they didn't put any wording in there about a pandemic. Um because according to this what what would happen if we had to close for a pandemic? So we wouldn't be a So this gives us like already approved authority. So like when we experienced the pandemic before emergency so yeah so we don't have to get special approval for this it's already granted we can get these five days we can get these four if we had something extreme like that and what happened before was we had to have actions from the commissioner of education and from the governor essentially declaring states of emergency and also giving those options for us.

010So, okay. Um, this is just like a preapproval for a smaller We don't have to ask. Yes, we we would not be allowed to ask. They would be telling us here's what's happening. All right. I think I just had a little PTSD moment. Yes, that was a but like this is I think we were on spring break and never came back. They told us you're not going back. But there there were examples in the past. Uh what Farmington Elementary one time we had just a whole rash of people that sick um got a situation where it was like all right let's just totally clean the facility and keep everybody home for a period of time and start over the next you know Monday. And I guess this would give them possib that option that you

011could do. Note too that we have built-in days that we don't have to do that. We have built-in days because we go longer than the school day. Um just like we do for inclement weather days where we don't have to make wake make them up. Um so this would be like something extreme where we've run we burned through those days and then now we need to go to a virtual or hybrid day. Oh good point. Thank you. Okay. Next policy is 1809 non-discrimination. Um, so know that there's new language that's around anti-semitism that we had to include in our policy and the um that was the only thing added and I'd like to point out that it's the only specific yes claim. Um, the discrimination and the the harassment language is the harassment language new

012from I should have pulled up the previous, but since there wasn't anything red, I felt like it but it was highlighted. It must have just been added. Yeah, it was added. um the uh this the new statute that that talks about anti-semitism um just added an additional layer that frankly was all always in discriminated but because it was in the statute we wanted to and make sure we're including that. Thank you. Sure. So if um if we have a uh Palestinian student that wears a shirt that says Palestine, could that be considered anti-semitism? Um no. Well, you get into some tricky situations because we've had situations like this in the past. It depends on um their actions and disruption to the school day. So, we've had situations where like um if for example someone took

013a Palestinian flag and they ran to the where the Jewish kids were sitting at lunch and waved it in their faces or did something like that where it could be uh considered not free speech. But so it's a fine line and it's it's always case dependent upon whether it's and speakman you can talk to this better than I can whether it's free speech versus um whether you're trying to antagonize um the person. I'm I'm just saying rhetorical. Yes. In there. So that seems like that's kind of broad. Yes. Um so and it's always case dependent. Um it it really is a a struggle. Mman, you can talk to it better than there have been a lot of cases on uh it is and honestly um the uh Department of Education and the new executive orders

014are also now very broadly written as it relates to discrimination such that the definitions upon which we have relied um historically in regard to title six have kind of been turned on their head. And uh so I think it is an understatement to say that um we're going to h have to handle these on a case- by case basis because it's almost um as if the definitions for the underlying or or the existing um uh statutory language or federal language, race, color, national origin, etc. the definitions of those seem to be on their heads from what we were all historically taught now. And um it is a conundrum um to say the least. Um in it's going to be um when we get different claims from different groups of people as to how we interpret

015this. Um, it I think you've opened the door though to what we should be thinking about going forward as to the fact that it's not going to be as clearcut um in assessments of each one of these claims. But that's that's always the challenge of and I hadn't I don't know if I've read the new law in a while but I think there when it says rhetorical too I think that may be more in the sense of you know rheto rhetoric or speaking rather than you know like a rhetorical question type of you know wondering if something is there. Okay. So, we'll move on from 1.809. The next one is 3 3.202 which is emergency planning. So u the changes to this say that we the princip each principal shall ensure that no more than

016that's the new language uh one fire drill requiring full evacuation is given every 30 days except two full evac evacuation fire drills and no more than two uh full evacuation fire drills are conducted during the first 30 days of school. So there's the first 30 days is different than the the remainder of the year, but there's a very detailed list of all the drills that we have to do in our our schools that's provided for us. But those are the changes that were to this policy. So if there are no questions on 3.202, that gets us to 4.46.2 2 um student use of the internet. So um the changes here students are prohibited from accessing social media platforms, message boards andor instant messaging services using so this this is the caveat using internet access provided

017by GMSD except when expressly authorized by a teacher for educational purposes only. So, for example, if we want our student ambassadors or interns to tweet something or put something on Instagram, we can give them specific approval to do those types of um activities. Or if there's a lesson in the classroom where they're creating a story or something, we can have academic purposes for those. But it's all about our system um that cannot be accessed using that. So, that those are the changes to student use of the internet. So our only obligation here really is from our IT perspective to block. Do we have a list of sites that we know are going to have to be blocked by it? Just, you know, if they get because I guess for us as long as they can't

018access VR, Wi-Fi, then I assume we're covered under any obligation we have under the statute. Correct. Uh yes. And I and I'm not an IT expert at all, but I will say that thank thankfully our IT people have looked at this and actually gave their input and assistance in drafting this policy. Um, but I would assume that it's not an entire blocking of any particular site because of the necessity that we leave them open for educational purposes, but they feel that they've got it well in hand as to how they're going to administer this. And again, I thankfully I got their through Mr. Kathy got their input um in great detail before we finalized this to give to you. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, because obviously you've got the cell phone. I think for

019me it all comes down to the Wi-Fi and what they're able to access on our network and it doesn't matter if our students get creative and go proxy and try to go around, you know, to get on the network, we're still covered because at no point are are they able to um I guess for so we have we have after hours events, we have athletic events where it's open where our Wi-Fi is actually open. We have a GMSD public that that goes live particularly during football games and such. Guess there's no restriction there. Correct. So it's only during school hours. That's right. Okay. Yeah. Uh are text messages considered instant messages? I say instant message that Mr. Kathy that's his uh group. So I'm going to let in that he had direct contact with them

020about this. So, I'm going to let him answer that question. Um, again, I'm not the expert on this. Uh, text messages, are those considered instant messaging? Says real time textbased conversations between users, but it says websites that allow Yeah. Online digital service. If a student's using Verizon, that we have no control over. That's right. So, it's it's all coming down. It's all about what's filtering through our system because we're we we they're constantly playing the game of not allowing individual private devices on our system. Yeah. Correct. I think for us it's it's our network and what do we control our network and if they want to get something on AT&T, we can't control that. That's The next sorry the next one is uh 4.600. Um the major change that you see reflected throughout is the

021fact that we've changed the word report cards to progress reports. But um that's the one that you see consistently throughout the policy. But this addition is uh prompted by the fact that if a student has taken taken a universal screener or dyslexia screener that we have to provide uh those results to the parents with their progress report those that's the key addition for this polic this grading policy. I I did want to say that people have a disagreement as to how to read the statute. Some people are reading it to say it has to be on the report card, but in the statute it says on or with. And I don't know how you interpret that to mean anything other than on or with. So, um, after speaking with our folks, you know, about the

022um, you know, the labor involved in actually placing it on the report card versus, you know, providing it with. it was much preferred that we provide it with. Now, if we uh find out through a state board rule change because as you know after these statutes are passed the next thing that happens is there's always a state board rule that uh usually accompanies these and if we find a change there obviously we'll come back to you and and make that modification. up for now and to get the school year going. Um, we just went with what seemed to be the logical reading of the statute, but I didn't want you to show up at one of these TSBA events and somebody go, "Well, we're putting it on the report card." And then you feel like

023you got slighted. So, back in the day when Mr. Manuel was teaching down the hall, we called a progress report. That was like your three-w weekek. Yes. I'm grounded. We change. Yeah. Right. Yeah, that was always the That's exactly right. The scary time. But um are we calling those something different now or is interum reports? Interum. Those are interums. Okay. Yeah. Just to keep you on your toes. Now you don't get to handel the little yellow copy at the halfway mark of the six weeks as it was back then. You get a notification on your platform right to your mama or daddy or caregivers's phone. Oh boy. She used to get to bring it up like, you know, after dinner when everybody was in a good mood and stuff. Now it's just whenever. Yeah, I

024have enough in science. Those days are over. Okay, that takes us to our next policy, which is 5.303, which is paid leave after birth or still birth of employees child or adoption of a newly placed minor child. Um, so you can see the changes here and Miss Beman, you can speak to this better than I can uh about what what occurred in the state law, but they're defining who can take this this leave uh in this case. Know that there weren't changes in the amount of time as far as um six work weeks um and the notification that they have to provide to human resources. Uh but it does clearly define or who are the individuals who are eligible to take that that paid leave. Um there are changes too that were take about the

025consecutive nature of this at at the bottom of that. Is that what you're getting ready to do? Um know that um they have to be according to this change to policy they have to be taken consecutively because there was no way that we could provide that or provide if someone was going to say well we just had the birth of a child I'm going to miss every Friday for the next year um until it adds up to that amount of time. There's no way that we could track that or provide services for for our students if that were the case. So, we're you have to take that that paid time consecutively or you can't say I'm going to miss every Thursday and Friday for the first semester. That's not the way this is going to

026work. We're talking about consecutive leave that has to be taken um after the the birth or still birth or adoption. And then it also includes people with who have an emergency credential. And I'm sure Miss Stratton over the next few months is going to be talking to you more about this about the uh and frankly it was on your legislative agenda is that more people have pathways to these emergency credentials or alternative credentials and so it was to include those persons also. Oh thank you. Are there other questions on that policy? If not, that takes us to policy 3.202. Um, or excuse me, yeah, 3.202. We did emergency planning. I got out of sequence here. I was on there twice. I'm on 6.2. Yeah, sorry. 6.2. Um, 6.2 is attendance and truency. Um I think

027it was last year, not this past legislative session, but the one before that, um they added um the fact that students could be excused uh to attend a released course in religious moral instruction. Um but I think in this last legislative session, they added a little more clarity about around what would count as that or what type of documentation was needed for students to be approved for that. So you can see the additions on this policy are on page three of 10 that before we would approve that request to attend a release time course and religious moral instruction, the entity providing the instruction must provide uh the students principal with written verification that the students release time uh course instruction as well as any other person holding a position with the entity providing the religious

028instruction requiring proximity to the students participating in the course has complied with the requirements of TCA 492. 2130. Uh and then the fact that if a student is absent for more than 20 days during the school year for religious purposes, we may uh require a meeting for them to discuss their child's future because if they're missing that much school and missing that many standards, uh there may be an issue about them graduating or metriculating up. So know that that's that's a concern. They can choose to do that, but uh it may have repercussions. Thank you. There are no questions on 6.2000. That takes us to 6.33 which are interrogations and searches. So this one I think we heard saw a presentation on this um from TSBA. I think this came out of they somebody had

029a search that they didn't agree with that wasn't done correctly um in another district in the state and so they wanted to make provide a training course for all individuals who are going to provide these searches. Mr. Speaker, I don't know if you want to give more. Yeah, just super quickly. Um it did a couple of things. one is is that it provided that the state um is going to have its own training uh for our administrators um as to how to conduct a legal search and that sort of thing. And the they'll be sending that out. However, they haven't sent that out at this point. So, we're saying that, you know, everybody has to comply with the statute. Um and then the second thing is is that that a lot of these schools now

030have school security officers but not school resource officers. So whereas school resource officers were always able to conduct these searches um as an official of the school district, school security officers were specifically prohibited from doing it. So now they can um provide that service. Are there other questions on the So and I think they I was on the executive council call today. Miss Ballard, who's the legal counsel for the department, uh, is finishing up work on those. So, I think there will be a a video you can log on to to receive that training. Uh, and they're also bringing back a discipline institute that our our staff can go to. So, that'll be a part of that, too, where they will redeliver that training about what's legal for searches and what's not. What is the

031um it says if a student is under 18 years of age then the principal must notify the student's parent or legal guardian within a reasonable time of the search. What what is reasonable? Miss Speakman, uh it's just it's just to be argued. I mean and so um reasonleness um appears so many times in the education code and um you know it's just what the sensibilities uh accept um and and but I will say this um in my experience with um Germantown Municipal School District that it's the same. It's always speedy notice. I've never seen a case, you know, where it exceeded um 24 hours. Um, so it would be very unusual in my experience for that to happen. So, and I would think 24 hours would be under anyone's definition. Um, reasonable. So, I think

032we're I think and as actually now that I'm saying it, I think the only times that I've seen it even go, you know, two hours is when you can't get in touch with the parent, which happens, you know, from time to time where they just can't or don't answer their phone. So, Okay, if there are no questions on search and seizures, we get to wireless communication devices. Just one question. I know we don't have a lot of students who use lockers anymore. Um, but I know we used to have at least in policy that those could be searched at any time and, you know, randomly or not essentially, but is there any real change to that? No, it's um it's generally that the administrator has to witness the search and that still remains the same.

033Okay. Uh the last next one is six not last one but second to last one uh 6.312 wireless communication devices. Know that um this is something that we're going to be working on as we get approach the new school year. We just put the minimum required language by the statute saying that they are not allowed during instructional time. Um, our school teams are are working to talk about the procedures that we have just like we were talking about be before we would move on to something with like the yonder pouches or those examples we gave. Hey, are we making sure that our staff are doing everything to enforce the current um procedures? But know that as we move forward, that's going to be something that we're going to be talking about with our community and

034our parents about what does it look like to have cell phones. But know that we included the minimum language that says that they cannot have a device during instructional time. Yeah. I don't want us to be heavy-handed here. I mean, I would my preference would be, you know, the law is what it is and our staff enforces it, but I I I don't want our staff to put us in a position where we're going to have to be heavy-handed and make mandates that are not going to be um, you know, pleasing to everyone. So, I urge our staff to enforce the law, to do the right thing, and keep us from having to get heavy-handed and and handle it because we'll handle it. But I don't think that that's what they want to have happen

035because at the end of the day, if we handle it, we get involved, then they're still going to be enforcing it except it's going to be, you know, under under some uh, you know, different direction where we've spent money. And so anyway, I'm urging our staff to enforce the law, do the right thing, and let's not make this an issue. So, like I said, I agree 100% and we're going to be working with our administrator school to talk about how what does this look like um as we start the next school year. My only kind of real I think about, you know, like an Apple Watch here because it has the capability to text things like that. And I mean, if you're just looking at your watch during class, I don't really consider that using

036the device or things, but do we have any idea how something like that would be used or just looking at your I mean, I think you could say you got to put your phone up or something like that, but yeah. And those are the things that we're going to be discussing with kind of work. I think it depends. Once again, it's just like when we're talking about that free speech issue, like on a case- by case basis, if I see a student who's typing on that watch, then we know that they're using um potentially using their phone to do that or text or communicate. Um but we're going to have to talk through all those scenarios. We had this discussion during our cabinet meeting today talking about what does it look like uh now because

037I don't know if you know like at the middle school procedures for example if your child forgot their lunch or their assignment you take it into and you put it on this certain table that's in the office and it's there and but a lot of times they've been telling people text your child that you brought that lunch that we're not going to go communicate what does that look like with these changes what are those expectations around don't work yeah then that procedure would not work anymore so we're working through all those different examples um smart smart watches would be an example of that. So being responsive though to your to your um question um I've already started collecting um policies from across the nation um as to how people handle this and to Mr. Curry's

038point some of them are you know very restrictive and some of them you know are so prescriptive that they cover every single little thing. And I went back to and listened to our last meeting and um I think all of you said let's just make this as vanilla as possible right now and then we'll work our way into this sort of like the AI policy how we did it. But um some of them particularly say Apple watches or you know or some of them are so detailed. I think the one from San Juan Puerto Rico said I didn't even I was like wow this is cool. I've got San Juan Puerto Rico's um policy. But anyway and it included Apple watches. So um it's it can be as big or as small as you want.

039Um but your instruction to me I listened to it again was let's let's you know start here and then we'll go from there. So I can tell you that in our household only one person has an Apple Watch and we have a you know no phones during church policy real strict and that um the rest of us really like to tell that person that that includes the Apple Watch. Thank you for that. And I think that again this is tip of the iceberg and and I agree and appreciate you pointing out that the AI I mean it's like we we know it's coming and we know more is coming on this but we are looking at it from a lens of like let's let's do what we have to do and then massage it for

040our community and that means employees and staff and students and families and take all that into consideration because there is quite the litany of things that people can really dive down And then once you get too restrictive, it becomes very difficult to Okay. And that brings us to our last um policy um which is 6.423 which is seizure management. And the additions here are that at least one full-time employee or volunteer at each school who is not a school nurse shall annually receive training in seizure safety and first aid to assist students and staff in the event of an emergency. So that's the addition. I appreciate that. Do we know who that person is going to be at each school or um we don't have that at each of our We will we'll have a

041plan for it but I don't think we've identified I I just learned today as a matter of fact that um uh that um our head of coordinated school health has already even set up the plan so he must know because he's sent out the email as I understand it. So, there's that. And then, while I've got the mic, I just wanted to say so many of these um laws that came about that heard Mr. Curry talk about in his legislative report, not all of them commanded a change in policy. And so, un even though the law may change, the procedure may change, the way we handle certain things as it relates to those laws, I'll give you an example like the the one about uh physical activity. It did not command a change in our

042policy, our written policy. So, I didn't I didn't add those. So, I don't want you to think, oh my gosh, I know there were 59 laws and so why don't we have 59 policy changes and so I I just wanted to, you know, give you that information and it but if if at any time you want to add something, I'm more than happy to do it. But I just took an light touch to start with. Thank you. Uh that is the end of our policy journey. Um if you don't have more questions on policies, we could the um addition of the budget amendments. Well, we will. Do you want to do the resolution first? We have So, we still have the resolution on school and federal projects. Oh, yes. Real quick, Miss M. Speakman. I

043know we're supposed to have a policy for student board rep. We say that at our August meeting. I guess they just use the stock policy. I know we have to You actually have one already. You already Okay. I thought Okay. Yeah. You already had one. A lot of districts did not. Did we have to reward it? I I did not find a reason to reward that. I thought it was, you know, well done. You were front runners. We were pioneers. I could remember. I guess I I just couldn't remember if we had a policy. I know we were doing it, but okay. So, never mind. former chairman O worked really hard on that policy. Okay. So, agenda item number two, I apologize, is the um board of education resolution 32024-2025 school federal projects budget. So,

044we just talked about this during the last uh work session as you know with with e- plan and uh what we're receiving from the department of education. I think we had to have like seven or eight policy, not policy, budget amendments to um our federal programs budget because they kept going back and saying, "Oh, you got an additional $30 for this grant and you have $15 less for this grant." So, um this resolution, we found out that other districts are doing this, so they're not having to approve every single one of those uh changes um that are approved. This allows us uh to to handle it, uh without bringing it to you each time. So that's the resolution. You can see the sample resolution that was worked on. Miss Speakman, I don't know if you

045I just wanted to say that this is a matter of this is not a matter of uh lack of transparency. This was actually recommended to the district by the comprollers's office as a way of you know streamlining this. So it's not something that we and frankly came up with. it just seemed like the right thing to do to expedite um you know the processing of these requests. I appreciate you pointing that out and I'd of course be agreeable to it and I think that for good practice and measure maybe when we do that and those occur we just mention it so that it's on record that you know we've made these changes and then that is us doing our you know I feel like duty and obligation to the community just making them aware but

046for the purpose of ease and transactional um simplicity I think that whoever came up with that either at the controllers's office or somebody else in the department. Thank you. I would say so if there are not further questions on the resolution, we can go to the new um items and then we'll I know we have some other further business. Mr. Stra, I know you mentioned some further business, but um we can go into the additional items. So um do you want to talk nutrition first, Mr. Jones? Uh just a few uh highlights of the RFP process for the food service management company. Uh we did receive uh responses from two vendors uh SF which is our incumbent as well as K12 Eleior. Uh we formed a five member selection committee. Uh Mr. Bond served as

047our principal's representative. Uh Deborah Davis is our school nutrition specialist. Crystal Eps Bean is our purchasing specialist and she was uh on the committee with us. Uh myself and finally Andrew Martin, our uh uh coordinated school health uh supervisor. Uh we came up with score sheets. uh the total uh score was 100 for each member. So we had a total uh score of possibly 500 for each vendor. Uh K12 Eleior scored 476 out of 500. Uh SF scored 487 out of 500. So we are asking the board to approve SFE as our or to continue as our food service management company. Uh annual cost uh K12 projected uh 2.2 2 million. SFE projected a little over two million. And the net income that was projected by each vendor, K12 Eleior, a little over $81,000, SF

048uh a little over $300,000. And that is uh consistent with SF's past performance. Uh the contract and uh RFP has been reviewed by our in-house legal council, Miss Speakman. Uh all the documentation, procurement, contracts, so forth are currently with uh the Tennessee Office of School Nutrition. So we are waiting on their approval as well. Any questions? Oh, just so happened to be here visiting Mr. Emanuel the day that they were doing their presentations and so I can verify that both vendors had really nice spreads of food and uh really good presentations and um I appreciate the the process and you are correct um SF's numbers um your your monthly report their their net income is right in line. So, um, I know that that's been very beneficial to us and you know, SF has been

049a good partner. So, I appreciate all the work that went in the process, like I said, for the, uh, for everyone. I I I did see it in person. I will say in the future, that's a great day to stop by the office. Uh, a lot of a lot of good food there. But, yeah, it um, yeah, I appreciate all that went into it. I as I do agree that um the being part of this exercise multiple times now and remembering when we uh selected SF originally through this process, the process itself, the RFP specifically is I I mean I I think that I wish the world could better appreciate Mr. Jones and the people that participate in it and all that goes into it. Um when you see the rubric and you see just

050to board member Curry's point. However, when you have someone that you already have done business with, I'm always interested to see who else takes us up on the opportunity to participate. And so that has changed over the past few years. And we when we go to state convention and we see all the other suppliers and they come and talk to us and you know ask us about what we're doing. Um, I will say that on the flip side, we have been able to be sort of uh answer questions, be ambassadors of our existing provider and if we uh elect to vote in support of keeping them based on the recommendations here over the past few years since we've gone with SF, just so everybody knows, they're not really big in the Southeast and they're not

051really big in Tennessee and they have um expanded through the state and added some districts over the past few years since we've been with them. But um I will say the revenue and the innovation and the level of um you know culinary treats that they bring to our students and staff every day is evident in their commitment to doing what they've said they were going to do. I know that the Roving Chef um program and and has been one of the biggest spotlights and bright spots for our friends at goal in particular. That's something that Dr. official really really celebrates with her families and um their participation with that and all of the events that we do here at the district office and even um at some of the other events that we go to

052schools and do and the staff provides the catering services. They frankly rival folks all across the town that you could choose from. So I appreciate again the process. Thank you for everyone who um did go into participating in it and thank you for the recommendation. Okay. Um, Mr. Kathy, you want to come up for the next budget amendment? So, or Miss Stratton, either or. Um, this one we realized we need, like I said, we need to do this budget amendment to recognize the money that's going to come in from the Department of Education uh for our teacher bonuses. Uh, so um, Mr. Kathy, Miss Stratton did an analysis of all the teachers to do a projection for the budget amendment. And not much to this. When we received the list of employees that are eligible

053to receive this from the state, we took the we took that list and we allocated those dollars accordingly. That's the budget minimum is that's in front of you. And it was important that we get it done at this meeting because the plan is to pay that out the end of July. And since we don't have a July meeting, we need those funds allocated so we can pay them out accordingly. If there aren't questions on that budget amendment, once again, that'll be money in, money out. Yeah. And then the last one, um, I think this is the one that's been the biggest concern for us and why we made changes to our health insurance plan this past year and we'll have to continue making changes is the fact that we are continuing to see dramatic increases

054in our health insurance costs. And I think Mr. Jones said that last week we had surprise of a $300,000 U bill in claims leaving $147,000 in that account. So um the recommendation um what's the total that the budget amount is for Mr. Jones? $410,000 to move from our reserve into that account. Once again, if if we don't see those claims in those two weeks, that money will roll back into reserve. But that's the recommendation from Mr. Jones. I can just add to that that in all likelihood we won't spend those funds, but we definitely don't want to be or all of those funds anyway, but we don't want to be in a situation where we have claims come in and and those claims are due to pay and we don't have those dollars allocated. So,

055we're talking about two weeks left in the fiscal year from today to June 30th. And if if uh we do see those claims, we'll have the funds available to pay. But if we don't, they'll roll right back into the same account that this board's being asked to approve tonight, right back into the reserve. So, um, you mentioned that the bulk of the cost seem to come from prescription drug costs. Uh, was there a spike in non-cronic conditions that, you know, we normally pay for that happened all of a sudden? Mr. Jones, I don't know. Uh there are a lot of high cost prescriptions. Um I think some even cost us $12,000 a month for one employee. So that's what the majority of it is is uh gosh probably about 20 to 30 highcost prescriptions per

056month. When you brought this, I've been troubled the whole meeting about this. About 11% of our budget is going to healthcare. I don't that that seems high to me. I don't know. I'd like to know what other districts are are looking at, but I mean looking at the report, we were a little over 8 million compared to our general fund, but to me it's a big it's a big number. Um, and I'm concerned because that number seems to only be going up. And so I I don't know. I I'm just I'm very troubled because I see our partners at the city dealing with a pension situation and I feel like we're kind of dealing with a health insurance situation and I just I'm just I'm very concerned when because we're we're moving a lot of

057money out of reserves and and I know we've made some moves to address this, but we've moved a lot of money out of reserves the last two years to offset health insurance cost and that's just is I just don't see that being sustainable. So, I'm I want to be on record with my concern and alarm at this. I I I agree 100%. Um I think that's why we knew that we were skating by just to make it this year because we've gone through 11 years without rate increases and why we have that rate increase for employees. Um we were talking about this in cabinet today. I think what we need um from our consultants because we do pay a consultant that manages this um we need a detailed meeting uh for the board and with

058them talking about not just and we can go into this next and I'm thinking September probably that we're talking about what are those additional changes that we are going to have to make to this plan uh to make sure that we are because this isn't something that um is sustainable. Uh so I agree I agree with you 100%. We Yeah. And it's only happened as you said in the past two years but there's been a substantial substantial increase. Yeah. The trajectory is not good. I mean that's I'm seeing it. And what are we now two and a half three million that we've had to move to cover. And that's not that's not a small amount of money. Agreed. And so, you know, if it's, you know, 100,000 or whatever to cover, you know, you can

059deal with that, but we're in the millions and I wish I'd like to say I see it getting better, but with the cost of everything going up, I'm I'm not seeing that. So, um, and and the things that we talk about, there are all kinds of things that you can adjust within the plan as far as maximum coverage that the district is going to cover for specific drug cost. Um, you can talk about percentages. Uh, you can talk about C. They're all different ways that you can limit the district's exposure, but like we said, I think when we started, Mr. and I think you said it today, it was opposite. What we saw was I think it was like 6040 at the time that 60% of our expenditures were on claims and 40% was on

060medications and now it's the exact opposite. What we're seeing is about 60% on medications, about 40% on claims. Um, and I want to be clear and and on the record, I want to do right by our employees and and you know, I think it's something we owe to them, but when I see again around 10 10 and a half close to 11% of our general funds budget going to health insurance, that's a high number in my opinion. Now, that might be I was trying to look other districts, they don't really break it out. So, I I don't see like I'm looking at Marville right now and I don't really see it broken out specifically for health insurance. So, I'd be curious to see how we stack up as a percentage of budget for that versus

061other districts and maybe we're in line. It just seems high because that's not wages or or other bene or you know, I guess other benefits. It's that's purely health insurance for the district. So, again, just I want to be on the record with with concern. Share we share your concerns. Okay. Um, anything further? I think we have a few comments or questions um and further business. Yeah, I I wanted to just bring up again, I think the community has been watching lately and obviously the board of mayor and alderman uh made some amendments to their budget lately, increasing the amount that was going to be allocated in the fiscal year 27 towards Houston High improvements from 8 million to 10 million, which is obviously a a great uh start for us as we move forward,

062really trying to make some transformative changes. is at that campus. And I know Alderman Salvadi had proposed some additional uh funding as well and the alderman had expressed an interest in discussing those uh ideas in particular and we look forward to doing that of course. But um I really kind of just wanted to take and I'll be quick because I know we're kind of even over our a lot of time now, but just kind of walk back through just from, you know, since I've been a board member sort of what uh this board and in partnership with the city, what we've we've done to, you know, get to this point to where we're really starting to move forward with it. And I remember uh shortly after I came on the board in 2020 uh we

063started having uh committee meetings sort of as part of the dreaming for what we'd like to see done at Houston High. And so of course that means the work had been done, you know, well before that. We were just starting committees at that point. And I I really enjoyed that process. I was on the athletics uh committee along with uh teachers, coaches, community members, uh city administration, that's people involved with that. And it was a great time where we we got to talk through, you know, what are things that we'd like to see done, what could be done here, and we didn't place a lot of constraints on it at that time. We just kind of talked through what are what are the opportunities that we have here. And then um that was done for

064several as aspects of the school including academics and operations and uh others that I can't arts yeah that others that come into mind and uh and that was a great time. Uh I really enjoyed doing that. Uh then we started uh I I think it was 2021 we started back with joint meetings with the board of merit alderman which had not occurred for a year or two before I was on the board. And uh again I remember we met here and we talked about uh facility needs at that time including Houston High. We also had other facility uh needs we discussed and that was a good conversation. Uh the next year we had a meeting with the city and the city talked to us about their uh how they how they fund capital improvement projects

065and what funds are available for that and how that's done. Um and in the mean in the meantime we we were still working with our friends at u 4F they've changed the name a time or two um and I know uh Mr. Manuel, Mr. Kathy others really involved with coming up with you know what are you know distilling those big ideas that we came up to you know what can we really do here can we you know have a couple of options which uh then was really sort of presented to us and a couple different options I think everybody remembers you know the option with the parking garage I think everybody I always remember that the one the most and we thought no that's not a good idea I think even our yeah I can't

066remember was it was it oper Or was it and Ila? Yeah, two were saying, "No, that's that's not a good idea." Uh I don't know. Maybe Jack's a maybe Jack's a good driver. Maybe he would have said something else. But u but that was a a fun time where we got to again see what can Houston High be. And uh again, I know I'm leaving out uh things that happened particularly in the background with Mr. Kathy and Mr. manual, but I'm just from my perspective just this work that was done which was um really needed and and really I think part of our obligation to continue to look at uh what our needs are and what what you know what can we present to the community as something to do and and that's really kind

067of what came next in my memory is uh 4F you know again presenting us with these you know looking at this main option here and this is the cost that would be involved and and uh at that point it was it was you know that $172 million figure and I know uh we had discussions about that um I can't remember again exactly the year I don't I don't know if it was late 203 I knew I was chairman at the time uh we had you know sort of a presentation uh with the alderman again to show that particular project. Uh luckily 4F did the presentation and not me. Um and again a great job. It really kind of introduced the community what what we envisioned for it. Um but we knew again this was a

068working project. Uh we knew that there needed to be additional discussions between district administration, city administration and and again that's that's what continued after that time. and uh up until really uh late 24 uh where the mayor and I started to to meet again with uh city administration and district administration and I remember we had four or five meetings in November and December uh with me, Mr. Emanuel, Mr. Kathy, Mr. Jones was there for a couple of I remember uh of course city administrator was there mayor director Royals and I'm sure there may have been someone else uh from the city as well but again we had you know very good discussions about um you know what is you know what is needed uh we were asked to sort of break down our desires into

069a couple of different uh funding we we always called them buckets I'm sure that's not you know a technical term of But um I know that uh again Mr. Manuel, Mr. Kathy, Mr. Curry comes up and gets to eat food. I come up and I see them working on, you know, how do we how do we kind of break down this 172 million into something that's a little more bite-sized and we came up with, you know, essentially three buckets that were between 30 and $40 million. Uh we talked about uh with this board, I think it was before uh Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Ellis were on, but we wanted to kind of again have input from the whole board as to, you know, are we on the same page as to, you know, what are

070our main priorities and, you know, we really talked about, you know, the the new uh art space as being really our first priority and then and that was, you know, roughly 30 to$35 million. Um, and second, I I kind of think of it as like a a mix of classroom improvements, new classrooms, work on the uh, you know, expanding the cafeteria, things like that. Just sort of, you know, making it a improving the building itself and making it more functional for the 21st century. And that again was another $30 million or so. And then our third uh bucket was really sort of an athletics piece where we were looking at new gyms, new uh facilities for our teams. And you know our discussions again they were they were discussions very good discussions I thought with

071uh the city you know looking at you know if we did this over you know funding over course of 12 15 years you know every four or five years with that 30 $35 million funding and uh city you know everybody was looking for uh for ways to to get close to that or at least get you know see if that was possible. It wasn't it wasn't really a we're going to do it but we need to you know look at things and we had great conversations about what was going to be new construction what was going to be uh renovation and you know how that could be worked out great discussions again you know it was going to see you know where can we come up with uh funding or ideas or what can we

072come with um then chair Griffith took over in January obviously and and had the last meeting or two uh with city and uh school board and again continued the discussions there. Uh, you know, we did learn the city had concerns again with making changes to and again, I'm not, you know, the city finances are not my uh specialty, but just as far as uh changing to their financial policies and debt capacities and, you know, whether the community would support a larger tax increase for funding for Houston, things like that. Uh and in the first iteration of the city's budget, they had allocated $8 million towards Houston High. Um I think uh at that point we really had a lot of community members that uh I think were really important here uh speaking uh to the

073board of mayor alderman uh really advocating on Houston's behalf. If I think about our PTO presidents who really uh stepped up and spoke directly to the BMA, met with the BMA, uh again for all of us who were at the meeting uh last week, we had incredibly uh talented uh students who came and spoke about the needs there, Miss Laya Jones and Ethan Stickles and Terrence Wright. uh I mean just really uh advocating for the school district and I just want to express my appreciation to them and uh throughout that process the mayor had floated the idea of maybe being able to increase that allocation from 8 million to 10 million um and then alderman uh Gibson bringing that motion through that and I think it's a again I I'm so thankful we've got a

074great opportunity here to get moving um I do want the community to understand that, you know, those funds will be 2027ish when we get them. Um, and those priorities we talked about earlier are our priorities and, you know, we'll be looking at funding uh improvements in those ways. In the meantime, we have been, you know, checking off things that we can uh off the list for the Houston High Plan. I think about the uh stadium renovations, things like that. And a lot of those, you know, are are projects we can do a bite-size project where we can we can pick off uh a couple million dollars here, a couple million dollars there. Think about the um ceiling tile and grid improvements that are going on right now and be there and those are going to

075be real improvements uh for the for the students and uh staff coming up this year. Um but again our needs are greater uh than you know what we have at the moment and that's what I think we all need to be really thinking about. I look forward to hopefully discussing this in more detail with all of you at a upcoming retreat and in upcoming meetings and just of how are we going to get uh to that next step where we can uh really find that funding to really transform Houston High. I think uh we're going to have to be creative. We're going to have to work together and work with the community. I look forward to uh partnering with businesses and individuals in the community who feel likewise and really want to see uh improvements

076at Houston. Uh this has been something, you know, again, I just laid out the last five years and I missed several things in there, I'm sure, and I know uh previous boards in district administration working on it since day one probably. Um, and but I just I want the community to know that we're looking forward to that. We appreciate their support and what they're doing for us. We look forward to meeting with the alderman in more detail about either Alderman Salvagio's uh idea on a uh a more regular funding stream that could be uh used for capital improvements or or other ideas as well. So, thank you, board member Strain. Um, I'm optimistic that we're going to get to go through that recap on a pretty frequent loop over the next several months. So, I

077appreciate you getting the party started as if you will. Uh, I'd like to take this quick opportunity to um just say I know that last month per the request of the board we received some information regarding uh turf projects and some approximate cost associated with those based on the needs of multiple um teams and needs for um practice space in addition to just regular um teams being able to play home field. um type scenarios as we add different sports and teams and grow existing sports and teams. And I just want to take a moment to let the folks um the families of of our lacrosse programs uh the families of our track and field uh programs and uh just know that that we hear you. That's different. They already have facility. Um and uh and

078also um as we look at u the potential of turfing um existing field spaces um baseball families we've heard from um and softball and you know just I I want to make sure that um everybody that's participating in that advocacy on their behalf of their programs that that we appreciate that we are in communication and I'm always grateful when we hear from people in the community about their needs. Can I add something? Yes. Uh since we're on athletics, uh one of the things that I would like for us to um start conversations on uh are particularly uh around the middle school athletic programs and um looking at possibly going back to grade level teams versus junior varsity and varsity teams for sports. I think that uh from the community members I'm hearing from and me

079personally as someone who's heavily involved in uh middle school athletics, I think that we may be um missing the boat on what middle school athletics are intended to be. uh with the classifications that we have of junior varsity and varsity. I will be honest, it's the first time I've ever heard of those classifications at a middle school level. Um from my growing up in every school I've ever been involved in, it's always been you had a sixth grade team, you had a seventh grade team, you had an eighth grade team. You did not have sixth graders playing on the eighth grade team, right? And that to me left out a lot of pressure for children to oh well I'm playing varsity in the sixth grade and this is middle school right? We should be finding

080ways to limit the pressure that our middle schoolers feel, especially in things like athletics, which are so you can be the best middle school player and never touch the field in high school. Okay? I've seen it plenty of times. Okay? But that should not damper the middle school experience that that person had. So, I I really want us to, you know, start as a board start thinking about how we um look at athletics, particularly on the middle school level. And are we doing what's right for our children when it comes to giving them the ability to experience athletics in middle school and also limiting the amount of pressure because there's going to be a lot of pressure coming when when you get into high school. they should not have to start feeling that when they're

08111 and 12, 13 years old. So, I'd like to start that discussion. And we Yeah, that is I hope that we will um talk about that this weekend and it's one something we've talked about on an ongoing basis at this table over the years. So, I as the kids say, I'm here for it. Um thank you for bringing that up. We are now at 619. If there's uh further business is concluded for now. We will adjourn the work session and get squared away to our board meeting. We appreciate everyone's patience this evening and thank you all for being here. At this time, I would like to call the Germantown Municipal School District Board of Education business meeting on June 17, 2025 to order at 6:27 p.m. Would you all please join me for a moment

082of silence? Thank you. At this time, I would like to invite our very own student board member, Jack Ber, to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation for all. Thank you so much. That gets us to agenda item number four, approval of the agenda. Are there any Is there a motion to approve? I move to approve the agenda. Yes, we have to amend as amended. A second. Thank you. Motion made by board member Hendrickx to approve the agenda as amended, seconded by board member Ellis. Are there any questions? Just to be clear, we're adding the food services contract, the budget amendment for teacher bonuses, and the health insurance account amendment. budget amendment. That is correct. We are

083going to have um is there any preference as to adding the budget amendments to the consent agenda which we typically do after a work session uh presentation and the SF uh contract um to the action items? I guess if it's my turn to comment, I'd say prefer to add it to consent. But so the SF would be item 10 C. That's correct. And and then for clarification purposes to budget amendments would be under consent agenda 9C. But that's all just one vote under consent. The budget amendments will be combined. I'm agreeable to that. If sounds great. Thank you. Miss Drewinger, would you please call the role? Mr. Strain? Yes. Mr. Hendris? Yes. Mr. Curry? Yes. Mr. Ellis, yes. Chair Griffith, yes. Motion passes. That gets us to agenda item number five. Agenda item number five

084is the superintendent contract. By Tennessee state law, the superintendent contract must be the first discussed item on the agenda when it is considered. This particular um action of the board is one of the most important things that we engage in with our superintendent. And this contract of employment has been published and quite frankly is um the exact U version of what has previously been in place with the exception of the date changes which is the actual ask. the um terms of the agreement. Again, the only changes are the date with the July 1, 2023 um compensation reflecting the current increase that is that has been granted or salary increase given to teachers effective July one of this year. At this time, do any board members have any questions, comments? specific to this document. I want

085to thank uh the superintendent and Miss Speakman. We um as a board also consulted um schoolboard attorney Chuck Kaggel of Lewis Thomasson. Um he is someone that we rely on and work with as we've mentioned in the past publicly and um this is like I said very uh consistent with what we have done in the past but most importantly the only uh adjustment and change are the two that I just mentioned and I am um supportive of this document. As the chair, I have brought this forward and appreciate everyone taking the opportunity to look at it and um I am recommending that we proceed with this uh at a as a vote. Is there a motion? I move to approve the contract of employment between the Germantown Board of Education and Superintendent Jason Emanuel commencing

086July 1st, 2025 and ending on June 30, 2029. Second motion is made by board member Curry, seconded by Vice Chair Strain. Take this quick opportunity to remind the whole world, anyone listening now or later in the future on the recording that um superintendent contracts are in no way like any other employment contract in the history of employment contracts. I have found that out um over the years doing this um service in this role in in this capacity and I encourage all board members near and far to um go through the TSBA board member superintendent relations training and you'll learn all about school uh superintendent contracts and why um most people in this room whether you're a licensed uh employee of your vocation or profession There are a lot of things that dictate what can be

087and what cannot be and the timelines by which they occur in a superintendent's contract that might make your head spin around. Um but there's also very direct and very prescript. So um at this time I will ask in proper uh form are there any questions or are there any comments? I just want to thank the superintendent for um I guess the ease of this process. Um it's very rare that we have in Tennessee that we have a superintendent that has been um employed as long. It's very rare. Um I've seen boards even here locally that have had, you know, multiple superintendent. So, I um I just express my gratitude to Superintendent Emanuel for a job well done. And I think what it speaks to our staff and I want them to know that, you know,

088we've got stability here. And I think that speaks volumes that um you know no matter you know no matter what happens here and you know in in different elections that you know that our staff can look forward and see hey we've got a contract here there's stability and I I think our staff um you know should take pride in that and know that uh you know we've had good consistent leadership and you know we'll see uh we'll see that continue through 2029. So, I appreciate your service and all you've done to make GMSD one of the top districts in the state. Thank you, board member Curry. Anything further? I echo his sentiments and I do think that um this is I'll speak to it in my chairman's report here shortly, but I think that the

089continuity is something that expertise and experience really bring to the table and once you have it and you've seen both sides of it, it really um shows you how much of a kind of superpower that can be. Mr. Would you please call the role? Mr. Hrix. Yes. Mr. Curry, yes. Mr. Ellis, yes. Mr. Strang, yes. Chair Griffith, yes. Motion passes. That takes us to agenda item number six, recognition and awards. I would like to take a little poetic license and uh take this opportunity to um recognize our school, excuse me, student school board member, Mr. Jack Bocker. He is also um if would you be willing to come up to the podium for your remarks. I have asked him to uh kind of do an annual recap of his experience and then we're going to

090recognize him collectively as a group because he certainly is um deserving of that. Hey everyone. I thought I'd be speaking this way. So, we can do that. We can totally do that. We can totally do that. Awesome. Um, thank you, Mr. Kathy. I'm Jack Ber and I've had the honor of serving as a student schoolboard representative for this past year. Uh, I leave for the Naval Academy tomorrow morning where, uh, nine days from now, I'll begin a new path that I've been dreaming of since the fifth grade. Uh before I step down, I'd like to recap uh some lessons I've learned over the past year. Um give a brief rundown of my experience at the student congress on policies and education and then uh give some advice for the for the future board member. Uh

091firstly, I've had the privilege of seeing some of the Germantown community's best leaders in the same room discussing public policy issues. Um, I've been able to get a better understanding of when multiple leaders are put together, um, how they should interact and how they should use each other's areas of expertise to approach different issues. Um, this is something I'll definitely take in and remember for my next steps in life as a leader. Uh, and I'm so thankful to have been a witness and a participant in these discussions. Secondly, I've learned how to better voice my opinion. The environment of the schoolboard meetings is very welcoming. Uh however as a student it's sometimes difficult to find a way to contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way. Uh this position has given me firsthand experience with

092contributing in a real world mature conversations and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to have done so. Uh next I'd like to give a quick rundown on my experiences at scope or student congress on policies and education. A lot of fun. Uh I really enjoyed it. It was held at Belmont University this year where I attended with three of my Houston peers. Uh we drove up the evening before with Miss Kenny who obviously had done this before. She had her stuff together. Um but yeah, and you know, we got there the night before. The morning of we reported a Belmont and business professional attire, suit, tie, everything. Um where we started off by splitting into groups. Uh with these groups, we started off by discussing whether vaping should be a zero tolerance offense. And so

093in these groups, we actually had mock schoolboard meeting. So I was a schoolboard member playing a schoolboard member in these meetings. So that was fun. Um we worked through this issue uh where other students and I ran this meeting pretty much completely independently. there was a teacher in there uh to kind of guide us through the conversations and discussion, but you know, other than her posing the questions, we basically ran the meeting ourselves. So, we had a whole panel. We had a superintendent um just like you've seen today. Uh not as efficient, but you know, we're we're close, I guess. Um and then after that we we kind of got into a bigger group and we discussed a wider issue and we had two representatives who were to speak in front of the entire conference.

094Well, I didn't get to serve as a representative. I along with other students gathered information and helped formulate an argument for representatives. Um in the end they had a big debate on stage where people and where the students were able to vote on who they thought had the better argument. Um, in the end it was an awesome experience as I was able to work with students from all over Tennessee and come together to discuss a real world topics in education. Like I said, mature conversations with other students. I mean, it was it was firsthand experience when it comes to discussing these sorts of things. Um, you know, this experience definitely furthered my appreciation for those on school boards and in school systems as given a firsthand account on how policies are discussed by stakeholders with

095numerous viewpoints showed me how important it is to not only have adults within a community that care, but students as well as students are the future. Um, that's what we talk about in all these meetings. That's kind of the basis for the whole student representative position. and uh yeah, so this this conference, some of the brightest students I've met across Tennessee, um far better speakers than me and uh coming together and you know, and having this conference, it was it was really awesome. Finally, some advice for the future student representative. The most important thing when it comes to getting the most out of every opportunity is to approach each and everyone with courage. Live in the moment and appreciate the chance you have to learn as a leader and represent your peers. I'd pitch in

096in conversations, listen with intent to these leaders in our community, and take pride in the opportunity to represent your peers at this level. If you approach this position and the opportunity to lead with courage and a positive attitude, you'll be sure to get the most out of it, both for yourself and your community. Um, I just like to wrap this up by by thanking all the board members here. Um, you know, a lot of y'all have known me for a while now. uh have known my goals to attend attend a service academy and serve my country and you guys have been nothing but supportive. Uh you guys GMSD the teachers I uh started off as a dog with dolphin fifth grade is when I wanted to you know started my journey of attending the Naval

097Academy and um you know y'all have been nothing but support and just given me so many opportunities to succeed and I'm really thankful for y'all. Thank you so much. It's been a true honor to serve with you. And uh if we could, we have a little something for you to remember us by. And I'd love to get the group together for one more last photo op if we might. Special. Enjoy your friends. Yes. Okay. Now on to recognition and awards. This is our formal recognition of our TSBA um annual award nominees from our district. Superintendent Manuel, did you lose the TVs? Are we good? Okay. Oh, very good. Okay. Oh, boy. I can only wait. We're ready. Uh tonight we are recognizing two remarkable individuals who represent the very best of Germantown Municipal Schools. One

098current student and one legacy builder for our TSBA recognition nominees. Let's begin with Lindseay Baker. Thank you, Bakers, for being here tonight. We know why she couldn't be here tonight, but um Lindsay is being recognized as a nominee for the 2025 TSBA Student Recognition Award. Now, I could tell you that Lindsay has a 4.583 GPA, a 36 on the ACT, a 1500 on the PSAT, and we'd already be very, very impressed with what she's accomplished. But that is just the beginning. She's the president of the Beta Club, co-founder and president of youth and government club, deputy secretary general of the model UN, and vice president of the community service club. All while finding time to serve as a GMSD ambassador and a member of our instructional calendar committee. That means she doesn't just do the

099hard work, she helps shape the work that we all do together. This spring alone, she earned the outstanding state person award at the TriStar Youth in Government Conference and best delegate at the Midsouth Model UN Conference. She also finds time to tutor weekly through the uh 30 plus ACT service club. And she serves with Pedals of Purpose and participates in Project Omega's literacy outreach. She's constantly working to connect students to service opportunities and she leads with a quiet, confident heart. Oh, and in case that's not enough, she's also a three-year varsity volleyball player named to the allsectional team and ranked among the top 100 players in Tennessee for her defensive stats. The Shelby County Commission even issued a formal resolution honoring her team's success. And what's she doing right now? Why is she not here?

100Uh, this summer she was selected for not one but two prestigious national leadership programs. the University of Notre Dame's leadership seminars and economics for leaders at Vanderbilt. Both highly competitive, both fully funded, and both exactly where she belongs. Lindsay is what public education should be about, academic achievement, service to others, and leadership with integrity. Though she's currently in Nashville attending Vanderbilt's program, we're thrilled to have her family here tonight. and we'll also share a short video message that Lindsay recorded just for this moment. So, here's Lindsay's own words. And this week, I'll be at the Economics for Leaders program at Vanderbilt. Hi everyone, my name is Lindsay Baker and this week I'll be at the Economics for Leaders program at Vanderbilt University and I really want to thank our school board for letting me represent

101our district in TSBA. Thank you so much. So, with that, I know she's not here, but if we could have her parents come up and so that you can take her award tour, we're very thankful and we are sure that she's going to win the next level and we're going to be recognizing her again. But thank you all. Nobody can. Wow. I just was watching your face as they were reading. Incredible. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Now, on to a name that probably rings a bell for just about everyone in this room. Joy Williams. Joy is our nominee for the 2025 TSBA School Volunteer Recognition Award. Joy has been a part of GMSD for more than 20 years. And she didn't just serve, she shaped the system. She started small as a room parent and

102bulletin board decorator at Farmington Elementary School, but she quickly became the kind of person you could count on for just about anything. She's been a PTO president, a vice president, programs chair, parliamentarian, uh, and more at Farmington, Houston Mill, and Houston High. She's cheered the district PTO council three times. She's a glutton for punishment. Uh and she's helped build bridges during major transitions like GMSD's historic move from PTA to PTO, but her impact goes well beyond job titles. Joy is the person who shows up even when it's not her school, even when no one's looking. Even when the job is hard and thankless. She's planned teacher lunchons, run field days, chaired fundraisers, and helped calm the nerve of every firsttime PTO parent who had no idea what they were doing. She assured them that it's

103going to be okay. She's been the magic behind our PTO council. She's helped write bylaws, train leaders, and ensure smooth transitions at every level. Joy has sat on strategic planning committees, calendar committees, and even facilities committees. Uh former principles like Zach Perausski describe her as someone who could be given a task and trusted to run with it. In his words, "No detail missed, no job halfway done. He could count on you." And that's just during school hours. Joy has also served as on the Germantown Education Commission, volunteered for Arise to Read, and taught Bible class every Wednesday night for over a decade. She's the person who quietly drops off a card when someone's sick, shows up with cookies for the teachers lounge, and somehow still remembers everyone's birthday. Thank you, Joy, for your leadership, your

104heart, your hours, and your legacy for GMSD. You've helped build something truly lasting, and tonight, we're honored to celebrate you. Please join me in recognizing Joy Williams, our 2025 TSB TSBA school volunteer award nominee. And there's one more photo, Joy, that we want to recreate. Over the years, we continued to laugh about this photo with your daughter. We want to recreate this photo with you and our school board. So, this is one of our first we used to do a show called Spotlight on Excellence where we would have the students in in the TV studio and it's always been a fun joke where we're pointing but we're going to be pointing at you tonight because you've been so special to GMSD. Um, so Joy, if you would come on up. Uh, you never asked for

105it, but we love the board to help recreate this. Y'all come on up at this time. [Laughter] And as always, you are welcome to stay for the meeting, but please feel free to go at this time after recognition and awards. Thank you so much. What a special evening um celebrating our student board member and our nominees um for our TSBA awards. Love that Miss Baker could join us via a video and thankful to have her family here. and Joy Williams is um next level as far as just the incredible impact she's made on our community and our schools. Um you know, you know those folks that are out there and and in the spotlight, but they're not seeking the spotlight. and you know getting recognized is certainly not why she does what she does, but

106it was it was certainly fitting to uh have some fun with it this evening for the amount of time she's been around with her children and multiple schools all these years. I love to see some of her uh PTO colleagues out here to support her tonight as well. So, thank you all for joining us. Um we're going to jump into agenda item number seven, which are the reports. Um, if there is anyone in the attendance this evening that wishes to speak during the meeting, we have forms out front on the table and those would come to um, Mrs. Drewer here, the board secretary at the end of the table and she will let us know. But if there is anyone that wishes to speak out in the audience or in the lobby, those are uh,

107those forms are out front. All right. Agenda item number seven, Tennessee legislative update. Board member Curry. Madam Chair, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I do not have anything to report this month. I'm glad you're laughing. Um, thank you. Gets us to agenda item 7B. That's the chairman's report. And since we were all last together, I wanted to report the activities. All board members attended the recent Germantown Board of Mayor and alderman public, excuse me, budget public hearing at city hall last week along with uh Mr. Kathy. Um again, I want to take a moment to thank all of the uh stakeholders that were in attendance and especially commend the students. um Lala Jones, Ethan Stickles, and Terrence Wright who came on behalf of the student body to advocate at the

108city level um on behalf of the Houston High Master Plan. We each uh board members that is have met separately or are scheduled to meet with a variety of our alderman counterparts uh over the next few weeks. Vice Chair Strain and board member Curry both attended the Germantown Education Foundation annual grant celebration last night at the Germantown Farm Park. Board member Curry attended the May meeting of the East Shelby Republican Club and also attended um schoolboard meeting of our neighbors to the east, the Kerville board of education during their May business meeting as well. for my report this evening. I'm going to recap the superintendent's annual evaluation and then yield my time to fellow board member Jack Bcker. We just did that so he could go and be celebrated by his peers before he goes

109off into his new adventure um at the US Naval Academy. Again, we are so proud of Jack Ber and look forward to following his next journey. If you have observed a GMSD board of education meeting over the past 10 years, you have heard us mention the three Ps. The three Ps are policy, planning, and promotion. These are the cornerstones or key roles of school boards and their members. School boards set policy by which school districts operate. We develop long range plans and budgets to provide the students we serve educational opportunities to be successful in their chosen post secondary pathways. We publicly promote the district including the policies and plans we have collaborated with stakeholders to create. The superintendent is the single direct report employee of the school board. Each year per policy, the school board

110evaluates the superintendent based on an established and agreed upon instrument tied to the currently adopted strategic plan. Each board member along with district administration cabinet members participate in this process. Board Secretary Duelinger and I tabulated the results. I have met with the superintendent and discussed those results including the highlights and recommendation for increased focus that I will share with you now. This year, Superintendent Jason Manuel received an evaluation total of 3.84 out of four. This equates to the very top end of effective with many of the individual section scores rating him as highly effective. As I read the com read the comments by evaluators, there were many consistent and recurring mentions. those who have worked with the superintendent over many years intentionally pointed out his growth over time. I think u reminds me of board

111member Curry's um comments during the superintendent's contract agenda item as I mentioned then part of having a superintendent in a role for a long period of time is the opportunity to to observe and measure that growth and development over time. as we met uh to go over this um the evaluation itself, the biggest takeaway for me was how he has taken that and offered that same thing to all of the people that work at GMSD. we were all together um as a board in a district. Many of us in this room right now at an event earlier this year um work top workplaces where he received a leadership award and it really resonated with me. I I walked right over to him and and leaned down and I just said, "You've gotten recognized for a

112lot of things, but this is this is way bigger. It's not it's not about a person. It's it's about the mission, if you will." Um, three specific areas of growth were noted. Communication with the board, staff, and families, budget preparation process, and dedication to developing our educators and staff members. The district update, which keeps board members informed of all district activities, was already strong, but has graduated to the next level with increased detail and now a digital platform. Budgeting post pandemic and in the time of expanded voucher programs is not for the fiscally faint of heart. But the superintendent continues to exhibit a forward-thinking approach, especially toward how GMSD can continue to invest in those who invest their talents and vocations into our students every day. The success of the PLC culture he has supported

113has empowered our teachers. Our students have been the beneficiaries of this shift as is evidenced by the testing data. The superintendent has been a tremendous champion for the needs of GMSD, especially for the Houston High master plan. The superintendent continues to be a leader among his peers and as a legislative advocate based on his experience and expertise particularly in state level education relations. I hope that someday you'll write a book. The recommended areas of improvement, including increased focus by the superintendent, are the further establishment of community partnerships with businesses in our area and the need to identify and create additional capital funding sources outside of the conventional means to secure funding for the district's large-scale projects. I really appreciate everyone that participated in the evaluation. I appreciate the openness and the comments and I appreciate

114the superintendants uh open reception to um all the feedback and um I as I told him I'm I'm going to make the public comment here on behalf of myself and that I will join him and um improving myself as a board member to also work to um further further and and really develop um additional community partnerships with businesses in our area. I know it's something we're going to talk a lot about as a board over the next few months, but it really is a team effort uh in our collaboration with him. And so, um I'm up for the task. I I believe that he is as well and I look forward to serving with this board to to do that and um and work to to get these the funding secured that we're all hoping

115to do to achieve this Houston High Master plan. Thank you. Uh good evening. We have the financial reports for the month ending May 31st, 2025. First reporting on the balance sheet. Uh total assets, liabilities, and fund balance in the general or school operating fund total 28.1 million. Uh in the federal projects fund, we have a receivable due from the Tennessee Department of Education at 439,000. Total assets, liabilities, and fund balance. And the remaining funds are as follows. Uh school nutrition or cafeteria fund 1.7 million. Capital improvements fund 4.5 million. OPE trust 5.9 million. Fixed assets fund 139.2 million. And finally in the health insurance fund 449,000. Just a few comments on the statement of revenues and expenses or expenditures in the health insurance fund. Uh health insurance claims totaled 1.2 million for the month versus

116$542,000 budgeted. In the cafeteria fund, SF reported a net income of $26,000 for the month. And finally, in the OPED trust fund, net realized and unrealized gains on investments totaled 400 2,000 year to date. And that concludes my report. Thank you so much, Mr. Jones. Agenda item 7D is a superintendent report, Mr. Emanuel. So, I have the privilege of not putting a finalized bow, but putting a bow on a lot of work that a lot of people have done um over the past few years. Uh I'm going to share what you have before you, a hard copy of our strategic plan 2030. Um the goal is for the board to vote on this plan and hopefully vote it into uh existence at our August board meeting. But I'm going to share a little history of

117what we've done and some of the details that are included in that plan. So let's talk about uh GMSD strategic plan 2030. So know that we started in the spring of 24 uh with uh listening sessions, town hall meetings. We had we talked to our school leadership. Uh we had listening sessions for them and then we also talked to listen to our students. Uh then in the winter of 25 uh we had a board retreat to review our current plan and set uh our goals and then we had a committee recruitment begins because we want to hear lots of different voices. And so that was really from February to March that we were getting people to serve on those committees. In March of 25, that's when the committee planning session started with the school leaders

118and we started our subcommittee prep meetings. Then in April of 25 uh we had a strategic plan committee day where all the four goal groups met that uh where we had recruited the individuals and they started going through the details. Uh in April we got our first drafts to myself the superintendent and then in uh April 22nd uh we had a feedback session for our principles and with our cabinet members. Uh in May we had a virtual goal committee follow-up sessions to put final touches on that plan. And then the summer uh we had during our work session we're reviewing this first draft. Uh and then August that's our plan to um actually put it into work and adopt it. But let's talk about what's in the plan and and what did you help and

119what did our committees help develop. So now when we started looking at the vision and mission of the district when the board had that previous planning session uh we settled on empowering personal potential. Uh we want to be a little illiterative there. Uh y'all are going to make me do tongue twisters for the next five years. Um and then we came up with a mission of creating an environment where students learn, thrive, and belong. From that uh we really settled on four goals. Uh success for every student today and beyond. Go that's goal one. Goal two, student readiness and safety. Goal three, attract, develop, and uh celebrate and exemplary staff. I think uh Mr. strain. You came up with ABCs uh and actually helped with that one and Miss Stratton jumped on that immediately and

120said that's that's going to be great. Um and then goal four, building stronger community connections. But let's talk about what's within those goals that our subcommittees helped uh create. So under the uh goal number one, success for every student today and beyond uh we really settled on four different uh objectives. 1.1 high quality learning, 1.2 two growth opportunities, 1.3 effective teaching, and 1.4 uh a purposeful path. And that's really focusing on student paths. Um and you can see what the detail is covered in each of those objectives. But we'll talk about each of those um specifically. But if anyone uh later wants to watch this or see this, they can scan this to go to the draft uh document and see it in detail if they want to to scan uh that barcode there. But

121here are those four uh objectives underneath that goal. Once again, high quality student learning for every student, growth opportunities for every student, effective teaching for every student, and a purposeful path for every student. So, let's talk about what is covered in each of these. Under the high quality learning for every student, uh they really focused on like four different areas. Uh one is vertical alignment. When we talk about vertical alignment, how is what you're learning in kindergarten, first grade, second grade going to translate as you metriculate on up into the system all the way until when you're ready to to leave the district. Uh we talked about having a shared understanding with our educators and support for our staff and students of what are we what are we teaching and what's the curriculum and and

122resources in our classrooms. Uh balanced approach uh and scope and sequencing. That's how you're moving through the material. uh that's the timeline of of what you're doing in those courses and then also how are we incorporating uh digital uh media into what we're teaching and really having blended learning because one of the things that we saw uh during the covid time was and we you can actually go too far with the virtual learning and the use of devices and how do we come up with a balanced approach so it's not all uh device centered under the next oh so so through our five-year plan also we're enhancing academic spaces through high quality instruction, innovative learning. So know that this is a connection. You'll see this. How does that translate to the the master's plan? And

123Chairman Griffith, we were talking about this today. The school that was built at Houston High School wasn't built for the way that we are teaching students now. The courses we're teaching, the use of devices, the spaces that we have. So know that as we're planning these things and talking about our strategic plan, we're going to have to have the spaces that actually connect and provide an opportunity for students to to really engage in those courses. So that's that's the connection with the master plan. Let's move on to the next one. So then the next one is growth opportunities for every student. So this is a subobjective underneath that goal. So what are the big areas that we're looking at there? Um, we talk about strengthening PLC's. And if for those of you who don't know,

124those are professional learning communities where teachers and staff are getting together and looking at individual student data so that we can decide like what type of support we need to provide for those students. If we have lessons where students didn't master standard, how are we going back and reting that? For students who have mastered the material, how are we enriching them and moving them beyond that? But it's a real focused approach for our staff around professional learning communities, aligning grading practices to make sure that we're looking at uh when we provide a grade for a student, is it truly a measure of mastery versus what it used to be uh when I was growing up, it was also a measure of did you do a project? Did you bring in extra credit for uh things

125for extra credit? That's not what the grade is supposed to reflect. collective responsibility within the the the school uh and a fostered shared ownership of student data to inform our decisions and then subgroup analysis. How are we looking those different pockets of students and making sure that we have the supports for them in place? But those those are the growth opportunities for every student in our district. The next subjective that we were looking at under this goal one really focused on teaching. How are we providing effective teaching for every student? And it came up with three main areas that we were looking at. One is we've got to grow our teachers. They're coming in incredible. We talk about our blue chip program, but we have to help them grow and develop as as they're moving

126through their professional journey. So, how are we providing targeted professional development for those staff that really help help them uh grow in their career? Uh high impact training areas. So, making sure that when we have specific areas that we are focusing on as a district, how are we making sure that we're providing that support for them? And then continuous improvement. Once again, are we regularly reflecting on and enhance enhancing our instructional strategies to make sure that what's happening in the classroom is providing the best opportunities for students. And the last one under this goal is a purposeful purposeful path for every student. And what does that mean when we are talking about every student moving through our system? Uh for some students that is talking about post-secary success and that can look different. So, are

127we talking about how are we preparing them to take the ACT? Are we talking about college opportunities for them? Are we talking about industry credentials if they want to move into different types of careers and really have uh opportunities to learn about different uh fields? And you hear us talk about CTE a lot when we talk about that post-secary uh success. Career career exploration is another component of this path. Making sure that students get opportunities for job shadowing, mentoring, work-based learning. Uh then personalized planning having an individualized pathway for students every student that's up updated annually and then transferable skills because when you talk about businesses and you talk about what do they need from students what do they need from us uh one of the things that they talk about are those soft skills

128making sure that they're able to communicate that they have critical thinking skills that they're able to work in a group because uh it's so easy with our students now with phones and technology to fall into silos where they're not able to work in that group capacity. and that's what they're going to need when they go into the workforce. So, that concludes goal number one. When we look at the four main areas that are under goal number one, goal number two really uh focused around student readiness and safety. Uh and under this goal, we had three big objectives that we're wanting to focus on or three big areas. Uh those are wellness and health 2 one uh looking at school culture 22 and safety and operations is 23. So, we'll talk about each of these individual

129each of these areas individually. Once again, you can scan that uh QR code and uh see a draft. If you're watching this on your TV or screen, uh you can do that. So, let's talk about each of these. So, what were we including and what did the subcommittee include under wellness and health? Uh so, that included physical well-being. Uh we think about the work that Mr. Martin does around coordinated school health that our teachers do uh in the classroom, our PE teachers do every single day, but that's about implementing health initiatives um through a committee. So, we're going to have new committees that work on that emotional resilience. And we think about the work that our social worker, school counselors do about teaching students about how are we providing a tiered counseling program first because

130some students will need more intensive support uh from staff than others and how are we helping them with mental health needs. uh vaping prevention. That's something that we hear a lot about with our parents and our community, the prevalence of vaping. And so, how are we going to uh have specialists help us uh educate our families, our students to to really uh curb this new problem that we're seeing in students? That's expansive. And last but not least, digital citizenship. How are we making sure that we're training students to be aware with how they're using their phones, technology, and their classrooms? But those were the four main areas under wellness and health. The next area under this goal was school culture. So this has three areas that we were looking at. Relationship building is a key

131one. So how are we creating meaningful meaningful connections for students and staff uh and the broader school uh community through structured activities uh to make sure that we are really meeting that needs of students so that it's a place where they feel like they belong. Uh next is recreational opportunities. So having expanded recreational programs that engage students beyond academics because we know that it has a direct correlation. Students uh success in the classroom is related to what they're doing after hours. If they feel connected to a team or a club or group, they're going to be more engaged. They're going to be more successful in schools. And then last but not least, making sure that we have mentorship uh programs uh in our schools for our students so that community members can come in, provide

132guidance and support and be those positive role models for our students. The last part of goal number two is safety and operations. Uh and we looked at four main areas the subcommittee did here. age appropriate emergency training, regular protocol reviews, defined roles and responsibilities, and community safety partnerships. Uh once again, there's a connection to the Houston High Master Plan here because we're wanting to create a safe environment that's conducive to student readiness and have op those places for students to participate in the extra co-curricular act activities u that they may choose. So here's goal number three. uh attract, build and celebrate exemplary staff. Uh under this goal, we were looking at we the subcommittee really developed three main areas. Attracting ex exceptional staff, building the capacity and career pathways for our staff and then celebrate.

133How do we celebrate our people that's 33. So there's the attract, build, and celebrate. Once again, you can scan it to see it in print. So under attracting, what are we talking about by attracting staff? So the first is making sure that we have a broad net so that we're bringing in the best and brightest staff to to train our students. That's a pipeline uh for our students. Strategic events like we talked about our school snapshots that really help um provide those opportunities for people and candidates that are interested in coming to Germantown to learn about our different schools and our different uh needs and opportunities we have there. and then also making sure that we try to continually provide competitive compensation uh in Tennessee and in our regional area. Then we talk about building

134capacity. So this really focuses on the professional development, the leadership development and the refined feedback systems that we have to our staff so that they know whether they're doing a good job. And then last but not least, how do we celebrate our people? Um, and that can come through comprehensive having an approach for our staff about how we're recognizing them. Uh, fostering appreciation for them. So, we're going to have work environments where we have opportunities, wellness, make sure we have opportunities to keep them healthy so that they can be in the the classroom and able to provide that support for students. And then retention. How do we keep that staff uh that are currently in our district that are doing such a great job? And last but not least uh is goal number four, building

135stronger community connections. And this was divided into three sub areas. Our story, our partners, and our promise. Once again, you can scan it to see the hard copies of these documents and see all the areas. Uh under communication systems, they really look talked about four different areas. Family engagement, and that's creating opportunities for meaningful parent participation. staff development, building communication skills uh so that they can help tell our story using digital um tools and also to helping them with their customer service, consistent branding so that we don't have different types of images. I remember originally when we started there were so many different Mustangs in this district. Some of them may have been copyright infringements from Ford Mustangs, but we have now gotten to the point where we have a consistent brand with what we're

136doing and then enha enhanced online presence. As you know, we like to share uh in our end of year reviews and also in our district updates our metrics that we use to look at how many impressions we get, how people are interacting with our content, our partners and uh uh Chairman Griffith, you talked about this. This is an area that we're always going to have to focus on if we're going to accomplish what we want to accomplish with Houston High School's master plan. We know this is going to be something that we're focus on focusing on. How are we working with our local businesses uh to make sure they're supporting us? But also too, how are they helping with real uh world learning experiences uh for our students? Civic partnerships working with city leaders uh

137to help with our community goals. Student ambassadors, how are they going out and telling our story? And you've seen some of the the work that our student ambassadors do. They tell it better than we ever could because when they speak like you heard Jack speak tonight, you really know about what he's gained from being at Houston High School. and then the broader community. How are we interacting with those people who don't have children uh in our district? Uh also we talked about an alumni strategy whether we have uh events that we're hosting for them, recognition programs, mentorship connections, and then an alumni database. That's been something that we've been uh working with all along. And then how do we have a shared vision uh for our district? And that that means that we're getting feedback

138from lots of different constituent constituents and have different type of ways that we gather input from them. How do we analyze and prioritize that information that we're getting from our community? Uh how are we sharing those changes that we have coming uh and then making feedback based on them and then continuing the conversation. Make sure that people know that when they're sharing with us, we want to engage with them and and really broaden their perspective about different opportunities they have uh to engage with our district. So, I went as quick as I could, but uh this was a lot of work, a long time that we've really worked with. Like I said, at the August board meeting, our objective is to for this board to adopt this plan for us, and it can be something

139that we can work forward uh in the next uh five years. Thank you'all. And that concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you, Superintendent Emanuel. I appreciate the presentation. Um, again, as I kind of talked hit on the three Ps tonight in my chairman's report, we're in the throws of the most uh important things that we do as group of five here. Um, I I should have led with this, but I hope that everyone up here had a Miss Speakman uh excluded, but um hopefully she and her h and her husband enjoyed the Father's Day weekend as well. Um I am mindful of uh serving with the current board um with four fathers and a superintendent father all who have uh students that have either been in our district through our district or currently in our district

140or coming to our district. And um you know I think that's a special I talk about parents a lot and I've served up here with four moms as well. So, um it's a unique makeup and I just uh am really proud to be here with you all and um am excited about kind of embarking on the strategic plan promotion opportunity as we're all rallying together really to pull in the same direction. Um when we sit at that table together, that's uh an overwhelming theme that that I pick up on. And while it is a variety of voices and we all come from different perspectives and backgrounds and and unique um ways of looking at things, um it really is a group that I am thankful to serve with and um I just wanted to take

141an opportunity as we saw the strategic plan. I mean that takes me back to the days just a couple months ago when we were all sitting in here, you know, throwing out ideas and the collaboration and and the cabinet members that are here that participated in this process. So, thank you all so much. We're just getting started. Agenda item number eight is citizens to be heard. Miss Drillinger, do we have anyone that wishes to speak this evening? No, ma'am. Thank you. That takes us to agenda item number nine, the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? I move to approve all items on the consent agenda. Second. Motion made by Vice Chair Strain and seconded by board member Curry. Are there any questions regarding the items in the consent agenda? I

142will read those here. Um 9A is the approval of the minutes from last board meeting. 9B is the GMSD fiscal year 2526 federal capital cafeteria health insurance and OPED budgets second reading. Seeing no questions hearing no comments. Mr. Linger, would you please call the role? Mr. Curry, yes. Mr. Ellis, yes. Mr. Strain, yes. Mr. Hendricks, yes. Chair Griffith, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Agenda item number 10 are the board action items. Agenda item 10A, revision of policies. Is there a motion to approve the policy changes based on recent changes to state law? I move to approve the changes to these 12 policies based on the changes state law. Second motion made by board member Ellis, seconded by board member Curry. Are there any questions regarding the rationale of the 12 policies listed in our agenda

143for this evening to be approved? Thanks again to Miss Spikman for all your help. There's a lot of uh a lot of changes this last general assembly, so I appreciate you helping us navigate all this. Again, the gift that often keeps on giving. It is that time of year when we set things that are about to the clock's about to start literally July 1. And I again appreciate the rationale and the cabinet members that worked with Miss Spikman and her doing the due diligence um to to make sure and help us ensure that we have the best crafted policies uh that also keep us in compliance with the requirements by the state. Uh, I appreciate especially because it's one that we talk about and are going to continue I think we know to talk about

144specific to well let's see here why is it not scrolling up um the cell phone usage uh I know it's actually has a better name than that but um just talking about devices and things that is going to continue to be um something and a topic that we're all going to engage in and so as mentioned at the work session table just a few minutes ago ago. I'm thankful that we were able to come up with something that checks the boxes, covers the bases, but also allows for us to continue to massage as uh we feel makes the most sense for our school community. There's no further comments or questions. Mr. Linger, would you please call the role? Mr. Ellis, yes. Mr. Strain, yes. Mr. Hendris, yes. Mr. Curry, yes. Chair Griffith, yes. Motion passes.

145Agenda item 10B, Germantown Board of Education, resolution 3, 2024 2525, GMSD school federal projects budget. Is there a motion? I move to approve resolution 03 2425, the Germantown Municipal School District Board of Education to adopt GMSD's school federal budget federal projects budget as approved by the Tennessee Department of Education as GMSD's school federal projects budget. Second. Motion made by Vice Chair Strain, seconded by board member Hendricks. Are there any questions or comments? I'll just reiterate what Miss Beman said during the uh work session, which is just that this was this policy or this resolution rather is a recommendation from the Tennessee Comproller and uh helps uh district staff to move this along without having to bring every minor uh budget amendment to us. And of course, we'll still be uh notified of changes and in

146the loop. Thank you. Yes, vice uh chairman. I appreciate the like I said at the table during the work session. I think this allows for good business and things to to continue progress and progression, but it also would be the onus is on us to, you know, make sure the community is aware of any changes and we will continue to do that because it's part of our um, you know, good governing practices. So, thank you. If no further questions or comments at this time, Miss Dillinger, would you please call the role? Mr. Strain, yes. Mr. Hendricks, yes. Mr. Curry. Yes. Mr. Ellis, yes. Chair Griffith. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you all so much for your time this evening. Agenda item number 11 gets us Oh, wait. 10 C. Oh, we didn't add it. Oh, is

147it on there? It didn't. Then I have to update. Yep, it's not showing up. I apologize. I'm rolling right through. None of the other ones were there. Okay. Agenda item 10 C, Food Service Management Company, fiscal year 2526. Is there a motion? I move to approve Southwest Food Service Excellence LLC is the district's food service management company for the 2526 school year contingent upon state approval. Second motion made by board member Curry, seconded by board member Ellis. There is no one on this DS that likes to eat more than me. Um, and uh, I certainly was not trying to uh, skip over a very important contract that is part of not only feeding our um, school families, but also part of our budgetary process. At this time, uh, are there any questions about the RFP

148recommendation or comments? Hearing seeing none, Mr. Linger, would you please call the role? Mr. Hendris, yes. Mr. Curry, yes. Mr. Ellis, yes. Mr. Strain, yes. Griffith, yes. Motion passes. Thank you again so much. Now, I think we are officially at announcements, which I'm pretty excited about. First and foremost, I would like to uh highlight some opportunities in our school community. Y'all, if you are not taking us up, and I say us, I I don't mean us like as in me, as in we. I mean as in us as our school uh communities um on all of these camp options and opportunities. I don't know what to tell you because I have read this list to more people in the past few weeks and I'm like, y'all, I want to go to that. I want to

149go to this one. I want to go to that one. I really wish that they didn't have um maybe a grade um range that it suggests on here. You still have a wonderful opportunity for pickle ball camp. Pickle ball camp has been really fun. Riverdale STEM and robotics camp is happening this week. Riverdale pickle ball camp also coming up next week. Harry Potter camp Hogwarts. If the esteemed Mrs. Wines can't do something even cooler. Every time I see her, this would probably uh be the thing. I'm like, "Wow, where was that?" That too could be you next week. Coast to Coast Exploration Camp, archery camp, middle school math camp, which I have actually had a lot of parents tell me they're really uh thankful for and excited about. Story time and spa camp because who

150doesn't want to go to Dogwood Elementary with Miss Moch and have story time in spa camp, story book chef's camp. Again, here for it. Dogwood's pure imagination drama camp. I am so excited that that opportunity has presented itself to our elementary students. Fifth grade math prep camp, welcome to middle school camp. I think the whole world needs to go to that. um and all of the other um athletic specific camps specifically at Houston High School. Please for those in the community take us up on these I mean these opportunities are really special, unique and awesome and I hope that um they are such a success. This weekend, the Germantown School Board will convene for, at least for this particular board, our first ever board retreat. We will meet on Saturday, June 21st from 9:00 a.m.

151to 4 p.m. And um we want to thank board member Ellis and his family for hosting us at Horseshoe Lake this year. We will enjoy some team building. We will talk about advocating the board's vision. Our financial our finance overview, working lunch and board development. Oh, that's going to be fun. I've been practicing some of those questions on my family. Community engagement and partnership planning. I know we've talked a lot about that tonight, but we are really going to dive into it this weekend. Strategic plan, promotion, planning, and further business. Um, I really look forward to um getting to know my board members um even more than I already do and uh collaborating with them so that we can come out the rest of this uh summer as we hopefully meet uh very soon in

152a joint work session with the Germantown board of mayor and alderman. We are working to secure some dates potentially in July with our elected counterparts at the city and along with our district administration. So, TBD on our August meeting. Another item we're going to discuss will be our future board meeting um dates at the retreat this weekend. So, I am hopeful that we will have those to Mr. Linger to publish to the world and to the rest of us sitting at this table and up here so that we can plan our lives accordingly. Thank you for your patience on that. We really want to get feedback from everyone as we look at the best plans for the next 12 months. At this time, the GMSD Board of Education business meeting June 17, 2025 is adjourned.

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